A Secret Worth Keeping

Chapter 9

Hope's POV: I stood up from the window seat and took the child from Lizzie's arms before she had a chance to protest. It was the first time I had actually touched the kid. I'm not used to small children. The only child I've even remotely been around was Aunt Freya's son, Nik, but Sophie seemed to do all the work herself, adjusting so that she sat squarely at my hip, offering no complaint of any kind. I could see the shocked expression on Lizzie's face, and I inwardly smiled in triumph. 

"You", I snapped, gaining her attention again as I snagged one of the counter stools with my foot and dragged it out. "Sit down and eat something", I commanded, reaching toward the muffin basket with my free hand before picking up the banana nut muffin that neither Sophie nor I had touched, and set it down in front of Lizzie. 

"No one is leaving this room until we have a solid story to tell. We needed to know who we're supposed to be and how we supposedly got here", I said firmly, glaring at Lizzie, who was giving me one of those beaming smiles with a soft look in her eyes.

"Have I ever told you that I find it extremely attractive when you take charge", she practically purred.

Lizzie has told me that before. Actually, she's told me a few times during some of our missions.

Rolling my eyes, I turned away from her, taking the child to the sink, wondering if it would make any difference to apologize to the child for Lizzie's behavior if I wasn't fairly certain the child didn't understand half of what Lizzie was saying. I just hoped the child couldn't read into all the subtext just yet. But if she really is Lizzie's daughter...you never know.

"You're filthy", I stated, sitting the girl down on the counter beside the sink. "Hold still", I told her, turning on the water. Wetting the corner of the tea towel, I used it to wipe away the chocolate smeared around the child's mouth before glancing over my shoulder. "So...we met at school", I started, wiping the child's mouth clean. I wasn't being as gentle as Lizzie would be, but I tried to be less 'aggressive' as I moved from one chocolate smear to the next. 

"Are you asking or telling", Lizzie spoke up, causing me to lift my eyes to look over at her.

"Eat your muffin, and maybe you can contribute", I glared, causing Lizzie to roll her eyes before taking a bite out of the top of her muffin. 

"So, if we met at school, what were you studying", she questioned, nibbling on a few crumbles she picked off the muffin.

"I studied Architecture, and you were a Philosophy major", I answered. 

"Philosophy", she asked me incredulously, causing me to roll my eyes as the child looked up at the light fixtures. 

"Yes, because you won't be expected to have a career to talk about if you studied Philosophy which means we can tell them you're a stay at home mom working on a novel or something", I explained.

"That...actually makes sense", she conceded, causing me to smirk as I glanced up at the child who was sitting quietly with her hands folded in her lap.

"Your mother doesn't like it when I'm right", I whispered, causing her to grin as she lowered her head to keep from giggling.

"But philosophy majors and architects hardly ever cross paths, Hope. How did we met", I asked. 

I shrugged, focusing on ringing out the towel as I rinsed it under the faucet. "Friend of a friend", I shrugged, causing her to scoff.

"Really, Hope? That's how you want our love story to begin", she asked with a small frown, causing me to almost growl, but I felt the child's wide blue eyes still on me, so I swallowed it and focused on hanging the towel over the back of the cabinet door before taking the child up again and going to sit across the counter from Lizzie. I let the girl clamber up onto the countertop next to me, keeping an eye on her in case she wandered to close to the edge as she crawled toward Lizzie and climbed down into her lap.