Free The Pint-Sized Secret by Sherryl Woods Page B

She couldn’t afford distractions, and Jeb had definitely proved himself to be that. He’d kept her from her work the day before. He’d made her forget all about her resolve not to let any man into her life, at least not until Emma was totally recovered and leading a normal little girl’s life again. He’d even made her long for the kind of passion she hadn’t experienced since the early days of her marriage. In all, he’d been a worrisome reminder of the effect an attentive man could have on a woman. She had to resist him, and Emma was only one reason why.
    “Mama, guess what?”
    Brianna brushed a stray curl from Emma’s forehead. “What, baby?”
    “Gretchen says the picture I drew is the best one in the whole center. She says I gots ’tistic talent. What’s that?”
    Brianna smiled. “Artistic talent,” she corrected. “It means you can draw.”
    “Oh, yeah. Anyway, she’s going to hang my picture on the wall right up front in the reception area. She’ll put it in a real frame and everything, so everybody will see it when they come in.”
    “Really? That’s wonderful. Have you shown that one to me?” Most of Emma’s drawings were on the walls in her room right here at the center. Most were of brightly colored flowers and rainbows. She rarely parted with any of them.
    Emma hesitated, then shook her head. “No.”
    “Why not?”
    “I was afraid you’d be mad.”
    “Why on earth would I be mad?”
    “Because this one is of my family, just you and me. I left out Daddy,” Emma said with a belligerent thrust of her chin. She looked as if she expected to be chastized and didn’t care.
    “Oh,” Brianna said neutrally. “Why did you leave out your dad?”
    “He never comes to see me. Why should I put him in a picture?” she asked, then added despondently, “I might as well not even have a daddy.”
    Personally, Brianna agreed with her daughter, but she had tried hard not to say negative things about her ex. She hadn’t wanted to influence Emma’s feelings. After all, Larry was her father even if he happened to be a lousy one.
    “You know, it still might hurt his feelings to know that you left him out. He loves you, sweetie. He just feels really, really bad about causing you to be hurt like this.”
    Emma shook her head stubbornly. “He never comes because he’s ashamed to see me like this.”
    The hurt in Emma’s eyes was hard to take. For what had to be the hundredth time Brianna tried her best to explain away Larry’s insensitivity. “Only because he caused it,” Brianna swore, cupping Emma’s chin so she could gaze directly into her eyes. “Not because he’s ashamed of you. Never that.”
    “Well, I don’t believe you.” Emma’s eyes filled with tears. “I hate him. I hate him!”
    Not half as much as Brianna did at that moment. She gathered Emma close and rocked her. “You don’t really hate him. You miss him. I don’t blame you. One of these days he’ll come back and the two of you will remember all the wonderful times you shared.”
    “I don’t want him to come,” Emma insisted with a sniff. “Not ever. I want a new daddy.”
    She didn’t want to set herself up for disappointment with the old one who’d failed her, Brianna concluded, and who could blame her? There were times like this when she wanted to track her ex-husband down and strangle him for adding to Emma’s insecurities.
    Maybe she should, too. She hadn’t before, because she’d been too glad to have him out of her own life. She knew he had accepted a transfer from his company, that he’d moved out of the area. It would be a simple matter to locate him, as long as he hadn’t quit since then. For Emma’s sake, maybe she had to make the effort. She would ask the counselors about that the next time she spoke with them.
    For now, though, she needed to console her daughter, to reassure her that she was as lovable—as beautiful—as always. She might not be able to do much about the accident’s