“What's all this?” I ask.
“Oh, my goodness, I can’t believe you picked them up. Your clothes are going to be filthy,” she giggles at me, scooping Kira out of my grip.
“What do you mean?” I ask, looking down at my black suit…which is now covered in flour and something…sticky. “Oh,” I chuckle. Kelsey wiggles, so I set her down, and she bolts towards a chair that’s been pushed against the kitchen counter, allowing both twins to stand on it and reach the mixing bowls.
“They have been helping me make you dinner,” Kayla grins at me.
She stands on her tiptoes and kisses me softly on the cheek. My hand rests briefly on the curve of her slender waist.
“It smells incredible. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until I walked in here,” I muse.
“You look exhausted.” She narrows her eyes, touching my face again.
Her tenderness has not gone unnoticed. And her effort here, to take care of me in some way, makes my heart swell with warmth.
“No, I had a long day, but coming home to this is very quickly reenergizing me."
She presses her lips together nervously. “Good, that’s good, because your brother and sister are here for dinner, too,” she grins.
“The whole family?” I ask with clear excitement in my voice.
“Everyone. All talking at once while the twins most likely start a third food fight of the day, and things probably get out of hand,” she muses.
“It sounds like the most perfect afternoon,” I chuckle. I can’t resist as I pull her closer and kiss her gently on the lips.
She doesn’t pull away, and I don’t push my luck by asking for more than that.
“You have twenty minutes to freshen up if you want to, before dinner is ready,” she tells me.
“I’m going to jump in the shower quickly. I want to wash the day off and restart it with my family,” I say.
When I come back downstairs fifteen minutes later, my brother greets me with a rowdy hello and a slap on the back. “Josiah, I need to find myself a wife who can cook as well as Kayla!” he declares.
“And me!” Kira demands. “I can marry you.”
“I don’t know. You’re a bit short for me?” Isaak says thoughtfully as he scoops Kira into his arms. “I was hoping for someone taller, you know. How will you even reach the things in the kitchen?”
“I stand on a chair!” she scoffs, as though this is obvious.
I laugh, shaking my head as I go through to the living room to find my sister.
“Hey kiddo, what are you up to?” I ask, pulling her into a one-armed hug.
“I’ve been relaxing. They said I didn’t need to do any work in the kitchen, as it was their turn to wow me for a change,” she smiles, holding up her glass of wine.
“Mm, well, tonight we shall see if they have any chance of cooking as well as you,” I smirk.
Behind me, Isaak coughs loudly.
Alara glares at him. “And you. You don’t need a wife who can cook. I can cook for you any time,” she scolds him.
“Yeah, sure, I know, I know,” he stammers. "I was just saying. You know. Like a wife. I just want to find a nice wife one day,” he trips over his own words, and I laugh harder.
The twins rush in and crash into Alara. Nothing they do is ever in slow motion.
She laughs and pretends to be knocked to the floor, and they leap into her, wrestling her like they're trying to pin her down.
I lean close to Isaak. “You are going to have to tell her the truth about her cooking one day,” I whisper.
