by
Aimee
(aimeed@earthlink.net)
The familiar chime rang through the house. As Niles passed her on his way to answer the door, C.C. grabbed his lapel and steered him the opposite way. "You, drink. Me, door."
"No star on Broadway has the power to intimidate her, but a five-year-old child can drive her to drink." Niles shook his head as he crossed the room to the liquor cabinet, taking a martini shaker in one hand. When C.C.'s back was turned, he cast an amused little smile her way. Her niece's visit had all but given her hives, and she hadn't even met the kid yet.
Fran, Gracie, and Maxwell stood back while C.C. opened the door. A chauffeur entered holding the hand of a little girl, set down a little pink suitcase, and bowed low. "Miss Fifi Babcock," he said formally.
The little girl turned to him and gave him a winning and strangely familiar smile. "Thank you, George. You may go."
George bowed again and left. Fifi stood awkwardly staring at them. She was a very pretty child of about five, with golden-blonde curls, large blue eyes rimmed with long, curly lashes, and a tiny pink rosebud mouth. She wore a ruffled white dress with purple violets on it and shiny white patent-leather shoes.
Niles looked at Fifi, then at CC, then back at Fifi. "I'm not sure which one to offer the martini to." CC grabbed for the martini glass, but Niles swept it under her nose and then lifted it to his lips and guzzled it himself. "Wha -- ?" he asked innocently. "You said I should get a drink and you'd get the door. Who am I to argue?"
Fran nudged CC hard. CC stumbled, then moved forward with a bright, pasted-on smile. "Fifi, darling," she exclaimed. "I haven't seen you since you were a baby. I'm your Aunt CC."
Fifi looked at her shyly, then rushed forward to throw her arms around CC's legs. "Aunt CC!" she exclaimed. "I've always wanted to meet you."
"You have?" CC looked confused.
"I know all about you! I have a whole book full of pictures. You're famous. You know everybody."
"Kneel down so you can talk to her," hissed Fran.
CC knelt awkwardly in her long, form-fitting skirt. "That's so sweet," she said, unable to think of a better reply.
"Do you know," Fifi continued, rambling happily. "Mama says you were never as pretty as her and that's why you aren't married, but I think you're beautiful."
"I'll make her an eye appointment," muttered Niles.
"Oh," said CC. "Well, we look exactly alike, so doesn't that make you beautiful, too?"
Fifi beamed. "I guess it does."
CC laughed. She couldn't help herself. "Come on, I'll introduce you to my friends. Shut up, Niles." CC stood, taking the girl's hand. "Fifi, this is Maxwell Sheffield, my business partner."
"Is this the one you want to marry?"
CC looked strangled. "Manage, dear, not marry. I'm his business partner. I manage him -- ah, his business affairs."
Maxwell shook hands with the little girl. "Welcome, Fifi. I hope you have a wonderful time in New York."
Fifi looked up at him, awed and already half in love. "Thank you," she said, hiding behind CC.
"Come on out, he doesn't bite," CC told her.
"Too bad for you," said Niles.
"Shut up, Niles. Fifi, this is Maxwell's daughter, umm, ah, G -- "
"Gracie," she said, holding out her hand. "Do you want to go to the park with me and play teeter-totter?"
"I don't know that game," said Fifi.
"She doesn't know how to play teeter-totter," Gracie whispered to Fran.
Fran knelt down. "We'll show you, sweetie. I'm Fran Fine, the nanny."
"Nanny Fine will be looking after you while I'm at work during the day," CC explained.
Fifi looked downcast. "But I want to play with you."
"Why? Nobody else does," said Niles.
"Aunt CC has to work, sweetheart," CC explained in a strained voice. "But we'll play together tonight, I promise. We're going to have dinner here and then go to my house and talk."
Fifi brightened. "Okay. Umm, Aunt CC?"
"Yes?"
"Who's he?" Fifi pointed to Niles. "He looks scary when he smiles."
