Chapter 6 - Kayla
The girls climb into their chairs at the dinner table.
Kelsey, interestingly, always chooses to sit next to Josiah. She does so as though it has no meaning, and she doesn’t pay him any extra attention. But she seems to like sitting near him.
She does the same thing in the living room. She’ll choose the seat on the sofa next to him with a small gap between them, so they aren’t touching, but she’s close.
I imagine his stoic seriousness connects with hers in some way. Kira is a ball of energy and mischief, while Kelsey is reserved and observant. She is very much like her father in so many ways. And Kira reminds me of me—before I was broken by the world, by him.
“Girls, did you wash your hands?” Stella asks, coming into the dining room to double-check.
“Are you sure you don’t want to eat with us?” I ask. I ask the same thing every night, and she always declines.
“Roger has asked to join me for dinner,” she informs me.
She says it as though it means nothing, but Stella and the chef have been getting on very well since we moved in.
I think they’ve had dinner together almost every night.
I often hear their laughter coming from somewhere in the mansion, and I rather enjoy how happy she looks.
Even now, her cheeks are glowing. I grin, realizing she’s put a little blusher on. I’ve never seen Stella wear makeup.
“You look lovely,” I tell her with a soft smile.
She grins and brushes her hands over her skirt.
“Do you need me to run them a bath after dinner?” she asks.
“No, I’ll sort them out. But I do need a little help in the morning. I want to stop by the store, and I think they'll both be bored if I drag them with, so if you don’t mind looking after them for a few hours?”
“Of course, it’s no problem at all,” she smiles. “Have a lovely evening. I’ll see you two monsters in the morning,” she winks at the twins, then disappears through the doorway.
“Does Stella have a boyfriend?” Kira blurts out as I take a sip of my drink.
I laugh so hard I choke and it takes me a moment before I can answer.
“Child, you really are an observant little mushroom, aren’t you?” I tease.
“What is a observe ant? Why am I a mushroom? Can I have more cheese sprinkles?”
She leans over the table to reach for the bowl of grated cheese to top her spaghetti, but Josiah stands to do it for her.
“This much?” he asks, throwing three tiny threads of cheese on.
“Noooo,” Kira says with indignant horror. “A lot more! It must look like all of this is only cheese,” she declares.
“Like this?” he asks, grinning as he sprinkles a few more shreds of cheese.
I look down to hide my smile.
“Joz!” she scolds him, using the nickname she chose for him a few days ago after giving up trying to say his name right.
“She wants the whole bowl of cheese,” Kelsey explains, looking up at Josiah with wide eyes.
“Oh, silly me,” Josiah says. Reaching over to pick up Kira’s bowl of spaghetti, he replaces it with the entire bowl of grated cheese.
He sits down again and pretends as though this is the norm.
Kelsey starts giggling. Kira picks up her fork and grins. “Perfect!” she exclaims, and sticks her fork into the cheese to take a massive bite.
Josiah is laughing, and for a moment—just the smallest moment—my heart soars as the sound of that laughter, so genuine, so deep, vibrates through me and reminds me of how it used to feel to be loved by him.
But as reality kicks in, my throat tightens, and I swallow hard, forcing the emotions from my body before they can turn painful.
Josiah is trying to convince Kira to trade the cheese back. She’s having none of it.
I nudge her under the table and shoot her a warning look, edged with a smile.
She rolls her eyes at me.
“Hey, since when do you roll your eyes at me,” I laugh. “Who taught you that?”
Josiah scoffs. “I know exactly where she learned that from,” he says, his eyes tight on me.
“Me?” I ask, shocked.
He scoffs again.
I bite my lip, scrunching my nose. Actually, I have been rolling my eyes a lot this week. All at him.
He’s been driving me absolutely crazy. And it’s not just the constant challenge of dealing with him. It’s also the constant memories I have to fight to keep away. The way his scent makes me feel. The way my body reacts every time he’s close to me, even though I really don’t want it to.
Finally, Kira is settled after an intense negotiation with Josiah that earned her a bowl of fifty percent spaghetti and fifty percent cheese. I left her to her own devices as I was rather impressed with her negotiation skills. I think Josiah was, too.
The girls are eating and talking to each other when Josiah says to me, “We have dinner at my sister’s place tomorrow night at seven.”
My heart skips a beat. “We?”
“Yes, all of us are going,” he says sternly, not leaving room for refusal. “It’s a family dinner.”
