Free Tea and Destiny by Sherryl Woods Page B

around her. Despite the noise, it was obvious she could barely keep her eyes open. Someone had to take over in Ann’s absence and it seemed he was elected. The unaccustomed role made him uneasy. He might be able to handle a hundred construction workers without blinking an eye, but these pint-size terrors still scared the daylights out of him.
    “Okay, kids, bedtime,” he announced in what he hoped was a convincing tone of voice. The boys scowled their protest, but Melissa just lifted her arms. He bent down and picked her up. Her arms circled his neck and her head rested under his chin. She smelled of baby shampoo and peanut butter. There was something about the combined scents that plunged him back more than thirty years. He wasn’t crazy about that particular bit of time travel. He snapped himself back to the present, his voice rough. “Clean up the toys, Tommy, Paul. Then go get ready for bed.”
    “What about our baths?”
    Hank groaned. How could he have forgotten the baths? Maybe they could get by without them for once. He looked at Melissa. She was as clean as she had been when Ann had helped her dress in the morning. He almost wished she were a little messier. It would have indicated that she’d played hard, instead of spending the day sitting quietly in front of the television afraid to get dirty, terrified of doing something wrong. The boys, however, were filthy from their streaked faces to their bare feet.
    “You two guys go get cleaned up while I put Melissa to bed.” He recalled their tendency to flood the bathroom. “And call me if you have any problems with the drain.” As they started to race down the hall, he shouted one last warning. “And no water fights.”
    In Melissa’s room, he struggled with the tiny, unfamiliar buttons on her blouse, then tugged off her shorts and searched for her pajamas.
    “Where’s Ann?” Melissa demanded sleepily.
    “She’ll be home soon,” he promised. “She’ll be in to give you a kiss as soon as she gets here.”
    “Want Ann,” she protested, then stuck her thumb back in her mouth.
    “I know you do, baby. She’ll be here before you know it.” He tried to get the pajama top on, but Melissa stubbornly refused to help. Her thumb left her mouth only long enough to ask plaintively again and again for Ann. Feeling utterly helpless, Hank awkwardly tucked her in and patted her head.
    “Sleep tight, little one,” he murmured, backing toward the door.
    When he reached for the light switch, Melissa began to cry. “No go,” she whimpered.
    “I’m right here, baby,” he said, turning off the light and plunging the room into darkness.
    “No go!” Melissa wailed.
    Responding instinctively to the genuine note of terror in her cries, he went back to the bed and sat down beside her. “Shh, little one. It’s okay. I’m right here.”
    Melissa sniffed. As his eyes became accustomed to the dark, he saw that she was curled into a tight little ball, her whole body tense. All at once he recalled the lonely, scary nights he’d spent as a child, his mother away fromhome, some strange babysitter in the living room. The dark had been filled with all sorts of terrifying shadows. Ann would never let Melissa know that fear. He got up and searched the room, finally finding the tiny light plugged into a socket over the dresser. He switched it on.
    “Is that better?” he murmured softly, looking down at the little girl whose body was finally relaxing. He reached out and rubbed away the last of the tears on the petal-soft cheeks. His throat tight with some overwhelming and unfamiliar emotion, he leaned down and touched a gentle kiss to that cheek. “Sweet dreams,” he whispered.
    Melissa wound her fingers trustingly around his thumb and sighed. Minutes later he heard the steady rise and fall of her breath. He tiptoed from the room, his heart filled to overflowing with sensations he couldn’t identify, sensations that both frightened and intrigued him.
    Tommy and Paul had