“A lot of those books are actually my father's. He enjoys a good book,” I tell her, and get the pleasure of watching her eyes go wide.
Huh.
“I think a few might be Vince’s, too. He’s been known to spend some time in the library.”
I watch her reaction carefully, trying to see if she has any kind of pull to Vince the way Father suggested, but if she does, she hides it well.
I might not love the idea of him being a part of what we have, but the more I think about what my father said, the more I wonder if perhaps I’m being too harsh.
Vince is like a second father to me, so what’s the difference between sharing with him and my actual father?
To be honest, there isn’t much, only the unknown. I’ve never shared with him before, and the idea of him trying to steal her from us made me see red.
No, if she is interested, he’s going to have to agree to this the same way the rest of us have.
All or nothing, because I don’t care if he’s like a father to me or not; if he tries to take her, I’ll kill him or die trying. In this case, considering I’m pretty sure he can take me.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Kat asks, pulling me from my thoughts, and I notice her cheeks are pink, her eyes downcast.
She’s so fucking perfect.
“Nothing, Kitten,” I say, fishing my phone from my pocket and pulling up the Amazon app. “Throw some books in the cart.” I pass her my phone, and she opens her mouth, looking stunned, but no words come out.
“No! Mommy’s going to take me to the bookstore!” Addy says, looking at Kat with those big pleading eyes that get her anything she wants.
Kat drops to the ground, her hands on Addy’s shoulders so that she’s looking in her eyes.
“I said we can go to the bookstore soon. That doesn’t mean today. Remember, Mommy has a headache, so how about we just order some for now and start with those?” She’s so patient and understanding, without falling prey to her the way we always do.
Addy looks like she wants to argue, but eventually she nods, and Kat hugs her.
Kat had agreed to stay home as often as possible for the next few weeks while Vince looked for Carter.
At first, I thought it would be a struggle. Kat is always on the move, going places and doing things. But since that day, things have felt a little different. I don’t think we needed to ask her to stay home at all; she would have just done it.
“How about we go downstairs and find something for lunch and look at some books?” Kat suggests, and that perks Addy right up. She loves being in the kitchen with Kat, something I never realized she was lacking with previous nannies.
But then, Kat isn’t just a nanny; she really is like her mother.
Addy is bounding down the steps, her hand on the railing as she hums a song to herself in her own little world.
I’m pretty sure it’s the song from that movie where the sister almost freezes the other to death, but I can’t be sure. I’m not great with the princesses, that's all, Oli.
I wonder if maybe they’ve spent some time together yet.
“Here,” Kat says, holding my phone back out to me.
Instead of taking it, I turn and follow Addy down the stairs.
“Desmond,” she shouts after me, and I hear her follow behind me.
“Yes, Kitten.”
“Take your phone.”
“But you haven’t ordered any books yet.” That gets Addy’s attention, and she stops at the bottom of the stairs to look back up at us. I make it to her a second later, and Kat is only a few steps behind me.
“I can order them just fine on my phone,” she says with a huff, again trying to hand me my phone back.
