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“Thank you,” I finally said. “It would mean the world to her, and to me. I always feel guilty that I can’t give her everything she needs. I know guilt comes with being a parent. When I’m with her, I feel guilty I’m not working, and when I’m working, I feel guilty I’m not with her. This is the first time since she was born that I really get to just relax and spend time with her.”
“That’s good,” Wesley said.
“It’s thanks to you and letting us stay with you,” I said. “When we go back, I’ll have to look for a new job. No way I’m still going to have my old job after I just disappeared like that.”
“I’ll take care of you. I’ll set you up, so you don’t have to worry about money anymore. Ever.”
“Ever?”
“Ever,” Wesley repeated.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything,” Wesley said.
I nodded before I said in a soft voice, “Thank you.”
Wesley nodded, and we sat in silence, watching Emmie play.
After a while, she came running out of the ocean, shivering with cold. I wrapped a towel around her and pulled her onto my lap. Wesley gave her a sandwich, and she ate while I rubbed her arms, trying to get her a little warmer.
As she ate, I became aware of her warmth, radiating from her skin. She was getting hotter and hotter as she ate, her skin becoming burning hot.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Emmie said, but she was getting paler.
Her eyes started to look haunted, dark circles appearing beneath them. Magic rose in the air around us. At first, it was just a little, barely noticeable, but as I held her, the magic grew thicker and thicker. When I turned her to feel her forehead, her eyes glowed like jewels in the night.
“Wesley?” I asked, looking at him, worried.
“Emmie,” he said. He was just as tuned into her as I was. His eyes looked like hers—jewel toned and unnatural. It was magic, and there was a lot of it. Was it just hers, or Wesley’s, too? “Look at me,” he said. “I need you to take a deep breath. Let’s inhale together, five counts, okay?”
He demonstrated, breathing in through his nose.
Emmie copied him.
“Okay, hold for seven,” he said, and he held up his hand, counting down with his fingers while they both held their breath. “And exhale for eight, through your mouth.”
He blew out his breath, and Emmie did the same.
“Again,” he said when it didn’t feel like anything had changed, and they did it together again. This time, her heat slowly faded, until her skin returned to normal warmth.
“Did you feel that?” he asked when Emmie’s eyes had returned to normal.
“Yeah,” she said. “It was really hot.”
“It was,” Wesley agreed. “When you feel like that and you don’t know what to do, try that. Focus and try to calm it down, all right?”
Emmie nodded.
“Now, I think we should build a sandcastle.”
Emmie’s eyes sparkled again. “I love sandcastles.”
“We’ll build the best one the world has ever seen,” Wesley said and stood.
He and Emmie walked away from the umbrella, setting up closer to the waves so that the sand was wet, and they could mold it to their liking.
