“Wow, this is really nice.”
“Yeah, it kind of freaks me out a bit coming here. This is one of those towns that you see on the news and everyone says that nothing bad could ever happen there, and then you find out there’s a serial killer or a meth lab or something.” He shook his head and turned onto a side street.
“Pessimistic much?”
“It’s been my experience that places like this are ideal for hiding things. But it’s not my choice to live here, and the schools are good, I guess, and there aren’t any sex offenders.”
“How do you know there aren’t any sex offenders?”
“Because I checked. I also checked to make sure there weren’t any convicted criminals. Tate asked me to, but don’t mention anything about it. April doesn’t know.” Was it possible for something to be both creepy and sweet at the same time? Because that was. If he was that protective of his nieces, I couldn’t imagine how protective he’d be over his own children.
Our children. Whoa. That was a thought I was not ready to think. Not even close. Go away, baby thoughts! I did joke about having his ginger babies, but that was just for fun. I wasn’t serious about it . . .
“We’re here,” he said, pulling into the driveway of one of the houses. I had to be honest, it looked pretty much like all the others, except for the two pink bicycles in the yard, and the trampoline. Lucah turned Bluebird off and got out. And I started to panic.
The front door burst open and two little screaming girls emerged, hair flying behind them as they threw themselves at Lucah and he caught both of them, twirling around as they shrieked.
I got out and braced myself on the car for a minute as I walked around to join them. Lucah had tossed both girls down on the ground and was tickling them into submission.
“Hey, hey,” he said, pulling them up. I remembered that Gracie was four and Fiona was two. Gracie hadn’t gotten the red hair gene (her hair was dark), but Fiona had a mop of bright red curls that tumbled in her eyes. They stared up at me with wide eyes as if I was some sort of alien invader.
“This is my friend Rory. Can you say hello?” Two seconds ago they were screaming, but now it they’d swallowed their voices.
“Hi, it’s so nice to meet you,” I said, crouching down. Gracie sort of glared at me from under her dark bangs. I nearly gasped because her eyes were almost exactly like Lucah’s. Fiona was more curious and moved forward.
“Rory?” she said in her sweet little voice.
“Yup, this is Rory. Can you give her a hug?” Lucah said, pushing her forward. Fiona put her little arms around my neck and then she pulled back and smacked a kiss on my cheek.
“Rory,” she said, resting her head on my shoulder.
“Are you going to be a grump, or are you going to say hello?” Fiona was whispering my name in my ear and patting my back as a man who could only be Tate walked out of the house, followed by a woman with dark hair who wasn’t much taller than I was.
“Looks like Fi has a new friend,” Tate said. Yup. He was definitely a Blythe. Unlike Lucah and Ryder, however, his hair shaded toward blonde, and he wasn’t as tall or as bulky as Ryder. He also had glasses and a little bit more of a nerdy vibe. He leaned down and stroked Fiona’s hair.
“It’s nice to finally meet you, Rory. We’ve heard a lot about you.” People always say that when you meet them, and it always gave me a sense of dread. I had no idea what Lucah could have told them. Tate crouched down as well, and so did April. We were all on kid level.
“It’s nice to meet you,” I said putting out my hand and he shook it. April came over and whispered in Gracie’s ear.
“Hi Rory, so nice to meet you.” I shook hands with April as well, and Gracie was the last holdout.
“You know, Gracie girl, if you’re real nice to Rory, I bet she’ll let you play with her hair.” I smiled, like this prospect was exciting. In reality, imagining those chubby little fingers pulling at my hair was a bit horrifying.
“Hi,” Gracie finally said with a little wave.
“Hi, Gracie.” I waved back. “I brought you something. Do you want to see it?” The prospect of presents made her eyes light up.
“Go with Rory and see what she brought you,” April said, pushing Gracie toward me. Lucah picked Fiona up and Gracie took my hand and I opened the door of the car.
“I didn’t wrap it—” I started to say, but Gracie dove for the bags.
“Candy, candy, candy!”
Mayhem ensued. Gracie and Fiona both went for the bags, some of which weren’t for them, but for Sloane, and all four adults tried to get them under control without a meltdown, and I ended up apologizing a million times for bringing candy.
Oh, there were tears and carrying on and I was freaking out and wishing Lucah had talked me out of the candy idea.
Somehow, Tate and April got the two now-sobbing girls to give up most of the candy and only keep a small bag of jellybeans and gummy presidents each.
“They’ll forget about it in about ten minutes. Their memories are pretty short,” Lucah said in my ear. “Trust me.”
We all went toward the house and I prayed that I wouldn’t screw anything else up.
“I’m really very sorry about that,” I said as Lucah closed the door behind me.
“It’s not your fault, I assure you. Both of them are overdue for their naps, but they wanted to stay up and see Unkie Lu.” Unkie Lu? I gave him a look and he shrugged.
“It’s hard to say Uncle Lucah.”
The house was gorgeous, and it was clear whoever had decorated it liked the finer things. Or at least they had, but then children had taken over. The banister was covered in fingerprints and what looked like paint, there were toys and clothing items and more socks than I could count strewn about as if someone had taken them and thrown them into the air.
“Uh yeah. Sorry about the mess. It was clean five minutes ago,” April said sheepishly.
“No, no. Your house is lovely.”
“It used to be. But that’s what happens when these little monsters come along. They kind of take over your life and your space and your sanity.” April grinned at me. I laughed nervously. I hoped she was joking.
The sounds of crying stopped and Tate brought both the girls back out. To the left of the entry was the living room, and on the right was a formal dining room with a table covered in coloring books and stuffed animals.
“See? No permanent damage done. Can we get you something? Water? Glass of wine?” Dear God, could I use a glass of wine. But I didn’t want to look like a lush, so I asked for water with ice. Lucah had the same.