Page 60 of Big Island Summer
If she didn’t love Hugh so deeply, or have such deep faith in him as a man and as a father, she wouldn’t risk it. But the dreamof pulling together and becoming a real family? Well, that was just tempting enough for her to risk her heart… and theirs.
She told herself that it wouldn’t much matter to the kids if things didn’t work out. Everett was too young to know better, and Cassie was no more invested in Hugh or Daisy than she was in any other family that she knew. If Hugh did move away, it would be less of a change for Cassie than losing their neighbors or saying goodbye to a friend at Pualena Playschool.
And Nell intended to keep it that way. Until she was certain of Hugh’s intentions – untilhewas certain – they would proceed with caution. There would be no talk of living together. Even overnights were off the table for now.
She had created a place of safety for her children, and nothing was going to change that.
“Can I carry the game?” Cassie asked when Nell parked in front of Hugh’s place.
“Sure.”
“Sweet!” She twisted around in her seat and grabbed the board game they had picked out that morning.
It had been a splurge – a brand-new game instead of their usual transfer station finds. Nell wanted to bring something that the kids would be excited to do together. She wanted their presence in the house to be a source of excitement for Daisy rather than something to be endured.
“You’re here!”
Nell’s heart lifted when Daisy threw the door open with a smile. Hugh appeared behind her a moment later, grinning at Nell in a way that made her heart trip and stumble. There was no other man who could vault her defenses like he did.
“We brought you a game!” Cassie shouted. She ran up the front walk and tilted the cardboard box to show them the surfing turtle on the front.
“That’s so cool!”
“Want to open it?”
“Yeah, let’s go!”
They disappeared into the kitchen as Nell walked inside. Everett fought to get down, and she let him. Hugh had baby-proofed the house before their first visit – just one of a thousand thoughtful gestures that had made her fall in love with him.
Everett set off after the girls, crawling at warp speed. He had taken a few more unassisted steps here and there, but crawling was still his preferred means of transportation.
Hugh closed the front door behind them and greeted her with a kiss.
“How was your day?” he asked.
“It was really good. We had a water fight at A Place of Refuge.”
He chuckled. “And the residents were okay with that?”
“We gave the moms the day off. Most of them went off to run errands, but a few stayed to play. We had a blast.”
“Your work paid off then.”
“Yeah, it did.” Nell had spent the better part of two weeks hunting for water guns at various transfer stations after finding a treasure trove of reusable water balloons. Even the most recalcitrant kids had been shrieking with laughter by the end of the day.
“Are you hungry?”
“Starved.”
“Come on through. I made fried chicken.”
“Look, Dad!” Daisy shouted. “We’ve got it set up!”
Nell scanned the table to make sure all of the pieces were there – and not on the floor where Everett might swallow them. She had steered Cassie towards that particular game partially because it didn’t have a crazy number of little pieces.
“Can we play now?” Cassie asked.
“Dinner first,” Hugh said.
