A Hippogriff for Christmas - Zoe Chant Page 0,74
he looked at them – just as much affection as they looked at him with.
“Well, everyone, once you can manage to be quiet for a moment or two, I have someone I’d like you to meet,” Beau said. He turned, smiling at Annie, before putting his arm around her shoulders, drawing her forward. “Everyone, this is Annie. Annie, this is – in age order – Jaime, Sarah, Loughlin, Cody, Larissa, and Sam. Everyone, say hi to Annie.”
“Hi, Annie,” the kids chorused, focusing their curious stares upon her like twelve beams of hyper-intense light.
Annie swallowed, feeling a nervous sweat break out on her palms. But then she felt Beau’s hand squeezing her shoulder, and she took a deep breath.
“Hey. Nice to meet you all,” she said, lifting her hand in a little wave. “Sorry if I don’t remember your names all at once – you can remind me if I forget, though. In fact, please remind me if I forget. I definitely need your help there.”
“Are you Uncle Beau’s girlfriend?”
Annie blinked – it had been, uh, Sarah, she thought, who’d said that, the moment she stopped talking.
“Uh –”
“You could put it that way,” Beau said smoothly. “So you all better be on your best behavior, all right? You want to make a good impression, don’t you?”
The kids nodded seriously, eyes going back and forth between Annie and Beau.
“I can help you remember names,” Jaime said. “If you forget, you can ask me.”
“Thank you… Jaime,” Annie said, smiling gratefully. “I’d appreciate that.”
Okay. Okay. This isn’t so hard, Annie thought, releasing a long, slow breath as Beau started corralling the kids to help him unload things from the car.
So far, so good.
It helped that the kids were obviously all so sweet. Annie looked curiously at each of them in turn – each of them had dark eyes just like Beau’s, and all of them were as cute as buttons. They crowded around the car door, excited and eager to help their Uncle Beau carry things inside.
I wonder which one of them was in the photo I saw? Annie wondered as she looked at them, but it was impossible to tell. Right now, it was hard to believe any of them turned from really cute little kids into – she assumed – really cute little hippogriffs!
Maybe they won’t mind showing me, once I get to know them better.
“Okay, so who wants the important job of taking this very delicate cherry pie into the kitchen?” Beau called out, lifting up a white paper bag containing one fresh cherry pie high above his head.
They’d gotten a replacement, since the one Annie had originally given Beau would have been a couple of days old by the time they’d left Bell’s Hollow. They’d eaten the other one together as they snuggled on her bed, watching absolutely terrible holiday TV movies.
Annie smiled at the memory. There were definitely worse ways to spend an afternoon.
It seemed that Loughlin had been designated the cherry pie bearer, and so, together, with them each taking their individual roles very seriously, they began making their way back up to the house.
“Not too bad, was it?” Beau asked her as they followed them.
Annie shook her head. “Not too bad at all. But they’re all really sweet, and they obviously love you. I thought you said you weren’t the cool uncle?”
Beau laughed. “All right – maybe I’m a little bit cool. But only to people who aren’t old enough to know better yet.”
“Well, I think you’re pretty cool,” Annie said, flashing him a grin. “If that makes you feel any better.”
“Of course it does,” Beau said, leaning in to give her a quick peck on the lips as the kids filed in the front door, just before they stepped over the threshold themselves.
“Beau! You’re here! Finally!”
They were greeted the moment they stepped inside by a tall woman with the same dark hair and dark eyes as Beau, rushing into the entryway to give him a massive bear hug.
Annie took the moment they spent embracing to glance around the massive room the entryway connected to – all gorgeous timber and stone, a fire crackling in the enormous fireplace, with large, comfortable furniture dotted around it, rugs covering the dark wood of the floor.
Despite its size, it was so warm and homey that it made Annie’s chest ache. This clearly wasn’t just a house – it was a home. The rugs and furniture were obviously worn and old, but Annie just thought they were all the more enticing