Page 15 of The Sheikh and the Single Mom

“Oh.” Rashad blinked at the page, which did indeed show a panda dressed in a beautiful princess gown with a high collar and intricate embroidery. “Thank you.”

He spent several minutes shading in the princess, and when he looked up, he saw that Miles had colored all down his little arm with a blue marker. Rashad’s eyes widened as he began to worry about chemicals in the marker liquid.

“Oh, no, Miles; we should wash that off.”

“Mommy lets us color on our arms,” Miles said, though he wore a guilty expression that undermined his confident statement.

“I sincerely doubt that.”

“What does si-cerely mean?” Miles asked.

“It means honestly.”

“Oh.” Miles looked down at his arms. “I guess I wasn’t being si-cerely.”

Rashad almost laughed at the adorable phrase but held back. “All right. Come on, Miles. Let’s get you washed up.”

“All right.”

“Kate, come with us.”

“I can stay here and color.” Kate stuck out her lip. Rashad knew he was probably being silly, but it seemed important that they stay together.

“No, we’ll all go. Come on.” They walked to the bathroom, where Rashad helped Miles wash his hands and arm. Then they returned to the deck, and Kate looked up at him with those big blue eyes.

“I’m hungry.”

“You had breakfast ninety minutes ago.”

“Yeah,” Miles chimed in. “It’s snack time. I like blub-blub crackers.”

“What are blub-blub crackers?” Rashad asked.

“You know, blub-blub.” Miles made a fish face and mimed swimming with his arms.

“Oh, goldfish crackers. I’m not sure if I have them. Let’s check in the kitchen.”

Rashad didn’t have goldfish crackers, but within a few minutes he got the twins set up with a clementine each and several rosemary crackers to share. He sat across from them while they ate, already feeling tired. A glance at his watch showed that he’d only been looking after the kids on his own for about an hour, yet he was already out of ideas for how to entertain them. Rashad’s respect for parents, especially single parents like Nina, was growing by the minute.

The rest of the morning passed in several more snacks, a game of Red Light, Green Light on the main deck, more coloring, and a dramatic reading of several of the picture books the kids had brought. Despite his tiredness, Rashad found that he wasenjoying spending time with the twins. They were sincere and playful in a way that adults just weren’t.

A little after twelve, when he was trying to decide what to do about lunch, Rashad heard footsteps in the hall behind him. He looked up from the panda princess he was coloring (the kids had been through a half dozen pictures each, but he wanted to do his best work on his coloring) and spotted Nina in the doorway, smiling at him and the twins.

“Hey,” she said. She looked much better than before — most of the color had returned to her cheeks, and she was smiling. She had pulled her hair back in a braid that hung over her shoulder and was dressed in a white blouse and a blue flared skirt that ended just below her knees.

“Mommy!” In unison, Kate and Miles threw down their crayons and ran to their mother. She scooped them into her arms, planting kisses on their small heads. With one twin balanced on each hip, she surveyed them.

“How are you?” she asked.

“Good!” Miles snuggled into her. “We drived the boat.”

“Wow, youdrovethe boat? That’s so cool!”

“Yeah, and we colored,” Kate added. “Your friend is nice.”

Rashad smiled at the little trio. It was clear that the twins loved their mother and that she felt the same way about them. As soon as they spotted Nina, both kids had lit up like a movie star had just walked into the room or their favorite cartoon character had come alive. Rashad didn’t remember if his relationship with his parents had ever been like that, though he suspected it hadn’t.He was glad that these kids would only ever experience love from their mother.

Rashad was going to have to forget how great a mother Nina was and how much her kids relied on her before they sat down for their business meeting.

---