Page 51 of Second Start: Family
“Could you teach Daddy to braid our hair the way you do it? Because then we could have our hair braided even when you’re not here.”
Hall looked startled.
Vicky swallowed a laugh from the sound of it.
Dan snorted.
Presumably at the thought of Hall braiding.
But perhaps that was the point … He’d sit down with his daughters, on-on-one, and if she taught him about the brushing and untangling and slow, careful movements, then he would have time carved into those days to be with his daughters.
“You know, I just might be able to do that. You let your father and me talk a little, okay?”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
On the darkened porch, she immediately faced him. “You’ve indicated you want to know your kids better. Here’s one way to do that with Molly and Lizzie.”
“Doing their hair?” Yeah, he let skepticism sound in that, but not outright refusal.
“Yes. Braid your daughters’ hair. Each daughter. At least twice a week.”
She expected him to protest, say she couldn’t tell him what to do — certainly not with something so personal. At the very least she expected him to balk by demanding to know why.
Instead he narrowed his eyes and just looked at her.
“If you don’t know how to braid,” she started, “I can—”
“I’ve been braiding rawhide since I was Bobby’s age.”
“Braiding a girl’s hair isn’t like braiding rawhide.”
“And I suppose you could show me the right way to do it.”
“Yes, I could. I will.”
“Why’re you offering?”
“Because I know how and you don’t … yet.”
She’d said that about making the cake, too. He could see how she’d be good as a teacher with that kind of approach. It wouldn’t make a kid feel stupid or slow or ignorant or even naive. Just not familiar with that particular piece of knowledge yet. A piece she did hold, and was about to share.
Yes, he could see that she would be a very good teacher.
He gave her another long look. “Okay. Now?”
That startled her, but with relief and pleasure, she said, “No time like the present.”
With him holding the outer door for her, but the inside door not open yet, he said, “I think you’re falling in love with my kids.”
“You’re wrong.”
She’d surprised him. A lot. He saw that she liked that, a smile almost showing. Before he recovered, she continued.
“I’malreadyin love with your kids — your daughters, because I know them.” She stumbled a bit on that, which surprised him. But then she said strongly, “I loveallmy students.”
“What—?”
But Lizzie was opening the inside door.