CC laughed. "He's not that scary when you get to know him. He's really just a pathetic old man with no life. His name is Niles, and he's the butler."
Fifi looked at Niles warily. She clung to CC.
Niles knelt before her. "Miss Fifi, your aunt is correct, strange as that may seem. I'm really not so scary when you get to know me. She's much scarier than I am."
Fifi, showing the first sign of spirit since she arrived, reached out and slapped him on the nose as if he were a naughty puppy. "I love Aunt CC and I won't be your friend if you're mean to her," she said firmly. "Now may I have a soda, please?"
Niles grumbled and rubbed his nose. He rose to his feet and stomped off. One Miss Babcock was bad enough, but two!
"Niles got beat up by a gi-irl! Niles got beat up by a gi-irl!" CC sang. For the first time, she gave her niece a genuine smile. "You know what, Fifi? I think you and I just might have a lot of fun together. Let me see. I know. Do you want to learn how to use the fax machine?"
Fifi's eyes brightened. "Can I? I don't know what it is, but it sounds like fun."
CC took her hand. "Let's go to the office and fax some contracts, then you can go to the park with Nanny Fine and G --G--Giselle."
"I thought her name was Gracie."
CC glanced at Fran for confirmation. Fran nodded. "Oh. Yeah. Just testing!" CC said brightly.
"CC, there are cookie crumbs in my fax machine!" Maxwell snapped. "Do you think maybe we could teach her the 'office equipment isn't a toy' rule?"
"Maxwell, don't worry! She'll spend most of the time with Nanny Fine and the other children, and she'll be gone before you know it. She won't be in our way at all."
It was right around five, and CC was dreading her niece's return. It had been like pulling teeth getting her to turn loose of CC's hand and go to the park so CC could get finished.
"Still," Maxwell said reflectively. "It is rather cute the way she worships you. She even started picking on Niles."
"I know. For a kid, I guess she isn't half bad."
Just then, there was a commotion out in the hall. Fifi came running in swinging a bucket. "Aunt CC! Aunt CC! Look, I made you a sand cake! There's even a little worm in it!" Fifi threw her arms around CC, spilling sand all over her. CC went down under the impact.
Fran skidded to a halt and burst out laughing. "Niles," she yelled. "You gotta see this!"
"What the hell is going on?" screamed CC.
Fifi recoiled.
Fran grabbed her and took her from the room before she got burned by the flames that were about to start shooting out of CC's ears.
Niles stopped dead in the doorway and burst out laughing. "I always knew you were a 'fallen' woman," he gloated. "Boy, you really get 'down and dirty', don't you, Babcock?"
Maxwell and Niles took CC and hauled her to her feet. "Just bloody get the vacuum cleaner," snapped Maxwell.
"And here," said CC, fishing around inside her blouse. "Do something with this." She extracted a wiggling, slimy pink worm and dropped it in Niles' outstretched hand.
Niles inspected the worm like a doctor looking for an injury. "My god. It's been down your blouse and lived to tell the tale. That's a first."
Fifi had escaped from Fran and come running back. "Oh, Aunt CC, I'm so sorry! Your pretty clothes! I didn't mean to." Her big eyes overflowed with tears.
Niles knelt beside her, his feather duster raised to protect his nose from another slapping. "Now, Miss Fifi, don't worry. Your aunt was just telling us how much she loved her sand cake, weren't you, Miss Babcock?"
"Sure!" said CC through gritted teeth, looking like her panties were too tight.
"In fact," continued Niles, "when your niece makes you a sand cake, isn't there a rule you have to try a bite?"
He couldn't believe she fell for it, but she did.
CC took a few grains of wet, dirty sand and placed them on her tongue. "Mmm." Fifi watched her, mouth wide open. "Niles, this kid could give you cooking lessons."
"Don't forget dessert." Niles held out the worm and dropped it right back down CC's blouse.
