10. The first night

              Farel gasped and then froze in an instant. Meanwhile, Lily quickly restrained Keenan's hand which had been clenched tightly.

"What are you doing?" asked Keenan in a voice that held a hint of anger. He was about to return to the study. However, the noise from Farel's room ruined his plans.

The four-year-old boy looked down as he wrung his fingers. "I-I was just playing with the playhouse."

"He was just playing. Please don't scold him," Lily whispered.

            She shook her head softly with eyes that almost stopped blinking as Keenan began to pick up his pace. Just as he was about to approach Farel, her cold husband stopped and took a sidekick position.

"Is your bed uncomfortable?" he asked later. "You don't like the picture?" Farel shook his head. "Or the color?" Again the boy shook his head softly. Keenan frowned