TimeLess (Time Tells, #2) (ON-GOING)

Chapter Eleven

When I open my eyes, it's at the early hours of the next morning. I stretch my arms out, a well rested sound leaving my lips. I sit up and my hair slides over the shoulder.

I look down and blink for a moment. My clothes were changed. I was in a soft nightgown that I had not changed into. I smile, realising my husband had removed my 'party' clothes and dressed me in comfortable nightware. I stand and smile when I see soft plush slippers waiting by my feet.

I slip my feet into it and stand, finding the robe for the nightgown at the foot of the bed and pull it on, tying the sash in the front. I walk toward the door, searching for my husband.

I walk to the bathroom door and knock.

"Kri?" I call softly.

At that exact moment, the door of the room opens and two young girls with matching dark hair and blue-grey swirls peep their heads into the room.

"Hi!" They say together.

I gather they're twins. Perhaps in their mid-teens? I smile at them and wave.

"Hey," I say, "Morning."

I walk over to them.

"Morning!"

"Morning!"

I stifle a wide grin, "Are you here to get me?"

They nod their heads eagerly, each one grasping one of my hands and chattering my ear away as they lead me out of the room, down the corridor and towards the large kitchen.

Kri's family sits scattered across the small tables arranged in the room. Cousins, aunts, nieces, nephews, uncles, grandparents...

I spend about fifteen minutes meeting everyone, hugging, getting hugged before I can worm my way to my husband who stands at the stove tossing pancakes over to the smallest of the lot. The children.

They stand beside him, eyes wide as they watch the pancakes flip in the air and land on their empty plates. Squealing out something in their language, they rush to their spots to eat.

I come to stand behind Kri, realising that perhaps he hadn't noticed my entry given the general chatter in the room. Healthy booming laughter, teasing, talking..

"Good morning, Alanna." He says without turning.

My brows raise. "That wasn't creepy at all."

The few little ones around Kri who were waiting for their pancakes giggle. I look down at them smiling. The youngest of the lot with midnight skin, brown curls and matching swirls—who'd been standing beside her older brother who I'd noticed had been feeding her his share of pancakes before they'd come to wait for their next pancake—spreads her hands up toward me, flexing her fingers in my direction.

I immediately lean toward her, gathering her into my arms and against my hip. I come to stand beside Kri and see his smile flash at me and then at the little one in my arms.

The little girl points at my husband and says something. He throws his head back and laughs before nodding at her and responding back.

The little girl's hand comes around my neck, staring up at me with wide eyes.

Rubbing my other arm along her leg, I smile down at her. I turn to look at Kri to catch a warm and soft glow in his eyes. They swirl immediately when they meet mine, but he tears his gaze away, training it back to the stove.

"Hi Kri!"

"Hi Kri!"

The twins pop up on his other side, making eyes at the pancakes on the stove.