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Astrid steps closer to me and slips her hand into mine.
“I know,” Zig replies, but he makes no move to put her down.
Salem looks at Astrid with tears in her eyes. “Thank you, both of you,” she says, looking at me before reaching out and squeezing my hand.
“Astrid is right. I was freaking out because all I could think about was what my life was like. How lonely and scared I was. And I never wanted that for my child. But then, I never had people like you in my life. I never had a father who would fight for me, uncles who would shield me, and friends who would comfort me.” She smiles at Astrid again, who is the only person here who has any real idea what life was like growing up gifted. Even if their lives were as different as night and day.
“You also never had a mother like you,” I remind her. She jolts at that, but I squeeze her hand. “I don’t doubt she loved you, because how could anyone not love you? But she had no idea how to be a mother to someone as special as you. You, however, won’t have that same issue with your baby.”
Salem starts crying harder now, so Zig carries her away. Turning to Astrid and me, he mouths a thank you before he heads out to their house.
I look down at Astrid and see that her eyes are wet too.
“She’ll be okay.”
“I know. I’m not crying because I’m worried or scared. I’m crying because I’m happy. I feel like I’ve just witnessed something monumental. It sounds stupid, I know, but—”
I kiss her, my hand sliding into her hair as I slowly take her mouth with mine.
“Not stupid,” I murmur against her lips before pulling back and resting my forehead against hers. “You want to come into town with Jagger and me?”
Her eyes widen in shock at the random change of subject, but she gets over it quickly. She nods rapidly as excitement lights up her whole face.
“Yes, please. I love it here, but I feel like I need a change of scenery.”
“Good. Do you need anything before we leave?”
She bites her lip. “Sunscreen and a hat?” She says it like a question. “Sorry, I know it’s a pain, but…” She leaves it hanging as I frown at her.
“Why is it a pain? You need sunscreen and a hat because your condition makes you more vulnerable to the sun, right?”
She nods.
“Having a medical condition is nothing to be embarrassed about. You do what you have to do to keep yourself safe.”
“Okay.” She grins, relieved.
“Want me to run back for them?”
“If you don’t mind. My hat is on the dresser in the bedroom, and the sunscreen is in the bathroom. Oh, and could you bring my sunglasses too, please? They’re on the coffee table, I think.”
“I’m on it. Do you want me to take your laptop back with me?”
“Sure.” She slides her laptop into her messenger bag and gives it to me, which I slide over my shoulder with a smirk.
“Think pink is my color?”
“Most definitely,” she states with a smile before I give her a quick peck on the lips and jog back to the house.
When I first met Astrid, I thought the initial attraction I felt for her would lessen. But now that our relationship has changed, there is something about the woman that soothes the beast inside. I’m not sure if I’m happy or horrified by the notion that she has such a hold over me.
Jagger is in the kitchen when I walk in. He looks at me and frowns, taking in Astrid’s laptop bag.
“She doesn’t want to come?”
“No, she does. I’m just grabbing a few things for her. She’s waiting up at the main house,” I tell him, heading to the bedroom as he laces up his boots.
When I come back out with the sunscreen and hat, he reaches for the sunglasses on the table before hooking them over the top of his T-shirt.
