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The day of the barbeque, which I secretly and joyously termed Mara’s coming back to life party, dawned warm and sunny and stayed that way. I rode in with Barrett, and Olivia met us at the door when we arrived.
“Auntie Willa! I just saw you hours ago!”
It was true. She had slept over the night before and I’d only dropped her home a few hours earlier. Usually, I’d keep her until dinner, but I had a few errands to run before the barbeque.
“Are you sick of me, birdy?”
“No, never,” she replied seriously. “Hello Barrett, how are the animals at the shelter today?”
I’d been temporarily dismissed. That was more than okay. Olivia had really come out of her shell over the past ten months, and it made us all happy to see her chatting and conversing with the adults in her life.
She had evened warmed up to Amelie and Cole, enough at least to accept their company and tolerate their noise. She even regarded them with something akin to affection, but she was not childlike in the way they were and found it difficult to relate to them on those terms. Still, they had their own way of being together.
Mara and Bex were in Mara’s kitchen. Her kitchen looked over the family room where Zale lounged on the couch, his long legs stretched out in front of him. Rhys stood halfway between the kitchen and living room, bantering with Bex as he made his way to the couch with beer for himself and Zale. The twins were kneeling on either side of Zale’s hips, their little arms stretched across his broad shoulders while they watched a funny video on his phone.
“Again!” Amelie squealed and Zale’s eyes crinkled as he played the video for the third time.
“That’s fake, Uncle Zee,” Cole lay his other hand on Zale’s shoulder. “Isn’t it?”
“Yeah, buddy, it’s fake,” Zale confirmed to Cole’s smug satisfaction.
Amelie, disgruntled by this bit of news, tapped his other shoulder. “But it is very funny, Uncle Zee.”
“It is, that’s why I saved it to show you, Amelie.”
“Ha, Cole, it is funny.” Amelie climbed down from the couch and Cole followed.
“Doesn’t mean it’s real… that means it’s not real funny, it’s fake funny…”
He followed and they took their argument out to the backyard.
Rhys tipped his chin up at Zale. “You started that?”
“I seem to have a gift with children,” he responded drily.
Barrett sat down opposite Zale. Rhys grinned while handing them each a beer. He turned to go back for another for himself only to find Mara standing behind him, a beer in her hand to give to him.
“Thank you, sweetheart,” Rhys smiled. Mara blushed and smiled, then turned back towards the kitchen.
“You’re making my wife blush, Rhys, what the hell?” Zale grumbled good-naturedly.
Rhys grinned. “She doesn’t like to be seen. All I do is make eye contact and she bolts.”
Barrett shook his head. “She does like to be seen. Everyone likes to be seen. She’s just used to hiding. She blushes even when Bex or Willa notice her.”
“Fuck me, what else have I missed?” Zale grumbled.
Zale had messed up his priorities over the past year and Mara had slipped through the cracks. While it was true she was feeling much better, it hadn’t been all that long, and they were still feeling their way to a new normal.
“You just see her differently, she’s comfortable with you,” Barrett explained. “It’s harder to see clearly when it’s the one you love.”
“You speaking from experience?” Zale challenged and Rhys zeroed in on Barrett’s face.
“I hope not,” Barrett replied.
His reply could be interpreted a number of ways, but Rhys commandeered the conversation in another direction before Zale could question Barrett further. Zale was protective of all the girls in his life, and he looked as if he was filing the information away to follow up on later.
I stood hugging Mara in the kitchen.
