“For the next few weeks, there were times I’d ask Aurora what she felt like for dinner, and she’d keep asking for waffles. So we decided to make it a thing.”
“Are they always Valentine’s Day themed?” I ask, taking note of the pink sprinkles and tubs of strawberry cheesecake and boysenberry swirl ice cream on the counter.
“We switch it up for Halloween, Christmas, and my birthday.” Aurora counts off the days with her fingers.
“You don’t do something different for your birthday?” I ask Maevyn.
She shakes her head. “Strawberry is already my favourite.”
The strawberry candle she’s always burning comes to mind, and how much she enjoyed the berry farm for Crew’s wedding. Her reaction makes sense now—the big grin and the way her eyes lit up.
Aurora lifts the lid, revealing a perfectly cooked waffle.
“How is it you can manage waffles, but no other baked goods?” I ask as Maevyn removes it from the iron, then pours another spoonful.
“I don’t know.” She laughs. “All the ingredients get dumped into a bowl at once and then poured onto the machine. I think anything more than three steps in a recipe intimidates me.”
“Remember that time you tried to make apple pie?” I think that’s what Aurora says. It’s hard to decipher through all the wheezing she’s doing as she throws her head back, pointing at her mother.
“I had such high hopes for that one.” Maevyn shakes her head, then turns in my arms, one hand coming up to rest against my heart like it seems to do often. “The apples were still hard, thelattice pastry on top was still doughy, and it basically just tasted like cinnamon and flour.”
I smile as I trail a hand up and down her back.
“I’d really love to attempt that one again, actually. It’s like the ultimate mum recipe.” I tilt my head in question, waiting for her to continue. “You know how in old movies and TV shows, the mum could always make the perfect pie?”
I see the light on the waffle iron flick from red to green, so I lift the lid, revealing another golden waffle. “Looks like waffles are your speciality, Trickster.”
A few minutes later, we’re all sitting around the coffee table with our plates of waffles. Aurora loads hers with whipped cream and sprinkles, and one scoop of boysenberry ice cream. Maevyn goes strawberry heavy with two scoops of strawberry cheesecake ice cream, strawberry hearts, and some maple syrup. I decide to have a bit of everything.
“I’m working next Saturday, and Ever’s going away,” Maevyn says as she piles more strawberries on her plate. “Would you or Callie be around to check in on Aurora while she’s home?”
“You can come to self-defence in the morning with me if you want, kiddo. The weather’s holding up still, afterwards we can take Patch down to the beach and have lunch at Sweet Escape.” I look up, finding the two of them staring at me, and my cheeks flood with heat. “Or I can just check on you throughout the day.”
“Mum, can I go out with Westley?”
I can’t decipher the thoughts as they pass over Maevyn’s face, but it ends with a deep breath as she looks at her daughter. “If you want to, babe.”
Aurora nods enthusiastically, a big grin taking over her face.
Maevyn places her hand over mine. “You’re okay with that?”
There’s no hiding my delight at her accepting my help, at Aurora welcoming me in as a part of her life as well, when I know having a male figure, any other close adult, is new for her. “I wouldn’t have offered it if I didn’t want to.” I turn my hand over,closing my fingers around hers and bring it to my lips, leaving a kiss against her knuckles.
I’d do anything to make her daughter smile like she is, and I’m getting damn good at making Maevyn do just the same.
After dinner, the three of us work together to clean up the kitchen before stretching out over the couch to watch a movie. My back against the seat rest, Maevyn’s back against my chest, and Aurora passed out, clutching her mother’s stomach.
I have one hand running through Maevyn’s hair, the other resting on Aurora’s back, and I think to myself, this is what it’s meant to feel like. Family. Love. These are my girls.
“I didn’t think we had room for more,” Maevyn whispers. “But you fit perfectly.”
I kiss the top of her head. “I was just thinking the same thing.”
38
It’s almost nine when I stick my head into Aurora’s room. A projector light spins stars around the walls and ceiling, and Patch doesn’t even flinch at my intrusion. He’s belly up, tongue out, much the same as Aurora, the pair of them sleeping soundly. I ease the door closed, just as the light dances over the photos pinned to Aurora’s corkboard. I tiptoe inside, noticing the selfies she took from our date night the other week, and the night I came over to bake with them.
Fuck, this little girl is owning my heart just as much as her mother.