CC shuddered as she fished it back out. "Poor Niles," she sighed. "Having to rely on seeing-eye worms to get his thrills."
Niles glared at her until she swept out of the room, then a reluctant smile crossed his mouth.
He grinned again that night when he almost swallowed a slimy little worm swimming around in the cup in his bathroom.
"Will he get us back?" Fifi asked, wide-eyed. She accepted the cut-crystal tumbler of apple juice CC handed her. "Oh, are you drinking apple juice too?"
CC lifted the glass to her lips and sipped at the amber liquid. "Uhhh
. . . yeah." She pulled a face as the liquor seared her throat. "So your mom tells me you asked to come visit me while she's on safari. Not that I'm not delighted, of course," Not! "But why?"
Fifi sighed. "When Uncle Noel came to visit, he told me all these stories about you. You've got a whole stableful of horsies, and you know all kinds of famous people and have an apartment way up high in the sky. You go to the theater all the time. You always seemed kind of like a princess to me."
CC smiled. "Well, it's all part of being a Babcock. You can do all that if you want, too, when you're grown up."
"That sounds great. Mama never wants to do anything except get married and get divorced. I never see her, she never takes me anywhere, most of the time she isn't even in London. I just sit in the house and have lessons, and sometimes my nanny takes me to Hyde Park. I never have anyone to play with."
CC's face closed off, and she turned away. "Get used to it," Fifi heard her say coolly. "It'll be like that until they send you away to school."
Fifi was taken aback and not at all sure she liked Aunt CC as much as she thought she would. Then, as they settled down to watch TV and as she watched her aunt, Fifi realized that CC must have been just like her once, all alone and wanting someone to play with.
No one could believe it, but an entire night spent with CC hadn't dampened Fifi's ardor in the least. "My room is so pretty," Fifi bragged to Gracie the next day. "I get to sleep in a grown-up bed on satin sheets that smell of flowers, and her maid Angelica brought me chocolate in bed this morning."
Gracie looked at Niles, and he could just see the whining about to start. "Don't even think it," he said firmly. Then, he softened, though he couldn't imagine why he was developing a soft spot for a child who shared Babcock's DNA. "Why don't we bake cookies? Miss Babcock likes lemon cookies with her tea in the afternoons."
"So do I," said Fifi, even though she'd never had a lemon cookie in her life, nor a cup of grown-up tea.
An hour later, a pile of lopsided and rather mushy lemon cookies sat on a platter. Niles, Fifi, Grace and the entire kitchen were covered in flour, sugar, butter, and when Niles made a snide comment about CC having eaten a few too many lemon cookies already, he got a squirt of lemon right in the eye from the increasingly feisty Fifi.
"I don't think it's right," Gracie said, her little face grave and serious. "They're supposed to be round. I think this one's a freeform octahedron."
"Does Aunt CC like those?"
Grace looked at Niles. He shrugged. "What do you expect? We let a Babcock loose in the kitchen," he said.
Fifi climbed up on a chair and grabbed a big handful of cookies. "If they don't look right, we'll change them," she said, and began to mash all the cookies together into one big lump. "Now it's a lemon cake!" she said triumphantly. "Niles, how do you make frosting?"
Niles groaned. He started to get out the ingredients for cream cheese frosting.
Fran came in just as they were putting it on the "cake." "Gracie, sweetie, it's time for therapy. Fifi, do you want to come to the doctor and then out for ice cream with us?"
"No, I'll stay here and have tea and cake with Aunt CC."
"Aunt CC might not come home from the theater until dinnertime."
"It's all right, Miss Fine. If Miss Fifi wishes to stay here, I'll watch her. Ah, may she borrow one of Miss Grace's dresses? It may be wise to change her before Miss Babcock sees her."
"Good call," said Fran. "All right, Fifi can stay with Niles if she wants. Girls, let's get upstairs and get changed."
