Page 27 of Valley of the Shadow
Oh right.He wrapped the towel around his waist and walked out of the closet and into the bedroom where wet bathing suits and beach towels decorated every available surface. He didn’t hear or see his wife, so he assumed she was with the children. He took a quick shower, dressed, and walked out of the room and into the hall.
Following the high-pitched voices, he walked down the stairs and into the great room where the children were decorating cookies. Or doing something that involved green frosting and sprinkles everywhere.
“Baojia!” Dez waved. “You’re the first one awake.”
He raised an eyebrow and headed toward his son, who had something green in his hair. “Clearly not.” He took a napkin and tried to remove the green gunk. “Frosting goes on the cookies, not the hair, Jake.”
Jake looked up. “Oh. Hi, Dad!” He reached up and touched his hair with green-coated hands. “I have frosting in my hair?”
“It appears you have frosting everywhere.”
“Baba!” He turned to the sound of Sarah’s voice, only to find her halfway up the stone fireplace in the center of the room.
“Hello, Monkey.” Baojia walked over and took Matt’s place underneath the climbing girl. “Did you ask Isabel if it was okay to climb the fireplace?”
“Mama climbed rocks today!”
Matt and Baojia exchanged a look.
“Of course she did,” Baojia muttered.
“She did great,” Matt said. “She’s a natural.”
“Don’t encourage her.”
Matt grinned. “The wife or the daughter?”
“Either.” Parenting a small daredevil was a tricky proposition. Baojia never wanted to clip Sarah’s wings or make her think he didn’t have confidence in her.
But sometimes wings that were only fourneededto be clipped. “Can you climb down, please?”
Her mouth formed a smallO. “Ummm…”
“Not sure how to do that?”
Her smile would have been adorable if it weren’t so guilty. “Can you get me?”
“No.”
“Baba!”
“But I’ll show you how to get down.” He climbed on the hearth and reached for her little legs. “Which rock did you put your foot on to get up?”
“I don’t know.”
“Feel around,” he said. “Don’t let go, and feel with your toes.”
Bit by bit, he worked Sarah down the rocks until she was standing on her own feet with her hands fisted in the air. “I did it!”
“You definitely did.” He picked her up and put her on his hip as they walked back into the kitchen. “Did you decorate cookies?” He was guessing yes by the red frosting smeared on her cheek.
“Yes.” She pointed at some red stars. “See those?”
“With all the sprinkles?”
She nodded.
They were truly a sight to behold. Sarah’s cookies bore a thick coating of red frosting made even thicker by colored sugar and sprinkles. “That looks… very sweet, Sarah.”
