Dreaming of His Snowed In Kiss - Jessie Gussman Page 0,32
boys. Funny, it had only taken two weeks for that to happen, and he would protect them, sure. But somehow, the protective feeling was stronger toward Hazel, which was really odd considering that he’d just met her ten minutes ago.
“We’ll wait until your mom comes back, but if she says yes, you could probably sit down and hold her, too.”
“Really?” Hazel’s eyes glowed, and her lips tugged up.
“Really.”
“She’s not my mom. She’s my sister.”
“Yeah. Forgot.”
“Does the baby live here?”
He almost said “for now,” but he stopped himself just in time. He didn’t know what the story was on Hazel, but what he knew of Gabriella and her brothers’ story, it wasn’t a good one.
A child deserved permanence in their life, not a “for now” answer that wasn’t an answer.
“Yes.”
Her hair was a little wet, probably from the rain outside, and as he thought about it, Poppy’s had been wet too.
It just added to her sparkle. Another woman might have looked like a drowned rat. But somehow it made Poppy glow even more.
“Can I touch her?”
Gabriella burped, a sound that maybe would have been cute if it hadn’t been accompanied by what seemed like at least twice as much liquid as he had put into her running down his shirt.
“You sure can. Watch out, she might get you too.”
Hazel’s eyes widened, then, to his surprise, she giggled.
The solemn little girl that had been standing beside her sister five minutes ago disappeared, and she looked much more normal to West.
That’s the way a child should act. Giggles. It was also normal, he supposed, for girls to be interested in babies.
Or maybe it was just something new.
Anyway, none of Gabriella’s brothers seemed to pay much attention to her. West couldn’t remember ever giving a baby a thought in his life before, certainly not when he was a kid.
Hazel came closer, within arm’s length, and touched Gabriella’s back.
“She’s warm.”
“Just like you are.”
That made Hazel’s brows go down, and she used the hand that was touching Gabriella to touch her cheek.
“My cheek is cold.”
“Touch your stomach.”
He turned Gabriella around, so once Hazel had touched her own stomach, she could feel Gabriella’s stomach.
Hazel lifted her shirt just a little and put her hand on her stomach.
“I’m warm, too,” she said, wonder in her voice, like she’d never stopped to discover that she was warm before.
West couldn’t help smiling at the dawn of knowledge on her face. He couldn’t remember ever figuring out that he was warm. But it must be something everyone learned at one point. It was weird to see it happening. Weird...and special.
Movement caught his eye. He looked over to see both Warren and Garrett putting their hands on their stomachs, the latter having dropped his towel cape-wings.
Trevor, who probably didn’t understand what was going on, exactly, lifted his shirt and put his hand on his stomach too.
It didn’t surprise him at all when the boys gathered around and put their hands on Gabriella’s little belly. He didn’t even have to remind them to be gentle.
“We’re all warm,” Warren said, his surprise endearing.
A shadow fell across them, and West looked up.
“I’m impressed. I think you just taught everybody something,” Poppy said, laughter in her voice, although he didn’t think that she was making fun of him necessarily. Just laughing along with him, because it was adorable that all the kids had just discovered that they were warm.
“When is she going to walk?” Hazel asked, taking her hand from Gabriella’s stomach and trailing a finger down her bare legs and touching her toes.
“Probably not until next year this time,” West said, liking how Hazel was so gentle with the baby. And so in awe of her.
He looked up at Poppy, struggling not to get lost in her gaze. “I told Hazel I’d ask if it would be okay if she holds the baby.”
Poppy nodded. “I definitely think she could, with supervision.” She put a hand on Hazel’s head and ruffled her hair just a little. “I think when she gets comfortable with her, she should be able to do it on her own, but probably not today.”
Hazel’s chest puffed out like an adult’s chest might have if they had been told they’d won the lottery. He kinda thought for a four-year-old girl, maybe holding a baby was like winning the lottery. At least for a girl like Hazel.
“You want me to help with the baby and Hazel? Or would you like me to get some food ready?”
“I’m hungry,” Warren said, just in case they’d forgotten.
“Me