Spirit - Part Eighteen
This episode is part of a larger story, Soft Touch. If you haven’t yet, you can go back and read it from the beginning right here.
I accept the coffee that Rose pushes into my hands with a sigh of gratitude.
I slept pretty lightly last night, and it took me some time to get to sleep at all. So many thoughts were rushing through my head. I don’t normally sleep away from home, either. It’s always so strange to spend the night anywhere but Ketterbridge.
Aiden, on the other hand, got some real rest. He’s very used to waking up someplace new every day, sleeping somewhere new every night. On top of that, he was… strangely, inexplicably blissful after what happened last night. Elated, almost.
He was lost in silent thought for a long time after Leyla left our room. Staring up at the ceiling, his arms above his head on the pillows, soft golden light shining from his bronze skin. Eventually he rolled over and locked me into his embrace, his happy smile crinkling up the corners of his eyes. Slipped right off into deep, serene sleep only seconds later.
I was smiling up at him, confused, trying to work out what was going through my Heliomancer’s head.
This morning his blue eyes are soft and beautiful, well-rested, showing no signs of stress. Following me everywhere.
He’s had his arms wrapped around me every time he sees the chance. Stole every kiss he could fit in while I was putting on my clothes. When I went to sit down on one of the kitchen stools, he pulled me onto his lap instead.
I rub my face, waking up some more in the warmth of Aiden’s arms. Taking grateful sips of my coffee, and taking in my surroundings with clearer eyes.
It looks like the storm clouds rained themselves out while we slept. The Port Sitka morning is sweet and summery, full of golden sunshine. Song thrushes are singing somewhere near the cottage, their little cheeps reaching us over the sigh and rush of the sea. The crystalline ocean waters beyond the shore are as clear as glass, glinting pure turquoise.
Rose is bright-eyed and renewed, just back from the early-morning walk she took with Basil and Parsley. Fresh air is still clinging to her, and a few silver curls have blown loose from her bun.
She keeps stopping in the middle of cooking to stare at me and Aiden. Like she’s still surprised that we’re here, and still excited about it.
“I want to give you the same compliment I gave Leyla yesterday about the lesbian stairs,” I tell Rose, reaching for the plate of pancakes in front of me. “Namely: love your lesbian stairs.”
“Oh!” She lets out a laugh, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “I’m glad you like them! The bi stairs are on the side facing the beach.”
Aiden finally drags his gaze away from me and looks sharply at Rose, his blue eyes widening.
“No fucking way,” he blurts out.
He slaps his hand over his mouth, realizing what he just said to a little old lady, but Rose only breaks into a grin.
“I’m serious,” she says earnestly, half-laughing, stirring the maple syrup she’s heating up on the stove. “You can go look if you don’t believe me!”
Aiden stares at Rose, then slowly turns his head to catch my gaze with his. A startled, delighted smile is slowly turning up his lips, glowing in his eyes. He opens his mouth to answer Rose, but he’s interrupted by Leyla’s arrival from the hallway.
She comes lightly and gracefully into the kitchen, in the process of fitting a golden earring into her ear. Her delicate eyebrows knit with frustration as she tries to get the backing in place.
Rose blushes deeply, instantly, staring at her wife with adoring eyes.
It’s funny how the conversation comes to a total, dead stop as soon as Leyla sets foot in a room. She’s wearing jeans, and a simple white top that matches her snowy white hair - but somehow that makes no difference. She effortlessly carries herself like the femme fatale of a vintage noir movie, so she looks like one, too. It feels like she made a very grand, dramatic entrance, but all she did was walk over here.
Rose must be thinking along the same lines, because she lets out a soft, sputtering laugh as Leyla approaches.
“Look at you!” She lets out a helpless giggle, reaching up to gently take care of Leyla’s earring for her. “Why do you always look like you just stepped off of the cover of a pulp novel? Deadly Dame, or something like that. And you’re the Deadly Dame. Good morning, Deadly Dame.”
Leyla’s frustrated expression melts away into one of pure warmth. Her eyes twinkle with laughter as she bends to grasp Rose by the back of her neck so she can place a kiss on her forehead.
The devious, merry little grin is on her face when she draws back to look down at Rose. “Good morning, Lady Luck.”
Rose blushes harder, her shoulders drawing in together. She quickly turns back to the stove and clears her throat. Blinking hard behind her glasses, shaking her head, a flustered smile playing around her mouth.
Leyla folds her arms around Rose’s plump little form, rests her cheek on the top of her head as she looks at me and Aiden.
