Chapter Forty-Six
Forty-Six
Angie
Angie arrived home from dropping Bàba off at physical therapy, and Mia took the car from her to pick up her children from her in-laws’ place.
She, Mia, and Bàba planned to do his physical therapy exercises together, and they could rest with cups of hot tea on the balcony. A recreation of the old days with a challenge to drink as much tea as they could before the weather turned their drinks cold.
Snow fell, dotting Angie’s lashes and bangs, as she strode across the short driveway.
Evidently it had snowed last night, if the inches-thick, powdery coating on the ground was any indication.
Snowflakes drifted from the skies above and she held out a hand, watching as they landed on her gloves and became tiny puddles.
Mia arrived home twenty minutes later, her shoulder-length hair pulled back with a large clip, and she gave Angie a hug. “Is everything okay?” she asked when she pulled away.
“Angie āyí! You’re home!” Rosie bounced up and down, her small face bright and cheery, and it couldn’t help but put Angie in a cheerier mood.
Angie kneeled to give Rosie and little Jack a hug. “An-gie.” Jack struggled before saying the next word. “A-yi?”
“Yes, you got it perfect this time, sweetie. You all hungry?”
“It’s been a long morning. Jack might need his nap.” Mia looked down at the top of her son’s head.
“No nap.” Jack shook his head and jumped up and down, his tiny feet pounding against their hardwood floors. He pointed to Lulu, who had came downstairs and stuck her head out from the stairwell at the commotion. “Kitty!” He bolted for her, and she turned tail and sprinted upstairs.
Angie shook her head with a faint smile and walked to the kitchen to boil two cups of jasmine green tea for her and Mia and poured two cups of water for the kids.
“How’s work been?” She set the cups on the living room coffee table where her sister had already put out four bear and moose-shaped coasters.
“Fine. Been thinking more seriously about leaving my job.” Mia reached for her teacup, eagle eyes glued to her children. It was a miracle to Angie that her sister didn’t miss or spill her mug even when she wasn’t looking at it.
Rosie ignored the water and ran up the stairs, presumably to look for her brother.
Her comment piqued Angie’s attention. Mia loved her position at the hospital, at least, to her knowledge. “Really? Did something happen at work?”
“It’s been a lot since the last war with the mer. A few of my coworkers left Creston, and I don’t blame them. But management hasn’t replaced them, so it’s been all extra work, no extra pay. I can’t even get home on time to my kids most days.” Mia gently blew on her steaming tea.
“Do you know what you’d want to transition to?”
Mia shrugged. “I don’t know yet. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. The hospital directors put together a party for all the staff. I saw Celia there and we chatted for a bit, and she asked about you.”
Angie’s interest was piqued. “She’s working at the hospital again?”
“Yeah, she obviously couldn’t work at the docks anymore. And we always need more staff, so she was hired quickly as one of the admin staff.”
“How is she?”
“She seemed alright, mostly talked to me and one of the receptionists about work stuff.” Mia scrolled through her phone and showed Angie a photo of the administrative department.
Angie looked closer. Mia was in the middle of the photo surrounded by colleagues. Celia was at the edge of the frame, and Angie easily identified her from the sparkling silver stud in her nose. “I’m glad she’s doing okay.”
Mia swiped to a photo of baby Jack, and a tender smile spread as she put her phone down on the coffee table.
“You know, Jack has been asking why we don’t have a dad that lives with us.
He’s been seeing other dads on TV, and with other kids at the playground.
” She worried her bottom lip. “Remember how I told you it was only a matter of time until he’d start questioning? ”
“What did you tell him?” Angie sipped her fragrant jasmine tea, relishing in the rich floral scent.
“That he had a dad, but he’s not with us anymore. When he’s older, I’ll tell him all about Nick.”
The mention of Nick sent up the hairs at the back of Angie’s neck, and she turned away from Mia, bristling. “Oh yeah?”
Mia leaned forward, resting her elbows on her thighs, her expression somber. “Yeah, it’s why I brought them over to Nick’s parents’ this week. They’re off school and she misses him a lot.”
