“No, absolutely not. She should have exactly what she wants. What do you like, Kelsey?” he asks.
“Space,” she says.
“Space?” he knits his brows and looks at me.
I sigh softly and nudge her. “Tell Josiah what you like, Kels,” I encourage her.
“Space with stars and planets and…” she pauses, searching for the word.
“Galaxies,” I help her.
Josiah smiles, “Then that is what you shall have,” he declares. “In the meantime, you two explore the room. I am going to show your mom to her room…it’s right next door. Are you going to be okay in here?” he asks.
“Yes!” Kira shouts.
“Yes,” Kelsey nods shyly.
He reaches out and touches Kelsey’s shoulder. “Before you go to bed tonight, you will be smiling, I promise. Your first night here won’t be ruined with pink bedding,” he winks at her, enticing a smile from her.
“Thank you,” she whispers quietly.
“Kelsey, look!” Kira yelps, pulling toys from the shelves.
Josiah places his hand on my lower back to steer me from the room. I quickly step away from his touch as currents of electricity shoot up my spine and spread through my body.
He doesn’t seem to notice that I blatantly tried to dodge him, or he’s pretending not to care.
My bedroom is as big as the twins' room. It has elements of Japanese design, with silk bedding that has pearl-colored dragons embroidered into the fabric. There are white orchids and a Chinese Elm bonsai on the dressing table. The place is exquisite.
“I remember how fond you are of those,” he says quietly as I gently touch the leaves of the bonsai. “And the orchids,” he adds.
I bite my lower lip, not wanting to thank him. Why should I show gratitude when I’ve practically been taken prisoner?
“Dinner is at six,” he says firmly.
I nod without turning to look at him, because I feel like I’m about to cry, and I would hate for him to see that.
I hear him walk away. His footsteps fade down the hallway.
From the next room, I hear the girls giggling and playing.
Is this really real?I ask myself for the tenth time today.
***
I wish I could skip dinner, but I’m not going to poke the bear that is Josiah. The longer I can keep him playing nice in this weird situation, the better things will be.
The girls run past me to the dining room, having already explored most of this wing of the mansion. “Girls, don’t run in the house,” I call after them.
“It’s okay. This is their home. They can run, cartwheel, climb the walls…” he says, arriving behind me and making me jump.
“Oh, my word, Josiah, don’t sneak up on me like that,” I huff.
“I was hardly sneaking,” he muses.
I throw him a cold glare, then remind myself to play nice and quickly fix my face.
He steps aside to let me walk into the dining room first. Then, to my surprise, he follows me and pulls my chair out for me.
