“Ooh, fancy.” Zane draped himself over Brumous and me to see the screen. “What about that one with the beach theme? That seems fitting for Hawaii, right?”
“It’s a bit tourist-trap,” Casimir critiqued. “What about something more subtle? The one with the tropical leaf embossing?”
I bit back a smile. For men who claimed to have no interest in aesthetics, they certainly had opinions!
After much debate, they settled on a simple leather cover with a tasteful island-inspired pattern embossed along the spine, something that nodded to Mahina’s heritage without being ‘tourist-trap.’
“Which photos?” Casimir asked, most likely already sorting them in his mind into categories. I could almost guess them, too: Never, no, acceptable, yes, and definitely.
“All of them.” I shrugged. “It says you can add as many pages as you want.”
So Koa uploaded the photos, and the site automatically arranged them chronologically, to Casimir’s great satisfaction.
“Should we add captions? Dates?” Koa asked.
“Maybe just the years,” I suggested. “And possibly a quote on the title page?”
“‘Ohana,” Casimir said immediately. “That’s all it needs to say.”
“And a photo,” Zane insisted.
Koa added the word to the title page, then looked at Zane, who motioned for the laptop. His long pianist fingers flew across the touchpad, then he handed the laptop back to Koa. Curious, I looked at the photo he’d chosen and saw Mahina mid-laugh, her head tipped back and sunlight haloing her.
“That’s Mom. That’s how I remember her.” Zane swallowed hard, no mischief in his eyes as he whispered, “Please.”
“It’s perfect,” I said as Casimir and Koa both nodded in agreement.
When Koa went to the checkout, he added four copies to the cart.
“One for each of us.”
“Add two more,” Casimir said. “One for Sebastian and one for the library as an archive copy.”
That made tears spring to my eyes. My monsters were finallyallowingthemselves to put down roots. To build something lasting.
After completing the purchase, Koa closed the laptop and looked at me as if half-expecting me to say something profound. Instead, I reached over and took his hand, giving it a squeeze.
No words were needed. They echoed through our hearts without needing to be spoken aloud.
Brumous sighed, his head under my chin, as if he understood. Zane flopped against my shoulder, his face half-buried in Brumous’ ruff. Casimir sat with his usual stillness, but his eyes were somewhere far away, maybe in a kitchen where cookies baked and evening primrose sat on a windowsill.
#
The lunar magic theory book in my lap weighed approximately eight thousand pounds.
At least, that’s how it felt after two hours of reading about moon phase influence on gravitational spells and shadow walking. I’d expected studying my powers to be exciting. Instead, I was drowning in technical jargon that made my brain feel like it was leaking out of my ears.
When the sound of raised voices echoed down the hallway, I welcomed the distraction like a drowning woman grabbing a life preserver.
“That isnotwhat I said!” Casimir’s voice carried down the corridor, sharp enough to cut glass.
I gently closed the book, taking special care not to damage the ancient leather binding. Not because I respected the book that had tortured me all morning, but because Casimir would deliver one of his hour-long lectures on the proper handling of medieval texts if I so much as dog-eared a page.
“Look, I’m just saying maybe we should consider—” Koa’s voice dropped to an even lower rumble than usual, his deep baritone stroking down my spine.
“We considered. We decided. It’s done.” Casimir’s tone brooked no argument.
I padded out of the library on silent feet, my curiosity officially piqued.
