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Chapter or Story
Part 5
"My daughter asked me to ask you if it worked."
She raised an eyebrow interrogatively and he laughed softly.
"Okay, she asked me and now I'm asking you."
"I saw somebody there, but it wasn't Momma."
"Thomas," he proposed.
Miss Parker nodded slowly and then looked up at him. "How did you know?"
"A feeling I had." Jarod did up the small suit and then gently picked up the baby, cradling him as he sat down in the chair and began to rock slowly. "Your memory of Thomas is almost as strong as that of your mother, but not quite. It would make sense that you would, if you'll excuse the phrase, try for something easier first, before reaching out to your mother."
"If you know that much about me now, why couldn't you believe me earlier?"
He sighed and stood up, gently putting the sleeping baby into his cot. "Because it seemed too simple. You've been chasing me for five years and now, in one night, you turn around and stop? Answer me honestly, Parker. If the situation had been reversed, how would you have acted?"
"I don't know, Jarod, because I've never tried to understand you."
He looked up at her calmly. "Then perhaps its time you did."
"Jarod?" the voice on the other end of the phone asked.
"Hi, Sam."
"How's it going?"
"Not a problem." He laughed. "I told you there wouldn't be. How's my patient?"
"Much better. You'll probably only come back in time to release him."
"Then I'll leave him in your care and you can do all the dirty work."
"Thanks," she laughed.
"Somebody wants to say hi."
"Not Jamie?"
"Hey, you haven't been gone that long!" He handed the phone to the little girl sitting on his knee, who eagerly clutched the receiver.
"Hi Sam."
Jarod glanced at Sydney to find himself being visually examined while his daughter spoke on the phone.
"What?"
"Nothing." Sydney shook his head and looked back down at his book.
"Oh really?" He glanced down. "At least, nothing you can say in front of my girl."
"Perhaps."
"Then you'd better start thinking of a good answer because I'm going to ask you again when she's in bed."
Jarod carried the relaxed body of his daughter into her room and gently placed her down on the bed. Putting the teddy into her arms, he covered her and then leaned down, kissing her gently before straightening up again and leaving the room. Peering into his son's room, he nodded in satisfaction before going back downstairs.
"Well?"
"Well what, Jarod?"
Ignoring Miss Parker's question, he reached forward and plucked the book from Sydney's hand, glancing down before shutting it.
"I was reading that," the psychiatrist exclaimed indignantly.
"You were up to page one hundred and twenty-three," Jarod told him. "Try to remember for when I give it back to you."
"Oh, so you will?"
"As soon as I get a satisfactory answer to my question yes."
Sighing, Sydney sat back in the chair. "So what was the question?"
"You can't remember?"
"Jarod, two hours ago you said the word 'what'. I don't consider that a question."
"You know, 'any word, pronounced in such a way that the tone of voice raises at the end of it, rather than lowering, can be considered a question', so I can't..."
"I don't need to hear my own words, thank you," the older man snapped.
"I thought perhaps you'd forgotten them."
"That isn't funny, Jarod."
"I thought it was." He sat back against the sofa, arms folded. "So - what? Or, to make it clearer, what was that look for?"
"I was...thinking."
Jarod rolled his eyes. "I'm glad to hear it. So what were you thinking about?"
"Would you be surprised to hear that it was you?"
"Not really." Jarod stared into the fire for a moment before looking back. "Which particular aspect of me was under your consideration?"
"The newest."
"The fact that I'm a father." He paused. "So what precisely were you thinking?"
Sydney half-smiled. "Wondering how such a new situation could seem so completely natural."
As the lights flickered twice and went out, Jarod got to his feet and, in the light thrown by the blazing fire, took the flashlight from the mantelpiece.
"I'll be right back."
Opening the door that led down to the cellar, he placed the torch on the step so that it illuminated the generator and then started it up.
"What are you doing?" a voice asked above his head.
He looked up as Miss Parker came down the stairs. "What does it look like?"
"Preparing for a siege?"
"Oh, very funny." He glanced at the slightly diminished woodpile and then put one hand on the freezer, checking that it had restarted.
"How much preparation did you have for this storm?"
"Two days. But the generator, stove and freezer were already here. I just added the other bits and pieces."
"So we won't starve?"
He laughed softly. "Parker, it's currently Tuesday night. The blizzard will be over by Thursday, so we would hardly have starved in that length of time. But I don't want to have to take care of my one-year-old son in a situation where I can't even get hot water to sterilize his bottles."
