ASTORIA
MAGDALENA WAS TEN YEARS OLD
Humming “This Little Light of Mine” while I prepared dinner, there was an extra skip to my step because it was Friday. Asher would be with me for the next forty-eight hours, helping me with the twins and keeping me company. If we managed to get the twins to fall asleep early, maybe we could watch a movie.
It was extra hot in the kitchen because I’d turned on the oven about thirty minutes ago, so I was sweating like a pig, and thirsty. I paused all the preparation to take a long drink of the lemonade Magdalena had prepared the night before, then set the pitcher on the table.Hmm… not bad, although there’s a bit of a weird aftertaste.
“Magdalena, kids. Dinner,” I announced from the kitchen. The twins rushed in, their tiny feet tapping every step while they talked. I’d set the table with the salad and side dishes, then rushed to turn off the oven before the chicken burned. The family cats, Three, Two, and One, sauntered in and meowed, begging for dinner as if they hadn’t eaten in a month. They weregetting so old. I sighed, trying not to think of the day they would no longer be around, then got back to setting the meal.
Like some Rockwell family painting, Asher came into the house just in time for dinner. “Hey, everybody, I’m home.” The relief of having him home was incredible. I sighed the tension from all my muscles, and all my anxieties evaporated. The moments without him around were always hell, so this was my favorite part of the day—when we were all home, safe, together, and happy. I’d never had that as a kid, not really. My dream had come true. I had three cats, three kids, and a husband who was crazy about me, literally. He wasn’t perfect; his nefarious side would sometimes show up, but at least he tried, and he was an amazing father. We lived a nice, reserved life, even if we usually avoided getting close to other people. Sure, Magdalena was too quiet as of late, sad because of that boy’s disappearance, but I figured she’d soon forget about him and keep thriving.
Even though I was sweating from the oven’s heat, the hair on my nape stood, and a wet chill coursed through me. The twins had hidden from me in the park, forcing me to search in every bush, then chase them in the park for hours, but that didn’t usually drain me. Shaking off the eerie feeling, I took a deep breath, but it didn’t reach deep into my lungs. I had to be getting sick.
I turned, carrying the platter of chicken to the table, and Magdalena startled me out of my body. Sometimes that girl was quieter than the cats. She was sitting at the end of the table, staring at me with wet round eyes. Her skin was pale. She grabbed the glass full of lemonade in front of her and drank all of it in one shot. “Magdalena! I didn’t hear you come in. Where are your brother and sister?”
I patiently waited for her to say something, anything. I’d never seen her like this. “I love you, Mommy,” she whispered, onthe brink of sobbing. My poor girl. I couldn’t believe how broken hearted she was. Her first love…
“I love you too.” I smiled, walked over to her, cupped her cheeks, and kissed her forehead. “You okay, honey?” Her eyes filled with tears. “Magdalena, everything’s going to be fine.”
She shook her head.“T-there’s something I have to tell you.”
“Angel, what is it? You’re only ten years old, baby. You have an amazing life ahead of you. Come on.” I stared into her red eyes, concerned, almost questioning if she could overcome this whole ordeal.
“Mom—”
Asher walked into the dining area. “Hey, there you are.” He took me in his arms, then kissed me passionately. His presence gave me a burst of energy. Thank God he didn’t work on weekends lately, so maybe we’d go to the park or the beach, all of us together, and relax.
“God, I missed you,” he said. His dirty sexy voice drew a smile out of me and even made me blush. I could tell by the way he bit his bottom lip that tonight wouldn’t be restful. The things this man did to me. I held on to him a little tighter than usual, not wanting our arms to untangle. When had our lives become so complicated? I sighed again, missing when things were simpler, when it was just us.Tonight, we had to tell Magdalena the truth.The thought made me wince. That boy killed his family, burned them alive, then ran. I couldn’t help shaking my head at the atrocity.
We had just met that family a week or two before.
Then the twins ran in, giggling, chasing each other, crashing against our legs. “Daddy!” Ember screeched. Asher was still in his trance with me, but the kids were yanking at his pants and screaming for our attention.
We devolved into laughter at their refusal to be ignored. He loved the chaos. If it had been up to him, we would’ve hadtwelve kids. He kissed me again. “Mmm. It smells amazing. I’m starving.” After greeting Ashton and Magdalena, he took Ember with him, kissing her cheek and sitting her on his lap at the end of the table. “Will you help me eat all this stuff that Mommy has served me, Ember?”
“No food,” she answered.
I sat next to little Ash. Magdalena was on the opposite side of her father, in exactly the same position as before, watching us in complete silence as if we were a display at a store that she craved to be part of. Another full glass of lemonade down in one shot.
God, she wasn’t even a teenager yet. What the hell? How could she have fallen in love so young? They were just kids.
“Aren’t you going to at least try the food, angel?” I asked her.
“You want me to try the food?” With her tone and the way she overfilled her fork, taking in mouthfuls of rice before swallowing the first, I knew it was another fit. I turned my gaze to Asher, then back to her.
“You okay there, little angel? What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’ll do anything you want as long as you tell me the truth, Daddy.”
Asher’s fork rattled on the plalte after he dropped it. He rolled his eyes and sighed. “Magdalena—” I tried to get a word in, to talk some sense into her.
“’Cause that’s what I have been doing all my life is anything that you want. And there’s only one thing I’ve ever really asked of you, and that’s to tell me where Killian is.” She banged her fist on the table. Oh boy... the drama was strong with this one tonight. Bye bye movie night.
I sighed, and again, Asher’s and my gazes met. My heart sped up. “Okay, Magdalena, this is not a subject for dinner,” I said, trying to calm the situation.
“It hasn’t been the right subject for three months.”
“We’ll tell you tonight. Okay?” Asher stated while I tried to catch my breath and slow my heartrate.
