“I wish to keep you forever,” she says.
The wonderful ache in my chest expands.
“That is my wish too.”
She exhales. “As long as all this wishing doesn’t create more magic, because I swear to god if it does, no one is using it to travel to the North Pole.”
I chuckle and pull her up close so I can reach her mouth, pressing a kiss against her soft lips. “It doesn’t. It won’t. If it does, it’s irrelevant. Because I’m here with you, wherever you go. If you want to go somewhere else, I’ll go with you.”
“I want to stay right here,” she says. “With you. Forever.”
Chapter Nineteen
Ginger
At 4 a.m., Thomas pads into the kitchen as I’m warming up some goat milk for Grak. He’s fully dressed and rolls a four-wheeled suitcase in front of him.
“Early flight?” I say, looking at him over my shoulder.
“Yeah,” he says awkwardly.
“Can I make you some coffee for the road?”
“Nah,” he says. “I’ll grab some at the airport.”
I nod and pour the pan of milk into the biggest mug I can find in the cabinet.
“You know, you can microwave that,” he says.
I get the kettle going to make a cup of herbal tea for myself.
“Grak can tell the difference. He doesn’t trust the microwave.”
My brother thinks about this. “You know, you should think really hard about being with someone who makes you get up at 4 a.m. to heat up goat’s milk on the stove.”
I shake my head. “He doesn’t ask me to do this, nor does he make me do anything. He wakes up famished, and this is what he wants. I’ve just sort of attuned to it. I can’t explain it.”
Thomas arches an eyebrow, and it’s obvious he has a long way to go before he trusts Grak as a part of the family.
“I’m just looking out for you,” he says.
“I know. I appreciate that, big brother.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing.”
Shrugging, I drop a tea bag of hibiscus flowers into my cup. “I know I love him. That’s all I know.”
“Is that enough? I used to think that’s enough.”
After a long, quiet moment, the kettle finishes and I fill my cup. I sit down at the table, and he sits across from me, saying nothing as I stir my tea.
“Love is not enough on its own. Or what I used to think love is,” I say. “But he’s shown me what it really is. He’s there for me. Just being there. Showing up when I needed him, without me asking. Listening. He says what he means, and he wants to care for me. And oh, god, as crazy as it sounds, I want to protect him with everything in me. That’s enough for me.”
Thomas sits forward in his seat and runs his fingers over his mouth, deep in thought. “He’s just so…big and brutish. Nothing about him makes any sense.”
I smile. “And yet, Grak is kind. He looks after me like I’m just the most precious thing to him. And look at how gentle he is with Ashley and Reese.”
Thomas nods and sits back in his chair. “I just want you to be safe and happy.”