“Mmm. G’morning, boys. Slept alright?”
“Yeah, thanks! Charlie’s room is nice.”
Aiden nods at the porch, catching Leyla’s eye. “Do you guys really have bi stairs back there?”
“Hm?” Leyla bites back a yawn, releasing Rose to accept the cup of coffee she’s being offered. “Oh - yeah, we do. For Rose, and for Mira. Calla’s mom.”
Aiden stares blankly at Leyla, until all at once, he breaks into a tremendous, beaming grin.
“I love it here,” he announces, to a mingled burst of soft laughter from Rose, Leyla, and me.
“Well, there’s always room for you two at our table,” Rose tells us, adding another pancake to each of our plates. “I’m afraid I probably won’t be too much help when it comes to giving you magical advice, though. I haven’t had my powers for a very long time, and you know how much magic is based on feel. But if you ever want to come back and see us again, and - just - be around other people who - who understand…”
She trails off into uncertain silence, but Aiden and I are both smiling appreciatively at her from across the counter.
“We’re going to take you up on that offer,” I tell her, meaning it completely.
“And your magical knowledge has already been helpful,” Aiden adds firmly. “We didn’t know half the stuff you told us last night.”
“Oh - good!” Rose says, clearly relieved. She hesitates, her fingers fidgeting with her lip. “Only… it sounded like you were planning to ask me for help with your ghosts being tethered to Ketterbridge. I just don’t know that I have any answers for you. Even if I still had my powers, this would be something outside of the realm of memory magic.”
Aiden and I exchange a swift glance with each other. Sharply aware of Rose waiting for an answer, and Leyla watching us intently from behind her.
It’s time. We have to ask.
“We think we already have a solution,” Aiden says, the deep rumble of his voice slowing all the way down. “But we… need wood from the roots of a Guardian Tree to make it work.”
Rose and Leyla stare at Aiden, blinking hard in surprise.
“Oh, I see,” Leyla murmurs, leaning back against the counter. “And your Tree is still alive, so cutting the roots would be dangerous.”
“But mine is dead,” Rose breathes, her pale green eyes widening as she understands. “So you - you could take a cutting from it, and that would be no problem!”
She stands perfectly still for a second when we nod in confirmation. Then she spins around to look at Leyla, her face shining with delight.
“Help - it can help someone,” she whispers, her voice soft with amazement. “Even though it’s dead, it could still… after all this time, it could help someone again.”
“Yes,” Leyla answers slowly, taking Rose’s fingers and squeezing them. “That would be lovely, but - darling…”
Rose stops, her glowing smile falling away as some second realization hits her. She bites her lip, then slowly turns back to me and Aiden. We were watching her and Leyla in immense relief and growing excitement, but it all comes to a stop when we see the look on her face.
“We’d be happy to take you to where it fell,” she says, wincing deeply. “But there’s - a problem with that.”
~~~~
The cliffs of Port Sitka are towering faces of black stone, dropping steeply into the sea. Fronted here and there with tiny strips of sand, but mostly with glistening boulders that push up through the surface. Seagulls wheel high up overhead, riding currents of seaborne breeze, taking sudden dives towards the ocean.
Growing right up to the edges of the cliffs is the coastal forest. A huge spread of forest. Like a second ocean, vividly green, formed of leaves and pine needles and wildflowers. It all ripples softly in the breeze, its waves dancing just like the waves of the blue sister-sea at its side.
Everything is richened up by the heavy rainfall, bursting into blossom and swimming with sunlight. Leaves fall from their overburdened branches here and there, fluttering down to the mossy forest floor and disappearing into the evergreen ferns.
Aiden, Leyla, Rose, and I stand facing the tree line. We’re at the beginning of a grown-over, foot-worn path that leads off into the woods.
Aiden and I look to the ladies, waiting for them to say something. They didn’t explain what they wanted to show us - only told us to get in my car and follow them - and it hasn’t been self-explanatory.
“So, here’s the problem.” Rose pitches her voice up a little to be heard over the wind, which is stronger this close to the cliffs. “The piece of magic I did to erase us from everyone’s memory… it was imperfect, unfinished. I had to add Mags to it at the very last second, for one thing. All I really had the time to include of him was his face.”
“The Faceless Man,” I murmur beneath my breath, closing my eyes in disbelief.