They came up into the living room to find that the lighting had been restored and Jarod walked into the kitchen to check that the fridge was working. Glancing around the room, he saw that his daughter was sitting on Sydney's lap and came over to kneel in front of her.
"What happened, sweetie?"
"I saw the lights all go dark and…"
"Did you get up when it was all still dark?"
She shook her head. "When the lights came back on, I got up and came down to check that you were okay."
He smiled and then picked her up. "I thought I was the one who was supposed to make sure that you were okay."
"Mommy said I have to look after you, too."
Jarod sat down on the sofa and she nestled into his lap, one hand clutching the teddy and the other hand wrapped around his thumb.
"Was Mommy there again?"
She nodded earnestly, her eyes wide. "She's there lots, isn't she?"
"Did you remember to say thank you for me?"
"Mmm hmm." The girl nodded again.
"Well, you can tell Mommy next time you see her that she can go and have a vacation now, if she wants to, because we're okay now."
"Sure?" The eyes she turned up to him were becoming sleepy and he smiled, kissing her softly on the forehead.
"Very sure."
"Thank you, Sydney."
"You're welcome." He looked up and smiled. "Actually, she came over and got up there pretty much on her own."
"Is she asleep?" Miss Parker asked quietly.
Jarod nodded, looking out to where the snow was beginning to pile up against the windows before getting up and closing the curtains. Suddenly a thought struck him and he picked up the phone.
"Well?" Sydney prompted.
"Dead." He looked over, a light in his eyes. "So even if you wanted to..."
"Jarod!" the woman exclaimed indignantly.
"I was kidding, Parker. Calm down."
"That wasn't funny."
"Sorry."
Sydney picked up his book. "What page?"
"One hundred and twenty-three." He grinned. "I would have thought you might have made the effort to remember."
"Not really. I knew you would."
"Oh, so you're relying on me now? That's new."
"If we don't rely on you," the woman commented drily, "we might find ourselves walking back to Delaware on Thursday."
"I wouldn't do that to you, Miss Parker."
"You wouldn't?"
"No." Jarod grinned. "I'd buy you a bus ticket."
"It's dark, Daddy," the girl’s voice spoke out of the darkness in Jarod's ear.
He reached out a hand and pulled her into bed with him where she snuggled down into his arms. "It's still early, Bronwyn." Jarod glanced at the clock. "It's only four o'clock. How come you're awake this early?"
"My room's cold."
"It is?" He sat up, feeling her hands and face. "But you're not too cold."
"I came in before I got cold."
"Just a sec." He got out of the bed, pulling on his bathrobe. "Stay there, okay?"
She nodded and he left the room, going into hers and putting one hand on the small heater that sat there. It was stone cold and he quickly went into his son's room. The warmth that he felt as soon as he entered told him that this one, at least, was still working.
Gently he tapped on the door of the other room and, when there was no response, pushed it open. Here, too, it was cold. Going back into his daughter's room, he pulled the spare blanket out of the cupboard and put it over the sleeping woman. Softly he went back into the Jamie's room and took the blanket out of that cupboard, carefully closing the door behind him and going silently downstairs. He put it over the man who lay on the sofa and added more wood to the fire.
"What is it, Jarod?"
He jumped and spun around. "Do you mind not doing that?"
Sydney smiled. "I thought you would have seen that I wasn't asleep."
Jarod went over to the window and opened the curtain, but there was almost no increase in light into the room. "I know the sun isn't up yet, but today seems like it'll be colder than yesterday."
"So what are you doing up?"
"Bronwyn woke me. The heaters in her room and Miss Parker's aren't working for some reason. I'll check them over later and try to work out why."
"And Jamie?"
"He's fine." Jarod touched the heater that should have been warming the sofa and wasn't. "But you might not have been, without the fire and the blanket." He pulled the curtain shut again and turned away. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to bed."
He opened the door of the bedroom and looked in to see Bronwyn lying with her head on his pillow, watching him. Closing the door behind him, he stepped over to the bed.
"Do you want to stay with me or go in and sleep with Jamie?"
Soundlessly she held out her arms and he chuckled, sliding into bed beside her and wrapping her in his bathrobe. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on one cheek.
"Guess what, Daddy?"
"What, sweetheart?"
She giggled. "You said you could read my mind."
"So you want me to guess?"
Bronwyn nodded and he pretended to think. "Hmm, you're hungry."
She shook her head and Jarod grinned. "Okay, you're thirsty."
