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“Have you considered home schooling or a special school?”
“I’m afraid with home schooling she would become more withdrawn and antisocial. I don’t want a special school. At least not for now. I’d rather try to find someone who can break through the guard she keeps. If I ever do, I think all the withdrawal will vanish.”
“I imagine you’re hopeful with each thing and person you’ve tried,” she said, watching him nod. “Don’t get too hopeful with me. I’m out of my element here. I have never worked with a child who had problems like this.”
“I understand. But no one has higher recommendations than you in this field. I know a happy little girl is locked away somewhere inside her. I want her back again.”
“I’ll do my best with her.”
“I’m sure you will. How did you sleep?” he asked, changing the topic abruptly.
“Fine,” she answered, yet her cheeks grew warm because she instantly thought about their kisses.
He looked amused. “About as well as I did.”
“I met your housekeeper in the upstairs hall this morning.”
“Edwina. My staff are all here on Tuesdays and Fridays and then some of them are just here when I ask them to be or when I’m in town.”
“So you travel a lot.”
“Yes. I hear Rosalyn.” He stood, and in seconds Rosalyn and Caroline walked through the door.
“Good morning,” Will said, greeting them both and picking up Caroline to hug her. The girl’s pigtails swung. She wrapped her arm around his neck and hugged him in return, Ava noticed.
“Rosalyn, go give your order to Rainey and then come join us. He knows Caroline’s. I already have places set.”
As Rosalyn left, Will set Caroline in one of the chairs.
“So Rosalyn joins you for breakfast. That’s nice.”
“Rosalyn is like a relative. Actually, all of my staff have worked for me long enough now that I feel like they’re my family. And you’ll have to adjust your view of me again.”
“I shouldn’t have told you what I expected.” He was one continual surprise, and she promised herself never to prejudge anyone again. “The articles and press about you just present a different type person—not quite so down-to-earth and caring. I’m impressed,” she said.
“Good. That’s a step in the right direction.”
Rosalyn joined them and conversation became impersonal, polite, chatty among the three adults, swirling around the silent child as if she didn’t exist.
After breakfast they divided up, Rosalyn leaving, Will heading to his office while Ava went to the upstairs playroom with Caroline. “Come to my room, Caroline. I want to get a package I brought. I have a new game for you.”
Obediently, Caroline followed and Ava retrieved a large colorful sack that held gift bags and books. She pulled out a gift to hand to Caroline, seeing no spark of interest in Caroline’s eyes.
“This is for you,” Ava said, setting it in front of the girl, who glanced up at Ava and then looked at the sack. After pulling out tissue paper, she picked up a game that she turned in her hands.
“Thank you,” she whispered politely and set it on the floor.
“I’ll show you how to play it. All right?”
Caroline nodded.
“Before we do, here’s another little present I got for you.”
Caroline opened a small gift sack and once again tossed aside blue and red tissue paper to reveal a small brown teddy bear.
“Thank you,” she said, looking intently at it.
“You’re welcome. Now I’ll show you how to play this game. Let’s go to the playroom.”
In the playroom, Ava put her things on a sofa and turned to Caroline. “I think you’ll like this game. We can sit on the floor to play.” Ava kicked off her shoes while she got out cards.
“See these, Caroline,” she said, glad when she noticed that the girl still held the small bear. Was she grasping at straws about Caroline’s responses the way Will did? “Each card has a letter. We’re going to place them all facedown,” Ava added, putting cards facedown in a row. “Then we’ll take turns. Each of us can turn over two cards and the object of the game is to match the letters. If you turn over an A and a C, the next time if you turn over an A, try to find the matching A again. The one with the most pairs of matching letters wins the game. Is that clear?”
When Caroline nodded, Ava continued, “As soon as I put out all the cards, you can go first. Do you want to help me put the cards facedown?”
Caroline shook her head no, so Ava placed the cards in silence. As soon as she finished, she told Caroline to go ahead.
During the game, Ava glanced around to see Will standing in the doorway. As soon as she looked up, he left and she wondered how long he had been there.
Other than her silence, Ava thought she could be playing with any first grader she had known, and Caroline was just going into kindergarten.
