Burned(4)

Aimee was new in town, and her bouncing ponytail and cute smile were quickly winning her friends. Eager to please everyone, and curiously averse to responsibility, she was easily reduced to a ball of nerves, so Hauk spent several minutes calming her before heading upstairs where his daughter lay sick, and the woman suddenly commanding his attention was likely thinking about her date with Sean.

On the way, Hauk tried to picture his world without Vic so involved. With her ever-changing hairstyle and color, and her intelligent brown eyes that saw too much, she was an integral part of his world. She wanted her own family one day, and she deserved one. But knowing he’d have less of her time when another man won her heart dimmed Hauk’s image of his life while deepening the discomfort of her love life beyond him.

No woman should have such power over a man, and Vic had never tried to exert any on him. Still, it seemed she had a hold over him, and it would only increase if he crossed the line into personal grounds.

He would not, could not, should not cross that line.





Chapter Two

Vic moved Sophie’s lap desk to the foot of the bed, settled on the edge and began reading Sophie’s paper.



Whispering Cove.

From its rocky shores and up the cobbled streets, past the colorful buildings and vibrant people, it’s all I’ve ever known. It’s home.

I think it’s as impossible to come to Whispering Cove and not fall in love as it is not to take a piece of it with you when you leave. I guess that’s not right. You can resist falling in love with Whispering Cove, but you still take something with you when you go. At least that’s what I’ve heard Dad say. And that we’ll always have our family.

I’m lucky. My family is bigger than me, Dad and my grandparents.

My family is Mr. Mitchell who makes me laugh when I’m sad. My family is Dr. Dani who helps me feel better when I’m sick. My family is Mrs. Wilson who bakes my birthday cakes when Dad burns them. My family is Vic who cuts my hair and tells me I’m pretty and helps me with my homework when Dad works late, and says she loves me.

My family is everyone who works together every year to breathe life into the Fall Festival, and my family is even the tourists who visit and stay to play games during the festival.

The Fall Festival.

It’s important to the town, I know, but it’s always fun. And it always has me making the same wish. A wish for a bigger family.

In a way I think the Fall Festival is a member of the family. It brings us together for fun, games, dancing and food. We stay out late and eat too many sweets and our parents let us ignore our chores. I think my favorite part of the Fall Festival though is the dancing. When the music is playing, we get to forget for a little while about what we wish we had. We get to live in the joy of the moment. We kids get to watch the parents take their turn on the dance floor.

Of course, most kids tell their parents they think they’re gross and embarrassing. Personally, I would like to see my dad dance. I think if he did it would mean he heard my wishes, but more, it would mean his heart has healed.

The festival is coming soon, and I am already wishing the same wish. I wish Dad would grow our family. I wish Dad would find a mom to dance with.



“Sophie.” Vic read the last lines of Sophie’s school paper with welling tears burning her eyes. She’d expected something strong, given Sophie’s early-for-her-age maturity and meticulous approach to homework, but the emotion she’d tapped into for this… It was more than Vic had expected. “This is… It’s lovely.”

“So you really like it?” Anxiety shook the sweetness in Sophie’s ten-year-old voice as she lay in her bed, nearly comatose from the cold medication Dr. Dani had prescribed that afternoon.

“I do.” Vic tried to quell the tears, to assure Sophie, to ease the doubt she was feeling. Suddenly, though she always knew how to relate to Sophie, she found herself unsure of the right approach. That she meant enough to be included as one of Sophie’s family members, with the reasons she’d listed, confirmed all that Vic had suspected about the little girl she’d loved forever.

The need for a mom didn’t vanish just because she’d never known hers, and it wouldn’t go away with age. Hauk’s strength and commitment to always being there wasn’t a cure either. A girl needed to know she was loved unconditionally. Hauk gave her that, but she needed to know she was loved enough to make a woman want to stay. She needed the guidance and assurances that could only come from a mother.

“Do you think it will win the contest?”

Distraction drove back the tears lingering in the wings and fortunately allowed Vic to think more clearly.