The girl giggled. "You're silly, daddy." She kissed the tip of his nose. "Guess."
Jarod looked thoughtful. "Mommy wasn't in your picture room when you went there tonight."
She snuggled close to him, nodding. "You really can read my mind."
"Was I dreaming, Jarod," Miss Parker asked as she came down the stairs, "or did you come into my room last night?"
He grinned. "It was a choice between me coming in or you freezing to death, Miss Parker. Which would you rather?"
She sat down on a chair at the table and watched as he put the last of the food into the boy's mouth. "How come?"
"Several of the heaters seem to have blown as a result of the power going off and I guess yours did, too. I've fixed Sydney's and Bronwyn's and yours should be repairable as well." He laughed. "Besides, I've been in your room before."
"Oh, yes." She sent him a mock-glare. "So you have."
"Nice try, but that doesn't make me nervous in the way it does, say, Broots, for instance." He smiled. "Especially not now that you've promised."
She nodded and then stood up, wrapping the bathrobe around herself. "Is the hot water working?"
"It should be. It's a gas heater. And, even if it isn't, as long as you don't take too long, there should still be enough to allow you to shower."
Miss Parker smiled. "I'll keep it short. Your kids need it more than I do."
Jarod's jaw dropped and he stared at her as she went up the stairs.
"Daddy, what are you doing?" Bronwyn asked, coming into the kitchen to stand beside him.
He looked down at her with a smile. "Remember how we use that machine to wash Jamie's bottles so that he gets nice clean things to drink?"
She nodded. "But you're not using the machine now."
"No, baby, because we want to save the generator, so I'm using the gas stove instead."
He stirred the water so that the plastic items in it moved around and then slowly began to lift the first one out, placing it carefully on the sink. As he turned back for the next, the wooden spoon caught on the handle, spinning the saucepan and, even as he moved to grab his daughter and pull her out of the way with his left hand, Jarod felt the boiling hot water pour onto his right.
"Daddy!"
Sydney looked up from his book at the sound of the child's scream and jumped to his feet as Jarod stepped away from the pool of water on the floor. Ignoring the pain of his hand and the hot, wet material against his arm, he put his daughter up on the bench, keeping his right hand behind his back.
"Are you okay, sweetie? Did it burn you?"
His eyes scanned her arms and legs, sighing with relief to see that there were no splashes on her clothes. Gently he stroked her cheek. "It's all right, baby."
"Daddy…" she whimpered. "Your hand..."
"It's okay, sweetheart. Really." He lifted her down as Sydney moved over and turned on the cold tap. "You go with Miss Parker and check on Jamie for me." She paused and he nodded firmly, meeting the woman's eye as she came over. "I mean it, go on."
"Jarod," the psychiatrist murmured into his ear, taking the younger man's arm and pulling him over to the sink, allowing the water to run over the blistering skin. The younger man tensed as the pain increased and then looked quickly over his shoulder to see that Miss Parker had obviously taken his daughter upstairs.
"Sydney, turn off the gas," he ordered from between teeth clenched against the pain.
The older man turned the knob, reaching down to pick up the saucepan and the plastic parts of the bottle that were scattered over the floor before using paper towel to mop up the still-hot water.
"Are you okay?"
Jarod nodded, removing his hand from under the cold flow and gently flexing his fingers, sharply inhaling as the pain intensified.
"Leave it there."
"Hey, who's the doctor here, you or me?"
Giving a half-hearted smile, Sydney walked over and increased the flow of the water, placing one hand on Jarod's shoulder and forcing the hand back under the cold stream. "I am." He looked down. "You're going to need something for that."
"It's fine."
"No, Jarod, it's not. You've just poured a saucepan full of boiling water over your hand. How can that be fine?"
Jarod leaned weakly against the sink, looking up and allowing Sydney to see the fear in his eyes. "As long as it wasn't over her..."
"Daddy?"
Hearing the whimper in his ear, despite the pain that seemed to blot out almost everything else, Jarod opened his eyes and looked into the tear-filled eyes of his daughter, sitting up immediately and withdrawing his hand from the bowl of cold water in which it had been resting. "It's okay, Bronwyn." He pulled the frightened girl into his lap and gently stroked her hair with his left hand. "I'm all right."
"Did it hurt, Daddy?"
"Not much." Jarod allowed himself the lie and then kissed her as he leaned back against the sofa cushions. "Are you sure you're okay? It didn't burn you at all?"
