Read Online Second Chance Sister by Linda Kepner - Free Book Online Page A

wander around your backyard until dawn.”
    “But you look sleepy,” she told the boys. “The
décalage
is finally getting to you. You need to try to sleep, even though your bodies say it is daytime.”
    “I’m not tired,” protested Andy.
    “Come,” Bishou said, taking him in her arms. He leaned against her on the couch, while she leaned against Louis.
    Bat commented to Louis, “I’ll bet you didn’t plan to take on an entire family.”
    “I will take that bet,” said Louis good-naturedly. “They don’t call you ‘les jumeaux’ for nothing. It is the whole family, not just you two.”
    “Well, that is true,” Bat admitted. “Any two of us are ‘the twins,’ really.”
    “I have figured out that part,” Louis replied, his arm around Bishou’s shoulders.
    Andy looked up at him, past Bishou. “What do we call you? You’re even older than Bat. Calling you just ‘Louis’ doesn’t seem right.”
    “The Campard boys call me Oncle Louis, and I’m not truly their uncle,” Louis replied seriously. “Would you rather call me that, too, even though it is not quite accurate?”
    Andy consulted Gerry, beside him on the couch, with a look, then looked back again at Louis. “Sure. That would be good.”
    “Bon. Oncle Louis it is, then.” He drew Bishou closer. “And what do you think of your sister? A beautiful woman,
hein
? Did you ever notice before?”
    “Not really.” Andy nestled against her.
    “But Bat said we’d see her differently now, because you did,” Gerry contributed.
    “Oh, he did,” said Bishou. Bat grinned and said nothing. “Did he tell you I would always love you as much as I do?”
    “Yes, he did,” said Andy, eyes closed.
    “Good,” she said softly, kissing the top of his head. “I’m glad he realized that part. I will always love you.”
    “
Aussi
,” said Louis, just as softly. “Now. Did Bettina show you the room upstairs where you boys will stay?”
    “Yes. We took our suitcases up.”
    “Good. Now, Bat. You take them up and put them to bed, and come back to us.”
    “Yes, sir. Come on, boys.”
    After they left the room, Bishou said to Louis, “You are handling them just the right way. They need a commander-in-chief.”
    “I rather thought so. Besides, I am being selfish.” Louis kissed her. He placed his hand under her breast, and kissed below her throat. In her ear, he said, “I may be acquiring your family, but you are
ma femme
.”
    She sighed, put her arms around his neck, and kissed him. “Oh,
mon mari
.”
    “What do you say?” he prompted with a smile.
    “Ah, oui.”
    She slipped off her shoes and lay on the couch, her head in his lap. His hand rested on her breast and stomach.
    “Go to sleep,” he said. “I will get you back to the
pension
, I promise.”
    She closed her eyes.
    Bettina’s voice. “Is she asleep, monsieur?”
    “Not yet,” he replied. “But she had a very strenuous day, between teaching and this reception.” She heard the clink of a teacup and saucer. “Merci. Leave the other here, in case she wakes.” His tone changed. “What?”
    “Oh, she is so beautiful, Monsieur. And kind. I am so happy for you.”
    “Oui. And kind. Now scat.”
    Bettina giggled. “Oui, Monsieur.”
    A few minutes later, she heard Bat sit down again in the other chair. “Is she asleep?”
    “Oui.”
    “I’m glad. She’s been overdoing it again.”
    “There are so many things she wants,” said Louis.
    “Not really,” said Bat. “Only one thing she wanted. And she got him.”
    “You flatter me.”
    “Non,” Bat insisted. “She wrote me months ago, from Virginia, and said, ‘I have seen him, the only man I want.’”
    “Really?”
    “And listed all the reasons why there was no hope in hell of it happening.”
    Louis’s hand stroked her body. “To think I never noticed her there, caught up as I was in my own problems.”
    “When did you decide she was the one?”
    “Back here, without her. I argued with Etien. You know, I