“Fabulous as always,” Emily says immediately, making me smile.
I look at Logan and Mason.
“You’re fine,” Logan says diplomatically.
Instead, Mason gives an exaggerated shrug.
“And you? Let me look at you.”
“Why do you care so much?” Logan asks.
“What are you talking about?”
“You dressed up, and you got us dressed up, too.”
“What do you mean…” I minimise badly. “I wore the first thing that came to hand.”
My niblings look at me suspiciously.
I look at myself for a moment. I’m wearing a pair of jeans, nothing fancy. Definitely, my go-to jeans—the ones that perfectly wrap around my ass and thighs—and my lucky shirt, a sheer pink top with embroidered flowers in place of buttons. I’ve shaved and combed my hair the way I do at the club, with my hair pulled back, and maybe put on a little perfume.
Nothing special.
“Uncle Seth,” Mason calls my attention.
I was distracted; I have to admit.
“Yes?”
“You don’t like him, do you?”
“What?”
“Who, you mean,” Logan says.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Come on, Uncle Seth. We’ve seen the way you look at him,” Emily says.
“Who are you talking about?”
All three of them crossed their arms over their chests at the same time. Just like Mark used to do when he questioned me about something I didn’t want to talk about.
“We have to pretend, don’t we?” I shrug nonchalantly.
Yes. I told the children the truth. I always tell my niblings the truth. Besides, they’re not naïve. I couldn’t have fooled them. They quickly realised that Rowan was just trying to stop them from taking the children away from me.
A noble gesture. Generous. Foolish.
A gesture I still can’t explain.
“You really like him, though,” Emily states.
I just said that, didn’t I? My niblings are anything but naïve.
“Um… Well… In a way…”
And I just said that I always tell them the truth, or at least something close to it.
