“BAAAAA, SAID the little lamb.”
The noise was so out of place, it startled all four adults in the parlor. Cooper was the first to realize who it was and responded to the comment.
“Baaaaa, little one,” he said. “Come on out from your hiding place.”
Five-year-old Maddie crawled out from behind a sofa, and a moment later her older brother stepped into the room with a solemn look on his face. Cooper expected him to say something along the lines of Sorry, Mom, I accidentally threw a football into the windshield of the Bentley.
For the first time since Cooper had met Maya, she appeared horrified. “I told both of you to stay in your rooms,” she said with a coldness in her voice that was as far away from Mary Poppins as you could get.
Francine, trembling with uncontrollable anger or fear or maybe both, said, “Both of you. Upstairs. Now.”
“No, Mom,” said Archie Jr. “I have something to say.” He looked at his sister. “Maddie, go upstairs. I have to talk to these people about something important.”
Maddie saw the seriousness in her brother’s eyes. Her lower lip trembled. She didn’t understand what was going on. Maddie looked over at Cooper for reassurance. Cooper felt himself slip into dad mode. He smiled, nodded. “It’s okay, sweetie,” he said softly. “Your mom will be up in just a moment.”
Maddie wanted to do a lot of things in that moment. She wanted to baaaaa at the man with the funny name (and the cute dog). She wanted to run to her mother and jump into her arms. She wanted to understand why everyone was so angry and sad all the time.
But in the end she turned around and went up to her room. She had a stuffed lamb on her bed, a gift from Nanny Maya just a week ago—though the timing meant little to Maddie. She just loved the stuffed animal and hugged it tight.