Page 95 of Returning to Everton

“You, come here and kiss me,” she demands, and I feel like I got the short end of this stick.

Declan doesn’t have to be told twice. He strolls on over, pulls her into him and plants a big kiss on her. Violet sees his dramatic kiss and giggles. He pulls back and turns to look at Violet.

“What’s so funny little girl?” he mock scowls at her and she just giggles some more.

“You are!” she exclaims.

“What’s the matter? You don’t like the way I kiss your mom?” he asks.

“That’s not how you normally kiss her silly,” she says, then her eyes go wide when she realizes she probably shouldn’t have said that.

“Oh? Do you see me kiss her often then?” Declan asks.

“Ummm... No?” Violet squeaks and we all laugh.

“Come here,” he beckons her. “You’re not in trouble Violet, don’t worry.” She finally walks over and looks up at him. “How do you feel about me kissin’ your mum?'' he asks her, likely unintentionally using the Irish way to say mom.

“I don’t know...it makes her happy, so I like it. I just thought that kiss was funny,” she explains.

“It was funny wasn’t it?” She smiles and nods at him. “Do you think your mum likes my silly kisses or my regular kisses?”

“I think she likes both. It just depends on her mood. She’s like that with a lot of things you know. Sometimes she wants to laugh, so your silly kisses would be good. Other times she wants to be serious, so maybe your regular kisses would be better,” she clarifies.

“Alright, you two, enough talk about kissing. Let’s eat!” Rowen declares.

We all sit around the table and Rowen dishes out the manicotti while I make bowls of salad. Rowen finally gets her payback, when everyone takes their first bite, we all moan because it tastes so good.

“Oh my god, this is so good,” Ayden groans. “If you can cook like this, why haven’t you been cooking more often?” he complains and everyone laughs but also nod their head in agreement.

“Hey don’t blame me. Every time I try to do something around here, one of you macho men steps in and stops me,” she reminds us.

“Well, if this is what we’ve been missing out on by being gentlemen, I’ll just have to put an end to that,” Ayden jokes.

After we devour Rowe’s delicious dinner, the kids go out to the playhouse and we get settled in the living room for our serious conversation.

“Okay, Hud, you called this meeting, let’s get on with it already,” Rowen sighs as she curls up into Ayden’s side. I wonder how he got lucky enough to be her cushion tonight.

“Well, first, I checked the tea for the potion as soon as I got home last night. Unfortunately, the potion wasn’t in it. So, I spent all night checking that tin for any sign of magic. I came up empty. I don’t know if he kept the potion somewhere else, or if he was out of it, or what, but it’s not here,” I tell them the bad news.

Everyone’s shoulders sag at that. “Damn it. I should have known it wouldn’t be that fucking easy!” Nate lashes out. I knew he’d be the most upset about this news. He wants to find this person and rain hell on them. He’s not the only one, when we figure out who did this, they’re gonna wish they were never born.

“So, what do we do now?” Rowe murmurs dejectedly.

“Hey, it’s okay. We’ll figure it out,” Ayden reassures her and squeezes her close to him.

“For now, we concentrate on getting you in to see the doctor. I want to make sure this spell hasn’t caused any lasting damage,” I stress gingerly. It’s the most important thing to me right now, but I don’t want to scare her unnecessarily. “I called as soon as they opened this morning and you have an appointment for Wednesday at 9 am.”

She nods her head slowly. “Okay. You’re coming with me right Hud?” she asks and there’s a quiver to her voice. She’s trying to hide how scared she is. It’s not working, but she’s trying.

I walk over to her and squat down in front of her. “You couldn’t keep me away, Sugar. I will be there for youalways,” I vow. “I know it’s a ways away, and that gives you a lot of time to overthink it, but we’ll try to keep you distracted okay?”

That perks the guys up. “Did you say keep her distracted? I can do that!” Ayden says eagerly. “See.” He picks Rowen up and sets her in his lap then smirks at her surprised expression before he kisses her.

I'd say he does a pretty good job of distracting her because she wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him deeper as she grinds down on him. We let them kiss for a few minutes, keeping an eye out for the kids. When Declan sees them coming, he coughs, and Rowen pulls back and looks around.

“Kids are coming,a mhuirnín,” he tells her gently. She climbs off Ayden and sits back in her spot before they get to the living room.

“Mommy, can we have some ice cream?” Violet begs her mother.

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