Fifi sat on the counter swinging her legs in a borrowed blue silk dress and lace tights that were a little too big for her. She watched Niles wash the dishes. He really did have a nice smile when it wasn't the scary smile. And she liked his eyes, and the way he hummed while he worked. She reached out and grabbed a handful of bubbles and wiped them on his face. She giggled. "You have a beard, Niles."
A voice spoke from behind them. "Who'd have thought it? I thought only men grew beards!" CC stood leaning against the door and smiling.
"You of all people should know better," Niles shot back.
He grabbed Fifi and swung her down before she could jump and hurt herself. Fifi ran to CC. "Aunt CC, you're here in time for tea! Fran said you might not be."
CC smiled awkwardly down at her. "Well, I got done early." She noticed Niles gesticulating wildly behind her. He was making hugging motions with his arms.
CC reached down and hugged her stiffly. "Did you have a nice time today?" she asked.
"Mmmphm!" replied Fifi. CC released her. "Oh, yes. We went to Loehmann's and I bought the prettiest hat. It was eighty percent off," Fifi said proudly. "Even Fran only found something for seventy percent off. But she didn't have any money so I told her she could use the credit card you gave me. Are you choking, Aunt CC? You're turning blue. Anyway, then we had hot dogs and ketchup. Can we have hot dogs for dinner? I want to try one with mustard."
"We'll go someplace where you can have a hot dog," promised CC, wrinkling her nose in disgust. Were hot dogs healthy? Oh, well, if it kept Fifi happy and unfussy, it was worth it.
"Now it's time to have tea and cake," Fifi said happily.
"No cake for me, got to watch my figure."
"Oh, go ahead. Nobody else is watching your figure," said Niles.
"No, I really can't. But we'll have tea together, Fifi, and you can have some cake."
Fifi suddenly burst into tears and ran away.
CC looked at Niles in astonishment.
He glared at her. "That child worked for over an hour to make you a cake for your tea! Now either go tell her you'll eat some, or I'll bloody well make you lick all the flour off the floor yourself."
Astonished, CC stared back at him over her shoulder as she left to go find Fifi.
Fran and Grace were hanging up their coats when Fifi ran in crying. Fran held out her arms and Fifi nestled her face against Fran's shoulder, sobbing, "Aunt CC doesn't want her cake. She says she has to watch her figure."
CC skidded to a halt at the sight of Fifi in Fran's arms. A rage and hurt like she'd never known before filled her at the sight of Fran holding the child who idolized her. She wanted Fifi to love her best, not Fran!
"Maybe," Fran said carefully, looking at CC's horrified expression, "since Aunt CC doesn't get to spend a lot of time around little girls, she doesn't know the rule that if someone you love makes you something, the calories don't count."
"Ooh! Good! I mean, I forgot about that completely!" CC exclaimed. At the sound of her voice, Fifi turned in Fran's arms. CC knelt down and held out her arms. Fifi ran to her, wrapping sticky fingers around CC's neck and pressing her tearstained cheek to CC's. "I tell you what," coaxed CC. "Let's have our tea and cake in the kitchen so we can tease Niles. You can send back your tea and make him do it all over again."
Fifi put her sticky little hand in CC's, and the two Babcocks started toward the kitchen. "You know, Niles is okay when he isn't smiling scary," said Fifi. "He helped me make your cake."
CC pulled a face. Niles was not okay under any circumstances. He was a royal pain in a word she couldn't say in front of the kid.
Fifi giggled at the face CC made, but it worried her to have two people she liked at war. She wondered what she could do to make them like each other.
The next afternoon while CC was at the theater, Fran went looking for Fifi to put her to bed for a nap and found her in the kitchen with Niles.
"What's this do?" Fifi asked, digging in a drawer and unearthing that looked like a medieval torture device.
"It's a hand mixer. It's the way they made pudding before people had electricity. If you want, you can help me make a chocolate pudding for after dinner. I'll give you some in a dish to take home if you and Miss Babcock aren't staying."