“But the key part of the tapestry was finished. Complete.” Rose gazes up at us in the breezy sunlight as she speaks, holding her escaped curls back from her face. “We knew they’d be after my Tree as soon as they understood how my powers worked. That’s why I made the illusions to protect it, just in case.”
“And why we decided to put the Guardian Tree at the heart of the tapestry,” Leyla goes on. “The location of the Tree was the first and most powerful part of the magic that Rose sewed. It’s right at the core. It was what we needed to be sure no one would remember, when all was said and done.”
I close my eyes, mentally reconstruct the tapestry, and find the Tree at the center of everything.
“That didn’t ultimately save my Tree, as you already know. I couldn’t activate the magic until it was too late, and the Tree had already been found, hurt beyond repair. But the magic did erase the location of the Tree from everyone’s mind when I activated it afterwards. Completely.” Rose winces again, twisting her fingertips around her thumb. She looks like she really doesn’t want to say what she’s about to say. “Including - mine and Leyla’s. We’ve forgotten, too.”
Aiden and I stare at Rose and Leyla in startled silence for a few seconds.
“You don’t know where your Tree is?” Aiden asks, more than a little taken aback.
Rose shakes her head no, apologizing with her pale green eyes.
“But - you guys were there, after you did the magic!” I protest, half in disbelief. “You were at the Tree, right? You walked back, and-?”
“Yes, but once I had Rose conscious again, I took her out of there without a second thought,” Leyla explains, running a hand over Rose’s hair. “All I cared about was getting her home. And we never thought for one second that we had to worry about erasing the location from our minds, because Rose could always get back to her Tree by instinct. We thought she would still be able to, but after the Tree died-”
“The bond was broken,” Aiden realizes out loud, his broad shoulders sinking. “And the instinct was lost.”
“We have no idea where it is,” Rose murmurs sadly, her eyes roving over the massive sweep of Sitka spruce forest. “And you know how well the Trees hide themselves.”
Aiden surprises me by letting out a sudden, mirthless laugh.
“Yeah, I know,” he murmurs, rubbing his elbow. “Believe me, I know.”
No one says anything in answer. There’s a moment of crestfallen silence. I close my eyes and hang my head, still in disbelief.
“Oh, man. Okay.” Aiden takes a deep, steadying breath, then adjusts his snapback, trying to pull himself together. “Well, we - we still really appreciate all the help you’ve given us, and-”
“Hang on,” Leyla cuts in gently. “We can give you more help than that. We’ve lost our memories of how to get to the Tree, but we haven’t forgotten everything.”
Aiden and I both look up quickly at her. She nods at the path into the forest, the earth softened by the rain.
“This is where Jahn chased me into the woods on that night. When I try to remember where I went after I made it into the trees, I’ve got nothing. All I know is that I was by the cliffside, which I only remember because Jahn fell off of it. But I remember that Rose’s Tree grew on a little waterfall, in a grove.”
“And Charlie remembered that it was surrounded by Calla lilies,” Rose adds softly.
Silence falls again, but this time a totally different kind. This one is thoughtful - hopeful. I was just starting to believe that we had done all this to track down Rose’s Guardian Tree only to come no closer to finding it. But that’s not true, not given what Rose and Leyla just told us.
Now we have a place to start. A path to follow. If this is where Rose and Leyla set out to get to the Tree, that narrows it down. It must be within a walkable distance from here. Maybe between Aiden’s senses, my supercharged Vision, and the aid of the team… it would take a lot of searching to find a single, fallen tree in an entire forest, but if we -
“Oh, no!” I let out an agonized groan, grabbing two fistfuls of my hair. “We’re gonna have to camp again, aren’t we?”
Aiden had been looking grim, but he’s brightened up considerably all of a sudden, which I think means he’s reached all the same conclusions I have.
“Probably, yeah!” He breaks into an excited grin, nudging my elbow. “Hey, at least there’s that! We’re gonna have so much fun, dude!”
“Leyla, are there bears in this forest?” I ask, in a voice empty of all will to live.
“Not discouraged, then?” Leyla laughs, glancing between me and Aiden.
She and Rose both look surprised and relieved that we’re not giving up.
“Oh, no, we’re gonna find it,” Aiden answers firmly. “We will find it.”
“So long as - are you okay with us taking a piece from it when we do, Rose?” I ask hastily.
“I appreciate the determination,” Rose says brightly, leaning back against Leyla. “And I appreciate you asking. The answer is yes, please. The idea of my Tree doing some form of Guardian work again makes my heart happy.”