Angie’s mouth went dry and she took a hard swallow. She didn’t want to keep talking, or thinking about Nick, but if it helped Mia to get it out, she’d bear it.
“I don’t know how to tell her he died trying to protect you from the mer.” Mia leaned back in her seat, folding her hands across her belly, and Angie swore she caught a sniffle from her sister.
Angie ran her tongue over her upper teeth. She tried to remember what happened, but it was hazy. The pain at the time, and survival, was the only priority on her mind. Not where Nick was or what he was doing.
Two years after his death and she still couldn’t shake the feeling of disgust at the notion of him. For all the evil he had done, he had died, slipped away unreformed and unpunished.
She slid her arm around Mia’s shoulders and pulled her close, and Mia put her head on Angie’s shoulder.
Mia lifted her head. “I know you two didn’t like each other. And he said some horrible things in his rage and stress, but he never wanted to see you hurt.”
Angie shifted uncomfortably. The Nick she knew at the docks had cursed her out and got into a physical altercation with her.
Not to mention his assaulting the mermaid in the outhouse, Aurora, in front of his cronies and resulting in her lifemate being shot execution-style, but she swallowed her words.
She couldn’t tear Mia’s wounds open again and forced her next words out. “I’ll take your word for it.”
“I was still planning on leaving him.” Mia’s voice grew thick. “I still see the spears impaling him, over and over. I had nightmares for a long time afterward.”
“I remember; you told me.” Angie finally faced Mia, squeezing her hand. She hated Nick at the time, yes, and that he treated Mia so poorly. But she also hated that Rosie and Jack’s father was taken from them.
Mia nodded with a sniffle and wiped her eyes with her free hand. “You know, even though it seemed like he looked down at you, he still would have protected you. You were his sister-in-law, and his strong sense of family would have demanded that.”
Angie squeezed Mia tighter, remembering when he shot Serapha because he thought she was hurting Angie. “I know,” she whispered.
“But enough about him. Thanks for listening to me.” Mia smiled through her tears, and Angie walked over to the coffee table to retrieve a tissue for her.
“Jack’s so annoying,” Rosie stomped over to them, rolling her eyes. She grabbed her glass of water and took a long drink. “He won’t stop punching my shoulder.”
“Your Māma thought I was annoying too when we were growing up. But look at us now.” Angie winked at Mia.
“She was a pain in my behind.” Mia grinned, giving Angie’s arm an affectionate squeeze.
“Also, Jack, stop hitting your sister!” She raised her voice coupled with a sharp glare at her son, and he dropped his arms to his sides.
Then grumbled, “no kid of mine is going to use their fists to solve problems. Or for fun.”
“I don’t know. I guess he’s okay sometimes.” Rosie pouted. “When he’s not being stupid.” Jack let out a shriek as he ran through the house and tripped over his own feet, laughing as he tumbled to the floor. “Angie āyí, can we go outside and make snow angels?”
“I want come!” Jack bounded over.
“He’s gonna get in my way,” she whined. Rosie’s gaze pleaded with Angie to keep Jack with Mia. Jack hopped over to Rosie, and grabbed her hand, his eyes round and pleading.
“Mia?” Angie asked. Her sister looked like she was ready for a break and Angie wasn’t about to deny her.
“Rosie.” Mia reached into her purse and pulled out a novel with what looked like a topless white-haired winged man seductively caressing a scantily clad petite woman.
The Dragon Lord’s Kiss was displayed across the front in gilded letters.
“Let your brother come with you.” She settled in and kicked her feet up.
Angie couldn’t help but grin. Her sister was an avid reader and frequent visitor to their tiny village library in her late teens and early twenties, with young adult and later, adult romance novels as her favorite genres.
Though after marrying Nick, Mia had stopped reading.
Rosie made a noise Angie couldn’t decipher and let out a dramatic sigh. “Okay, fine. C’mon Jack, let’s go get our coats.” She walked to the entrance and Jack happily followed.
