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Lightning.
There was a lightning strike out the window, and then there was lightning in the bathtub, shooting through the water. My husband’s hands slid through the liquid, lifting my baby, coated in blue lightning, from the water. He smiled at me and said, “He’s blond.”
“Moses and Melody.” I breathed slowly, still blinking hard. “Right?”
“Right,” Hya said, soothing his thumbs over my tense knuckles. “What’s your husband’s name?”
“Ni—” I stopped myself. Nixhad beenmy husband. Now, he went by… “Jeremy.”
“There ya go.” He unclasped our fingers, giving the back of my hand a gentle pat. “He’ll be waking up any moment now.”
My head shot around.
There he lay.
Like me, in a hospital bed. His eyes were shut, face scrunched up in pain.
“He’s not hurt,” Hya said. “He’s just remembering. Give him a few minutes. He’ll—”
I was already yanking the IVs from my arms and climbing off the bed. My legs gave out beneath me, and Hya helped me up before I had time to hit the ground. He helped me onto Nix’s—No,Jeremy’s—bed.
Jeremy.
I took his hand in mine, twining our fingers together.
The longer I looked at him—that strong jaw, that messy black beard, his knotted black waves, those strong shoulders—the more that came back.
It was like in those few moments, Véa and Laila merged.
I was both at once.
Now, I remembered everything.
I remembered being human and meeting this man on a back road in the middle of the night when we’d hit a deer, and we blew out a tire. I remembered him coming to the rescue. I remembered making love to him for the first time in a cabin. I remembered the look on his face when I told him I was pregnant with our son. I remembered those arms holding me when I lost our baby. I remembered wearing a white gown and kissing him before a small crowd.
I remembered him cutting our daughter’s umbilical cord. I remembered him singing her to sleep in her crib each night. I remembered when we found Micah after years in captivity, and he cuddled up in his daddy’s lap while he played guitar.
I remembered everything.
It was still a jumbled, confusing mess, but I remembered.
I remembered collecting fleeting memories from my life as Véa. I remembered agreeing to let Hya cast a spell so that I could remember every moment of her life, ofmylife.
My memories as Véa were closer, feeling as though they’d happened sooner than my life as Laila, but I remembered it all now.
And I couldn’t wait for Jeremy’s eyes to open so I could share all the memories with him.
Just as the thought crossed my mind, they flung apart, and he yanked in a gasp.
Unlike me, he remembered my face the moment he saw it.
He shot up in the bed, wrapped his arms around me, and sobbed, “Véa,” until he was all but hyperventilating. “Mi lim,” came next, over and over. Then was, “Laila. Baby. Fuck, you’re okay. You’re okay.”
I wasn’t sure if he was saying it to comfort me or himself, but I embraced every moment, crying with him as he stroked his hand over the back of my head, then down my torso, taking in every inch of me.
“We’re okay,” I whispered in his ear. “It’s all okay.”
He squeezed me tighter, weeps dampening my shirt. “Please don’t hate me.”