Leyla wraps an arm around Rose, staring out at the windswept forest.
“Imagine that, darling,” she murmurs, her eyes warm and wondering. “A dead Guardian Tree at work. Even the ghosts have a Guardian watching over them.”
Rose doesn’t answer, but from the way she closes her eyes, smiles, and sinks deeper into Leyla’s arms, I know just how she feels about that thought.
~~~~
The two Guardians stand talking near the edge of the forest. Aiden is holding his snapback down against the wind, Rose holding her curls out of her face.
She’s filling Aiden in on everything she can remember about her Guardian Tree. We need every little detail before we head back to Ketterbridge to catch the ghosts up on everything.
Leyla leaves them to it, stepping away from the windy cliffside. She glides back over to her car, leans against it, and beckons for me with a very slight toss of her head. I cross to her car to join her, avoiding the glimmering puddles in the grass.
“I need some intel from you,” Leyla informs me, stopping me in my tracks.
“Um…” I shift anxiously from foot to foot, equal measures confused and surprised. “Intel I have that you don’t? Is there such a thing?”
“Calla’s boyfriend.” Leyla narrows her eyes at me, her expression perfectly neutral. “She told me you’re his friend. She said that Aiden is so close to him they consider themselves brothers. I also know that you’re chronically honest, and that you won’t lie to me. Calla won’t tell us too much about Ralph, so - I have quite an opportunity here, don’t I?”
I freeze in dismay, pressing my fingers to my cheeks.
“Oh, come on, this isn’t fair!” I beg her for mercy with my eyes. “A Cold War spy interrogating me? I’m so honest that for literally no reason, I told the dude behind the counter at the bakery about - nevermind. Nevermind. Oh, god, where’s Aiden? Isn’t he supposed to save me, if I’m in trouble?”
“Alas, it must be done,” Leyla says very gravely, laughter flickering in her eyes. “Your objection has been noted. Anyways, here we go-”
“Oh, no.”
“Tell me about Ralph. Is he a good boy?”
“No,” I answer automatically, and then, in a horrified rush - “Oh, I mean - yes, he is! Just not, like - do you mean, um-? A good boy by whose definition? Because - technically no, but actually yes. Much more yes than no. Oh, Jesus. Ralph would kill me if he heard this. Or - no, he wouldn’t kill me! I just mean, um…”
Oh, god. I’m struggling desperately, and now Leyla is struggling hard to keep her composure. Apparently she finds my fumfering just as entertaining as Aiden does.
“He sounds - interesting,” she says, barely containing the tremble of laughter beneath her words.
“Oh, that he is.” I run a stressed-out hand through my hair, trying to get it back together. “To clarify, he’s - he’s a good one. He’s just not what you would call a rule follower. He’s good to Calla, though. That's his top priority, being good to Calla.”
Leyla breaks into an approving grin. “All of that sounds good to me. And I’ve already gathered that he’s some kind of bootlegger?”
That’s - true, although it’s funny to me to think of it in those terms.
“Well, better a bootlegger than a bootlicker, right?” I ask, then freeze in horror, remembering I’m speaking to a government agent.
But Leyla is an ex-government agent, actually. She draws back, blinking hard, then lets out a sharp crack of laughter, smacking my arm with the back of her hand. The biggest laugh I’ve gotten from her so far, and that feels like a victory. I let out a big breath, then start laughing, too, my shoulders sinking in relief.
“Really, though,” I add quickly, before I can lose momentum. “Ralph is a good spirit. I know you’ll like him. He’s a little rough on the surface, but considering what he’s been through in life, that’s actually pretty impressive. He’s really hardworking. A talented photographer, even if he doesn’t realize it. Wrangler of the group when we’re about to do something stupid. Secretly very sweet and kind-hearted. He’s smart, too, like, scary smart, and… well, I should probably let Calla tell you the rest.”
Leyla tilts her head to the side, an appreciative look coming into her eyes as they grow serious again.
“Sorry to ambush you, Jamie,” she says, more gently. “I already have a good feeling about Ralph, because of the way Calla is when she comes home from seeing him. But you can understand why I want to know more about him. After what happened with Calla’s last boyfriend…”
I wince deeply, a stab of sympathetic pain constricting my chest. “Yeah, she told me a little about that. I know Ralph’s been helping her work through it.”
Leyla nods slowly. Her eyes are darker when they’re so unusually serious.
“Calla had lost at least twenty pounds, when she moved back in with us after the breakup,” she says softly, a deep ache in her voice. “Just from the stress of it all. I think it’s only in the last few months she finally gained it back.”