Midmorning they paused for a snack and watched a short movie Ava had brought. Still holding the teddy, Caroline watched intently, never laughing or even smiling at the funny spots, and Ava didn’t think she was going to get to know the solemn little girl even a degree better. Ava’s satisfaction over Caroline’s abilities with letters and words was offset by her growing frustration at being unable to get a glimmer of emotional response.
The person who would get the job of working with Caroline had a big task ahead.
By eleven o’clock Ava asked Caroline if she would like to swim and Caroline nodded. Rosalyn had told Ava that she had laid out Caroline’s swimsuits and she could get one on by herself.
At the pool Ava shed the oversize T-shirt she had worn and her flip-flops while she watched Caroline go in cautiously.
Wondering whether Will would show up, Ava was acutely conscious of her new swimsuit—a conservative navy one-piece. The water was just cool enough to be enticing, and the circular pool was beautiful with a waterfall and a fountain.
She relaxed when Will did not show, nor did she see any sign of him.
Caroline splashed in the shallow end and then when Ava asked, Caroline showed her how she could swim, tread water and float.
Eventually, they lay on inflatable mattresses, looking at billowing thunderheads against a deep blue sky.
Will kept his word and disappeared for the day. By the time Caroline stretched out for quiet time in her room, she had a stack of books beside her.
Ava lay next to her.
“All right, which one do you want me to read to you first?”
Caroline handed her a book.
“Teddy’s New House,” she read. “You turn pages, Caroline.”
Halfway through the book, Ava stopped reading before the last word on the page. “Do you know that word?” she asked.
Caroline looked a long time at the word and nodded.
“Will you read it to me? I would like that so much,” Ava said quietly, holding her breath and wondering if she had alienated Caroline further.
There was a long silence and Ava waited, finally turning the page and reading the next one. Just before she reached the end, she paused and waited, finally reading the word. She did the same on the next pages. She was on the next to the last page when she paused again before reading the last word.
Caroline whispered, “Shoe.”
“Thank you, Caroline.” Ava’s heart skipped a beat when she heard Caroline’s faint voice. “Some things are just hard for us to do, but we can do them.”
As far as she was concerned, Ava saw the slight response as a tiny victory, one she didn’t care to push, so she didn’t ask Caroline to read anything else aloud.
The day passed with Ava learning a little about Caroline’s typical day and her responses. Ava suspected Caroline’s behavior wasn’t very different with Rosalyn or Will. Ava couldn’t feel much closer to the child because of the wall Caroline kept around herself. Will had been good to leave them alone—another surprise with him, because she had expected him to hang around and continue flirting. It was better he hadn’t, but she missed seeing him.
It wasn’t until almost dinner that he joined them in the pool. Ava didn’t see him coming until he was at the edge of the deep end. Her pulse jumped when she saw him. He was deeply tanned. His broad, sculpted chest tapered to a small waist, tight muscles on his flat stomach. He wore black-and-white patterned swim trunks. He made a flying leap and landed in the water with a loud splash, causing Caroline to smile.
He bobbed up by her, lifting her and then letting her splash down, but he held her the whole time.
“Want to do that again?” he asked her, holding her up again, and she smiled, nodding.
With a surprised expression he glanced over her head at Ava and then lifted Caroline higher to let her splash into the water again.
They played and he gave his full attention to Caroline, glancing once at Ava to say hello.
Later as Caroline splashed nearby, he swam close to Ava. When he bobbed up almost touching her, Ava’s heartbeat sped, a reaction she couldn’t control and one that happened too often with him. “Hi.”
She smiled at him. “Hi.”
“You know why I’ve been giving her all my attention.”
“Of course, and you should.”
“Caroline smiling at me like that—I think you brought that on. She hasn’t done that before with me. I was right about you. You are good with her.”
“Thank you. You may give me too much credit,” she said. “I did get her to read one word aloud today.”
Something flickered in the depths of his dark eyes. “I’m going to do some arm twisting and see if you’ll stay this coming week. We’ll talk about it later.”
