Lavished with Lavender - Valerie Comer Page 0,67

came Emma’s high, sweet voice from the living room.

The kitchen threesome turned toward the doorway.

“Are you going to marry Unca Tony and have a bee-yoo-tiful wedding like Peetah?”

Tony held his breath, but couldn’t help the small grin poking at his cheeks.

“Do you think I should?” asked Kenna.

“Oh, yes. And then I could have a cousin, right? Because Gavin will gets cousins from Peetah.”

Oh, boy. Tony started for the living room. Why had he left Kenna alone with the children, anyway? Who knew where kid minds and mouths would go?

“Lots of people don’t have babies, you know,” Kenna answered evenly. “You might not get cousins.”

Tony let out a breath when he caught sight of Kenna smiling down at the little blond munchkin nestled at her side.

“I gots cousins now,” Emma continued. “Devon and Adrian and Sam. But they’re all boys.”

“Yay boys!” Five-year-old Ethan pumped his arm in the air. “And Arie. Don’t forget Arie.”

“Arie’s not our cousin.” Emma peered around Kenna at her brother. “He’s a... a...”

“Second cousin.” Tony crossed the room to kneel in front of Emma then rested one hand on Kenna’s knee. “A second cousin is when your moms or dads were cousins first. Your mom and Arie’s dad, Marco, are cousins.”

Ethan cocked his head to one side. “And you?”

“And me. I’m their cousin, too. I have lots of them, like Marco, which means even if Auntie Kenna and I don’t have kids, you guys still have lots of Santoro cousins, as well as the boy cousins from your daddy’s brother.”

“But I want a girl cousin!” Emma’s lower lip protruded as she crossed her little arms.

“Fran and Jasmine and I said that a lot,” Gina put in dryly. “We had so many boy cousins it was crazy. And then eventually there were more girls, way younger than us. God gets to decide things like that.”

Kenna’s fingers clenched Tony’s. He took his cue, rocking back and standing, drawing her up with him. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

“Ew, mushy stuff.” Ethan pressed his hands over his eyes.

Tony chuckled at the sight of his nephew’s brown eyes peering between pudgy fingers. He gave Kenna a quick kiss. “Wanna go for a walk in the moonlight while Gina puts her kidlets to bed?”

Emma’s eyes grew round. “We get to stay at Grandma’s house for Christmas? That’s the best present ever.”

Ethan bounced off the love seat. “There will be better ones tomorrow. Come on, Emma. Bet I can get my jammies on quicker’n you.”

“No, me!” She darted after him.

Gina rolled her eyes and followed her children.

A few minutes later, Tony and Kenna had bundled up. He took her mittened hand in his as they wandered down the short lane to the town overlook. Streetlights lit the scene in even grids, and lots of houses were festooned in Christmas lights. Some even had lit-up Santas and nativity scenes. It all brought back a sense of nostalgia. “Galena Landing has grown some since I was a kid.”

“Do you miss it?”

He slid his arm around her waist. “In some ways, I guess. When I was a teen, I just wanted to get out. Typical small-town kid, I guess. If a guy admitted he planned to stay, he was obviously a loser. No ambition.”

“Why didn’t you come back here to start your restaurant?”

Tony shook his head. “Too small.” He pointed out a low log structure in the distance. “That’s The Sizzling Skillet, where I worked as a dishwasher until I got fired. And over there you see the one-and-only chain drive-through. There are several diners downtown.” He shook his head. “Small towns are great for ambience, but not so much for a restaurant like Antonio’s.”

Kenna rested her head against his. “A nice place to visit.”

“Exactly.” He gathered her in. “But we didn’t come out here to talk about my misspent youth.”

“We didn’t?” She angled her head and grinned up at him, the moonlight caressing her rosy cheeks.

Tony leaned closer and kissed her nose. “Not even a little bit.” He trailed kisses across her eyelids, which fluttered closed at his approach. “Other things are more important.” He swept his lips across hers. “Like this.” And then he captured her mouth with his and let her know just what he was thinking.

Kenna had never experienced a Christmas morning like this one. Gina’s husband, Chris, awakened Ethan and Emma around seven. Maybe they were too young for an internal alarm clock that screamed Santa! in their ears in the wee hours. But though the two