Page 35 of Mountain Struggle

“I see. You’re a regular little merman.”

Jamie nodded proudly. “So was Tess. A mermaid. I took care of her.”

Damien felt his heart constrict.

“Good job, buddy. Why don’t you go wash your hands for dinner? I’m making vegetable lasagna.”

Jamie nodded, already running out of the combined living and kitchen area.

As soon as he was out of hearing range, Damien dropped the knife and dried his hands on a kitchen towel.

“How was it?” he asked quietly.

Tess’s eyes were shiny with unshed tears.

“He was great, Damien. Swam around all day. We bumped into a couple kids from his school and they played together in the water. It was good.”

Damien exhaled, relieved.

“Good. Good. I was worried it’d bring back—”

Tess put her hand on his.

“He’s fine. You need to relax.”

Damien nodded.

“How about you? Are you okay? You also went through a traumatic experience.”

“I’m fine, Damien. We had a brilliant day out there together.”

Damien couldn’t help but smile at her choice of words.

“Maybe we can have a brilliant night together,” he said. He wanted to lift her onto the kitchen counter and ravish her right there, but contented himself with placing a hand on her waist.

“Get off me. Jamie’ll be back in a second,” she hissed.

“I’ll speak with him, I promise.”

“Not tonight, Damien. We had a full day—he went swimming for the first time. He doesn’t need—”

Damien swallowed an impatient huff. He knew his son—Jamie would be happy for them. They were both responsible adults—they could make sure their relationship didn’t affect him. But Damien knew he needed to tread carefully, that he needed to be respectful of Tess’s opinion on the matter. And, if he were honest, her desire to shield his son above all else, thrilled him.

“Fine,” he finally agreed. “We’ll talk about it later, though.”

Two hours later, after dinner and multiple story books, Jamie was finally asleep in his bed.

Damien watched Tess as she put away the books they’d read. He walked up to her and handed her the one he was holding in his hand, a story of superhero mice saving their city from a supervillain rat. Tess was a fiend about alphabetical organization, so he knew better than to put the book in the wrong spot.

“Hey. It’s our turn now.”

Damien held out his hand, waiting for her to take it.

“Are you sure he’s asleep?”

“He is.” He patted his pocket. “I turned on the child monitor on so we’ll hear him if he wakes up.” He swallowed thickly. “I missed you all day today.”

She smiled her luminous smile. Her eyes locked with his, the pupils huge.