Just A Kiss Goodnight

Chapter Four

When Abby arrived at five to drop them off Molly enveloped me in a huge hug which I happily returned. With her brown curls, snub nose and green eyes, she was the image of my brother but also sufficiently like me that we were often taken for mother and daughter, much to the amused chagrin of my blonde and blue-eyed sister-in-law. Matt rushed in after her and immediately my attention was caught by the intimidating stare from a certain horned helmet-wearing Marvel character on his t-shirt. 

"I am Loki!" he cried and waved an imperious arm toward me. "Kneel, Aunty Kate!"

I felt a small sucker-punch to the gut and took a few seconds to recover before crouching down to Matt's height in a bow before laughing and catching him up for a cuddle, smothering his face in kisses that caused him to giggle and squirm in my arms.

"Aunty Kate! Stop! You don't kiss Loki!" he cried.

Another punch! And oh God! Now I'm thinking about Tom and kissing!

I set him back on his feet and stood up, taking their backpacks from Abby while they ran into the spare room to take off coats and deposit toys on the bed. Abby gave me a searching glance.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Abbs."

"You look a bit peaky. You don't have to take them if you're not feeling up to it."

"I'm fine, really. I wouldn't miss their visit for the world, I've been looking forward to it all week."

"Alright. But call if there's any problem." 

I assured her we'd be okay and she called Matt and Molly out to give her a kiss and hug and say goodbye, reminding them to be well behaved and not eat too much junk food, casting me a knowing glance as she said it. I looked innocently back but knew I hadn't fooled her. We waved goodbye from the back door and as I closed it, I asked,

"Right! What shall we do first?"

We built a blanket fort in the lounge room and played games in it before dinner and after that I bundled the kids into the bathroom for a quick wash and put their pyjamas on ready for bed. For story time I read a chapter from The Jungle Book for Matt, his favourite book. When I ruffled his strawberry blonde locks and kissed him goodnight, he put his arms around my neck and a wet kiss on my cheek.

"I love you, Aunty Kate."

"I love you too, monkey boy." They both giggled. "Sweet dreams Matt." I tucked him in tight and turned out the lamp nearest his side of the bed, then picked up Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to read a chapter to Molly. By the time Harry and his friends met Gilderoy Lockhart at Flourish and Blotts, she was fast asleep, so I tucked her in too and dropped a kiss on her forehead before turning out the light and leaving, with the door slightly ajar in case they got up in the night.

The next morning we were up early and after a hearty breakfast and much laughter involving milk moustaches, we headed off for a day of adventure. We visited the butterfly house at the Natural History Museum then a touring circus where we saw trapeze artists and trained animals, clowns on bikes and a lady performing tricks on the back of an elephant. As a special treat I had arranged for us to meet the elephant, Ganesh, as her trainer happened to be the uncle of an employee at KJS. We were all instantly smitten with this gentle, majestic animal and after feeding her pieces of cabbage and fruit, were thrilled to have a short ride on her back. Matt could barely contain his excitement while Molly and I both sported huge grins.

Lastly we visited the Children's Bookshop and when we finally got home I could see they were tired so I settled them in front of a movie while I prepared dinner. Bath time followed and I had barely read half a chapter of The Jungle Book before they were both sound asleep.