The Way to Yesterday by Sharon Sala

Author:Sharon Sala [Sala, Sharon]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Silhouette
Published: 2002-11-17T20:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Howard Lee took a chunk of raw hamburger from the bowl on the counter, made a third hamburger patty and then put it in the hot skillet beside the other two he already had cooking. He turned down the heat, blithely unaware that his premature meeting with Hope O’Rourke had put himself in danger. A few minutes later he took the meat from the pan and put them on a platter to cool while he began to fix the buns.

Amy Anne liked ketchup on her hamburger. Ketchup and nothing else. Justine like mustard and pickles and wanted her hamburger cut into quarters. He put the burgers onto the plates and then added a handful of chips for each girl.

He hummed as he worked, confident that his growing family was intact. Once the plates were to his liking, he moved to the cabinet, took out a bottle of over-the-counter sleeping medicine and measured a small dose into two cups, then filled the cups with milk, adding a dollop of chocolate syrup to make sure the taste of the medicine was masked. He’d never intended to use this method of control, but after the first night with Amy Anne in the guest room, he’d been forced to resort to other measures.

A few minutes later he started down into the cellar. As he did, he heard a scurrying of feet and smiled to himself, knowing that his girls were aware of his imminent arrival.

“Daddy’s here,” he called, then frowned when there was no welcoming response.

It aggravated him that after all he’d given them and done for them, they still withheld their affections. Even though their room was technically a cellar, he had not spared expenses in outfitting it. Besides the large room that served as living room and bedroom, he’d gone to a lot of trouble to install their own bathroom with tub and shower.

There was a television, a VCR and more than a dozen children’s videos for them to watch. There were two white twin-size brass beds against one wall and a wooden table and chairs near the center of the room, piled high with coloring books, crayons and puzzles. As he came down the steps, he noticed that none of the toys had been moved, although the television was on.

Refusing to admit that his plan to create his own family was less successful than he had imagined, he set the tray down on the table and then fixed a place setting at each chair, carefully laying out their plate of food, a napkin, a fork and their cups of chocolate milk.

“Look what Daddy’s made for you tonight.”

“My daddy doesn’t know how to cook,” Justine murmured, and slipped into one of the chairs.

Howard Lee frowned. “I’m your Daddy now,” he said sharply.

Justine’s lower lip trembled and her eyes welled with tears, but she’d learned early on that arguing with the man just made things worse. Without saying anything more, she began nibbling on a potato chip as the man took Amy Anne in his lap and started to feed her.

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