"After her nap," said Fran. "Come on, sweetie, Gracie's napping, and it's time for you to nap so you and your aunt can stay up and have fun tonight."
Fifi stomped angrily. "I'm not tired! I want to make a pudding!"
"Hey," said Fran. "That's the first time, she's sounded like a Babcock."
Niles picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. Fifi screamed and wriggled. "Okay, okay, I'll take a nap! But Niles has to tuck me in, too." Niles set her down and gave her an approving smile.
"Run upstairs to my room with Gracie, sweetie. Niles and I will be along in a minute to tuck you in." Fran waited until Fifi had disappeared in a flurry of brightly flowered skirts. Then, she nudged Niles and grinned wickedly. "There's a day you never thought would come," she said.
"What day?" he asked.
"The day you're taking a Babcock to bed!" Fran grinned and tucked her arm into his as they followed their charge up the back stairs.
As Fran pulled the blanket up over her, Fifi smiled up at them. "Thank you, Fran," she said, and hugged her. Then, she wrapped her little arms around Niles' neck. "Thank you. Niles, may I ask a question?"
His heart melted at her coaxing tone. "Just one, then you have to rest."
"Okay. Why don’t you and Aunt CC like each other?"
Niles was taken aback. He had ten different and equally snide comebacks, but none of them would please or satisfy the girl who looked up with him with eyes that were like CC's, but still innocent. "Miss Babcock and I don't always get along," he said lamely. "Some people don't. We don't really hate each other."
Fifi tugged on his tie. "Niles, will you stop teasing her?"
Niles pouted. "Why? Sometimes teasing is fun for both of us. It's a game, like teeter-totter but with words."
"I like you, and I like her, and I can't like you both if you don't like each other. I guess I kind of hope that if you stop teasing, maybe you'll find out you like each other more than you think."
"I'll try," he promised. His eyes were misty as he bent over to kiss her cheek.
Niles hurried into the office later that day as CC sat working on the laptop. "Babcock, I'm calling a truce for the duration of your niece's visit."
CC's fingers froze over the keyboard. "What? Whyyyyyyyyyyyy?" she whined, dropping her hands in her lap.
"She told me it hurts her to see us fight because she likes us both and I think she feels like she's betraying you if she likes someone you don't. She'll only be here another week, so I'm calling a truce."
CC looked up at him from the sofa. "I don't know where she gets these things." Smiling ironically, she added, "And that energy! Nobody in my family is like that."
"And she's definitely a hugger," agreed Niles.
"I think she's a changeling," CC said dryly.
"But a changeling who idolizes you. So how about that truce?"
"If it means that much to the little rugrat, I'll try," she said grudgingly. "But I'll be saving them all up for when she leaves!"
"So will I," he warned her, giving her the fiendish grin that frightened Fifi. It didn't intimidate CC in the least. She flashed him a wicked smile of her own.
For a few seconds, they stood there just grinning at each other. Then CC cleared her throat and Niles straightened his tie and both turned away.
They'd been at Shea Stadium ten minutes and CC was already whining. "How did I get talked into this?" she demanded, aggrieved. She maneuvered Fifi and Gracie into seats and took one herself.
Beside her, Niles carefully sat down while balancing an armload of hot dogs, nachos, cokes, and ice cream. "You're complaining?" he asked dramatically. "Here, start with dessert, it's dripping on my pants."
Fifi beamed at them happily as CC passed her an ice cream, then passed one to Gracie. "I've never been to a baseball game before," she said joyfully.
In front of her, Brighton turned around. "You still haven't, Fi. This is just the Mets."
As usual, this family outing was Fran's brainstorm. She, Maxwell, Maggie, and Brighton sat in the front row of the upper level of the stadium right behind first base. Behind them sat Gracie, Fifi, CC, and at Fifi's request, Niles.
