The Dance Part 2

Chapter 223 Story Time

"Lucas, how would you like to earn some chocolate chip cookies today?" Jill and Lila sat him down at the table and offered him one of Red's awesome homemade cookies.

"What do I have to do?" Lucas asked with a toothy grin.

"Go ask Uncle Noah to take you to the library today." Lila poured him a glass of milk.

"That's it? And I can have more cookies?"

"All the cookies you can eat today."

Jace and Lily heard the word cookies and became interested in the conversation also. "We want cookies too." Little Lily piped up along with her brother, Jace.

"I want to go to the library too." Jace begged his mom to let he and Lily go with Lucas.

The threesome set out to find their uncle. Lila and Jill snickered as they knew Noah couldn't say no to those angelic faces.

"Uncle Noah!" Lucas called upstairs hearing Noah answer back.

"Up here Lucas." Lucas, Lily and Jace climbed the stairs finding their uncle reading a book on his bed. Lily crawled up on his lap.

"Uncle Noah, can you take us to the 'brary?" Her sweet little hand touched his pink cheek. She took after her mother, Lila. No one could refuse her sweet little ask or her lovely dark eyes.

"The library?" Lucas and Jace jumped up and down chanting the word library over and over until Noah agreed to take them.

Noah gathered his coat and chased the threesome down the stairs and out of the main house. He had hold of Lily's delicate little hand and Lucas and Jace playfully bounced in stride behind them. Jill and Lila waved goodbye to the foursome and waited for them to disappear out of view before giving each other a high five. Their plan was being implemented and no one was the wiser.

Bam and Matt weren't overly thrilled with the idea of them helping their baby brother find a love match. Noah was definitely a different breed of brother. His idea of romance was more medieval and clearly varied from that of his eldest brothers. This was the guy who didn't hug and they surmised for the most part that he was probably still a virgin himself. That bit of info wasn't going to stop Lila and Jill who were bound and determined to find him a perfect match.

Noah and his small batch of Brownies entered the library after he went over the rules of being very quiet as to not disturb anyone. The trio agreed and he escorted them into the small library to browse the shelves. He found the children's section and set them loose instructing them to find something to read while he perused the shelves for something for himself.

Noah loved the library. As much as his brothers enjoyed the great outdoors, he appreciated the smell of old books and the mountains of bookshelves each holding a different story or piece of knowledge for him to learn. Hoonah's small library had not caught up with the more computerized technology of their big city counterparts like that of Juneau but Noah prided himself on knowing how to look books up the old fashioned way with the dewey decimal system.

He finally found the title he was searching for and proceeded to the stacks to find the actual book. As he rounded the corner of one of shelves, he caught sight of a pretty pixie shelving a cart full of books. She caught his eye and smiled and returned to the task at hand. As she moved to the next row, he couldn't help but be distracted by her fairy-like qualities. He carefully pulled a book from the shelf behind her giving him an opportunity to watch her more closely. She was petite in size and moved with the grace of a swan. She carefully dusted and reshelved each book as if they were her very own. She was fair of skin and hair and had the most beautiful green eyes.

She turned to see Noah gazing at her. "Did you have a question?" Her ask caught him off guard and he fumbled for an answer. "Let me know if you need any help. It's almost story time and I'll be in the children's section if you need me."

Noah nodded almost unable to breathe. He made a circle to the children's section taking a seat at one of the tables just opposite from where she sat pretending to be engaged in a novel of his choosing. His Brownies and the other children at the library joined the pixie in a circle.

She was animated in her voice and her facial expressions as she read a storybook to the gathered children. She changed her voice based on the characters in her story. Noah couldn't help but smile as he watched her expressive eyes widen when she came to a pivotal point in the story. It was obvious she loved children and her job.

As story time wrapped up, he gathered his Brownies letting each one checkout a book under his library card. At the counter, she remarked about his companions. "Your children are very well-behaved. You and your wife have done a good job with them."

Noah balked. "Oh, they aren't mine....I mean their family....I'm just their Uncle. I don't have any kids or a wife." He suddenly felt ridiculously nervous and somewhat out of his usual character. He extended his hand to her. "I'm Noah. Noah Brown. This is Lucas, Jace and sweet Lily."

She smiled at the trio of children. "I'm Blue. Blue Harper. And it's very nice to meet all of you." She proceeded to check out their books handing each one back to the children reminding them of the return date.

"It was nice meeting all of you." The children waved goodbye and headed for the door. Noah couldn't find an excuse to stay longer. As he turned to follow suit, she stopped and handed him a schedule of upcoming library activities. "Maybe I'll see you this weekend. We're having a little library mixer here."

"Yes, Miss Harper. I think I'll be spending more time at the library," he paused, "with the kids, I mean."

Blue smiled back at him and gave him a quick wink. "I know exactly what you meant Mr. Brown."

WE THE KINGS-QUEEN OF HEARTS