Koa
The forest opened up like a secret being revealed, the trees parting to frame a meadow awash in a wildflower patchwork of blue, purple, white, and yellow. I heard Seri’s soft inhale beside me, felt her hand tighten in mine, and knew we’d found something special.
“Oh,” she breathed, kneeling in the floral chaos. Her palm pressed to the earth like she could drink spring through her skin. “This feels like…”
“Like you’re standing inside a poem?” I suggested.
“Like Iamthe poem.”
Brumous charged ahead, disappearing into the tall grass with only the swish of his tail visible as he bounded along. Cas stepped into the clearing, his usual vigilance momentarily softened by appreciation. Even Zane was quiet for once, taking in the scene with a rare thoughtful expression.
Seri ventured further in and crouched to examine something near her feet.
“Look! May apples!”
I set down the picnic basket and joined her, taking a knee beside a cluster of umbrella-shaped leaves. Underneath, small white flowers nodded like shy creatures hiding from the sun.
“And these,” she moved to another patch a few feet away, “are Dutchman’s breeches.” She gestured to tiny white flowers that did indeed look like miniature pairs of pantaloons hanging on a line.
“You know your wildflowers,” Cas observed, coming to stand behind us.
Seri’s smile was both pleased and wistful. She’d pulled her hair into a loose braid this morning, but tendrils had escaped to frame her face, making my fingers itch to tangle in them.
“Papa taught me. Before everything changed.” She brushed her fingers across a cluster of delicate violet blooms. “These are wild geraniums. And over there,” she pointed to a carpet of tiny white flowers near the edge of the clearing, “are snowdrops.”
She moved through the meadow like she belonged there, naming flowers with quiet confidence: trillium, Jack-in-the-pulpits, and violets.
“This is spring beauty!” She motioned us over to a patch of pink. “Aren’t they lovely?”
I looked down at the small flowers, then back at her face, flushed with excitement, gray eyes sparkling, lips curved. Nothing like the trembling, terrified woman from this morning.
“You’re therealspring beauty,” I murmured.
Her eyes flew to mine, a blush spreading across her cheeks. For a moment I thought I’d embarrassed her, but then she smiled, a shy, pleased thing that made my heart stumble in my chest.
“Smooth, little brother.” Zane appeared at my shoulder. “Did you practice that one in the mirror?”
“Shut up.” I shoved him, but not hard enough to knock him over.
“No, really, I’m taking notes.” He pulled an imaginary notepad from his pocket. “Step one: Compare wife to small woodland flora. Step two: Wait for swooning.”
Ishouldhave shoved him hard enough to knock him over.
“You’re just jealous because you didn’t think of it first.”
“Please! When I flirt, I don’t need botanical analogies.” He turned to Seri with an exaggerated waggle of his eyebrows. “Although if we’re talking about things springing up, I could show you—”
“That’s enough,” Cas cut him off.
“I was just going to offer to help her identify more flowers,” Zane protested. “Such a dirty mind, Simmy.”
“You don’t know a trillium from a turnip,” Cas said dryly.
“Brother, I can’t even identify a turnip, but I know other things.” Z’s grin turned wolfish. “Like exactly how to make our wife—”
“Zane!”
“—appreciate the wonders of nature,” he finished, all wide-eyed innocence. “What did you think I was going to say, Cas?”
