Anna tipped forward on wobbly legs and reached for him with sticky fingers. “Kiss,” she demanded.
Neil stared at the small hand as if it were a snare. “Right,” he muttered. “Well.”
He shifted closer and pressed a quick kiss to her hair.
Anna crowed with triumph. Finn beamed, then stuck out his cheek like a soldier receiving medals.
Neil hesitated, then pressed a kiss there, too.
It feltridiculous. It felt dangerous. It felt like something inside him was loosening a notch.
“Again,” Finn said, wicked with delight.
“Ye just had one,” Neil pointed out, struggling to keep an even tone.
“Aye,” Finn said, “but I was slow two times.”
Neil narrowed his eyes. “Were ye now?”
Finn nodded with the grave authority of a boy who had discovered a loophole and intended to live in it forever.
Neil tried not to smile, but he failed.
A maid snorted and masked it with a cough when he looked over at her. “Milk for the bairns, me Laird?” she ventured.
“Aye,” Neil replied, grateful for the distraction. “Give the lass the small cup, so she’d spill less.”
He did not even know if that was true. It sounded like something a father might say.
The maids moved faster after that, some with relief, some with curiosity. The kitchen felt less like a stage and more like a place where ordinary things happened.
Anna slapped both palms against the table and chanted, “Kiss, kiss,” as if the word itself were breakfast. Finn joined in, off-key and loud. Neil lifted a hand, unsure whether to surrender or to command silence.
Suddenly, the door banged against the wall.
“Where are the scoundrels who ran off without me?”
Kristen swept in, her breath quick and her hair mussed from sleep. The bright noise died down at once as she took in the sight before her. Neil standing rigid at the table’s edge, Anna clapping, Finn grinning, Maggie wagging her tail like a broom, steam lifting from a pot of oats.
Her mouth curved. The look Neil gave Anna, as if the child had asked him to rebuild the castle by noon, nearly made her laugh out loud.
“I see, ye didnae wait for me,” she scolded, warm as the morning sun.
Anna squealed and flung both arms up, while Finn launched himself across the small space. Kristen gathered them to her, one on each hip, then set them down and declared sternly, “Punishment for running: two apiece.”
She peppered kisses across their cheeks and temples, wet and noisy, until Anna hiccupped with giggles and Finn twisted like a fish trying to escape and then rushed back for more.
The maids melted into smiles, while Maggie shoved her nose into the tangle and received a quick kiss on the top of her head for her trouble, then wagged her tail as if she had been knighted.
“Three,” Finn bargained, his eyes shining.
“Two,” Kristen said, kissing the tip of his nose. “And a half.”
“Half?” he echoed, delighted.
She kissed the air near his cheek with an exaggerated smack. “Half.”
Anna shrieked, “Half!” as if she understood.
