Chapter 53
a handful of stars
Robin swept into the room, but where the charge nurse had left quietly, her uniform shoes silent on the linoleum, Robin’s boots clicked loudly as she marched to Callie’s bed. Getting close, Robin slipped off the physician’s smock and launched it over a lounge chair without looking.
Jess stared, “Patent leather?”
“Corset,” Callie gulped, then looked at Cam, “Maybe the cafeteria?”
“He’s fine,” Robin snickered, having reclaimed her smock. “You can sit tight. Just a quick inspection and a little touching. I got invited to a party and need to get dressed.”
After a moment with Callie’s chart, Robin moved to Callie’s incision, “Did she make her joke about squirrels? She cracks me up, and this would have been the perfect moment to do a body mod. Something trimmed in silver or a raised relief. You’re not gonna have a scar at all.”
Callie looked at Jess only to see her brow arch, “Really?”
“Well, I have those little tattoos, if you wanted to get something…” Caught up in the body talk, Jess turned to Robin, “She has the skin and body of an angel.”
“Yeah,” Cam nodded, “Maybe the cafeteria.”
Robin chuckled, “You’re fine. Just hang on a second. I can handle this. With surgical precision and without asking, Robin grabbed her smock and flung it over Cam’s head. “A minute or two of non-explicit content, and I’m out of here.”
From under the smock, Cam’s voice was gently defiant, “I’m seventeen, not five.”
“You’re seventeen and-” Robin drew back the blanket covering Callie’s legs. In her roomy post-surgical shorts, Callie’s legs were almost entirely exposed and then some, “emotionally unprepared…” Robin finished awkwardly.
Robin blew out a long, appreciative breath and glanced at Jess. “Thighs carved with sinful intent. Where is your gym? I’ll endure the commute.”
While Jess smiled, Callie scoffed and flailed to cover herself, “I’m questioning the validity of your exam cuz now my butt is cold.”
The smocked ghost cleared his throat, “I’m thinking a Psychology career.”
“Temperature sensation is good,” Robin shot back to Callie, though her cheeks were a bit more rosy than when she started, “one more spot, just out of witchy curiosity?”
“Fine,” Callie growled, but Jess was trying not to laugh until Robin moved closer and directed Callie to hang on to her chest wrap. “I want to examine the injury on your clavicle. Hold onto the terry cloth thing, just in case.”
As Robin moved closer, Callie held her breath, and Robin touched Callie’s shoulder with the softest of pressure, “Any discomfort?” Her expression was serious, and the exam's mood shifted.
Callie shook her head, then looked at Jess. Callie shook her head. “Nope. All good.” Robin moved along the injury site to where she had thought a stone fragment had tried to avoid removal. She pressed her gloved finger on the spot, “Here?” she asked, “Pain level?”
“Not…painful,” Callie managed, then cleared her throat, “No.” She tried to catch Jess’s eye, but Jess was staring a hole across Callie’s shoulders. Robin tested the pressure where the little pattern of marks skittered over Callie’s collarbone, “How about-”
“Mmmm,” Callie groaned. Jess looked at Callie. Jess knew that sound…intimately.
“No,” Callie said, part whisper, part wheeze, “Definitely doesn’t…hurt. Maybe that’s enou-”
Before Callie could finish, Robin ran her fingertip down the length of the souvenir from the battle against Max. Tracing her finger along Callie’s shoulder, she ended where the bone joined her sternum. Callie moaned outright. Then Jess did as well.
Without warning, Robin reversed the movement, then stopped, seeing and hearing that Callie wasn’t in pain, far from it.
“The sensation,” the healer whispered, for once acknowledging Cam’s presence, “you found it…pleasant.”
“Mmmhmm,” Callie managed, but then Jess responded in kind and blew out a breath, nodding, but her expression toward Callie suggested something else. Callie grinned, though she looked at Cam’s covered head, “In the interest of medical magic,” she whispered, “you might want to see this.”
Jess shifted in her chair, then reached across Callie, pausing just above the run of scars, and they lit up, flashing softly under Callie’s skin. She had yet to touch Callie physically.
“We’re not calling these scars,” Jess said softly, “we believe they were a gift.” Her brow arched, “one that we intend to honor every chance we get.”
Her close presence caused a ripple effect as lights under Callie’s skin tracked with Jess’s fingertips. Having found that stimulating, Callie blew out a breath, “Oofdah,” she gasped, swallowing hard, “Cool…huh?”
Something had apparently been shared, and Robin sat back, stunned.
“So, we’re all done here,” she said, and with a quick check of Callie’s state of undress, Robin pulled the smock from over Cam’s head. “You can come out now. She passed with flying colors.”
Cam, with his hair all over the place, looked at Robin. A sad smile crossed his lips.
“What?” she scolded, her brow furrowed.
“You know, for someone who says she’s a mortician, you’re surprisingly alive for other people.” The room went silent, but Jess’s smile began to bloom.
“I mean,” Cam added, thinking he’d gone a little too far, “kind of spooky, but in a cool ‘I know where the bodies are’ way.”
“Ohhh,” Robin gasped, her hands coming up to hide her face, but she caught herself, keeping her fa?ade intact, “You’re about one charming quip from being adopted.” She looked at Jess and Callie. There may have been tears pooling.
Cam shrugged, “I already have two moms. You’ll have to get in line.”
