“Okay,” she said with her lip trembling. A fat tear rolled down her cheek.
She turned her big brown eyes on Antonio, and he heard himself say, “She can come with me.” He didn’t care about the cleaning he’d planned to do, washing his car and truck, or mowing the lawn. He couldn’t disappoint his niece. Some of his friends and co-workers in New York had nieces, nephews, and grandchildren who loathed spending time with them. Antonio was blessed that even though he’d rarely seen Noelle for the first four years of her life, she knew him, loved him, and wanted to spend time with him. He couldn’t—wouldn’t—deny her. Everything else could wait.
April shook her head. “Your uncle is such a big softie. Come on, let’s put your shoes on. And you arenotspending the night this time, little missy,” she added as she ushered Noelle to her room.
“I cannot wait until you have your own. We’ll see how fast you become immune. Just pitiful,” Nate said.
Antonio merely smiled. “I’ll bring her back in a couple of hours. We may go to the park and get ice cream.”
“You have her spoiled rotten, Tony.”
He clapped Nate on the shoulder. “That’s what favorite uncles do.”
Nate shrugged the hand off his shoulder and muttered something about having irritating little brothers as he went to get the car seat.
After getting Noelle strapped in her seat a few minutes later, Antonio drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. He wanted to invite Natasha to go with them.
“Let’sgoooo, Uncle Tony,” Noelle called from the back seat.
“In just a moment. I’m going to call a friend to see if she wants to hang out with us.” Noelle clapped, and he smiled. Because Natasha’s greetings weren’t always kid friendly, he made the call before starting the car, so it wouldn’t come through the speakers.
“Well, hello, sexy,” Natasha said when she answered.
His point exactly. “Hey, baby. Are you busy right now? I wanted to invite you to hang out with Noelle and me for a couple of hours. She made me another picture, and I have to pick out another frame.”
“Aw, she’s such a sweetheart. Actually, I’m free, and I’d love to go with you two.”
“Great. I’ll see you in a few minutes.” Ending the call, he pulled off. He’d downloaded the soundtrack toEncantoand started the music. Noelle’s happy screams filled the interior of the car, and she immediately started singing. He had no idea how she memorized so many of the words to each song, but she belted them out like she was part of the cast.
Antonio paused the music when he arrived at Natasha’s house. “We’ll start it again in a minute.”
“Okay.”
As soon as he stepped out of the car, Natasha came out and rushed down the stairs.
“Hey.” Natasha leaned up and gave him a short kiss. “I didn’t want you to have to take Noelle out and then have to go through all that trouble strapping her back in.”
“Hey, baby. Thanks. I’m still working on getting her in and out in less than fifteen minutes.” He closed the door behind her, rounded the fender, and slid behind the wheel. “Noelle, do you remember Ms. Baldwin?”
“Hi, Noelle,” Natasha said.
“Hi. You came to dinner at Gramma’s house.”
She shifted in the seat so she could see in the back. “I sure did. You have a good memory.”
“I go to school.”
Noelle proceeded to give Natasha the same rundown of her activities she’d given Antonio, and he smiled. Watching Natasha interact with Noelle told him she’d be a wonderful mother. He had his two favorite girls, and life couldn’t get any sweeter.
Natasha enjoyed seeing Antonio with his niece as they searched for the perfect picture frame. The two couldn’t be closer, and he displayed the patience of a saint as they picked up and discarded frame after frame.
“Do you like it?” Noelle asked, holding up a dark-blue frame.
“I think this matches perfectly, Noelle.” The picture had been done on light-blue construction paper.
The little girl beamed, then said to Antonio, “This one.”
Antonio smiled and eased it from her hands. “Your picture is going to look great in here. I have to go pay for it.” He took her hand and started toward the cash registers.
