“Becauseyou make my hair grey.” He cherished every one. Not many investigators who took the cases he did lived long enough to get them. “Even though I’m still working on cases, some of which will take up more of my time than others, I willalwaysmake time for you. What happened the other day was an honest mistake.”
“I know. I— I was scared when you didn’t show up.”
Teresa averted her gaze, but the unspoken,I thought you were dead, hung between them. All her life, Felipe thought he had shielded her from the dangers of his job, and maybe he had succeeded when she was a child in convincing her that Papa was off on adventures. An adult woman, on the other hand, knew the dangers of the world. She could fill in the blurry spots in the stories he made more palatable for her and for himself. The horrific could always be glossed over with a blithe smile as long as he came out physically unscathed. Felipe watched guilt and concern twist her features. How long had Teresa not trusted his powers to save him while he ran headlong into danger?
“I had a close call earlier this year,” he said, grimacing at the way her eyes widened with worry. “I’m all right; Oliver helped me through it. That’s how we initially grew closer, but I don’t think I fully recovered from it.”
“Is that why you decided to partially retire?”
Felipe nodded, hating how this half-truth rolled off his tongue. It was a step toward telling them the whole story, which was more than he had done so far, he reminded himself. “I’m not able to take on those long, drawn out cases anymore nor do I really want to. I get tired more easily, and my healing isn’t what it once was. It hasn’t been easy to accept that, but I’m trying to be more careful.”
“Oh, Papa, I wish you had told me in your letters,” she said, flinging her arms around him in a tight hug. “I’m sure you didn’t want to worry me, but this is the kind of thing I would want to know. I’m an adult, you know. I can handle hearing that you’ve been injured.”
“Sometimes I forget you are. To me, you’ll always be my little girl.”
Giving him a good-natured glare, she sat back with a huff. “I’m nineteen. I don’t like being coddled all the time. When I’m away at school, I feel like an adult. People rely on me; they trust me to make decisions for myself. At home though, I always feel like you and my mamas are dancing around whatever is going on. I can’t make the right choices for myself unless I know what’s really going on. If I wanted to come home to see you when you were injured, that should have been my choice to make.”
Felipe sighed. “You’re right. Louisa and I have always taken pains to protect you because we wanted you to have as normal and happy a childhood as possible. We weren’t allowed to be children. By the time we were your age, Louisa was having you, and I was already working here as an investigator. We wanted to give you more time to figure out what you wanted, so you could do that out of desire, not necessity. If we hadn’t grown up with the families we had, we might have made different choices, and while I don’t regret any of them because they led to you, I don’t wish that on anyone.”
“I understand. Mama has said as much, repeatedly, when I complain about my coursework.” Fiddling with the beads on her purse again, Teresa asked, “What if I wanted to spend more time around the Paranormal Society?”
An instinctive jolt to say no passed through him, but he caught himself. He never wanted Teresa to grow up to become a weapon or languish somewhere she didn’t want to be like Agatha had, but she was an adult and needed to make her own choices. He looked up to find his daughter regarding him with raised brows and a challenging cock of her head. With or without his blessing, she would do it anyway.
“May I ask why? Because if it’s to spite me or your mamas—”
“No! It’s nothing like that. It’s that I’m tired of not being around anyone like me. I spend most of my time in college surrounded by people who can’t shift or do magic, and it’s tiring to know I’m the odd one out, even if no one else does. Plus, I wouldn’t have to be as careful about what I say here. No one will bat an eye if I mention my father’s companion is a man or that I have two mothers. I mean, I know some magical people, like Ma Ma’s friends, but I want to make my own friends and see if there’s a way I might be a part of the society.IfI want to, of course.”
That was a far more sensible answer than he had expected. “You absolutely should be part of the community and get to know more people like us. I hope you know, I never meant to keep you away from it, but after what happened with Louisa when we first came here and how Agatha was treated, we were hesitant. It’s much better than it was, but I always worried the Galvan legacy would follow you here. I didn’t want you being forced into a position you never asked for.”
“Trust me, I’m very good at saying no.”
Felipe laughed. “I am very glad you inherited your mama’s hardheadedness. If you want to spend more time here, you have my blessing, though I would like you to finish your schooling too.”
“Oh, I will. I want to do this on breaks.” Looking around the room, Teresa popped up from her seat and stared out the narrow windows. “This place is so strange. The view makes no sense for how high we are.”
“That’s what happens when you’re in a building built with magic; it does what it pleases. It originally made this room for Oliver, and he doesn’t like being too high up.”
“It made a room for him?”
“It does that sometimes.” Joining her at the window, he leaned against the wall and admired the space the society had conjured to help Oliver calm down. Felipe still didn’t understand the building’s strangeness, but he had grown less suspicious of it. “Oliver wanted me to tell you he sends his love. Despite what you may think, he isn’t your competition. He’s my partner, and I love him dearly, but I have room enough in my heart for both of you.”
Releasing a huffed sigh, Teresa stared at the street below with a slightly petulant frown. “I know, but he’s always around when—” Her face softened as she turned back to Felipe. “Is that because of what happened to you?”
“Yeah,” he replied quietly. “Oliver is with me all the time because I love him and want him at my side, but I also can’t be too far from him.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want you to think less of your papa.”
“I would never!”
“We all have irrational fears about the ones we love loving us less.” Kissing the top of her head, he went back to the sofa and patted the empty cushion. “Why don’t you tell me about the match I missed? Your mothers told us it was quite a show.”
Teresa’s face lit up as she joined him and launched into a monologue about all the changes the fencing club had undergone since she left for college. As Felipe listened, a smile crossed his lips. At least some things never changed.
