Page 35 of This Loving Feeling (Mirror Lake)

Startled, Lukas was at a loss. Was he sick? Afraid of the dark? Or something else he had no clue about anticipating?

He stroked the little boy’s back. Wrapped his arms around him tightly so he’d know he was safe. “It’s okay, buddy. It’s okay,” he said softly.

“I—I couldn’t find you,” Stevie said between gasping sobs. “It was dark and you—you weren’t in your room.”

He was still holding him in a vice grip. “I went out by the pool for a—for some air. I’m sorry I scared you.”

It took Lukas a minute to realize Sam was kneeling beside him at Stevie’s bedside, brushing the little boy’s sweaty hair out of his eyes. Stevie looked up at her. “I had a bad dream.”

“Oh, honey,” Sam said. Lukas didn’t know how Stevie felt but her voice turned his insides to maple syrup. She was soft and kind. The type of woman who would be a great mother one day.

“What was your dream about?” Sam asked gently. Lukas looked over at her in a panic, as if to say,do you really think we should go there?But she seemed unconcerned. “Sometimes it helps to talk about it so you can scare it away for good.”

“I was in Daddy’s room. It was smoky, and there were lots of people there playing cards. And the smoke got thicker and thicker and I couldn’t see anybody and it was just me and I was lost.”

Oh shit, oh shit.The kid was probably describing some kind of poker party with drugs and alcohol or God only knows what Nico had been up to.

Lukas had no clue what to do. The kid was still clinging to him for dear life. Sam wiped his tears with her fingers and smoothed her hand down his cheek. “I’m sorry you had a scary dream, sweetie. But we’d never leave you. How about I get you a drink of water and Uncle Lukas will lay down with you until you fall asleep again?”

Stevie nodded. “Want both of you to lay down with me.”

God, no. He could not be in a bed horizontal next to Sam with only a five-year-old between them for a buffer. That was too much. Smoking all the cigarettes in the world would not take that tension away. “Tell you what, bud,” he said, standing and lifting Stevie onto the bed, “I’ll get you a drink of water. You lie back down in bed, okay?”

“Where’s Bobby?” Stevie asked, looking around in a panic.

Lukas did a quick scan around the room before exchanging a puzzled glance with Sam. “Bobby?” he asked.

“Oh, there you are.” Stevie climbed off the bed and grabbed his blanket from the floor, pressing it to his nose and giving it a good long inhale. “Bobby. I thought I lost you.”

Great, the dust rag had a name. “Um, why is your blanket named Bobby?”

“My mom said when I was a baby I called himbaba,then one day I just started saying Bobby.”

Lukas would have called it garbage, but what did he know? At least the kid had calmed down.

When Lukas came back with the water, Stevie was lying down with ... um, Bobby. Sam had kicked off her flip-flops and was lying on her side, facing Stevie, smoothing his forehead. Stevie took a few gulps of water and lay back down. “Uncle Lukas, will you sing me a song?” Lukas set the glass of water down and stretched out on the kid’s other side, resting his head against the headboard.

His catalogue of children’s songs was ... nonexistent. He could have messed around and made some shit up but he was a little self-conscious doing that in front of Sam. So he sang the first song that popped into his head.

As soon as he sang the first few bars, Sam’s expression changed from one of concern for Stevie to disbelief. One delicate brow rose and she shot him a you’ve-got-to-be-kidding look.

“‘Edelweiss,’” she whispered. A la Christopher Plummer, when he sings it for the kids inTheSound of Music. Lukas couldn’t help grinning. He’d surprised her, all right. Well, maybe it was more like he’d shocked the hell out of her. He loved this song—it was sweet and sad and nostalgic and beautiful. All the things he felt about Sam and couldn’t tell her. He couldn’t help meeting her eyes as he sang the full, soft notes. He could tell she was feeling the music, too—and maybe something a whole lot more.

Well, he always tended to think music swept everyone away. It certainly worked its magic with him.

Halfway through, Stevie leaned his forehead against Lukas’s shoulder and curled up and was fast asleep before the end of the song. Even Sam was starting to drift off.

He nudged Sam’s arm. “Hey, I know I have the voice of an angel, but falling asleep in my bed ... I mean come on, a guy’s got an ego, you know?”

She lifted her head and propped up on her elbow. “I wasn’t falling asleep. I was enjoying it, Captain von Trapp.”

She smiled, and oh, boy, there was something in that sweet smile of hers that signaled serious danger. She got up and so did he, taking care to cover Stevie with a light blanket before tiptoeing out of the room behind her.

“You do have the voice of an angel,” she said quietly once they’d reached the kitchen, which was lit only by the dim light above the stovetop. “But how does a tough guy like you know the soundtrack toTheSound of Music?”

“It was one of only two G-rated songs that came to mind.”

“Is that right?”

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