She places her small hand in his and shakes vigorously, prompting a chuckle from him. “That is a firm grip.”
“Is this all your whole house?” Kira asks.
“It is my house, yes,” he replies, standing up again.
“Do you live here with your mama and your daddy and all of your friends?” she asks.
“No, it’s just me.”
She looks horrified and startled. “But it’s too big! Aren’t you scared all by yourself at nighttime?”
He grins. “Well, now I have you and your sister and your mom to live with me, so I don’t have to be scared anymore,” he says.
“And Stella. Stella can check under your bed for monsters. She chases them away with her flashlight.”
“That’s very good to know,” he says, nodding.
It’s so strange to watch them interacting. It’s like I am standing outside myself and observing a scene from a movie or reading a page from a book. It’s disorienting to know that this man is their father, that he’s interacting with Kira, fully aware of who he is to her.
“Shall we show them their room?” he asks, looking at me.
I let out a heavy sigh of relief.
“Yes, I’m sure they're excited to see it.”
As we walk through the mansion, Kelsey holds my hand, and Kira skips ahead, asking questions about everything. Theplace is insane. It’s massive. It’s luxurious. It’s covered in security. I want to ask him why he needs so many security guards, but I don’t want to sound ignorant. I imagine a man as rich as him must get kidnapping threats. Something along those lines. But I realize something I never knew about him before—he’s not just rich. He’s the type of rich that even my analytical mind can’t seem to comprehend.
“I’ve put them both in the same room. But if they would prefer, they can each have their own?” he asks quietly, walking close to me.
“They would be better sharing a room, thank you.”
“Monsters under the bed?” he whispers, grinning. My heart stutters when I see that grin. It shouldn’t, but it does. And I hate that it does.
I nod. “Exactly. And this is all daunting and new for them. I’d rather keep it as smooth and safe as possible and give them plenty of time to adjust in their own way,” I say, trying to emphasize the idea that he shouldn’t spring any wild revelations on them.
“Their room is right next to yours,” he informs me, pushing open the door to the girls' bedroom.
The room is bigger than the apartment we just moved out of, and he’s taken the time to set it up especially for them. The shelves are stuffed full of toys and games. Their beds are done up in pink and blue with mermaid bedding. There are fairy lights hanging around the four-poster columns.
Kira screams in delight and runs over the shaggy purple floor, leaps onto her bed, and immediately starts jumping up and down.
“Kira,” I scold her. “We don’t jump on the bed, sweetheart.”
“This really is a castle!” she yelps in excitement.
Kelsey pulls her mouth tight.
I gently push her towards her bed. “Do you want to go and see?”
“It’s purple,” she whispers.
“I know, sweetie, but you…”
“You don’t like purple?” Josiah interrupts.
Kelsey presses her lips together and shakes her head.
“She'll get used to it,” I try to say.