"I checked her, Jarod," Miss Parker responded quietly. "There's not a mark."
He sighed with relief and then looked down at her again. "I'm fine, Bronwyn. You don't have to worry about me."
"But… Mommy said I should… look after you… and…" Tears filled her eyes and she turned to him, putting her head against his chest and beginning to sob. Jarod wrapped both arms around her and rocked her gently.
"It's all right, honey bee. It's fine. I'm okay."
"P… promise?"
"I promise. It's just a little burn." As the soft sobbing ceased, Jarod looked down at her. "Did you show Miss Parker your doll's house that I bought you?"
The little girl shook her head, sniffing.
"Well, how about you go up and do that now? I'm sure she'd like to see it."
"I'd love to," the woman remarked.
"So you go and do that now, okay? Then, later, I might give you something nice to eat."
"Sure?"
He nodded, smiling at her. "Maybe you can wipe the ice cream off my nose this time, huh?"
"Does it hurt?" a voice asked from the doorway, as Jarod came out of the deep sleep that the strong painkillers Sydney had forced him to take had caused.
The Pretender opened his eyes and glared at her. "Miss Parker, I've got a large burn on my hand. You tell me whether it would hurt or not." He pulled himself slowly up in bed, still feeling groggy. "What time is it?"
"Almost three. We finished lunch two hours ago." She walked into the room. "Do you want something to eat?"
"It's fine. I'm not hungry." He looked down at the blistered skin on the back of his hand and then up at her, a look of anguish on his face. "How's my baby?"
"Both of them are fine. They're in bed."
He nodded slowly. "She's going to have nightmares for a week about this."
"You mean like the one you just had about it being her?"
Jarod looked up at her, his eyes narrow. "How did you know?"
"Momma told me."
There was a hint of a smile on his face. "You mean you can do it?"
"In a way, but I'm sure it'll get better."
"Hey, anything's better than nothing."
She shut the door and leaned against it. "I just wish I'd tried earlier. She might have told me about that and I could have done something to prevent it."
"I'll get over it, Parker. I'm more grateful that it didn't end up on her." He swung his legs off the bed, sitting up and burying his face in his hands, feeling himself tremble slightly at the memory of the dream. "Oh God, if it had..."
"But it didn't, Jarod." She sat down on the bed, looking at him. "So don't start imagining all sorts of bad possibilities."
He looked up, a sad smile on his face. "I was trained to imagine all sorts of bad possibilities, Parker. That's something I learned for over thirty years and it's a hard habit to break." A thought struck him. "Did you sterilize the bottles somehow before you used them for lunch?"
Miss Parker nodded. "Sydney dragged out the machine and, despite the fact that it adds to what the generator has to do, we'll keep using it. Anything to avoid a repeat of that." She gently touched his arm.
He nodded slowly, pulling up his sleeve to see the slight burns on his lower arm and palm as well as those on the back of his hand, and then looked up at her. The expression in his eyes caused her to raise an eyebrow.
"What is it, Jarod?"
"I was just thinking that I don't think you could have prevented this, Miss Parker, even if you had known it was going to happen."
"What do you mean?"
His lips curled into a half-smile as he looked up at her. "Every single thing that's happened for the last four weeks, since I met my kids, has had a good and very logical reason." The smile widened. "I think we just found out the reason for you two being here."
"I thought you were relying on me," the younger man suggested, "I didn't know that I was going to have to start relying on you both instead."
"Stop throwing pots of hot water around and you won't have to," the woman snapped.
Jarod looked up, as Sydney fastened the bandage over the wound, and grinned at Miss Parker. "Well, it gives you an even better reason to stay out of my way now, doesn't it? Next time my aim might be better."
"Considering I was half-way down the stairs, it would have had to have been a darned good throw."
"Hey, practice makes perfect."
"Well, how about you wait until that one heals before you start doing it again?"
"Oh, come on. Where's the fun in that?"
Sydney glanced at him. "You don't have enough painkiller here for us to have to treat another injury like this, for one thing. And for another, I don't think your daughter could cope."
The humor left Jarod's face. "Where is she?"
"In bed." Miss Parker sat down in the chair. "After crying herself to sleep, despite everything I could do to stop her."
Jarod looked up. "Why didn't you call me?"
Sydney glanced at him. "I told her not to. She wouldn't have been able to wake you, anyway, not with the strength of that medication."
He nodded slowly before getting up. "I'm going to see her."
