Page 74 of Royally Drawn

I slapped him on the arm. I said in French, “We’re in achurch!”

“Rid-Rid!”

I felt a leg grab my dress, then a howling child trying to climb up it. The children called me Rid-Rid because saying Ingrid was hard. I’d fallen in love with the moniker, and now I was Aunt Rid-Rid. The day they stopped calling me that would be the saddest day in history.

I picked up the four-year-old sobbing into my skirts. It was Karolina, the second of my nieces. Her much taller sister, Linnea, stormed over. Her six-year-old face showed rage. They rowed like professional wrestlers at times—much like I assumed Alex and Asti had as young girls. Linnea usually tortured Karolina, who had recently learned to throw her weight around. Linnea looked so like her father and had gotten his height. Karolina was more compact and an easy target. However, she would let her older sister have it when provoked to the edge.

“She stole my barrette!” Linnea said in French. “And I want it back!”

“I didn’t steal it,” Karolina sobbed. “I lost it.”

“It is thesamething!”

“Linnea Karolina, lower your voice immediately!” Rick called from behind us.

She ignored her pleading father. The child attendants plagued this rehearsal. I worried we Neandians may never get invited back. Then, something extraordinary happened.

Keir bent down and said in French, “What’s your name?”

“Linny,” she said, surprised. “And you are?”

“I’m Keir, a friend of your auntie’s. Why don’t you find your Papa and look for the barrette?”

“Because I tried!”

“What if Kari helped you?” I asked. “And you asked Papa to help you?”

“He wouldn’t.”

“I bet he would,” Keir said in English. “And I bet he’s good at finding stuff. Dads are good like that.”

“Okay,” she relented. “Be quick, Kari!”

The girls left.

“Rid-Rid?” Keir chuckled.

“My favourite name. I love them to bits.”

“With that sort of commanding presence and backtalk, she’s going to be a hell of a monarch,” Keir snickered.

“She’s so clever. It makes it worse.”

“It’s okay. Clever, snarky women make the best leaders. Better yet, if they are also fearless.”

I blushed.

“They’re cute, Ingrid. I can tell they adore you—not that I am surprised. Aunts are wonderful to have.”

“You’re good with kids, you know that?” I asked. “I fully expected Linnea to lose it on you. I think you surprised her by speaking in French.”

“I tried. I saw Rick drowning.”

“He’s good with them. But it’s a bit much when he has them all at once. And Alexandra was a total wreck this morning.”

“Oh, that’s no good,” Keir said. “Why?”

“Her back and hips are done-zo. I listened to the two of them arguing, which ended with her shouting at him that he better book a vasectomy.”

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