rinsing dishes and loading them into the dishwasher. She crept closer and, almost in the woman’s plain sight, she attached something to the window before she moved back. Sitting against the fence, she put the headphones on and turned up the volume.
“Jerry, will you pick up those toys all over the den? It’s been too cold to take Hannah outside, and we really made a mess.”
In addition to the woman, Cain could hear a child singing along with a video.
“Are you ready for your bath, Miss Hannah?”
“Yes, Aunt Maddie.”
“You’re such a good girl.”
Through the binoculars, Cain watched Maddie carry the little girl upstairs to the bathroom, then to the bedroom to get her ready for bed. She devoured the sight of the child with shiny black hair and a very familiar face. Hannah’s resemblance to Hayden made Cain ache. And it made her furious. Here, full of energy, was why Emma left. Only Cain viewed the little girl as what Emma had stolen from her.
“Aunt Maddie, where’s Mama?” Hannah put her arms up for her nightgown.
“She’ll be back for you in a couple of days. Do you miss your mama?”
“She said she’s gonna bring me a prize.”
Hannah held a teddy bear up to the side of her face and smiled, making Cain fall in love on the spot.
“I love prizes.”
“A surprise, huh? Well, I’m sure it’s going to be great. Get in here, baby.” Maddie pulled back the blankets on the bed and tucked the little girl in. “You go to sleep, and I’m sure your mama’s going to come and see you real soon.”
“You promise, Aunt Maddie?”
“I promise, baby girl. Your mama’s got something to do, and as soon as she’s done she’ll be coming by to pick you up. Until then you, me, and your uncle Jerry are going to have the best time playing and watching videos.”
“Mama said she was going to see my brother Haygen, but I hadda wait to see him. He lives with my mama Cain far away. Why do you think she doesn’t want me to live with her too like Haygen does?”
“You’re going to have to ask your mama that one, sweetie. I never met Cain, but I’m guessing she loves you a whole world full, and one day maybe she’ll get to show you. Does your mama tell you a lot about Hayden and Mama Cain?”
“Yes. She told me ’cause they’re my family, and Mama said dat’s important.”
“It is, but getting some sleep is important too, so close your eyes and get ready to meet the sandman.”
Cain listened with big tears running down her face when the little charmer said her prayers after the woman left. “God bless my mama, Grandpa Ross, my big brother Haygen, and my mama Cain. Amen.”
Maddie stared out into the night from the kitchen window as she finished the dishes, obviously not seeing anything out of the ordinary. “Emma, I hope to hell you know what you’re doing.” The good friend was one of the only people in town who knew the whole story, and the one who had helped Emma through the pregnancy and birth.
Cain gave her no answer as she ran back into the night. She had one more thing to do before retreating to her bed. After carefully climbing up to the roof of the barn, she attached some listening devices so she could monitor the hunters who were stalking her. She knew if anyone caught her up there, she would blow any chance to pull off her plan for Kyle, but she hadn’t built her life on playing it safe. She crouched as she watched Merrick and the guys pull in from dinner, and timed her jump from the roof with the closing of car doors, then slipped back to the window she had left from.
Cain was lying down with her eyes closed, her breath slow and deep, when she heard the group walk in with Hayden. She listened to them get ready for bed, trying not to make too much noise. Then, when the last of the lights clicked off, she sat up and swung her legs off the small twin bed. Her every instinct told her to go up to the house and drag Emma to the next farm and force her to confess to Hannah’s existence.
In bare feet and no coat, she stalked outside and reached the halfway point between the two structures before she stopped herself from taking another step. She was so angry she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to still her emotions. Her fury prevented her from feeling the cold or seeing the woman staring down at her.
From her window, the woman who was the center of Cain’s storm felt a finger of fear drag slowly up her spine. Emma felt completely different than the first time she had looked out and spotted Cain outside her bedroom window.
Emma leaned against her apartment door, listening to the receding footsteps on the other side. It had been an electric year, enjoying life on Cain’s arm. She was about as far from her father’s dairy farm as she could imagine herself. She had kept her job at the pub and her modest apartment because she didn’t want to ever be thought of as a kept woman.
When she could no longer hear anything out in the hall, Emma moved to the window to watch Cain leave. Instead of getting into her car, she stood near the bottom of the window looking up, apparently knowing she wouldn’t have to wait too long to see Emma again. The well-known Casey smile was in place when she appeared in the window. Tonight that smile undid her. Tonight, she realized, Cain was going to claim something that belonged to her from the moment Emma had laid eyes on her.
“Do you have to be anywhere else right this minute?” she asked, leaning out the window.
“I’ll be wherever you want me to be.”
As an answer she dropped her shirt on Cain’s head and moved away from the window. She laughed when she heard the footsteps out in the hall again, only this time she heard more of a run.
Cain opened the door and found Emma standing there holding an arm over her chest, looking like she wasn’t so sure what to do next. In all their time together she had never teased Cain too much as she got more comfortable with taking their relationship to the next level. Some heavy-duty kissing and groping on her couch with Cain was
