Page 96 (1/1)

"No fever," Nikolai h of relief Poor Elena looked near to tears She stroked her son’s back and then allowed Nikolai to pull her into a hug He said so When the conversation ended, he told Maks to say goodbye to his mother The little boy waved to his mom and then held out his arms

Elena took hi him back to Nikolai Maks had settled considerably, but he looked miserable and worn out

I followed Nikolai out the back door that led directly into the family’s apart and began offering suggestions When he landed on so the child seemed interested in, Nikolai turned to et so ready for him?"

“Of course,” I said

"Maks, can you go with Jude and watch TV while I make you some lunch?” Nikolai asked

To my surprise, the little boy held out his arms to me without hesitation Nikolai handed the child to me and made his way toward the kitchen I didn't have much experience with kids, but I'd always liked the room and sat down on the couch with him and turned on the television Maks didn't seeainst my chest and sucked his thulanced around the room to see what else I could find and then asked Maks, "You want to see a trick?"

Maks nodded

With hiot what I would need from his toys and then went to the coffee table I sat him on my lap and kept one arm around hi more than a seesaw I put one of his marbles on one side and then found a little toy dump truck that I put on the end of the table I pointed to the opposite end of the seesaw and said, “Why don't you give that a little tap?”

Maks did as I said and theIt landed short of the dump truck, but it didn't ued and reached for another ain and this time when he made the shot, the marble landed in the bed of the dump truck

"Okay, you're way too good at this," I said with a smile "How about we make it a little harder?"

Maks's eyes had brightened a little bit He nodded

I kept the child withfor items that would helproom, the simple little seesaw launcher had turned into an elaborate obstacle course similar to what I’d set up the day I'd had lunch at the Falkov house

"Okay, Maks, let her fly," I said The toddler put the o He leaned back against me as atched the marblea variety of items I'd taken from the small space When the an clapping I looked up to see Nikolai watching us both with that saet to dwell on it because Maks iain, so I returned my focus to him

Maks played with the obstacle course for about tento sit down and eat the food Nikolai had made for him He only ate about half the soup, but he was considerably cal before Maks drifted off I began cleaning up the mess I’d made

"Where did you learn to do that?" Nikolai asked

"What? Cleaning up?" I asked with a grin

Nikolai tipped his head atstuff like this," he said as he motioned around the room

I shruggedit" I sat down on the couch and looked at what I’d built "It just kind of couess A lot of the toys that foster families have are just bits and pieces, you know? So it was hard to play with just any one thing the way it was meant to be played with And as you knoasn't a fan of the race cars, so I was always looking for so, it seemed like…"