The thought makes me so sad that I’m not sure what to say, but I know my feelings must show in my eyes, because Leyla looks into them, then nods in understanding.
“You try so hard to make sure that your little ones are loved at every turn,” she murmurs, trailing her thumb over her wedding band. “You try to make life so warm and cozy for them. Then you - you send them out into the world. You have to. But our sweet Calla came home so badly hurt… I wonder if we did the wrong things. If we made life so gentle for her, we didn’t prepare her for what it’s really like out there.”
I stare at Leyla with wide eyes. I can’t believe that she just shared all that with me.
“Well… Calla came home, when she was hurt,” I answer slowly. “She came back to you, to her family, so she could heal. And not because she had no money, or nowhere else to go. Because she wanted to. She knew that was where to go when she needed to be safe and warm and cozy. I think that means you - probably did do the right things.”
Leyla gazes at me without answering, but a small smile warms her eyes.
“And you did teach Calla how to literally beat people up,” I add. “So I’m not sure you sent her out there like, way too soft.”
Leyla lets out a sparkling little laugh, leaning back against the car. “You’re a sweet one, aren’t you? Calla told me you were, but I didn’t quite realize the extent.”
“She did?” I draw my head back in pleased surprise, fidgeting with the sleeve of my flannel. “Man. It’s hard to know where you stand with Calla. She’s a secretive one.”
“Yes, well…” Leyla’s smile falls slightly. “That’s only natural. We’ve had to do a lot of secret-keeping, in this family.”
I hesitate, nervous that I might be pushing my luck. But Leyla seems open to talking, so I give it a try.
“You’re not so secretive, though,” I say tentatively, watching her expression for any signs that this was a mistake. “You’re actually a lot more open than I expected you to be. You told us the truth about the case, let us watch you stitch up Rose’s spirit last night, and you seem really for the idea of telling Floyd and Spencer the truth…”
I stop there, assuming Leyla will hear the question in my words. She does - I can tell from the look she flashes me - but she doesn’t answer right away. She seems like she’s trying to decide whether or not she wants to.
When she does answer, it sounds like she’s quoting something.
“She smiled and said unto me: ‘Know, O Captain Moin, that I am a woman desperately smitten with a young lass. And between her and me has happened what has happened. And therein lies a mystery of love.’”
I run through my mind, but I don’t know the quote. “Is that from a book?”
“It’s from One Thousand and One Nights.” Leyla gazes past me, resting her eyes on Rose. “From the French translation done by Madrus. The oldest known manuscript of Nights was written in Syria in the ninth century, and it’s still read and referenced everywhere today. But that particular section never seems to make it to the front, does it? That story isn’t part of the adaptations, the retellings, it’s not even in some of the translations…”
Leyla stops for a second, letting out a soft sigh.
“I’ve been keeping secrets all my life, Jamie. I had a huge secret to keep well before I joined the CIA. Gathered up many more as an agent. I’ll admit that it was fun keeping my secrets, sometimes. All that running around in the dark.” A memory glimmers in Leyla’s eyes, making a devious smile turn up her lips. “There was this troupe of French dancing girls I met once in Paris. We all went to the lake in the Bois de Boulogne, and - nevermind. Nevermind.”
I let out a startled laugh, pressing my fingers over my mouth. Leyla flashes me a grin, but her voice is serious again when she goes on speaking.
“I can keep my secrets, believe me. I’ve got all the experience in the world.” She turns her eyes to the forest and lets her gaze rover over the trees, taking slow, deep breaths. “But I don’t want to keep the secret of what happened here. At least not completely. Not from everyone.”
I ask the question without thinking. “Why not?”
“Because. The story has become about Mags.” Leyla drops her steady, unflinching gaze to meet mine. “It had to be that way, this time. It was by our own design that everyone forgot the roles that Rose and I played in it. I know that. But… still, I don’t want our story lost.”
I stare at Leyla in surprised silence. I’m not sure what to say, but not because I don’t understand. I do understand, in some instinctive way.
“You know, there are a few reasons why I think Mags chose to betray me. One, because he always thought he should’ve been made an admiral during his Navy service instead of my father. He felt cheated of something he thought he was owed, and therefore entitled to take whatever he wanted by using me.” Leyla lets out a soft snort. “I’ll tell you, that man couldn’t have been admiral of a bathtub. He couldn’t get men to follow him, because no one trusted him. You can see why.”