"I think I'm having an out of body experience," Niles had moaned that morning when he arrived to collect the Babcocks. "I didn't know Babcock even owned jeans." CC and Fifi had been shopping with Fran and Gracie the day before and were wearing matching jeans (tight), mustard-colored ribbed sweaters (tight), and brown leather jackets with matching Italian leather boots. It was a strange but somehow effective amalgamation of CC's taste (classic elegance) and Fran's taste (tight).
"Good god, they've even got matching appetites," Niles muttered. CC had finally been convinced to allow a hot dog to cross her precious Babcock lips, preceded by ice cream and followed by nachos. Fifi had demanded the same.
Now Fifi tugged on CC's sweater and pointed to a vendor. "Oh, what are those? How pretty!"
Niles leaned over CC and looked at Fifi in astonishment. "Haven't you ever seen a cotton candy before?" Fifi shook her head. Niles gestured to the man selling cotton candy and bought a pink one, then passed it to Fifi.
"Thank you, Niles," said Fifi. She sat calmly holding it.
"Aren't you going to try it?" he asked.
"How does it work?" she asked.
Niles looked at CC in disbelief. "Hey," said the older blonde with the huge appetite, and shrugged. "She may be a kid, but she's still a Babcock. You're supposed to eat it, honey."
Fifi looked at it in surprise. "You're kidding me. I thought it was a toy."
CC fed her a bit of the candy. Fifi's eyes lit up, and she dug in enthusiastically.
"Should she be eating that much?" CC asked Fran skeptically. "Because if she pukes, I'm right in the line of fire."
"Vendor!" yelled Niles.
Fran held out her hand for the candy. "Maybe you better save the rest for later, sweetie."
"No!" said Fifi. "I -- " Suddenly she broke off and started holding her breath.
"Oh, no!" groaned Fran. In an instant, she had risen, whipped Fifi out of her seat, given the candy to CC, and was running with her to the nearest trash can.
CC jumped to her feet, but Niles tugged on her arm. "Miss Fine will deal with it. That's why you hired a nanny."
Anxiously, she argued, "But Fifi might like Fran better if Fran helps her vomit."
Niles rolled his eyes. "Oh, be quiet and eat your candy."
CC tried a bite. It wasn't bad. She offered a bite to Niles. "Here," she said, "You finish it. I've eaten too much already."
"Thanks." Niles ate until he'd reached the last bite. "Open up."
CC obediently opened her mouth, and he popped the sweet in. She reached out to steady his hand, and suddenly found she'd closed her lips around his fingers.
Their eyes met. CC's eyes became large and his became wary.
"Stop it," he said, very low. CC tore her mouth away from his fingertips. She looked pointedly away from him, face flushed.
About five minutes later, Fran brought Fifi back, looking a little green. Fifi curled up in CC's lap and went to sleep.
At the seventh inning stretch, the Mets were down by twenty points. CC shifted restlessly, stroking the hair of the child in her lap.
Maxwell turned at the sound of her sigh and a fussy whimper from Fifi. "We're bored, so we're going to leave now. Why don't we go home and you can rest and meet us later for dinner at Fung Lum's in Queens?"
"Good idea," said CC, "if Fifi's feeling well enough. I'll call and let you know for certain around five."
"Niles, would you mind terribly driving them home after you drop us? Fifi shouldn't go in a cab when she's sick," Max said.
Niles groaned, but it wasn't about missing the last two innings of a painfully boring game or being faced with a sick child. It was the thought of being alone with Babcock after that bizarre finger-sucking incident earlier.
CC sat in the back with Fifi as Niles maneuvered the town car toward CC's apartment after leaving the Sheffields at their townhouse. On the way out, they'd stopped to buy pennants and programs and an autographed baseball. Fifi's small fingers were wrapped around her pennant, waving it slowly. She still felt a bit queasy when they finally reached CC's apartment, so CC carried her into the guestroom. Niles was right behind her carrying the bags of souvenirs, to which he'd mischievously added another cloud of cotton candy.
