Moments

Standing in his kitchen, Christian Hearst did not expect his niece to come through the door on such a lovely Saturday moring with her expression somewhere between fearful, tearful and angry.

"My Dad is going to kill Kieth!" she exclaimed. The door hadn't even closed behind her.

Chris looked up from the pancake batter at the young woman. "Don't be silly; Izzy banned guns from the house."

"Well, he's going to kill him with something," she said, flopping down onto the stool at the kitchen island. Head fell on her folded arms and she groaned loudly. It was rare she ever got worked up, but whenever she did, only her Uncle Christian was allowed to see it. "Keith told him that he wanted to take me to Ireland."

Christian sucked thoughtfully on his spoon. "I hear Ireland is nice this time of year..."

"You're not helping," she growled, looking up at her uncle from under her hair. "You know how Dad gets about men."

Christian smiled thoughtfully. "I know how your Dad used to be about men..." After another glare from his niece, he smiled sheepishly and placed his mixing bowl down and sat on the stool opposite her. "Look, your Dad loves you more than life itself. You're his little girl. He knows your brothers can handle themselves, because boys don't break as easily. He doesn't want to see you hurt. When you were little and just learning to walk, whenever you tripped or stumbled he would come rushing over and check to make sure you hadn't hurt yourself." With a small smile, Chris reached over and brushed the soft hair atop Lina's head. She still had her face buried in her arms, but he could tell she was listening. Her anxiety was getting the better of her, and Chris knew how her emotions could affect her speech. "Roo has never wanted to see you cry, and he knows how some men can be. He thinks that if he scares the guys enough, they'll never want to make you cry either."

"But Keith's not like that..." she mumbled.

"And Roo will forever remind him of that. You two can run away to Ireland and get married. You can stay in New York and raise a family here. Whichever you guys go and do, Roo will forever remind Keith that he's never to make you cry. If Keith can remain faithful and strong to you throughout all your Dad can throw at him, then - he might not show it, but - Roo will accept him."

"I hope you're right..."

Christian smiled brightly. "I watched my Dad do it with Izzy. I watched Jon do it with Ainsley. He does it in a completely different way, but you can see David doing it with Daphne even to this day."

With a little smile on her face, Lina lifted her head to look at her uncle. "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"Why are you making pancakes in your underwear?"

Christian smiled knowingly, and motioned his head towards his bedroom. "You do pick your moments to come and visit me, Lina."