“What about…” I stop myself, glancing at the girls. “Did you tell….”
“My brother knows and will tell my sister, but neither of them will say a word.”
“Josiah, I didn’t want anyone to know,” I huff, keeping my voice low but still earning a curious glance from Kelsey. I smile at her. “Eat your food,” I tell her.
Josiah cocks his head to the side and glares at me. “I’ve been patient. And I’ve respected your request. But I won’t lie to my family,” he mutters.
Swallowing hard, I press my lips together. I don’t want to argue with him in front of the twins.
But the idea of more people knowing about him being their father makes me incredibly nervous.
What if one of them slips up and says something?
What if the girls find out, and they get closer to him, and he leaves as abruptly as he did last time?
What risk am I taking by letting them be close to him at all?
As though he can read my thoughts, he gently says my name, and I look up at him.
“I assure you, they won’t cross any boundaries,” he says.
I nod, thankful he understands, but still very anxious about seeing his family again. I only met them twice in the past. They were nice enough to my face, but people can look you in the eyes and be as friendly as ever and still say harsh things behind your back.
Over the years, one of my theories about why Josiah dumped me was because his family possibly didn’t approve of me.
He was rich, popular, charismatic…I was the girl from a much lower social status, one who didn’t even have parents.
I figure they must have wanted so much more for their brother. Someone worthy of him.
It doesn’t matter now, though. That is all in the past. I’ll be polite, and whatever they think of me simply doesn’t matter.
***
Saturday evening.
The twins burst out of the car and are already running up the steps towards the front door before I can undo my seatbelt. “Wait, girls, you can’t just barge into other people’s homes,” I call after them.
“Let them run ahead, my sister is very excited to meet them,” he tells me, leaning over me to unfasten the seatbelt that I am still fighting with.
His cologne washes over me, and my entire body goes rigid. The heat of his skin, the scent of him. It affects me. I take a sharp breath and lick my lips.
“Thank you,” I mutter when he moves away from me.
“These people are their family, Kayla. I understand you don’t want them to know that yet, but the bottom line is that they are family. This home is their home, too.” His eyes are stern as he tells me this.
“Jos…”
“They won’t say anything. I promise. I called them again this afternoon to make sure they both understand.”
I let out a sigh of relief. My stomach is in a knot.
He is waiting for me when I climb out of the car and walks with me up towards the front door. Josiah is wearing dark blue jeans and a black T-shirt. He looks casual, but still so damn sexy it’s bothering me.
Alara is standing at the front door with a wide smile on her face. She is as beautiful as ever. I think she's around the same age as me.
“Hello!” she exclaims, excitedly hugging her brother. She lets him go, and I expect her to shake my hand, but instead she pulls me into a hug as well.
“Wow, they are absolutely gorgeous!” she whispers to me, happily. “So are you. But you always were,” she grins.
Josiah throws her a look of warning, and she nods. “Don’t worry, I know the rules,” she scrunches her nose at him, then at me. “But I am really excited to meet them,” she adds quickly.
“Where are they?” I ask, peering behind her and wondering how they disappeared so quickly.
“They bolted into the house chasing after Isaak when he mentioned strawberry smoothies,” she says.
After she welcomes us in, we are greeted by his brother, Isaak, who strides towards me with long confident steps and his hand outstretched to shake mine. “Kyla, wow, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?” he smiles. But instead of shaking my hand, as soon as he has mine in his, he pulls me into a hug.
“Yes, it’s been a while,” I stammer awkwardly.
They’re both being so friendly, but it could be for Josiah’s sake. I don’t know what he told them about me or what he asked of them regarding how to treat me.
Isaak releases me when we hear the girls giggling behind us.
The chef, Josiah’s chef, walks out carrying strawberry smoothies with both girls following close behind. “Are they allowed this before dinner?”
I nod, smiling, appreciating that he checked with me first. “Yes, thank you, Roger.”
“Come in, come in, let me get you some adult drinks,” Isaak gestures for us to follow him.
“Alara, where did you put the champagne glasses?” he calls out to his sister.
“In the glass cabinet by the fireplace,” she shouts back.
“She moves things around so often that every time I visit her, I have to go on a treasure hunt just to pour myself a drink,” he chuckles.
“I’ll have a beer,” Josiah says.
“Fine, but Alara wants champagne, so…Kayla? Champagne?”
I nod. “Yes, thank you.”
Alara comes through, wiping her hands on a dishcloth, smiling proudly.