Curious at this new and totally uncharacteristic twist in CC's less than loving nature, Niles followed her into the guestroom. He heard CC say, "You rest a while, darling. Angelica just changed your sheets, and they're scented with violets, can you tell?"
"What are yours?" Fifi asked dreamily.
"Jasmine. If you want, you can sleep with me tonight if you promise not to kick."
"'Kay." Just when CC thought Fifi was almost asleep, Fifi opened her eyes and spotted Niles standing in the doorway. "Did it work?"
"Did what work?" CC asked.
"Are you and Niles friends?"
CC turned and saw Niles standing and watching them. He moved forward. "I'll make you a deal. Aunt CC and I are friends if you'll go to sleep."
Fifi laughed. "Okay." She held up her arms to be hugged and kissed by Niles, then by CC. "Now I don't have to choose," she said peacefully, on the verge of slumber.
"Choose what?" CC asked, confused.
"Aunt CC," replied the girl, "Or Uncle Niles." She snuggled down underneath the covers and smiled as she slept.
"I wonder why she called you Uncle Niles," CC remarked as they strode out into the living room.
"Probably just a slip of the tongue," Niles answered. The expression suddenly seemed suggestive on several levels as he found himself alone with her. "Your souvenirs are on the sofa."
"Thanks. You know, I don't understand that child at all."
"That kid loves you very much."
"I know, Niles. And I think I love her, too. I just don't believe she's related to me. Nobody in my family is like that."
"Like what, Babcock? Human?"
CC scowled at him. "Mushy. Huggy. Not that I hate it. It's kind of cute. But I was never like that. Neither were my brother or sister." CC shook her head, completely bewildered. "I think I was right. She is a changeling. Somewhere, some shiny-happy Donna Reed mom is wondering why her five year old daughter is reminding her of the proprieties and demanding to go to boarding school."
As they laughed together, she remembered the cotton candy incident and found herself staring at his mouth. "Niles, insult me."
"What?"
"This truce is a rotten idea. I don't know how to act around you anymore if I can't be rude. She's asleep, she'll never know."
"Is that what happens to most of your dates?" he obliged her.
"At least I have dates."
"Paid ones don't count."
"Neither do hand puppets!"
"You're right. This is one dangerous truce," he said. Suddenly, swiftly, he kissed her. She tasted faintly of cotton candy
CC whimpered and wrapped her arms around his neck. She let herself melt against him, eagerly surrendering herself to the movement of his warm mouth on hers, his arms holding her a willing prisoner of his body pressing tightly to hers.
Fifi got up to ask for a drink of water, but when she saw her beloved aunt in the arms of her honorary uncle, she just smiled and went back to bed. This was right. If Aunt CC and Niles were kissing, they must like each other. If they really liked each other, she'd never have to choose who she loved best as she had with Mummy and Daddy, or Mummy and any of her other husbands.
Out in the living room, CC drew back and looked at Niles though half-lowered lashes. Her lips were kiss-swollen, and she felt slightly dazed by the intensity of his embrace and her response.
Niles held her at arm's length, his eyes dark with longing. "I'm going now. Otherwise, I'm going to carry you into your room and take you on that jasmine-scented bed of yours." He couldn't help but tempt himself with the words.
Hypnotised, CC opened her mouth to say, "Yes!" then shut it abruptly before she could say the words that would break their solitude. She couldn't, not with Fifi in the next room. But she was afraid that if she waited, she'd never do it. Reluctantly she averted her eyes and nodded, choosing duty over desire, ignoring the angst inside her.
He pulled her to him and kissed her once, hard, then turned and left.
CC walked slowly into her room and lay down on her bed, still wearing her jacket and boots. She stared at the ceiling for an hour before sleep finally gave her some peace.
The End
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