"Don't, Jarod. Not yet."
"Why not?" He looked down sharply at Sydney.
"Because you still don't look quite like yourself, and she's bright enough to pick up on something like that."
Nodding, Jarod sat down again, rubbing the red streaks on his fingers where the water had lightly splashed them.
"Do you want something for the pain?" the doctor prompted gently.
"No. If we don't have much, then I'll keep what we do still have in case something happens to one of them." He sat back against the sofa and swallowed, briefly closing his eyes, suddenly feeling sick.
"What is it?" Sydney asked.
"Nothing."
Shaking his head, he got up and walked over to the window, staring out through the almost covered panes, gently placing his burned fingers against the cold glass.
"I learned a long time ago not to believe you when you said that." Sydney walked over and placed one hand on Jarod's uninjured arm. "It didn't happen. She wasn't hurt. You have to stop thinking about it."
"I can't. I can't get that image out of my head."
"You'll have to, Jarod. If you don't, then you won't be able to act the same around her and she'll notice. Like I said before, she's a bright girl." Sydney smiled. "Just like her father."
He walked quietly into the room, kneeling down beside the bed and gently wiping the tears off his daughter's cheeks. She opened her eyes and, with a sob, threw her arms around his neck.
"Daddy, I was so scared."
"Well, you can stop worrying now, Bronwyn, because I'm fine." He gently kissed her forehead. "And I'm sure Mommy told you that, too, didn't she?"
The little girl nodded slowly. "Did she tell you, too?"
Jarod smiled. "Miss Parker told me. Her mommy told her."
"She can do it?"
"She sure can, and you taught her how." He hugged her. "I've very proud of you, honey bird."
"Why?"
He sat on her bed and pulled the little girl onto his lap. "Because you did exactly what I told you to do, without stopping to ask questions. That helped because it meant I could let Sydney take care of me without worrying about you."
She hugged him. "Mommy always said that, if you ever told me to do something, there'd be a good reason for it."
"And there always will be." He stood up, holding her tightly in his arms. "Shall we go downstairs and have some ice cream?"
"Did you have lunch?"
"No, so I'm hungry." He kissed the tip of her nose as they began to go downstairs and she giggled, hugging him tightly.
Jarod leaned back against the sofa, watching as Miss Parker checked on the state of the meal she was cooking. "I should have done this before. It gets me out of all sorts of jobs."
"Even the sort you want to do? You won't be able to bathe your son tomorrow, in case it exacerbates the burn."
"We'll see."
"No, we won't, Jarod." Sydney leaned forward. "You're doing well to be able to feel the pain of that at all. If you immerse it in even tepid water, you'll probably damage the nerves - and you are right-handed, let me remind you."
"So I'll learn to be ambidextrous."
"And you'll get a great insight into how Lyle felt without a thumb."
He grinned half-heartedly. "Okay, you win." Reaching down, he pulled the little boy up into his lap and lay down on the sofa, smiling as Jamie began to climb over him. Shutting his eyes briefly, he opened them again when he felt the small body stop moving and grinned as he found himself staring straight into his son's eyes. "What's up, kiddo?"
"Dad-dy."
"Wha-at?!" Jarod pulled himself upright on the sofa, holding the boy tightly and staring at him. "Say that again, Jamie."
"Daddy." The boy pressed his hand down onto Jarod's chest and cooed. Eyes wide, Jarod stared over at Sydney.
"Did I...?"
"Yes, you did." Sydney nodded definitively. "Unless I'm hearing things too."
Jarod looked down to where his daughter was playing with a doll. "Sweetie, come here for a sec."
She scrambled to her feet and ran over. "What is it, Daddy?"
He looked down at the boy. "Who's this, Jamie?"
"Bon-yn." The baby grinned and held out his hand to his sister, then he looked up at his father. "Sam."
Sydney looked up, curiosity on his face. "I take it he doesn't mean the sweeper?"
"Of course not!" Jarod allowed the amused contempt to be obvious in his voice and face. "Samantha Childs. I told you about her. She helps me with the kids when she's home."
The little boy leaned forward and patted the phone that sat on the table in front of them before looking back up at his father and giggling. "Sam."
"Jamie, the phone isn't working. Sam can't..."
As the baby patted it again, the phone rang under his hand and he looked up at his father, cooing. Jarod's eyes were wide but he answered it.
"Hi Sam."
There was a pause. "How did you guess, Jarod?"
"Jamie told me."
"Oh, very funny." He could hear the amusement in her voice.
