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Mary smiled at her future daughter-in-law as she rubbed a steady hand over Max’s coat. Max had popped his head up and stared toward the door, his gray whiskers prominent in the reflected light. Halo must be home.
“When Kyle and I have our own children,” Sam said, moving her computer with its Pinterest bridal boards display off to the side. “They’ll grow up knowing their grandparents were heroes.”
Mary felt the same pitter pat of her heart, the same smile sliding across her face as the door opened and her husband moved into the room. He had a package under his arm and a cake box in his hands as he kicked the door shut.
His eyes were locked on Mary, as they always did, until he made his way over to her and gave her the kiss. It was the storming car kiss. It was the “I’ve made a commitment to your well-being and my love for you kiss. It was their kiss. The one that they greeted each other with and the one they gave as a promise each time they left.
“Y’all are so cute,” Sam cooed.
Halo handed the cake box to Sam and then the package to Mary.
Halo’s next kiss was for Max. “How you doing, old man?”
“Don’t call him that!” Mary and Sam said together.
Mary reached for the cheese knife from the snack board on the coffee table to slice open the package, and Sam opened the cake box.
“It looks delicious, but what does 10 – 50 mean?” Sam asked.
“Our origin story that I was just telling you,” Mary’s hand wrapped Halo’s as he rested it on her shoulder.
“We met ten years ago today,” Halo said. “And Mary is turning fifty. We celebrate both.”
“Yes!” Sam said. “Harrowing! Terrifying. I can’t even imagine. Why hasn’t Kyle told me your story?”
“Perhaps he’s not a hundred percent sure that his mom could really do the things we said.” Mary looked into the brown box and pulled out a piece of pottery, holding it up and turning it this way and that. “This is proof positive that it all did happen, though.” She held it out to Halo to examine. “Every year, on the anniversary of the storm, Anneli, that’s the little girl Max found in the woods, sends us a piece of handmade art.” Mary dug further into the paper, pulling up a framed picture and folded stationery. “We get a picture and an update.”
“So, the mom and the infant? They survived?” Sam asked.
Mary held up the photo for Sam to see. “The baby is now a ten-year-old boy. Toomas.”
Max sniffed at the letter and then looked at Mary expectantly. “Let’s see, Max.”
Mary dug through the box and pulled out a dog toy. “They didn’t forget you, buddy.”
Halo accepted the letter from Mary, then walked around the back of the sofa to sit next to her and Max, wrapping his arm around them while he studied the photo.
“And how long between the time you got home from Tallinn to the time you were married?”
“Three weeks,” Halo said. “The longest three weeks of my life.”
“Wait!” Sam turned to Mary. “You said Mrs. V. predicted three changes in Tallinn. Obviously love. Obviously, life trajectory. But your career?”
“Iniquus knew of a group that needed a flight nurse in the D.C. area, transporting pediatric patients,’” Halo said. “And Mary was able to start right away. Of course, in the halls of Iniquus, she isn’t Mary. She’s Flagpole Mary and much revered.”
“Stop teasing.” Mary lifted her chin to accept Halo’s kiss before turning back to Sam. “I will tell you, when Deidre called and told me we were flying to Switzerland to change our lives, I didn’t believe her at all. Of the three places that she was offered, Deidre decided on changing her life trajectory. That’s how she ended up contentedly delivering babies alongside her husband in Namibia. It’s all because we followed our charts.”
Mary and Halo’s eyes caught and held.
“You see?” Sam said, “That’s what I want for Kyle and me, that level of love and devotion. The happily ever after of it all.”
“If you want that,” Mary said, bending to kiss Max’s head, “you’ll need to make sure you have a dog with you that’s as magical and amazing as our Max.”