“Will, the people I’m recommending will be better than I am in working with her.”
Smiling, he swam away to join Caroline, and she guessed she was in for a struggle with a man totally accustomed to getting his way.
After the swim, they ate dinner with Caroline and then played games until Will took Caroline upstairs to get her ready for bed. After half an hour he reappeared. “I came down to get you. She wants you to read a story to her if you will. I volunteered you, and she nodded.”
“Sure, I’d be happy to,” Ava said, going with him, gratified that Caroline wanted her to read.
“Rosalyn called and she’ll be here in about an hour. Ava, you’ve gotten closer than anyone else except my brothers and me. Actually, you’re getting more response out of her than my brothers do. Even Rosalyn doesn’t get as much response as you’d think. Rosalyn gets more than my brothers, but not a lot.”
“It’s so slight. Don’t read much into it.”
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s a breakthrough. Her teachers have gotten no responses.”
“I think you’re grasping at straws, Will,” Ava said gently.
“We’ll see.”
They had reached Caroline’s suite to find her sitting on the floor playing with miniature dolls and the small brown teddy bear beside a doll house.
“Time for a story and bed,” Will said. “Get your book for Miss Ava and climb into bed. She’ll read it to you and I’ll be back to tuck you in.”
In minutes Ava lay beside Caroline, reading while Caroline turned the pages again. She noticed that Caroline leaned close this time, pressing against Ava’s side, something she had not done before. As she read, Ava put her arm lightly around Caroline.
They finished. “Do you want another story until your Uncle Will comes back?”
Caroline shook her head no, so Ava stood beside the bed, tucking Caroline with the sheet beneath her chin. “It’s been a fun day, Caroline. I’ll be here one more day. We’ll probably do about the same thing tomorrow. Maybe we can get your uncle to take us to a bookstore and you can get a new book. If you want to.”
Big brown eyes looked up at her as Caroline stared without any response. “Do you hurt?” Caroline whispered.
Caroline asked the question so softly, Ava almost did not hear her. Startled, she guessed the question was not about physical pain at the moment, but about the loss of her husband. “Yes. It comes and it goes, but he’s always there in my heart.”
Caroline looked down at the sheet and twisted it in her small fingers. “I don’t have a mommy and daddy. I used to have Daddy.”
“I know,” Ava said. “It hurts, but there are other people you can love and they love you. Your Uncle Will loves you so, so much.”
Big brown eyes met her gaze again and Ava’s heart lurched over the silent world into which Caroline had locked herself. Ava tried to avoid intruding on Caroline, but at the sight of Caroline’s solemn expression, Ava could not resist leaning down to hug her lightly. “You are so loved, Caroline.”
Caroline slipped an arm around Ava’s neck and held on for a moment. When her arm slipped away, Ava released her. “You’re a brave little girl,” she said.
Caroline looked away and Ava felt the closeness vanish, suspecting Caroline was withdrawing back into her shell.
“Nighty-night time,” Will said cheerfully, entering the room. “One more story from me if you want and then it’s sleepy time. Miss Rosalyn is back and she’ll be here soon.”
“Good night, Caroline,” Ava said with a smile and she turned away with a glance at Will.
Shaken by the moments with Caroline, she went downstairs to wait in the family room. It was another half hour before Will appeared. He swept into the room, crossing the space in long strides to pull her up and hug her tightly. “You are a miracle worker,” he said. “I came into the room when she hugged you. I stepped out and came back because I didn’t want to break the moment.”
“Will,” she said, extricating herself and smiling. “Slow down. A little gain maybe. A baby step.”
He held her arms as he gazed down at her. Her racing pulse was half because of the moments with Caroline and half because of Will standing close and holding her.
“It’s huge, Ava. I’ve tried so many things, so many experts and nobody could get anywhere.”
“I think it’s because she feels a tie since I lost my husband.”
“Maybe, but she’s had people around who have lost someone and kids around who have lost parents and she wouldn’t respond to them at all. It’s more than that.”
“I’m surprised the kids didn’t reach her.”
“They didn’t. Maybe everyone came on too strong. I notice you’re pretty low-key with her.”
