"Uncle Mike!" she squealed as I bent (though not far) to give her a hug, and she locked her arms around my neck."Uncle Mike!" she squealed as I bent (though not far) to give her a hug, and she locked her arms around my neck. I got a large, sloppy, lip-smacking kiss on the cheek, accompanied by a giggle. "Well, hello!" I replied. "But what did you do with little Rachel? Last time I saw her, she was only about knee-high!" "I'm growing up," she insisted. "I'm glad you could come see us, Uncle Mike." She hugged me again. "So am I, honey." Why couldn't she have been *my* daughter? "And who's the gorgeous redhead?" I indicated Rebecca, who was standing shyly behind her sister. At six years old, the last time I had seen her, my younger neice had been a mass of freckles and carrot-red curls. Her body was now beginning to sort itself out and it was obvious that she was going to be dangerously cute by the time she was in high school. She was proportionately shorter than Rachel and her hair had turned a deeper auburn with matching eyebrows. Her eyes were iridescent green and the freckles still scattered thickly across her nose and cheekbones stood out sharply against her clear, porcelain complexion. "Rebecca, do you remember me?" I hunkered down to get eye-to-eye with her. She looked vaguely insulted. "Of course I do. You gave me WINNIE THE POOH and THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER for Christmas. I like Eeyore," she added with another shy smile. I was a little relieved at the postscript; I thought for a moment I was being addressed by a small adult in a kid suit. This one was going to have beauty *and* brains. |