Triplets for The Millionaire - K.C. Crowne Page 0,2
second.”
I glanced over my shoulder to see the clouds had grown even heavier since I’d last noticed them. A few flurries of snow fell, landing on my gloves. We hurried through the open doors, and the moment we stepped into the huge entrance room, the eager sounds of the twins filled the air.
“Uncle Patrick!”
Finn glanced at me with a wry smirk. “Never a moment’s peace, eh?”
The pitter-patter of two sets of little feet hurried down the hall, followed by four-year-old Sam and Sophie appearing around the corner.
“Hey there, wee ones!” I said as they rushed to me, throwing their arms around my legs. Their hugs were so intense I nearly lost my balance. “Now, easy there – you two aren’t careful, you’re gonna be wearin’ these pizzas as hats.”
They shrieked with laughter.
“Did you take any cool pictures?” Sam asked, looking up at me with those eyes that were so much like Finn’s it was almost eerie.
“Like of birds and stuff?” Sophie asked.
“You bet I did,” I said. “And I found the best little fox out there. He had little black paws and got so close to me I could almost touch him.”
“Wooow,” the kids said at the same time.
“I’ll show you once I get a couple of slices in me.”
We headed down the long hallway toward the kitchen. The walls were decked with pictures of the happy family, shots of the four of them on various vacations around the country, some of Sam in his baseball gear, others of Sophie playing piano. I wasn’t much for having a permanent home, but I had to admit the pictures made the place feel welcoming and warm.
Kenna finished setting the plates at the marble kitchen bar as our little group came in. “Hey, Patrick!” she said with a big smile. “Good to see you, and even better to see those pizzas.” She followed this with a friendly wink.
“You don’t know the half of it,” I said as Finn and I set the boxes on the kitchen counter. “Took all the restraint I had not to shove half of one of these down in the car.”
“After the day you’ve had,” she laughed, “I wouldn’t blame you.”
We passed around plates with slices, and once my plate was stacked with a couple slices of supreme with extra cheese, little pools of grease in the pepperoni, I was set.
“Tell me about the fox, Uncle Patrick!” Sophie said as she climbed onto my lap. I loved to hear her and Sam talk. Their voices were all-American, but every now and then I’d hear traces of the musical Irish brogue my brother and I spoke in. It was a little reminder that these kids were sure as hell half-Irish.
“Oh, he was the cutest little guy,” I said, wiping the grease off my hands before reaching over to the far end of the kitchen bar and grabbing my camera. “And I could tell he loved havin’ his picture taken.”
I clicked through the photos on my digital camera, Sophie and Sam watching eagerly as I did. They let out “oohs” at the various shots, and as they watched me scroll, I took some mental notes of which photos were good and worth going over in Photoshop later.
“Now,” I announced. “You can go through ‘em, but be very careful, alright? Press that button there and that’s it. If you accidentally delete any, I’ll be sendin’ you both up into the mountains to take new ones.” A smile came with my words, and the excited looks on the kids’ faces revealed they considered this anything but a punishment. My camera in their hands, they headed to their end of the kitchen bar and began looking through the photos.
“How was it out there?” Kenna asked, a glass of red wine in her hand.
“Beautiful,” I said. “You are all kinds of lucky to be so close to nature.”
“It’s part of the reason we picked this area to build,” Finn replied. “Right in the middle of nature.”
I glanced out of the tall windows in the living room past the kitchen. The snow had started to fall hard, but I could still see the sliver of moon enshrouded in a silvery glow behind the clouds above the mountaintops.
“Sure beats livin’ in a hotel like I’ve been for the last several years.”
“Now,” Kenna said as she set down her wine and prepared for another bite of her cheese slice. “You know you’re welcome to stay in the guest house for as long as you like, right?”