Chapter 151

Zane POV

I could feel Sarah backing away from me. It wasn’t complicated. She was pushing Melissa at me and pulling away.

All I needed to figure out was why.

I knew it was a little desperate, but I arranged for us to take another picnic at the park.

It was a little chilly, but the sun was bright and the sky a lovely blue as Sarah and I spread the blanket on the ground around where we had been before, a shady spot near the lake and not far from the playground with its climbing wall and see-saws.

To my relief, the park was evidently now one of the “stay cool” places to see me and my family, so while there were doubtlessly dozens of photos of us taken on phones, no one asked for a selfie or otherwise got obnoxious.

Even the attention I had received in public back when I was a widower with a child had gone away. People seemed to respect the idea of a “family” more, even if it included a human goddess-mother, than they had a man and his child. I had no idea why that was true either. I seemed to be clueless about many things.

I made a point of not asking Melissa to join us, though I was sure she would have come—a little too sure, perhaps.

Frankly, I was being sentimental. I remembered that wonderful day in the park when I’d dived into the lake to find the ring Chloe had made for Sarah. It had all seemed like such an adventure at the time, and now it seemed so relatively quiet and ordinary.

No, not ordinary, just pure. It had been a day for us, about us, by us. I’d gone back to the villa with a clear mind full of purpose without knowing the problems that would come up.

No, as I thought about it, I rejected it. Even back then, I’d had feelings for Sarah I shouldn’t have.

But it was all fine, I told myself as we all sat on that same blanket today. Yet as I looked at Grace and Chloe, I knew they were many months older than last time, and as alphas it showed. They were taller and more aware of their surroundings.

I smiled down at the zebrawood bracelet on my wrist and then looked over to the one on Sarah’s wrist.

“I think I’ll skip the swimming this time,” I told her and got a friendly smile in return. Yes, she was definitely playing it cool and keeping her focus on the girls. I could not reconcile this mothering figure with the woman who had come into my bedroom and climbed on top of me without a word not long ago.

“Push me on the swings, please, Mommy,” Chloe said, and they both got up and walked over to the swing set. Grace seemed happy to eat her sandwich and watch.

“How’s your painting coming along?” I asked, knowing next week she would be submitting her work for the first level contest.

“It’s OK, I guess,” she said with a frown.

“What’s wrong, honey?” I held out an arm, and she came over to lean against me.

“I wanted to paint something special, but it just looks like all my other paintings.”

“Your other paintings are very good,” I said.

She shrugged.

“Does this have anything to do with Chloe winning first prize?”

“Not really.”

I waited.

“I like painting.”

“That’s a good thing.”

“But Chloe really loves working with wood. I tried it, but I didn’t really enjoy it. I mean, I don’t know.”

“So, you like painting, but you don’t love it?”

“Yes. But.”

I waited again.

“I feel like I should love it, and I don’t.”

“My darling girl, you’re just getting started with life. You’ll find something you love when it’s time.”

“What if I don’t?”

“You will, and you know how I know you will?”

“How?”

“Because you’re so full of love, so full of kindness and sweetness, that the love inside you will keep looking until you find something or it finds you.”

I felt her relax against me, and we watched Sarah push Chloe on the swing. There was a light breeze, and the sunlight rippled over the surface of the lake. Two human children, a boy and a girl, were standing near the edge and playing with a remote-controlled sailboat.

“I love you, Daddy.”

My heart swelled with warmth. “And I love you, Gracie.”

“And you love Chloe.”

“Yes, I do.”

“Do you love Sarah?”

Yes, I do. “I care for her very much. How could I not? She loves my children and takes such good care of them.”

Grace moved her head, and I looked down to meet her eyes, which to my surprise were somewhat reproachful. “That isn’t what I mean, Daddy.”

I laughed and bopped her on the nose.

A while later, Chloe and Sarah returned from the swings. I stood and picked Grace up, which took more effort than I remembered, and twirled her around. She squealed, and I tried to memorize the sound. All too soon, she wouldn’t want me to twirl her around anymore.

But not today. In fact, Chloe demanded to be twirled around next, and Sarah watched, laughing, as I made sure to give her just as many spins around as her sister.

Once back on the ground, Chloe ran to Grace, and they grabbed each other’s hands and spun around until they were both dizzy. Giggling, they walked a few unsteady steps and collapsed on the blanket.

I looked over to Sarah, who was pulling a familiar book out of the basket. The girls rolled over on their sides, and I sat back down.

“Nothing gave her so much pleasure as to hear about the world above the sea. She made her old grandmother tell her all she knew of the ships and of the towns, the people and the animals. To her it seemed most wonderful and beautiful to hear that the flowers of the land had fragrance, while those below the sea had none; that the trees of the forest were green; and that the fishes among the trees could sing so sweetly that it was a pleasure to listen to them.

“Her grandmother called the birds fishes, or the little mermaid would not have understood what was meant, for she had never seen birds.

“‘When you have reached your fifteenth year,’ said the grandmother, ‘you will have permission to rise up out of the sea and sit on the rocks in the moonlight, while the great ships go sailing by. Then you will see both forests and towns.’

“In the following year, one of the sisters would be fifteen, but as each was a year younger than the other, the youngest would have to wait five years before her turn came to rise up from the bottom of the ocean to see the earth as we do. However, each promised to tell the others what she saw on her first visit and what she thought was most beautiful. Their grandmother could not tell them enough—there were so many things about which they wanted to know.”