It Happened One Night

“Where did she go?” he asked, confused.

Kiley smiled. “She’s going to show you that she’s a real princess.”

When the little girl returned, she was wearing a gold-colored plastic crown with jewels painted on it. It was a little too large for her head and it kept sliding to one side, but she wore it as proudly as if it were the Crown Jewels.

“Me pincess,” she said again as she picked up one of the bite-size pieces of pizza and put it into her mouth.

“Yes, you are,” Josh said, unable to stop smiling. For some reason, he found everything the kid did to be cute as hell, and he was fascinated by her enthusiasm and delight in the simplest of things.

When he caught Kiley staring at him, he frowned. “What?”

“N-nothing,” she said, picking up the remote control. Pushing a couple of buttons, she started the DVD and in no time Emmie became completely engrossed in the cartoon.

As they ate, he noticed Kiley glancing at him and then Emmie several times, but she remained strangely silent. Before he could ask her what was wrong, she paused the DVD player.

“If you’ll excuse us, I need to finish getting her ready for bed,” she said, taking Emmie by the hand.

While she took her daughter down the hall to the bathroom to wash her face and hands and brush her teeth, Josh took their plates and the empty pizza box into the kitchen. When he returned to the living room, he had barely settled himself on the couch when Emmie came running in to climb up on the cushion beside him.

Grinning up at him, she jabbered something that he assumed meant she wanted him to start the movie again. Fortunately Kiley was right behind her. Maybe she could translate toddler speak.

“Does she want me to start the movie again?” he asked, wondering why Kiley had stopped just inside the room. She looked as if she’d seen a ghost. “Is something wrong?”

His question seemed to snap her out of whatever she’d been thinking and, giving him a slight smile, she shook her head. “Please go ahead and take the player off Pause.”

When Kiley started to sit in the armchair, Emmie shook her head and, getting down, took hold of her mother’s hand. “Mommy,” she said determinedly, tugging Kiley toward the couch.

“I think she wants you to sit with us,” Josh said, deciding he owed the kid a debt of gratitude.

Kiley didn’t look all that happy about it, but she did as her daughter wanted, and after Emmie climbed up beside him, she sat down on the other side of the little girl to finish watching the cartoon. Within ten minutes, Emmie surprised him yet again when she crawled over to sit on his lap and lean back against his chest.

Kiley started to move to the opposite end of the couch, but Josh put his arm around her shoulders to stop her. “The princess is about to go to sleep. If you move, it might disturb her,” he whispered close to her ear.

He felt a tremor course through her before she gave him an exasperated look. “What are you doing, Josh?”

“Watching the movie with you and Emmie.”

“You know what I mean,” she said, shaking her head.

“Could we discuss this after she goes to sleep?” he asked, stalling.

The truth was, he didn’t know why he felt the need to get close to Kiley. Normally women with little kids were the last females he wanted to get close to. But that wasn’t the case with Kiley. Maybe it was that night three years ago that compelled him, or it could be the fact that the more he learned about her and her daughter, the more he wanted to know. He wasn’t sure. But he had always followed his gut instinct and it was telling him not to be too hasty—to take his time and explore what was drawing him to them.

“She’s asleep,” Kiley said quietly as she reached for Emmie.

“If you’ll lead the way, I’ll carry her for you,” Josh said, cradling the toddler to him as he rose to his feet. “She’s as limp as cooked spaghetti.”

Kiley’s soft laughter caused a warm feeling to spread throughout his chest. “Children don’t have the stress adults have. When they fall asleep they’re completely relaxed.”

Following her down the hall to Emmie’s room, he placed the little girl on the smallest bed he had ever seen. He waited for Kiley out in the hall while she pulled the covers over Emmie and kissed her good-night.

“I didn’t know they made beds that little,” he said when they walked back into the living room.

“It’s a toddler bed.” She turned off the DVD player and removed the disk. “Emmie is too old for a crib and too little for a twin-size bed.”

“That makes sense.”