He ignored the clenching in his gut. “You still have it?” She’d been in Fisher’s Cove for almost a year.
“It was Mike’s wedding gift to me.” She traced the lines of the key. “I’m a solitary witch, and sometimes I need a place to be truly alone. My husband understood that far better than I did.”
A second eyebrow joined the first. “You go back?”
“Not often now.” Amusement stirred in her eyes. “The gardens are overrun, and dust bunnies seem to evade the cleaning spells.”
He had his own collection hiding under the bed, breeding and occasionally attacking the cat. And he knew her offer had nothing to do with dust bunnies. She offered him a gift-distance and solitude.
The thing he’d been craving every day for a year.
And as he sat on his porch, watching the everyday life of Fisher’s Cove bask in the sun, he knew he didn’t want to take it. “We don’t know that she’d be safer there.”
“No, we don’t.” Sophie’s eyes were steady. “I’m not saying you should go.”
Her mind was hazy, and he wasn’t willing to intrude. “What are you saying?”
“That you have a choice.” Her grin was wry. “Although the housekeeping staff at Morgan’s Castle might not make it a very attractive one.”
He watched Sean race into Moira’s garden after a stray ball. And felt truth slide into his heart, along with the late-afternoon sun. “I’ll take her to Colorado if need be.” For now, he’d fight from Realm-that’s where his troops were, and the magnificent fortress they’d built. But he’d go anywhere he had to go to keep his girl safe.
And then they’d come home.
To a village, and a ramshackle cottage with dust bunnies under the bed.
“Wanna have another baby?”
Nell looked up at her husband-and gaped. “After Aervyn? Are you crazy?”
He shrugged. “Jamie won’t share Kenna, and Leo says he’s too big to ride in a baby carrier anymore.”
Leo had just turned three, so that seemed like a reasonable claim. Nell shut her laptop-something was afoot at Witch Central. Code could wait, and after a very emotional morning, she could use a distraction. Something her husband likely knew. “What’s going on?”
He grinned. “Nothing.”
Yeah. And cute pink pigs were currently invading the North Pole. “Try again. How come you’re trying to steal a baby? Never mind, forget that-how come Jamie won’t share?”
“He got the first prototype to test.” Daniel looked like someone had stolen his favorite teddy bear. “I had to hitchhike all the way to Nova Scotia to get the other one.”
Nell tried not to laugh-Aervyn came by his pouty face honestly. “And exactly what is this prototype?”
Her husband pulled something fuzzy and purple out from behind his back. “We might have kind of raided your fabric stash. Kenna liked fuzzy best.”
Nell stared. It resembled a baby sling-one that had accidentally fallen into a vat of misfit toys. Slowly, she circled the fuzzy purple monstrosity. “What is it?”
“A new baby carrier. Ginia called it the KidPocket.” He winced. “Since we apparently aren’t very creative at naming things, I think it’s gonna stick.”
If Ginia was involved, that explained the purple fabric raid. “And you invented a new baby carrier because…?”
“It needed to be done.” Daniel shrugged. “We had what, fifteen carriers?”
At least.
He threw the pouch contraption over his head. “And not one of them had a beer opener. Bad design.” He held up the feature in question. “So we fixed it. See? And right next to it, a handy-dandy sleeve to hold a beer. Undo the Velcro bottom and it works great for light sabers, too.”
Light sabers. Oh, God. She reached for a chair, plunking down in an unceremonious heap of giggles.
Daniel patted the saber holder with pride. “Highly useful. Lizzie keeps launching sneak attacks, and Marcus never has a sword handy when he needs one.”
Marcus was engaging in spontaneous sword fights?
“Fatherhood changes a man.” Her husband grinned. “Wait until you see Jamie’s special feature.”
Nell had lived through a lifetime of Jamie’s special features. “Does it squirt?”
Daniel’s face fell. “Damn, you’re good.” He patted some sort of black pouch hanging off the side of the carrier contraption. “Milk cooler. Has a little hose thingie to pipe milk to the baby.”
She was pretty sure babies didn’t drink milk from hoses. “They tend to prefer nipples.”
Her husband wiggled his eyebrows. “I know.” He motioned her over and guided her hand inside the main part of the carrier. “Meet my contribution-boob pillows.”
Sure enough. Her husband’s chest currently sported two very breast-like contraptions. He grinned. “Jamie found some research study that said babies fall asleep 53% faster curled up to their mother’s chest. We’re just equalizing things a little.”
Only grown men could find a scientific basis for fake boobs. “And it took the two of you how long to come up with this?”
“Two?” Daniel looked blank for a moment. “Marcus is the main engineer behind all this genius. Aaron and Mike helped too-they added the baby toys.” He reached into the carrier and held them up. “Fake iPhone, car keys, credit cards, and sea-glass teether. The sea glass is real. The rest we magicked from baby-safe materials. All firmly attached so they can’t be pitched overboard or swallowed.”
Nell blinked, and touched her finger to the fake iPhone screen. It beeped happily. Okay. That was cool. She looked up at her husband. “I’m still not having another baby.” But she mightily appreciated his attempts to cheer her up.
He sighed and kissed the top of her head. “Well, it was worth a try.”
She chuckled. “I’m sure you can borrow Kenna when Jamie’s done playing with her.”
“I think Devin’s next. Maybe Aaron will share-he’s got two.” Daniel patted his carrier, thoughtful. ”I wonder if we can rig this thing to carry two babies? There’s got to be a market for that.”
Nell just shook her head. “You guys are really going to make this thing, aren’t you.” It wasn’t a question-she knew her man.
“Yup.” Her husband looked like Aervyn let loose in the Lego store. “I’m building the website, and Jamie knows some engineer who does product certification testing.”
She was afraid to ask.
He grinned. “That’s where you wear the carrier while bungee jumping or narrowly escaping car crashes. And Devin wants to try broomstick flying.”
Nell snorted. “You’d never get Kenna back down from the sky.” Her eyes sharpened. “Wait. Devin doesn’t have babies. How come he’s involved in this?”
“It’s bungee jumping,” said Daniel, his dimple flashing. “I think he overlooked the babies part.”
Drat. No new Sullivans on the way. Yet.
She kissed her husband’s cheek. “Go have a daddy play date. And send Elorie back this way. Ginia’s got more spa stuff brewing on the stove.” Her daughter was apparently having a very busy day.
He grinned. “I know. Why do you think Nathan and Aervyn beat it out of here right after breakfast?”
Silly boys.
Then again, the last batch had smelled a fair amount like skunk.
And with that, she was squarely on her feet again. Life, back to crazy normal. She reached up to kiss her husband’s cheek. “Thanks.”
He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to.
Marcus stood on the cliff’s edge and looked out over sand and water. It always pulled him back.
The beach had been their plaything, the place where he and Evan came to worship boyhood. A stretch of sand just outside the village, divided from humanity by the rock promontory under his feet. They’d felt like explorers. Or pirates of old, discovering the shores of America.