Alex shook hands and smiled, well aware that she and Kieran were being carefully studied in spite of the casual atmosphere. Kieran followed her lead, accepting the curious stares without any sign of unease.
Julie walked across the room and tapped the teenaged boy on the shoulder. “This here is Mike, he’s my youngest brother. Don’t mind him. He’s not as bad as he looks.”
Mike muttered a friendly insult, looked briefly but narrowly at Kieran, and returned to his television. Julie shrugged. “Kids. There’s one other person I really want you to meet. Just a second. Uh—sit anywhere. Liz, Tracy, let Kieran and Alex sit on the sofa, please.” She walked through the doorway into the kitchen, leaving Alex to face the twins, who hopped off the sofa with energetic glee.
One of the girls patted the sofa. “You want to sit down?”
“Thank you.” Alex sat and was immediately joined by a child on either side. “Which one of you is Liz and which is Tracy?”
One girl made a moue of disgust. “Can’t you tell? I’m Liz. That’s Tracy.” Two sets of brown eyes studied Alex intently. “What’s that funny mark on your face?”
Alex fought back her instant reaction. They’re only kids. They don’t mean any harm. “It’s a scar, Liz. I was burned when I was young.”
“Oh.” Liz looked across at her sister. “That’s too bad. Do you know any stories?”
Just like that her deformity was dismissed. Alex blinked, disarmed. She’d almost forgotten how accepting young children could be.
Accepting. Only last night Kieran had looked directly at her and called her beautiful. Touched her as if her skin was smooth and unblemished.
A small hand brushed hers. “It’s all right if you don’t know any good stories,” Tracy said. “Grandma will tell us one after supper.” As one, the twins scooted off the sofa and dashed into the kitchen.
“They can be a handful sometimes. Hope they weren’t bothering you too much.”
Brenda sat down in the place vacated by Liz, the baby in her arms. She gave Alex a friendly nod, a, trace of Julie’s wry humor in her eyes.
“Not at all. They’re… very cute kids,” Alex said awkwardly…
“Thanks. They take after Toby, my husband.” She smiled, and her plain face lit up. “He’s due home any day now.”
The tone of her voice made Alex’s skin prickle. It was love—Brenda’s love and desire for the man coming back to her, the father of her children. Alex stared at the baby’s tiny brown face peeking out from among the blankets, chubby and haloed by wispy black hair.
“You’ve got a good-looking man over there,” Brenda said, nodding in Kieran’s direction.
It took Alex a moment to find Kieran. He crouched in front of the television, staring at the screen as fixedly as Julie’s brother, with whom he exchanged occasional brief comments. He looked entirely at home, and almost as if he’d forgotten Alex existed.
“He… Kieran isn’t… he’s just a friend,” Alex stammered. “A fellow researcher.”
“Oh. Sorry. Julie said—” Brenda shifted the baby in her arms and held the bundle out toward Alex. “Would you hold him for me? I’ll go check on supper.”
Any desire to protest died as Alex felt the tiny warm life settle against her heart.
The baby was perfect. Alex stroked the velvet cheek with the back of her finger, biting back the absurd endearments that gathered in her throat. A tiny rosebud mouth opened in a toothless yawn.
“Beautiful,” Alex dared to whisper, touching Tim’s dimpled knuckles as if they were as fragile as glass. “You’re just beautiful.”
“I’ll bet you’d make a great mother, Alex.”
Alex’s brief contentment unraveled as Julie’s words penetrated. She looked up with a brittle smile. “Lately it seems people know more about me than I know about myself.”
Julie’s eyebrow arched. “That goes on a lot around here,” she said. “Don’t take it too personally.”
Alex rose and handed the baby to his aunt. “I’ll try to remember that.”
“Good, because there’s someone else I want you to meet, and she tends to be a little on the blunt side.”
“It seems to be a family trait.”