"No, he really told me." Jarod brought the phone close to the child's mouth. "Say it again, Jamie."
"Sam," the baby stated into the receiver.
"What did I tell you?"
There was another, longer pause. "What was… his first…?"
"Daddy."
"To you?"
Jarod grinned. "Well, he sure didn't say it to Bronwyn."
"And he knows her, too?"
"Do you doubt it?"
"No," she laughed, getting over her shock. "Not really."
Jarod decided to change the subject. "So it seems like phone's working again."
"No, Jarod, this is just a figment of your imagination. Pinch yourself again and it'll probably hurt this time, too."
He grinned. "I would, but I'd probably damage healing skin."
"What did you do?"
"In trying to save the generator, I was using the stove to sterilize Jamie's bottles and I kind of..."
"Poured boiling water over yourself. Great." Her voice became serious. "It didn't hit either of the kids, did it?"
"If it had, I would have fought my way through the storm to the hospital with them to make sure they were okay. You know that."
"Yes, I do." She was quiet for a moment. "I thought you might want to know, your patient is eating everything put in front of him and complaining that he can't go outside to play in the snow."
Jarod grinned. "I know the feeling. You'll probably come back tomorrow to find us building snowmen."
"Are you coping okay? I mean, especially now with an injury."
"It's fine, Sam. A couple of visitors showed up on Monday and they're lending a hand to make up for mine."
"And… are they…?"
"Sam, don't worry."
"Okay, as long as you're sure."
"I am. Don't worry about us. We'll be fine."
"I thought you said he wasn't psychic," the psychiatrist suggested as Jarod hung up the phone.
"Hey, you heard the video too, Sydney. It was a heightened sense of awareness, that's all."
"Since when can a heightened sense of awareness predict the future?"
"Among one of the many genes that he inherited from his mother is the one that gives his sister her 'picture room' and it's probably that which gave him the ability to know Sam was going to call." Jarod sat back against the sofa. "Unless it was just pure luck."
"Do you really believe that?"
"No, but I'm trying to come up with something plausible that you'll believe."
"Don't bother. I believe it. I think."
Jarod grinned. "Great that you're so certain." He looked up as Miss Parker came over from the kitchen. "Do you believe it?"
"I've been trying to think of some other explanation but, although I was a strong believer in luck when you opened the door, I'm beginning to think that there has to be something stronger." She shook her head. "I can't believe I just said that."
"Daddy?" Bronwyn interrupted, leaning against his leg.
"What's up, sweetie?"
"Miss Parker still hasn't listened to her Mommy's message."
The woman picked up the girl and put her on her knee. "I've had other things to think about, Bronwyn."
The child’s expression became sad. "Like Daddy's hand," she murmured.
"And like your brother talking."
Bronwyn looked confused. "But we all talk. Why can't he?"
Jarod opened his mouth and then closed it again without having made a sound, glancing over to see the amused look on Sydney's face.
"Go ahead, Jarod. Explain child development to a four year old."
"You mean the way you explained it to me when I was four?"
"Uh, well, yes." Sydney looked sheepish. "Like that."
"Maybe later." He looked back. "Bronwyn, I'd like you to tell Miss Parker what her mommy's message is."
"I can't, Daddy."
"Why not?"
"'Cos she wouldn't believe me. Only you would, and that doesn't help."
"Did Mommy tell you that?"
The girl nodded silently, holding out her hands to him. He picked her up and put her on his lap, gently stroking her hair with one hand as she snuggled close to him. Looking over at the woman, he shrugged slightly. "I think that's a good reason to believe her, Miss Parker. Why don't you go up to your room and see what she can tell you?"
"Can you manage?"
"We'll be fine."
"That didn't help at all!" the woman exploded.
Jarod looked up from his book as Miss Parker came down the stairs. Seeing the little girl asleep on his lap, she lowered her voice. "Absolutely no use."
"What did she say?" he asked curiously.
"That I should trust Bronwyn's mother completely."
"And that was it?"
The woman nodded and Sydney looked up at her as she sat down opposite him. "Parker, are you sure?"
"Yes, I am sure. She said that was all she could tell me." Getting up, she began to pace the room. "And I do trust her, but she hasn't told us anything that could have anything to do with me or what might happen."
"Not yet, anyway."
She looked down at Jarod. "What do you mean by that?"
With a smile, he looked down at the little girl and then back up at her. "Bronwyn's probably talking to her mother right now."