Angie motioned with her head to Mia’s book once the kids were out of earshot. “Happy to see you’re reading again.”
Mia peeked at Angie over the top of her book. “Yeah, I missed this while I was married.”
“I thought you said you were too busy with Rosie to read. How do you find time with two kids now?” Angie quirked an eyebrow.
Mia’s gaze flickered to Rosie and Jack, still getting dressed.
She lowered her voice and leaned closer to Angie.
“Uh, well, that’s what I told you. But Nick didn’t like me reading romance novels.
He said he tolerated it while we were dating, but he made his, erm, displeasure known after we married. ”
Angie’s eye twitched. Her cheeks flushed hot with irritation. “Are you serious? So, on top of everything else, he was also insecure?”
Mia rested the open book on her lap and rubbed her face.
“He said he never looked at or thought about another woman twice, in real life or anywhere else, after he proposed.” She shrugged, puffing out her cheeks when she exhaled.
“I believed it. And he thought I shouldn’t be either. So, I respected my husband’s wishes.”
“But they’re fictional men. He shouldn’t have tried to stop you from a hobby you loved.” Angie gritted her teeth. Not to mention he forcibly kissed a mermaid and Mia never knew.
“Oh, I agree. At the time, I agreed to make him happy.” Mia shook her head, one corner of her lips turning upward, her expression solemn. “The kids are ready to go outside. Do me a favor?”
“Yeah?”
“If Jack has a meltdown, or they won’t come in, tell them we’ll give them hot chocolate.” Mia gave her a dismissive wave before returning to her book.
“We make snow angel!” Jack clung to Rosie’s hand as Angie led them out, strapping her winter boots on and helping Rosie and Jack with theirs.
The three trudged outside to their backyard, and memories filled Angie of when she was a child, making amorphous shapes she called mermaids in the snow.
Māma used to come help her, and Bàba when he was home from the docks.
The memory slowed her breaths, of Māma standing over her patiently while Angie played, before eventually getting on the ground and making snow angels and mermaids with her.
Thoughts of when Māma was healthy were her favorite ones.
“Angie āyí, I want to go diving with you,” Rosie announced once they got to their knees and put their hands to the snow.
Angie brightened. “I’d love to take you when it’s safe again.
But you’ll have to wait until you’re eight.
” “Okay.” Her niece stopped what she was doing and flipped around so she was on her hands and knees.
“Why do the merpeople have to hurt us? Why?” She burst into tears, and Angie froze making the bottom half of a snowman.
She rose to her feet and strode the three steps over to Rosie and gathered her in her arms. Her niece’s seaglass bracelet glinted under the sunlight from when Angie found one in a fishing net shortly before she discovered fish were vanishing.
“Mew-people?” Jack blinked, walking toward Rosie and sitting beside her.
“Papa is gone because of them. I miss him.” A fresh wave of tears came, crystallizing on her pink cheeks, and Angie brushed them away.
“He’s always watching you, qīnàide. He’s with our ancestors, watching you grow up, and I bet he’s so proud of you two.”
The three resumed making their snow angels and snowman.
An hour later, Rosie announced she wanted to go back inside, and Angie climbed to her feet. “Jack, honey, you ready?” The toddler stared at her. Angie lowered her voice, as though she were telling him a secret. “There’s hot chocolate inside.”
“Yay, hot chocwit!” That made Jack jump to his feet and he eagerly followed behind. She grabbed his hand with Rosie tugging on the bottom of her jacket to follow along back to the house.
“I’m cold, Angie āyí. I want my hot chocolate with lots of marshmallows.”
“Okay, let’s go.” She picked up her pace, and she let the kids get ahead of her when her phone pinged, an incoming email from Dr. Williams to the school’s faculty and student email list.
Hi everyone,
Ty Williams here. Just wanted to give an update on what’s been happening with SMOSA. MDRT is working with them and is preparing to deploy to the seas. In the meantime, keep your distance from the shorelines. Hope we’ll all be safe soon.
Angie dry-heaved, and her stomach plummeted to her boots.