Page 21 of Kane's Fake Relationship

Kane

“Areyouready?”

“As I’ll ever be. You have our story straight, right?”

“It’s kind of hard to forget. We aren’t lying.”

“Well, we are omitting the part about meeting in the club.”

“Right. Don’t worry, Trin, I’ve got this. I’ll follow your lead. I know how important your family is to you.”

I followed Trinity into her mother’s house and was greeted by enough noise to drown out a live marching band. There were kids running everywhere, people shouting out her name in greeting, and an elderly woman making a beeline for her.

“Oh Trinity, my sweet girl! I’m so happy you made it.”

“Of course, mom, I told you we would be here.”

“You must be Kane,” she said, pulling away from Trinity and reaching to give me a hug and laughing, “You’re much bigger than I expected.”

I bent down and enveloped the woman in a genuine hug. Trinity was tall and slender, but her mother seemed to be the opposite. I would be surprised if she was over five feet tall. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Hill.”

“Please call me, Maxine, or mom. Mom works too,” she said with a little wink, “Let me take your coats. Everyone is in the living room. Trinity, show Kane around.”

I looked at Trinity, who rolled her eyes at her mother’s overly excited greeting and expressive directions about what to do.

“Come on, let me introduce you to the crowd,” she said, reaching for my hand.

Before we made it five steps in, we were ransacked by six kids, all under the age of ten. Even though Trinity’s immediate family was just her and her mom, she had a huge extended family. Her uncle that she had told me about had kids and grandkids of his own that all adored her. I watched as her face lit up and she reached for each of them with big hugs, finally picking up the littlest of the bunch and placing her on her hip.

“This is Cleo. Cleo, say hi to Kane.”

A little girl no more than six looked up at me. “Kane like the candy?”

“Yes, just like the candy. My mom loves Christmas and me and all my brothers and sisters changed our names when we got older to Christmas words. I have a brother named Nick, as in St. Nick, one named Jack, after Jack Frost, and my sisters are Noelle, Eve, and Holly.”

“Wow, that’s awesome,” Cleo said in utter amazement.

“Is that true?” Trinity asked.

“Yup, I told you we were all adopted. Nick was always Nick, but the rest of us changed our names as a surprise for her. None of us were tied to our birth names.”

“Wow, that is awesome,” Trinity said, echoing the little girl.

“Down, Auntie,” Cleo said, swinging her legs until Trinity put her down. I watched as she ran back to the other kids and told them all what I shared with her, and they all looked over in amazement. Trinity smiled, then leaned into my side. I reached an arm around her and placed a kiss on her temple.

“They are amazing, aren’t they?”

“Who, the kids?”

“Yeah, I’m always amazed by their innocence and their ultimate excitement over life.”

“Do you have any nieces or nephews?”

“Kind of. A few of my foster sisters are married with kids, so I claim them as my own, but between the six of us, we don’t have any yet.”

A large man in a black suit approached us with an outstretched hand. “You must be Kane Saint. I’ve heard a lot about your brother since Trinity hired your company, but I’m ashamed to say I don’t know much about you. I am Andrew Hill, Trinity’s uncle.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir. Trinity speaks highly of you.”

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