Page 22 of Carpenter's Christmas Bride

“You have a trash bag on your foot,” a little voice said before Aidan could reply.

Kenzie glanced down at a little boy peeking out from behind Aidan’s other side. He had big, soft cheeks and a merry expression in his brown eyes. A little dark hair escaped his red woolen hat.

“How did it get on there?” the boy asked, his slightly husky voice making her smile. “Is it stuck? You have sticks.”

She lowered herself as much as she could with the boot and crutches.

“I hurt my leg,” she told him. “So my doctors put a special cast on it, and gave me these crutches to help me walk. But the cast can’t get wet, so I tied a trash bag on it. But I still have to be careful.”

“You can’t step in puddles,” the boy pointed out wisely.

“That’s right,” she told him.

“I have my rain boots,” he told her proudly, kicking one black and yellow boot up in the air a little. “They’re Batman. I can step in puddles.”

“Is Batman your favorite superhero?” she asked.

He nodded and put his foot back down, running quickly in place with a fierce expression, as if to show her how fast he was in his boots.

“Amazing,” she said softly.

His little chest puffed up.

“Who are you anyway?” he asked.

“Buddy,” Aidan said gently. “Ask nicely please.”

“Sorry,” the boy said, looking sad. “I’m Walt. What’s your name?”

“I’m Kenzie,” she told him with a smile, to let him know it was okay.

“That’s a funny name,” he said, smiling back.

“It’s short for MacKenzie,” she told him before Aidan could reprimand him again. “That was my grandma’s last name before she got married. What is Walt short for?”

“It’s short for Walton Emerson Webb,” he announced happily.

“Oh, that’s a great name,” she told him. “And it definitely sounds like you could grow up to be a superhero. Like Clark Kent or Bruce Wayne—Walt Webb.”

Walt laughed, his chubby cheeks making his eyes crinkle up. The sight of it warmed her heart.

“That’s my dad,” Walt told her, pointing up at Aidan. “Mr. Webb.”

“Oh, wow,” she said, straightening up.

She was honestly stunned. It would have made a lot more sense if he’d said Aidan was his uncle or something. But she hadn’t even thought that Aidan was married. Hadn’t he just gone on a date with Mal?

“We already know each other, buddy,” Aidan told him. “We were in school together, so Kenzie calls me Aidan.”

“Was she good in school?” Walt asked immediately.

“We didn’t have any classes together,” Aidan told him. “But she was in the talent show as a juggling clown. She was not good at the juggling part.”

Kenzie laughed. He wasn’t wrong.

“That’s not very nice,” Walt told his father sternly.

“You’re right,” Aidan said, turning his gaze to Kenzie. “She wasn’t very good at juggling, but she was a super funny clown.”

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