Page 123 of Stolen Fate

“Why can’t I have a brother and sister?”

Emilia laughed at that, though she tried to hide it behind her hand.

“Oh, well,” I begin, not really sure how to answer him. And Emilia wasn’t helping. Merriment danced behind her eyes, and I knew she wouldn’t help with this. “You see, you can’t have a brother or sister until your dad finds someone he wants to marry.”

He nodded seriously. “How does Daddy find someone to marry?”

“Well, he would have to love her.”

“But how would he know he loves her?”

I opened my mouth and I closed it. How did I go about explaining love to a five-year-old?

Emilia chimed in then. “When he laughs with her. When he always talks about her. And when he kisses her because he wants to.”

Elliot scrunched his face up in disgust. “Kissing is gross.”

“It is, huh?” I asked in amusement, shooting Emilia a grateful look.

“Yeah. I won’t ever kiss anyone. But Evelyn, guess what?”

“What?”

“Charlie wants me to kiss her, but I said no way, because that’s gross, and now she’s mad at me.”

Emilia’s shoulders shook with laughter and she buried her face into her knees.

“Well, you don’t have to kiss Charlie if you don’t want to. And you never have to do anything you don’t want to do. It’s your decision, understand?” Briefly, I wondered if Jace had ever given Elliot a talk about body autonomy and consent. I always thought this was an important thing to talk to children about. It lets them know that their body was their body, and no one should ever be able to touch them without their consent, even if it was just hugging.

He nodded, and I smiled at him. “But perhaps you shouldn’t call Charlie gross.”

“But I didn’t call Charlie gross. I called kissing her gross,” he said, exaggerating the last word out.

I bit my lip to keep from laughing. Emilia wasn’t doing better than me; she covered her hand over her mouth and pretended to cough to hide the laugh. I shot her a look of admonishment, and at least she had the good grace to look a bit chastised.

“Yes, but she might not see it that way. You could have hurt her feelings when you said it like that. Next time, just tell her you don’t want a kiss. Okay?”

“Okay,” he said, looking down. I was happy to see any shyness he had with Emilia was gone. His expression brightened and he looked up to me. “Does that mean Daddy will marry you?”

“What?” I asked with surprise. Emilia looked up sharply when Elliot asked the question, and I didn’t like the expression on her face then. “Why do you think that?” I asked.

“Yes, Elliot. Why do you think that?” Emilia asked.

“Because you and Daddy always laugh together, and I saw Daddy kiss your cheek the other time,” he said, placing his hand on my cheek as if to show me exactly where Jace had kissed me. But I didn’t remember Jace kissing me on the cheek in front of Elliot. I didn’t think Jace had ever kissed me, on the cheek or any other places, in front of Elliot.

We were always so careful.

“Yes, remember. When I was sitting on your lap and you were sitting on Daddy’s lap. He kissed your cheek.”

“Oh, God,” Emilia and I said at the same time, but in completely different tones. Emilia sounded way too excited over the prospect that I was dating my boss, and I didn’t know why she thought that was a good thing, even if I had admitted to myself that being with Jace like that wasn’t a problem.

“Evelyn, why didn’t you tell me?”

I shook my head. “Not now.”

We had always been so careful. I couldn’t believe Elliot saw that. I had thought he was playing with his bear and wasn’t paying attention to us. And now, I didn’t know how to explain my relationship with Jace to him.

I didn’t even know where my relationship with Jace was going, let alone think about marriage at this time. And I didn’t want Elliot to think that because Jace had kissed me that we were going to get married, when there was a big chance that it might not happen.

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