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Kaya's face softened, the corners of her lips tipping up slightly. "Of course, you did, Lydia. I'm really grateful to you guys. How are the kids? Mark and Mary, I talked to them two weeks ago. Did she get the books she needed?"
"Oh that girl, she's supposed to be reading chemistry, but now she thinks she wants to go into politics. Can you imagine? I'd spend less money if she just made up her damn mind. You see what I'm saying?"
I laughed. "How many children do you have?"
It seemed like a safe question to ask. She could talk about her children, while I tried to get Kaya to calm down. She looked like she was about to scream and run away.
"Oh, my kids are my jewels. Let's see, biologically, I've got Karen and Kevin. But then the doctor said we couldn't have anymore, so we started fostering. Then we adopted Maya. She's off to uni now. Actually, she’s doing her masters. She's a bit older. Kaya here, we fostered her until she was ready for college, you know. She just needed an environment that was safe and secure. Which I hope we gave her. And now we have Mark and Mary and Henry."
I smiled at her while I leaned toward the counter. I felt too big for this kitchen, so I tried to make myself as small as humanly possible, trying not to bump anything. Finally, Lydia just gave up and sat down with Kaya at the table. "I wish you'd told me you were coming. I would have baked."
Kaya smiled softly. "Lydia is a great baker."
"I make a cherry pie that will make you weep. You haven't been home in a long time, Kaya."
I could see it in her eyes then. The confusion at the use of the wordhome. But she recovered quickly and said, "I'm sorry. I’m just so busy at school, you know."
"Yeah, I know. I also know that there's a part of you that saw this as another temporary stop. But once you’re family, you're always family."
Kaya smiled. "I know, that's why I brought Saint home to meet you."
"Now what kind of name is Saint?"
I choked a laugh. "Actually, that's my surname. My first name is Jasper."
"That sounds nice. Good to meet you, Jasper."
Kaya said, "He runs a tech company."
Lydia's eyes widened. "Oh, well that is fantastic. Like you do things with apps and things, right?"
I laughed softly. "Something like that. I enjoy it."
"That's sounds fascinating. My Henry, one of the fosters, is into tech. I think he's studying IT or something. You know, my eyes sort of glaze over a little bit when he talks about that stuff, but he looks so excited, so I guess he really enjoys it."
"Good for him."
"Well, you know, if he happens to need a job or something, I'll tell him to come and look for his new brother-in-law."
I smiled warmly. "Just have him chat to his sister and I'll look after him."
I supposed I would have to, because Kaya was, for all intents and purposes, my soon-to-be wife.
"Why don't you tell me more about what Kaya was like?" I asked.
Kaya kept giving me a look that saidShut the fuck up. What the fuck are you doing?At least that's what I think her look said. For the moment, it just looked murderous. Which was fine. Besides, it's not like she’d told me much about herself.
"Oh, you know, kind of like she is now. Quiet. Holds everything close to the vest. Almost as if she's waiting fordisaster at every turn. I kept trying to tell her that nothing bad was going to happen. But she doesn't listen, do you, love?"
Kaya gave me a wan smile. "Saint doesn't think I listen either."
"She doesn't. It's incredibly frustrating. How do you deal with that?"
Lydia laughed. "But she's smarter than she looks, that one. Did she tell you that she has a photographic memory? Or is she keeping that from you too?"
My gaze snapped to Kaya's. "What?"
"It's not a big deal."
