Caroline opened the door of the Boarding house and took off her heels. Lizzie and Josie looked at her expectantly and very excited.
"Can we take another look?" Lizzie asked impatiently, following Caroline as she walked on tiptoes to stand in the middle of the hallway to check that Stefan was not around. Then she looked at the twins and bent to get closer to them.
"First, let's think about where-"
"Caroline?"
She stood straight suddenly, turning around to face him. He was standing next to the door of the kitchen holding a cloth. Caroline swallowed and Josie and Lizzie picked out from behind her.
"Hey girls" he said with a little smile.
"Hi, Stefan" they said, waving their hands with a smile too.
Stefan looked up from her to stare at Caroline. He frowned slightly when he noticed that she was acting a little bit weird.
"Everything okay?" he asked with suspicion.
"Oh, yeah" Caroline cleared her throat. "Everything fine" she said with a wide smile. Stefan's frown grew and she averted her gaze.
"Dinner is almost ready" he said, analyzing her with his eyes. Caroline nodded.
"Okay, give us a couple of minutes."
Stefan nodded, not very convinced, and walked into the kitchen again. Caroline let out a deep breath and looked at the girls.
"Upstairs, quickly" she said, pulling them gently.
Stefan wandered his eyes over Caroline first, and then over Lizzie and Josie. They were at the table of the kitchen, having dinner, and the three of them were keeping a weird silence.
But this was interrupted by Lizzie's little giggle, unable to contain herself. Josie gave her a warning look and Caroline did not even move, as if she had not heard her laugh. Stefan bit the inside of his cheek and took a deep breath before leaving his fork on the plate.
"Okay" he finally said, and looked into Caroline's eyes. "What's going on?"
"What?" Caroline asked, releasing a nervous laugh.
"Caroline, come on. You three are hiding something."
"We're not, we promise" Lizzie said. Stefan looked at her from the corner of his eye and the little one pursed her lips into a thin smile.
"That's your 'I've done something but I'm not telling you' smile, Lizzie" Stefan told her with raised eyebrows.
Lizzie could not help but giggle again. He then looked at Josie, who looked down at her plate quickly.
"Stefan, I promise it's nothing, okay?" Caroline said, rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, right. Last time you said that, you three flooded the bathroom after filling the bath way to much just because you wanted those rubber ducks to have a bath."
The girls giggled.
"That was funny" Lizzie said.
"Okay, fine, don't tell me" Stefan rose to his feet, pretending to be annoyed. The girls jumped off their chairs fast and followed him, wrapping each one of his legs with her arms.
"No, don't get mad, Stefan" Josie begged. Caroline shook her head with a smile and after standing up too, she hugged him from behind.
"Yeah, don't get mad" she said and rested her chin on his shoulder, stroking his chest with her hands.
"Caroline" he sighed, and turned his head to hers to look at her. "I'm just worr-"
She pressed her lips against his for a quick kiss and then looked at him.
"Do you really think we'd keep something important to ourselves?" she asked.
"No, but…"
"Let's play a board game!" Josie said, shaking his leg.
"Fine" Stefan sighed and grabbed Josie and Lizzie to throw them over each one of his shoulders.
He peeked out from behind the door of Lizzie and Josie's bedroom just to realize that they were not in bed yet.
"Girls, it's late" he said. "And your mom will literally kill me if I don't tell you to go to bed now" he said in a whisper.
The girls exchanged a look and got out of their playhouse to jump on each one of their beds. He sat on Lizzie's bed first and tucked her in.
"Are you going to give us a ride on your bike this week or not?" she asked.
"You're a little impatient, don't you think?" he tickled her and she laughed, trying to pull his hands away. "Sleep well."
He sat on Josie's bed now and tucked her as he had done with Lizzie.
"I've already finished the book you gave me" she said.
"Oh, already? You're a fast reader, huh?"
She nodded with a smile.
"Will you give me another one?"
"Sure, you can go into the library, you know? Pick any of them you wanna read" he said.
"Do you like cats?"
Stefan frowned and Lizzie looked at Josie with wide open eyes.
"What?"
"Nothing" she said, looking away. "Good night, Stefan."
Josie closed her eyes tightly as if she was trying to avoid Stefan's look in any possible way. He looked at Lizzie, who was biting her lower lip and looking around as if she had never broken anything.
"Lizzie, what…?"
He followed the direction of her eyes when she looked down at the floor and opened his mouth a little when he saw a kitten.
"What the-" he closed his mouth when he remembered that the twins were in the room. He picked up the kitten with his hands.
Lizzie and Josie exchanged a worried look as Stefan approached the playhouse. He squatted in front of it and his jaw dropped when he saw other two kittens inside. He felt Josie and Lizzie's hands on his shoulders, leaning forward to take a look too.
"Those two have been fighting the whole day" Lizzie explained.
Stefan, after releasing the one he was holding, sighed and rubbed his face, closing his eyes.
"I can't believe this."
"Can we keep them? Please, please?" Josie begged, tugging the sleeve of his shirt.
"What's taking you so-" Caroline stopped at the door, staring at them and realizing Stefan had discovered their secret. "Oh, you know, I'll keep waiting in the-"
"Caroline" Stefan said, standing up with his hands on his hips.
"Yes?" she said with a fake wide smile.
"Seriously?" he asked, pointing at the playhouse.
"We found them on the street, on their own, and they're so tiny and they have no one and… We can't abandon them" Caroline explained.
"Yeah" Josie and Lizzie said at the same time.
Stefan gave Caroline a questioning look and she shrugged, pointing at the girls with her head. He sighed again, folding his arms.
"Let's keep them, please" Lizzie said, stretching her arm to shake his arm. "Please?"
"Yes, please?" Caroline said, walking over to him to pat his chest. She tilted her head and pouted at him. "Are you really going to say no to those faces?"
Stefan looked at the girls, who were staring at him with a sad face, also pouting at him. He could not help but roll his eyes and snort. They were so alike their mother.
"Fine" he sighed, giving up.
"Yay" Caroline cupped her neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
The little girls got so happy that they started to push Stefan until he fell on one of the beds. Caroline, Josie and Lizzie fell over him, laughing, and he could not help but smile softly, having the three most important girls of his life in his arms.
His smile vanished, however, when one of the little kittens jumped on them and landed on Stefan's chest. Caroline pursed her lips to restrain a smile. And she really tried not to laugh when the kitten licked his cheek.
"Great" Stefan said under his breath.
"Look! Stef likes you!" Lizzie said, excited, pointing at the kitten. Stefan frowned, realizing they had named one of the kittens after him.
"Wait, what?"