Page 6 of Christmas at Black Cherry Retreat
He opened the freezer and tossed the tubs of ice cream on the table. Eating ice cream with his young cousin and a guest meant nothing.Yeah, right. Tom took out bowlsand spoons then started to dish up, gathering everything on a tray to head back outside.
‘Here we go, ladies.’ Tom set the bowls down on the white oak table carved in the shape of Tennessee that he’d made over the winter. Opening one of its drawers he pulled out a stack of paper napkins and set them out for everyone to use. Tom fetched a small child-sized stool and set it down near hischair. ‘Here’s a special spot for you, Lulu.’ He put her strawberry ice cream in front of her and touched her hand to get her attention. ‘Try not to get it on your pretty dress or Mommy Ina will scalp us both.’
‘Yes, UncleT.’
Lulu nodded so seriously he had a hard job stopping himself from laughing. Tom pushed a bowl towards Fee and caught her looking at him with unabashed curiosity.
‘UncleT?’
In an instant Tom realised what Fee meant by her question. She’d assumed Lulu was his daughter. ‘I should’ve introduced my special lady. This is MissLulu Chambers, my beautiful cousin. Her Mama is in school today so we get to play, don’t we, pumpkin?’
‘Yep.’ Lulu grinned at Fee. ‘UncleT’s my favourite uncle. He’s got ducks, books and ice cream.’
Fee’sface softened and Tom got a hint of how she’d look when a man was loving her. ‘That’s all a girl needs. You’re very lucky.’
He sensed a deeper meaning behind her words but this wasn’t the time or place, and if he was sensible it never would be.
Instantly she glanced away and scooped up a spoonful of ice cream. ‘This is delicious.’
‘It’s homemade by my cousin, Suzy-Beth.She’s got a store called Sweet Scoops in Pine Ridge.’
‘Goodness, does your family run the whole town?’
Tom shrugged. ‘There are a lot of us because we’ve been here for generations. Aunt Ina, my Dad’s sister, owns the Mockingbird Cafe. Ina’s oldest daughter Suzy-Beth is married to John who is a local doctor. My Pop is the sheriff and my younger sister, Rayna, teaches at the elementaryschool. Rayna’s married to Billy and they’re expecting their first kid soon. Chloe, Rayna’s twin, lives here too. She’s married to Ken and is a stay-at-home mom to her four little ones. My older brothers are both police officers; Sandy in Oak Ridge and Mikey in Clinton, but they still live here with their families.’ He stopped running his mouth and noticed Fee’s bright eyes dancing with amusement.‘There are more cousins and everything but your ice cream’s melting,’ he muttered. A trickle of pink dripped down Fee’s chin and Tom itched to reach over and brush it away. He noticed Lulu wriggling. ‘Do you need to go potty, Lulu-Belle?’ Her eyes, the regular Chambers family deep brown specials, filled with tears and she pulled at the front of her pink flowery dress.
Tom jumped up andquickly swept her into his arms. ‘It’s okay, we’ll go and get cleaned up.’
‘But my ice cream…’
‘I’ll fetch you more. I promise,’ he whispered and she smiled against his cheek.
‘Is there anything I can do to help?’
Fee’s awkward smile said she wasn’t at ease around children but wouldn’t be seen as unwilling.
‘Thanks, but we’re good. I almost brought up mytwin sisters when Mama worked at the cafe with my aunt. Seen it all. Done it. Not a problem. We won’t be long.’ He headed inside, glancing back at Fee. ‘Don’t you dare run off or I’ll have an unhappy little girl on my hands.’
‘But, I…’
He strode off inside before she could argue. Tom raided his emergency clothes supply and pulled out a pair of white shorts and a blue cotton sweaterwhich hopefully wouldn’t be too big for Lulu. His family visited all the time so he’d raided the Goodwill store and stashed away a variety of sizes and genders of clothes because someone was always falling in the lake or splashing themselves with spaghetti sauce.
‘There we go, Lulu. All clean and ready for more ice cream.’ She peered at her reflection in the mirror then back at him. Tomguessed he’d scored a zero on the fashion front but plastered on a big smile and held out his hand. ‘Come on, let’s go show MissWinter how cute you look.’ Lulu didn’t say a word. She didn’t need to because a man always knew when he’d failed a woman.
