“It could be smaller,” Emma said looking up at him, seeming to read his thoughts.
“Only you could see the good in this situation, little Emma,” Dair said gently.
Her eyes were sad though she smiled. “Can’t change it, at least not yet. Might as well make the very best of it, no matter how slight that might be. My mama used to say that life is what we make of it, not what our circumstances make of us.”
“Your mother was a wise woman,” Dair told her.
“She was,” Emma agreed.
They spent the rest of the afternoon helping Emma clean the filthy kitchen. Dair returned to check on Serenity a couple of times and, just as he was getting ready to go back to the hospital for the remainder of the evening, he felt the pull of an assignment. He could have easily become resentful, knowing he would proba
