Page 19 of Harmonizing with Little Heaven Leigh

She squirmed a little, trying to find a comfortable spot for her sore bottom, but eventually relaxed and leaned back against his chest with a soft sigh. “Better thank you, Sir. I… I really am sorry I ate some of your castle. I didn’t realize you could fix it. I thought you’d have to throw it away so…” She trailed off, sneaking a look up at him.

He nodded. “I understand, little one. Next time you’ll know better, right?”

She nodded firmly and then sniffled and wiped at a stray tear as it rolled down her cheek. “Next time I won’t eat your work.”

He cleared his throat in a pointed way. “Or go into rooms you’re not supposed to be in?”

“Uh, that too.”

Angel gave her a gentle smile and patted her leg. “Good. Everyone makes mistakes. The important thing is to learn from them.” He held her like that until the tears were gone and her breathing had settled.

“Do you think you’re ready to go back to class now?”

She hesitated, as if going back to class was the last thing she wanted to do—and it probably was. But finally she drew in a deep breath and nodded. “Yes, Sir. I think so.” She slid out of his lap, getting to her feet, and he stood too.

“Would you like a hug for the road?” He held out his arms, letting her choose if she wanted to step into them or not.

She did, but just quickly, before she pulled back. “It really was beautiful… the little people and animals. I’m sorry we ruined it.” She ducked her head.

“It will be beautiful again. Maybe not all I had envisioned… but we’ll fix things up. You’ll hardly notice it was broken,” he assured her. At least that was what he hoped. It was going to depend on how quickly he was able to work.

“Really?” She looked up, eyes widening as her mouth turned up just slightly.

“Well, you’ll get to see it tonight, so I guess you can judge whether it’s still beautiful. But I do need to get back to work. Otherwise I’ll run out of time to get it all fixed,” he explained, as he turned her around and gave her a gentle push toward the door. “Back to class, young lady.”

Derek, standing by the door with Becky, waved her over. “Come along, Mindy. I’ll check you both back in.” He looked over at Catherine. “Shall I take Pippi too?”

Catherine looked up and shook her head. “I have some free time in my schedule, and I believe Miss Pippi is still suffering a little residual guilt about being the one to cause the damage. So, I’m going to take her home to see if we can’t clear that up.”

She nudged her Little girl, and Pippi slid out of her lap, eyes down. She snuck a quick look at Angel before they dropped again. “I’m sorry, Sir. I really am. I’m just so clumsy sometimes, and I?—”

“Uh-uh, young lady,” Catherine said, interrupting her. She stood up and wrapped an arm around Pippi’s shoulders. “None of that. Come on, let’s head home.” The doctor flashed Angel a slight smile, and then guided Pippi out of the room after the others.

Alone, he turned to the castle and let out a long sigh. So much work ruined, and so little time to fix it. He took a deep breath and moved in to see what could be salvaged. Removing all the broken and flattened pieces was the first step and that took time. As he cleared away the debris, he sorted things into three piles: the things that hadn’t been hurt, those that were beyond repair, and some that he might be able to fix.

The few small chocolate pieces that had made it through unscathed, would look awkward scattered in the empty space, and he wasn’t sure he was going to have time to fix many of the slightly broken pieces. He narrowed his eyes, wondering if it wouldn’t just be best to let the castle stand alone, without all the little people and extras.

He clicked his tongue and shook his head. It was going to drive him nuts to leave it so plain, but there might not be any other choice. With the cart loaded up with all the loose and broken pieces of chocolate, he started for the kitchen. He stopped to make sure the door was closed and locked behind him this time. He’d learned his lesson about that.

“Hey, Daddy!” Heaven Leigh greeted him with a bright smile. She was sitting on a stool with a pan of flat chocolate pieces in front of her. “The chocolate wall is chilling. I did the stone impressions while it was half-hard, like you did before. I think it will look the same as the others once we airbrush it.”

He leaned down and kissed her cheek gratefully. “I’m so lucky to have you. That’s going to save a lot of time.”

She laughed. “It’s why I’m here right?”

“One reason anyway. What are you working on now?” He leaned over her shoulder to take a look at the neat rows of chocolate squares and rectangles.

“Well, I’m… not very good at sculpting chocolate yet. And there’s no way I’m up to making people and animals, so I can’t really help with that.”

“Right. I might just need to leave the courtyard empty, Heaven.” He waved a hand toward the cart full of misshapen chocolate pieces. “There’s not really enough left to fill the space, and time is…”

“I thought about that too, and I had an idea.” She hesitated, and then rushed in to explain. “I know this isn’t what you’d envisioned but, I thought maybe we could fill the space with a little market? The stalls would be all square pieces cut and joined, so that’s easy. I have enough now to start making them. I was just waiting for you to come back.”

He frowned. “I don’t know…” But then he took a second to really consider it. A little courtyard market wouldn’t be out of place. The stalls, as she’d said, would be simple to make, and airbrushed with bright colors they would look nice.

“Stalls would be interesting, but we can’t have them empty. How are we going to fill them?”

“I thought we could use the broken pieces to give the vague idea of goods. If we roll up some balls and paint them green and red, people will automatically see fruit,” she suggested.

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