Page 7 of Love on Target
“What would I do with four arms?” Josh stopped and rubbed a hand across his chin, as though he were deep in thought. “Hmm. I suppose that would give me two extra arms to do this.”
He swept her up and tickled her sides, making her giggle and wriggle before he kissed her rosy cheek and set her back on her feet.
“Four arms would be fun,” she said, then ran ahead of him to the barn. She paused at the doorway. “Uncle Theo? Are you here?”
When no one answered, Gabi shrugged and turned back to him. “I’ll look down by the creek.”
“You do that, Gabi, but promise to stay back from the creek bank. The water is still running high from all the snow that’s melting and I don’t want you getting close enough to it that a water nymph might grab you.”
He’d created any number of mystical, magical beings in an effort to keep his daughter safe. Nymphs swam in the creeks and rivers around Holiday. Trolls hid in the woods and came out at night to catch children who roamed around in the dark, although trips to the outhouse were safe. Gnomes kept watch from behind the flames for little ones who dared to get too close to a fire. Sprites—those cagey sprites—just waited for a misbehaving child to wander off alone, ready to snatch them away.
Josh knew he shouldn’t create such outlandish tales, but as the lone parent raising an active little girl, he had to devise some way to keep her from hastening headlong into trouble.
Gabi tossed her hair as she gave him a disparaging glance over her shoulder. “I’m too quick. No nymph can catch me!” Then she skipped ahead through the trees on the path that led to the creek.
Josh decided to check in the barn to make sure Theo wasn’t hurt or something along those lines before he followed Gabi to the creek. He stepped inside, and the first thing he noticed was a mule—a tired fellow, getting on in years—asleep in a stall. He’d never seen the mule at Theo’s place or around town and wondered how it had gotten there. Theo hadn’t mentioned having company, although he was expecting a cousin from Texas to arrive toward the end of May.
Josh’s gaze landed on a saddle in such poor shape, he wondered how it stayed together as it balanced on one of the poles Theo had fastened to the barn wall to hold tack. A bridle hung off the saddle horn. Josh lifted it and shook his head. The thing was so old and used, he was sure he could hold it up and see the sky in places where the leather had almost completely worn away. It was a wonder it hadn’t fallen apart and left the rider at the mercy of the mule.
Then again, the old mule didn’t likely require a lot of direction to get him to amble on his way.
Josh returned the bridle to the horn of the saddle and walked through the barn, not finding anything amiss. Just to be sure, he climbed up the ladder into the loft and glanced around, but no one was there. He was nearly back down the ladder when Gabi’s blood-curdling scream reached him. He jumped off the last three rungs of the ladder and took off in a dead run toward the creek, terrified his daughter had fallen in the cold, raging water.
Theuncanny,unsettlingfeelingof being watched pulled Rena from her restful slumber. She opened one eye to find a blue eye so close to hers, she could count the blonde eyelashes framing it, although the rest of the face was too close and therefore blurred.
With a gasp, she sat up on the rock where she’d fallen asleep and automatically grabbed her pistol, pointing it at the intruder.
An ear-shattering scream erupted from the tyke who’d been peering at her. Rena lowered the weapon and released her breath.
“Are you a nymph?” the youngster questioned, clearly frightened as she backed away.
“No. I’m not a nymph or a sprite, but might you be a fairy?”
The little girl shook her head, sending her curls flying into a state of greater disarray. They already looked like they’d been whipped with an eggbeater, but the child was adorable with her big blue eyes, rosy cheeks, and stubborn chin. She wore a pale blue dress trimmed with blue and yellow flowers embroidered across the yoke and around the hem. A pair of sturdy black boots looked impossibly tiny on her small feet.
The little one tilted her head. “I’m not a fairy, but I want to be a princess when I grow up.”
Rena hunkered down so she didn’t tower over the child and smiled. “When you become a princess, will you live in one of those big, drafty castles with a moat and a dragon that breathes fire?”
“No. I want a big house with white fluttery curtains, and a yard full of smelly-good flowers, and a whole room full of beautiful dresses, and a piano, and someone to play it for me. And I want my papa to live next door and come have breakfast with me every morning. We’ll have bacon and berry jam on biscuits every day!”
“You can’t go wrong with bacon or biscuits. That’s quite a wish list, but if you are a princess, I’m sure you can make it happen. Does your …”
“Gabi!” a man’s voice boomed through the silence around them. The sound of fast-moving footsteps preceded the arrival of a man who looked so much like the child, Rena had no doubt he was her father. “Gabi!”
He dropped to his knees and pulled the little girl to him in a hug that looked like it might squeeze the air right out of her, except that the man appeared to be careful in not holding her too tight.
“Are you well? Are you hurt? Why did you scream? What’s going on?” His questions peppered the air as he ran a hand over his daughter’s head, across her shoulders, and then picked up her tiny hand to examine it.
“I reckon that’s my fault, mister. She woke me up and caught me by surprise, and I pulled my pistol out of reflex. My apologies for frightening her.”
He appeared shocked as he realized Gabi wasn’t alone. He lifted his daughter in his arms, then faced Rena.
Beneath the brim of his dark, dust-coated hat, Rena could see a hint of blond hair. He had a nice face with a pug nose, rounded jaw, and eyes the same lovely shade of blue as his daughter. His shoulders were broad although his waist appeared trim in the brown canvas vest he wore over a dark blue shirt.
After giving the man a second glance, Rena concluded he had kind eyes. The lines fanning from their corners caused her to assume he was someone who laughed with regularity.
“Gabi shouldn’t have startled you awake,” he said, giving his daughter a stern look before turning back to Rena. “Who might you be?”