“I can,” I agree firmly.
“But the real reason he threw us under the wheels of his ambition is because he saw me and Rose as props in his story. That’s all we were to him. But Rose and I, we had our own story. It was ours.”
Leyla’s big, brilliant eyes turn to Rose again, watching her adoringly as she tilts her head back to speak to Aiden, her silver curls dancing in the wind.
“I don’t want our story lost and forgotten,” Leyla says again, much more softly. “I know it has to be mostly a secret, to keep us safe. But… well, Aiden called it something legendary, didn’t he? Legends can be passed down, even if only a very few people know about them. Little legends. Quiet legends. Some quiet legends have come down to us all the way from the ninth century, and made a big difference to a little girl who felt very scared and alone until she stumbled across One Thousand and One Nights in the library.”
Again, I can’t find the words to answer. I just look at Leyla, with a lot going on in my heart.
“Lady Luck and the Deadly Dame,” I finally stammer, without thinking.
Leyla pauses, then lets out a soft, startled laugh.
“Oh, sure,” she half-groans, half-laughs. “Fine. So long as some trusted people know what really happened here, I’m happy. You and Aiden strike me as the perfect place to start. For reasons I don’t feel the need to explain.”
I break into a tentative smile, twisting the heist ring around my finger. “So that’s why you’re giving us the full truth?”
“That, and - alright, don’t ask me to explain, because I can’t, but…” Leyla leans forward, dropping her voice to a confidential volume. “As an agent, you know when the job is done. I can’t shake the feeling that Rose and I - we left something unfinished. But it’s beyond our capabilities to do anything about it now, even if we knew what it was. If there’s something left to fix, someone else needs to fix it.”
I stare at her uncertainly, taken aback. Leyla gazes deep into my eyes, then looks over at Aiden. She seems to come to a conclusion. She fixes me with her broad, merry grin, then slaps my shoulder.
“If you happen to find out what it is, take care of it, won’t you?”
“Oh - I mean, we’ll try!” I answer, alarmed to be handed such an important responsibility. “I just hope it’s something we know how to handle!”
Leyla gives me a look of warm, shining confidence. “I have a feeling you two are up to it. And to making sure that the right people know the story. Only the right people, you hear me? I still have to look out for my family. I’m planning on sticking around to meet my great-grandchildren, I’ll tell you that right now.”
I tilt my head to the side, realizing that both Rose and Leyla have talked about great-grandchildren as if they’re firmly part of the plan.
“Does Calla want kids? She’s never said.”
“Oh, yes,” Leyla says, surprised that I didn’t know. “Very much, for as long as I can remember. But only with a man who would be as good of a father to them as Charlie has been to her.”
I turn that all over in my mind, then look gratefully at Leyla.
“We really would like to come back and see you again, when you’re feeling like it,” I tell her earnestly, thinking about how much we’ve learned in the last day and night. “If Calla doesn’t mind us showing up for a visit now and then.”
“On the contrary, I think she’d be happy to see you,” Leyla informs me. “Even if you dropped by without warning.”
“Really?” I stare at Leyla in amazement. “The Reinhardt family really does keep its secrets.”
“Mmm. Not quite so much. Not these days.” Leyla clasps my arm, gives it a gentle squeeze. “You and Aiden come by the cottage anytime.”
I match her smile, and she gives me a nod, then sets off for Rose. Aiden says his goodbyes to Leyla when he passes her halfway across the grassy cliffside, and I lift my hand to wave goodbye to Rose.
We slip back into my car, Aiden folding his legs up to fit himself. This part of things is usually accompanied by some grumbling about how my car is the approximate size of a corncob, but this time Aiden is silent. He’s looking out through the windshield, watching as Leyla sweeps Rose up into her arms and plants a kiss on her forehead.
“Man,” he rumbles suddenly, around a soft huff of laughter. “My mom was so wrong about some things.”
And suddenly I understand why he was smiling so hard after we got into bed last night, having watched Leyla lovingly stitch her grey-haired Guardian back together. Just as she has tens of thousands of times before, on the tens of thousands of nights they’ve spent together.
Guardians absolutely can be loved. Last night was more proof on the pile.
I look at the glowing expression on Aiden’s face, the light moving in his eyes. He looks so happy that my heart instantly leaps up happily in answer, and a huge smile turns up my mouth as I stick the keys in the ignition.
Look at that, Leyla, I think to myself, watching her lead Rose back to her car. Your story already found someone who needed it.
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