Chapter 20 Harmony
Harmony
Ariel
Idid not appreciate the looks both Romero and Finn had given me when I showed up at their door asking for my father.
Judgemental.
Severe disapproval.
The worst one of them all… disappointment.
I loved them for my dad but it really wasn’t their place to judge me.
Thankfully they both kept their mouths shut and pointed me in the direction of where I could find Rain.
He was sitting, ass to the sand, down on the lake shore.
He looked so peaceful I almost didn’t want to disturb him with even more of my bullshit. Almost, but not quite, because I needed to get this over with so we could move past it.
I wasn’t going home with Rain upset with me just so I could then face my coven’s disapproval and displeasure.
I learned a long time ago I’d never be able to please everyone all the time so I had stopped trying. That didn’t mean it sucked any less for me every time it happened.
I sat down in the sand next to my dad and it was quiet between us for a long time as we both stared out at the water.
I probably should have started the conversation off with an apology of sorts but Rain was smart enough to know I really didn’t mean it and we didn’t usually have lies between us.
“She was beautiful,” I whispered. “I remembered her. They were fuzzy memories, but I finally remembered.”
Rain sighed as he picked up a rock and threw it into the lake. “Did it make you feel any better, Ariel, to remember her after all this time?”
I didn’t exactly know how to answer that question. It was a relief to know that she really had loved me. It also sucked because it was a love I’d never be able to return properly because she was dead.
I picked up a rock myself and chucked it into the water. Mine skipped. “There’s nothing about this that’s ever going to make me feel better, Rain. Those memories were bitter sweet at best and absolutely devastating. But I knew they were going to be.”
Rain turned to face me and for once he didn’t hide what he was feeling.
Complete and total devastation.
Heart break.
Rain was absolutely wrecked and he wasn’t attempting to hide it.
“What did you remember?” he asked in a choked voice.
Saying everything sounded like a copout and wouldn’t exactly be true.
I swallowed thickly and answered him as best as I could while still keeping some of my precious memories for just myself. “The sound of her sweet laughter. The way she smelled. How it felt to have her hug me. How much she loved me. Everything that really mattered.”
The first tear slipped free and rolled down my cheek. They just kept coming after that.
Rain didn’t try to brush them away. Instead he let his own free and cried openly with me.
It always killed me when I saw my dad cry and it wasn’t something he did very often or in front of others.
It made me cry even harder.
He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his side. I wrapped my arm around his middle and laid my head on his shoulder.
We both stared out at the lake and cried together.
“She had a great fuckin’ laugh,” he told me. “I hadn’t let myself think about that in a very long time. It was too much like torture and I just couldn’t do it.”
I could get that. Rain hadn’t wanted to remember her because it’d hurt him too bad and every day I couldn’t remember killed a little something inside of me.
And now I’d gone and dragged Rain’s pain right back to the surface and out in the open.
I could be a terrible daughter sometimes.
“I’m sorry, dad. I can be really selfish sometimes and I didn’t mean to hurt you. The only thing I cared about in this had been my own wants and desires and I’m a terrible person. After everything you’ve—”
“Hush, baby girl. You’re not a terrible person.
You’re my daughter and you’re incredible.
You’ve been through a lot and it’s okay to be selfish sometimes.
I can’t blame you for wanting to know your mother.
She was an amazing woman and I hated knowing you had her taken away from you.
She loved you with all of her heart and she would have hated that for you.
I’m glad you got her back. I’m happy for you.
Don’t you dare apologize to me for that. Okay?”
I sucked in a shaky breath. “Okay, dad.”
We sat out there for hours, just watching the water and enjoying being together. Sometimes all a girl really needed was her dad.
We were getting ready to head back in and I couldn’t leave well enough alone.
“She would have hated Isobel.”
“You are absolutely not wrong. She was all things light and sweet and Isobel is the exact opposite of that.”
“But she would have loved that you are brave enough to allow yourself to be happy again.”
“Yeah,” he said as he kissed the top of my head.
“You do know that baby’s going to come out a little terror, right? He’s going to be a fucking absolute menace.”
A thought that absolutely delighted me and I could not wait for it.
“Yeah,” he repeated with a smile in his voice. “She’s going to take after you. I should have had all boys. Baxter’s the best of you brats.”
I stopped in my tracks, frozen in place. “She?”
“Yeah,” he said, this time proudly. “Harmony Rayne Kimber. Isobel’s a fuckin’ nut.”
His entire coven was full of fuckin’ nuts.
But my heart was full of joy.
Ariel Kimber.
Baxter Kimber.
Harmony Rayne Kimber.
We may have lost my mother long before her time but Rain and my family never stopped growing bigger and stronger because we were blessed. Just took me a while to see it.
I couldn’t wait to watch the next generation of Kimber children grow up.
They were going to be something truly special.
And utterly terrifying.