Robin had to take a moment, and she looked away as well. “How about your sexy spinster aunt,” she asked, returning, “once removed.” Jess and Callie looked at Cam, awaiting his response. He had peeled back Robin’s psyche by just being himself. Cam looked at his mother, then Callie, before answering Robin’s question.
“How about first aunt privileges. Full access. You’ve obviously passed the background check. Sound good?” He checked himself, “Spinster by choice?”
“Not…entirely,” Robin croaked like she wasn’t in charge of her own answer. She looked at Jess, “This boy…mmm, this young man…”
Robin blinked, swallowing whatever had welled in her throat, “Alright. Enough sentiment. I’m gonna go terrify a nurse and pretend I don’t cry at Pixar movies, which I don’t,” she added sharply, “Ever.”
“So, the Twin Cities, soon?” Robin asked, directed at all three, “Amazing people up there.”
“Soon, we promise,” Jess answered, and Robin’s eyes lit up briefly. She touched the piercing at her brow, “They, uh, think I’m like this all the time, so…” She shrugged, “Bye for now.”
The trio listened to her footsteps, far quieter than when she had arrived, then sped up down the hallway. “Cam,” Callie whispered, “You’re amazing.” She looked at Jess, “We’ll go for real?”
“You bet,” Jess said, then yawned, “Whoa, big day.”
Yet again, there was movement at the doorway. Callie surprised Jess and Cam by waving, “Hi, sweetie. Come on in.” It was Hope.
“Hi,” she stammered, hugging the doorway. Her teeth dug into her lip shyly, and she looked at Camden.
“Not here to see me,” Callie snickered but grinned. She called to the young witch, “Would you get Cam out of here for a while? His stomach is growling.”
Her eyes were wide, and her flushed complexion suddenly matched Cam’s. “Maybe for a couple hours?” Jess added, digging in her purse for a credit card, “On me, of course.”
Helping himself to his mother’s card, Cam stood, “Pretty sure I can find a do-not-disturb sign around here.” He grinned, “If not, Hope could probably seal the door.”
“Just close it gently,” Jess smiled, thinking back to Hope’s unbridled ability to make entire buildings fall down, “We’ll be fine. Have fun.”
As the door closed, the room was quiet, and Jess settled on the pillow next to Callie, “You must be exhausted, cuz I am, and I don’t have stitches.”
Callie’s eyes stayed on the door a second too long—like she was still watching them walk down the hall. Then a quiet smile bloomed.
“We’re going to the North Shore,” she whispered, like speaking louder would break the spell. “We’re going to wave at big boats.”
“Duluth,” Jess smiled, surprised but instantly on board. “Cool.”
“Yeah,” Callie said, her gaze returning to Jess. “And we’ll have guests.” Her cheeks were pink now, matching the flush Cam had walked out with. “The boy is going to fall in love.”
Callie sniffled, happy—almost embarrassed by her own hope. “Another one of my wishes is… maybe going to come true.”
Jess went still. “You… saw it?”
“I think I did,” Callie admitted. “Part of it, anyway. It’s a cool spring day.”
Jess reached over and wiped the tear from Callie’s cheek with her thumb, like she’d done it a thousand times.
“Five minutes,” Callie begged suddenly. “Give me five minutes. I’m going to try to pee and then brush my teeth. They feel furry at this point. Can you go find me some toothpaste?”
Jess grinned. “Preferences?”
“You,” Callie snickered. “Only you.” She giggled. “Anything minty. I want to make out.”
“Robin did make a couple of care-related points during whatever the heck that all was. We could kiss and stuff,” Jess cautioned, “nothing too rambunctious.”
“Fine,” Callie whined, “so…toothpaste, maybe some mouthwash. I want to play tonsil hockey. If Robin calls and wants to know who my wax tech is…she got a good look.”
“I did, too,” Jess said, planting a kiss on Callie’s cheek, “Be right back. You good in the biffy?”
“My sinful thighs will get me there, I’m sure. Now go.”
Minutes later, they were back together. The kiss was long, and they were both breathless after. Jess pulled back, “I love your minty face.” Jess shrugged, not entirely happy with what she’d said, “Callie, I love you.”
“Oh, babe,” Callie whispered, “Sorry to put you through so much.” With a breath, she paused, “Jessemay, I love you.”
The moment she said it, the marks across her shoulder flared. Just once, just for a shared heartbeat. A low shimmer of light, like the ringing of a temple bell. Jess moved her hand over it, and the light seemed to pulse into her palm.
Jess swallowed hard, “Callie, they’re…alive.”
Jess reached for Callie’s marks, stopping just short. “I wondered,” she said. “Your magic was blooming so fast, but…” Her gaze darted to Callie. “When I had your staff made—and I set the stone into it.”
Callie swallowed. “You didn’t just trust it,” she whispered. “You listened. And the light in it… she showed us the way home.”
“Solrien joked one night that she would give me stars. She thought I was asleep later, but…she said let her love a storm, but never forget the stars.”
And then Jess knew. They were not just marks. They were Solrien’s final gift. The storm and the stars converged in one quiet soul who loved with expectations but not without impact.
“Storm and stars,” Jess whispered. She leaned forward, resting her forehead against Callie’s, “Then let me be worthy of both.”
Callie’s lips found Jess’s. The kiss was soft, a blessing for all they had been through. She pulled back and looked at Jess.
“What we have carries forward.”