Page 87 of Stolen Kiss

Jensen

I hadthe good sense to set up the alarm last night for four o’clock in the morning and was, for once, up before Elodie.

After letting Emilia sleep in for a bit, I walked out of the room with the baby monitor in my hand and headed to the kitchen to start everyone’s breakfast.

When Elodie woke, I caught it on the baby monitor and was able to get to her room before she could climb out of her bed and go looking for me in mine.

“Daddy!” She grinned at me when she saw me standing at her door, sleep still in her eyes.

A quick glance at the clock told me it was barely six in the morning.

“Morning, princess. You think there will ever be a morning when you’ll sleep in?” I asked.

A rhetorical question on my part, but she answered me anyway, like she really understood what I was asking.

“No!”

I watched as she climbed out of bed rather clumsily, rubbing her eyes a bit as she stumbled her way over to me. I caught her before she could fall and she wrapped her arms around my neck.

“Oh, okay,” I said, moving close to give a kiss on her chubby cheeks. She offered a sloppy grin before imitating me, planting a swift kiss on my cheek as well. Only, she hadn’t learned to pucker her lips yet, so what I got was the quick jab of her lips on my cheek. I laughed softly and wiped away the drool from my skin before asking her, “Do you need to go potty?”

She nodded, looking both sleepy and happy. I didn’t know why she woke up so early. A quick conversation with Jace told me this wasn’t always the case. Or, at least, it wasn’t the case with his two kids.

I did a quick check of her diaper, found it dry, and helped her use the bathroom before carrying her down to the kitchen, putting her in her high chair, and letting her entertain herself with Cheerios.

“Daddy, phone please.”

I glanced at her. “You know better than to ask for my phone so early in the morning,” I said.

I tried to limit her time on screen, but like most kids born in her generation, she’d developed a proclivity toward technology.

“Daddy,” she whined.

“No.”

She pouted, and I shook my head, quickly moving over the drawers and grabbing her Mr. Dot, her small alligator that rattled. She only ever played with him when I had her in the kitchen with me. Mr. Dot referred to the badly stitched marks on his back that were supposed to be his scales.

I agreed with Elodie.

They looked like dots.

Elodie had already forgotten that I dared utter the forbidden word to her, and was happily playing with her toy and food.

I took her in for a beat before making a call. It was early, but Warren Pike picked up on the first ring, like I knew he would.

“Mr. Pierce,” he answered.

During the nine years I had known him, I didn’t think there was ever a time when he looked tired or out of sorts. I wouldn’t be surprised if he told me he didn’t sleep.

I quickly filled him in on what I needed from him, and after we hung up, there was a sense of satisfaction moving inside me before I put in another call, this time to Jace.

By seven o’clock, I heard keys jangling, and then my front door opened. Jace walked in with a smiling Ensley in his arms.

Ensley looked like him but, like her brother, she had inherited Evelyn’s smile. Emilia’s smile. The same smile as Elodie’s.

I hadn’t realized how similar the two girls looked to each other until I had it confirmed that Emilia was, in fact, Elodie’s mom.

It made sense, since they were cousins.

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