Page 8 of Kiss Across the Universe
“About five minutes ago,” Alannah replied.
“Bathroom emergency,” Jesse explained. “Thanks, Kit.” She picked India up and carried her the last few feet of the passage.
Alannah moved out of the way as Jesse lifted India over the gate that closed off the reading nook from the stairs and the passage and then stepped over the gate herself.
Kit McDonald got to his feet with great care, keeping his forearm under Christian’s frantic grip.
Christian wobbled, then sat with a plopping motion and grinned up at Kit, showing several small teeth. Kit ruffled his hair, then handed the second stuffie to Maggie. Maggie dropped the parrot and grabbed the blue jay, looking pleased. “Birdie.”
“Yes, birdie,” Kit told her. He straightened. “No problems at all,” he told Jesse.
Jesse put India on her feet and groaned as she lowered herself to the carpet. “If I let them go wild until dinner, they’ll eat well, then sleep like the dead.”
Kit didn’t head for the gate. He considered Jesse. “Would you like me to stay?”
Jesse shook her head, with a smile. “I got this. They’re contained, here, so I don’t have to keep counting heads. Thanks, Kit. Really.” She glanced at Alannah. “He helped me change diapers. Can you believe it?”
“No,” Alannah said flatly, glancing at Kit. Did he have much younger siblings? A child of his own…?
He didn’t look at her. He was watching one of the triplets try to haul themselves to their feet using the sofa.
“And the diapers stayed on, afterwards, too,” Jesse added, with a wider smile. Her eyes danced.
Kit moved carefully over to the gate and stepped over it easily. Alannah hadn’t noticed how long his legs were, before. The jeans seemed to emphasize them, unlike the brown uniform trousers she was used to seeing.
As she was standing on the other side of the small landing, he ended up standing in front of her and she registered exactly how tall he was. She was tall. Tall enough that many men were shorter than her. But not Kit.
His black eyed gaze met hers.
Alannah shifted the backpack on her shoulder, and her coat. “I’m dropping this off in my room.”
He nodded, moved over to the stairs and descended them.
Alannah blinked and glanced at Jesse.
Jesse didn’t pretend she hadn’t been watching. She shrugged.
Alannah moved down the passage to her old room, thrust the door open and nearly tossed her coat and pack onto the bed. The room was generously proportioned for a secondary bedroom, for the house had been designed by her parents from the ground up. The bed wasn’t a narrow child’s bed, either. It was a three-quarter width bed, long enough that she could stretch out and not have her feet hang over the end.
She had appreciated that as she had grown taller.
Alannah glanced at her image in the dresser mirror, an automatic check, pulled her sweater into place, then turned and hurried downstairs. She waved at Jesse as she passed.
Jesse didn’t see it. She was busy with the kids.
Alannah slowed her pace when she saw that Kit McDonald was standing at the foot of the stairs. She wondered if he was waiting for her, for he was looking toward the kitchen, which made her uncertain. In all the times he had ever visited this house when she had been here, he’d never waited to speak to her before.
She moved down to the bottom step and Kit looked at her. His features didn’t shift from the stoical non-expression that was all she had ever seen on him.
Even standing on a step, her head only came up to close to even with his.
“Do you have children?” The question popped out of her without consideration.
Kit’s lips thinned a little. His black eyes considered her for a long moment. “Does it matter?”
Alannah thought that was a fair question, considering how rude hers had been. “Most fathers can’t help but boast about their perfect children. As you’re not pulling out photos to show me, I’m going to guess you’re not one.”
He didn’t quite shrug, but she saw his shoulders shift. “You’re not going to answer my question, then.”
