"Thank you, love," he replied before decided to shift down the bar so he was closer to her--it would be easier for them to ear one another--but not so close as to appear inappropriate. "It was as you'd expect with all the kids running about," he answered with an indulgent smile, warmth in his tone for his family. He loved them all deeply, and he'd never been shy about it.
"How was yours?" A brief glance down at her hands revealed that she still didn't have an engagement right, which loosened some of the moroseness that had plagued him since that Birdie article came out about Higgs ring shopping. He'd never been the sort to try to lure a woman out of her relationship, but he couldn't help the way he was drawn to Silviya, the way he always had been. "Did you get everything you didn't know you wanted?" There was only a slight teasing note in his voice at that question.