Chapter 435 - 435: A Few More Days Left In England!

Kyle woke to the sound of someone whispering in the hallway.

For a moment, he didn't know where he was. The blackout curtains had turned the room into a cave, and his body felt like it had been poured into the mattress. He was still in his hoodie. His shoes were still on. Someone had pulled a blanket over him.

He reached for his phone. 1:42 PM.

"Three hours. Cass is going to be insufferable."

The whispering came again. Low, strained, and unmistakably Jane's.

"No, I understand. I do. I just... I wanted to ask properly."

Kyle sat up and listened. His ears caught every word through the gap under the door.

"I know Marcus said two weeks. I know. But we're staying a little longer and I didn't want to just... not show up."

A pause.

"Okay. Okay, I'll hold."

Kyle swung his legs off the bed, crossed the room quietly, and opened the door.

Jane was standing at the far end of the hallway with her back pressed against the wall, phone clutched to her ear with both hands like it might escape. Her shoulders were up near her ears. She looked like she was waiting to be sentenced.

She saw him and nearly dropped the phone.

"You're awake," she mouthed.

"Who is it?" he mouthed back.

"Work," Jane whispered, covering the speaker. "Marcus's assistant. She's putting me through to him."

Kyle's mind was already moving. Two weeks. That was what Marcus had given her after Kyle walked into his office and spent a small fortune on suits. Two weeks of paid vacation, and they were nearly at the end of it.

He had completely forgotten.

"I'm an idiot."

He opened his mouth. Jane immediately held up one finger.

"Don't," she whispered.

"I could just call him—"

"Kyle." Her voice was soft, but there was something firm in it that he didn't hear often. "Please. Let me do this one."

He closed his mouth.

Jane took a breath. Then another. Then the line clicked, and her whole body tensed.

"Hi, Marcus. It's Jane."

Kyle could hear Marcus's voice faintly through the speaker. Loud. Theatrical. He couldn't make out every word, but he caught "darling" at least twice in the first ten seconds.

"I'm good, thank you. London is lovely." Jane swallowed. "Marcus, I'm calling because I wanted to ask you something directly. We've had to extend our trip. Possibly another week. I know that's past what you offered me, and I know how you feel about people asking for extra time off."

A pause. Marcus said something. Jane's grip tightened on the phone.

"No, it's not a family emergency. I won't lie to you about that." She straightened slightly against the wall.

"It's important to someone I care about, and I want to be here for it. If that's a problem, I completely understand. I can take the extra days unpaid. Or if you need me back, I'll book a flight."

Kyle stared at her.

He had watched Jane apologize for existing. He had watched her blush, stammer, and hide behind Ella at the faintest sign of conflict. He had watched her stand in Marcus's office before this trip, convinced she was about to be fired just for asking to leave early.

This wasn't that Jane.

Marcus's voice came through again. Longer this time. Jane listened. Her expression shifted from nervous to confused, then to something like disbelief.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

More talking.

"No, I... thank you. Truly. I'll make it up when I'm back."

A pause. Then Jane let out a small, startled laugh.

"I'll ask him. But I can't promise anything." She glanced at Kyle.

"Okay. Bye, Marcus. Thank you."

She lowered the phone slowly and stared at it.

"Well?" Kyle asked.

"He said yes." Jane blinked. "He said take whatever I need, and that he respects that I called him myself instead of just disappearing like 'the rest of these children.'" She did a surprisingly good impression of his voice.

"And then he asked if you'd consider coming back to the store when we get home. He said there's a new autumn collection."

Kyle laughed. "Of course he did."

Jane didn't laugh with him. She was still looking at her phone, almost like she couldn't believe what she had just done.

"I asked," she said quietly. "I actually asked. I didn't hide behind you."

"You didn't and I'm proud of you!"

"I was so scared." She looked up at him. "But I didn't want him to say yes because of your card. I wanted him to say yes because of me."

Kyle reached out and gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"He did," he said. "That was all you, Jane."

She smiled. The real one. The one she kept hidden most of the time.

Then her stomach growled. Loudly. Down the entire length of the hallway.

Jane went red. "I didn't have lunch. I was too nervous to eat."

"You? Too nervous to eat?" Kyle put a hand on his heart. "This is the most frightening thing that's happened to me in London. And I had breakfast with Viktor."

"With who?"

"Nobody. Let's get you fed."

-

The living room had transformed while he slept.

Ella was sprawled across the floor with Jasmine, surrounded by a dozen sheets of hotel stationery covered in crayon. Cassandra was on the couch with Junior napping against her chest, flipping through a magazine. The breakfast trolleys were gone, replaced by a fruit platter that had been picked almost bare.

"Look who's alive," Ella said without looking up. "Three hours and forty minutes. Cass was timing it."

"I was not timing it," Cassandra said.

"She set an alarm."

"I set a reminder."

"Same thing."

Jasmine scrambled up from the floor and held a sheet of paper up to Kyle's face, so close he had to lean back to see it.

"Brother Kyle, look! I'm making a card for Anthony!"

Kyle took it carefully. It was a drawing of what was probably a superhero. Big muscles, a cape, and claws. Beside it was a smaller figure with a giant smile and wild, spiky hair. At the top, in shaky letters, it read: THANK YOU FOR WOLVRINE.

"That's amazing, kiddo."

"Is it the most beautiful picture you've ever seen?" Jasmine asked, completely serious.

Kyle froze for half a second.

"He'd tell her it was the most beautiful picture he had ever seen. Every time. Cross his heart."

"Yeah," Kyle said softly. "It really is."

Jasmine beamed and ran back to Ella to keep working on it.

Ella glanced up at him. She didn't say anything, but her eyes lingered on his face a beat longer than usual.

"We should get him a present too," Cassandra said, setting down her magazine. "For Sunday. Michelina's feeding all of us again. We can't show up empty-handed twice."

"Twice?" Ella said.

"We showed up empty-handed last time," Cassandra pointed out. "And left with half her kitchen. Jane finished the sticky toffee pudding before midnight."

"Allegedly," Jane said, already halfway through a banana.

Kyle looked around the room. At Jasmine bent over her card, tongue poking out in concentration. At Jane, eating like she'd been starved for a week. At Ella, who was pretending not to watch him. At Cassandra, who was very clearly watching him.

He had spent all night thinking about one family he was trying to put back together.

It was nice to stand in the middle of the one he already had.

"Alright," Kyle said. "Everyone get dressed. We're going out."

"Where?" Ella asked.

"Hamleys."

Jasmine's head snapped up. "What's Hamleys?"

"The biggest toy shop in London," Cassandra said, smiling. "Seven floors."

Jasmine's mouth fell open.

"Seven?"

"Seven," Kyle confirmed.

The little girl didn't say another word. She just dropped her crayon, grabbed Wolverine, and sprinted for her bedroom to find her shoes.

Ella burst out laughing. "You just ruined her for every other shop on Earth."

"That's the plan."

Kyle's phone buzzed in his pocket as the others scattered to get ready. He pulled it out, expecting Tony, or Maya, or one of Viktor's cryptic messages.

It was none of them.

[[Eleanor: You owe me a second dinner, Kyle. Friday. I'll choose the place again. Don't text me as the last option this time.]]

Kyle looked at the screen for a long moment.

Then he looked toward the hallway, where Jane was laughing at something Ella had said, and Jasmine was shouting that she couldn't find her left shoe.

He slipped the phone back into his pocket without replying.

"Later," he thought.

Today belonged to them.