"Come on." An excited Liri slid off the platform, eyes dancing. "I heard a rumor there's sun outside."
The woman she loved, always seeking the light.
They stepped outside the doors into a rush of heat and noise and car exhaust. And then Liri grabbed Beth's hand and started heading in totally the wrong direction.
"The car's over there, Lir." Jamie had offered her his, even gamely wrestling all small children out of the back seat.
"Grass. Green stuff!"
Beth finally figured out her laughing partner's destination. Liri jumped into the middle of a sad little plot of grass and lifted her arms to the sky. "It's warm and green and totally gorgeous."
It was crowded, polluted, and even the dandelions looked limp. Beth grinned, unable to resist her beloved's joy.
There were some very good things here in California.
And every last one of them had just gotten better.
-o0o-
Jamie picked Kenna up off the changing table, shaking his head at her wiggly antics. "Keep that up and you'll need to learn to port, silly girl."
Nat laughed from behind him. "I think that falls into the category of be careful what you wish for."
Truth. "I can't believe it's her birthday." The big Witch Central birthday bash was tomorrow, by triplet decree. Today was for the three of them. He wrapped an arm around his wife, remembering.
"Our girl of storm and fire." Nat reached up and stroked Kenna's cheek. "Hard to believe when you're all cuddly and cute, little one."
The baby just cooed and snuggled in closer. Sleepy time. Maybe. "Family nap?" Kenna loved those best, lying in the warm nest of her parents and her favorite red blanket.
Nat led the way into the bedroom, stopping just long enough to rescue the blankie from the top of the pillow fort. Kenna's birthday request. At 5 a.m. No wonder they all needed a nap.
It was a good sign when his tornado of a girlchild curled up between them, her head pushed against Nat's chest, her toes working her way under his ribs. Jamie grinned sleepily at his wife. "How come I always get the feet end?" Kenna's definition of "snuggle" still needed some work.
Nat breathed in the moment - they'd learned a lot in the last year about appreciating stillness when it landed.
Or he had. His wife had been born wise.
A few more moments gazing on the treasures in his bed, and Kenna's whiffling sounds signaled success. He looked at her chubby fingers, curled in the red blankie Caro had knit on the night of her birth. "So peaceful."
"It won't always be." Nat sounded awfully certain, even with her eyelids drifting shut. "You can feel the currents in the universe at this time of year. Lots of energies moving and changing. Some years you get a slow-moving stream."
That wasn't exactly comforting. "Figure we'll win the lottery eventually, do you?"
Nat only smiled.
She had a point. Sullivans always seemed to find the swift-moving waters whether they meant to or not. This December, it had been Nell taking the swim. "I vote Dev for next year. He likes fast water." Of course, that probably meant throwing Lauren under the bus too.
"'Kay. Let's buy him all the tickets." Nat's voice was drifting off into sleep.
Jamie chuckled, closed his eyes, and joined her.
-o0o-
Nell landed in the Witches' Lounge, a top-secret bag in one hand and a pair of scissors in the other. Trying to get Aervyn's gift wrapped without including a curious head or two in the package had eluded her all day.
Her living room had been a constant stream of inbound visitors. The usual ragtag band of witches making their way into town for the solstice circle and tomorrow's party. Matt, Teo, and Nell's parents were next on the transport list, assuming someone could find Retha.
Last Nell had heard, her mother had managed to get lost in the jungle. Since Matt hadn't sent out the bat signal yet, she refused to get worried, but for the next year, all crazy witchling antics were going to get blamed on Gramma Retha's genes.
Not that she'd mind.
Sophie landed on the couch, laughing, an enormous mug in her hands. "Has the world ended yet?"
Uh, oh. Nell grinned, sliding Aervyn's gift out of its baggy disguise.