“One about donkeys. Did you know their hooves grow really big and they can’t walk and if they walk anyway, it leads to malformations in their legs?!”
“I did know that, baby,” I admitted on a sigh.
When Conor plunked his butt on the coffee table, we shared a look. “You gave all your fund to the donkeys?”
“Well, they wouldn’t take cash, but I didn’t think you’d mind if I took one of your credit cards?—”
“How the heck did you get that?” I demanded.
“Oh, well, Dad left his wallet on that tray in your bedroom. I put the money I earned in his wallet. I promise!”
“You’re not supposed to touch our credit cards.” Not after thelasttime—I’d been stepping on Legos for months because, and I quote, “Benji needed them.” “Why didn’t you come and talk to me first?”
“Because you were muttering about making the best cracker in the universe and the tool in your hand was smoking. I didn’t want to distract you.”
“Dad was in the gym.”
“I yelled his name but he didn’t answer.”
“How loud did you yell?”
“Plenty loud enough,” was her quick retort.
A smirk creased Conor’s lips. “Do we agree that you don’t use our cards again, Kat?”
“Of course.” Her gaze cut to me. “But what if the donkeys need more cash? It’s Christmas, Mom. Mary used a donkey. Everyone knows that. People should be nice to them.”
“People should be nice toallanimals, Kat.”
“I only had so much money.” Her lips pursed. “You’re rich, Daddy. You already said so.”
A soft sigh escaped me. “Is that why you wanted to start a ‘no kiss’ jar?”
“You two are always kissing. I’d be rich really fast. Then all the animals could be safe and have pedicures and stuff.”
“Not sure that’s what they— Never mind.” Conor ran a hand through his hair. Honestly, he never looked sexier to me than when he was troubleshooting our kids’ problems. “But we can figure something out, Kat. They do those programs where you can adopt animals.”
“Oh, neat! How many can I adopt?!”
I’d have laughed if he hadn’t walked straight into that one.
“Yeah, Conor, how many can we adopt?”
His eyes widened to borderline comical levels. “Ummmm…”
It’s not like I could be mad at this. My kid, the cheeky monster, had given all her money away to some donkeys. Her heart was so fucking big that the idea of her growing up and someone hurting her messed with my head.
I tugged her into a tighter hug, just because I could and just because hugs with Mom would eventually stop beingcool, and I mumbled, “We’re open to negotiations.”
“You are?” Kat squeezed me back. “Yaay!”
The rest of the evening involved us looking into which animals Kat could adopt, all while we huddled into first Benji’s room and then Kat’s to decorate their personal Christmas trees.
By bedtime, their trees were up, we’d played in the pool for a half-hour, Kat’s voice was hoarse from talking, Benji had exhausted his encyclopedic knowledge on all things donkeys—why the kid knew so much about donkeys, I had no clue—and I could tell from Conor’s expression that in our near future, the O’Donnellys would be opening an animal sanctuary in some shape or form.
Undoubtedly, it’d be dismissed as a tax write-off that had great optics, but there was no way the heartbreak in my man’s eyes as we explored animal charities had anything to do with good PR and tax management.
The apartment was always quiet when Katina and Niall fell asleep. Benji had a quieter disposition, so the volume didn’t shift that much around him and, ironically, he usually contained Kat’s chaos. Just like tonight. Instead of her talkingourears off, she’d talkedhisoff, and he’d come up with a barrage of info that had fed her ideas.
