One Year and Four Months Ago
I had swung the door open, greeting the back of a man’s head. As he swiveled around, our eyes locked at first glance.
For what felt like an eternity, my heart stopped beating, and my blood ran cold. I’d only seen a few old photos of him, but I recognized him instantly. He stared back at me with eyes just like my own, a bright and solid silver. Even his lashes were long like mine. And his hair, naturally wavy, was the same chestnut brown as mine.
“Katrina.” It was as if his breath had left him, and a painful smile appeared on his face. “I thought it was finally time we met.”
I was frozen in place for what felt like the longest time. Too consumed with emotion, I didn’t think to invite him in.
“I’m your—”
“I know…” My words faltered, but my brain shook awake at the sound of tires squealing behind me. I looked behind him to find the white Escalade pulling into the driveway. As soon as Charlotte parked, Rose practically fell out of the car then took quick strides up the stairs, furiousness woven into her expression.
“What are you doing?” She aimed her angry words toward Paul. “You told me you would meet me at the school.”
“It was a miscommunication, Mother.”
Rose huffed and narrowed her eyes. “Lies. You tricked me.”
Paul took a deep breath, obviously exhausted by Rose. They had clearly been speaking prior to this exchange, which meant Rose had been keeping yet another secret from me. She was so infuriating.
“Can we do this later?” He sighed. “I’d like to meet my daughter now.” He turned back to me, apology evident in his eyes.
My normal fury at Rose’s secrets escalated. “You knew he was in town?”
Rose’s expression morphed from anger to worry instantly as she caught my heated stare. I looked back at Paul, who was still watching me with those big silver eyes. Something in his gaze thawed my anger toward my grandmother, and I was left with only my muddled emotions.
Rose had been acting strange, taking secret phone calls in the car and in her den. Had she been talking to Paul the entire time I had been living with her? The few times I overheard her end of the arguments, I assumed she was speaking with Isaac. Now, I knew better.
I was slow to see Charlotte approach. She took Rose by the shoulders and steered her toward the front door. “Inside, all of you,” she commanded. “You’re making a scene. I’ll make some tea, and Paul can speak to his daughter without interruption.”
Rose’s jaw dropped as Charlotte passed her to enter through the front door. Paul nodded, gesturing for me to enter Summer Estate behind her. I hesitated for just a moment, afraid to tear my eyes from his, like he would disappear the moment I turned away. I couldn’t believe he was really here.
Tea was awkward, with the air of hostility circling us like a feeding shark. Not long after our first sips, Paul and I stepped outside for a walk on the beach.
“I’m sorry for my mother’s hostility. I wanted to speak to you before she could intercept, but perhaps that was a bad approach.”
“Why is Rose trying to keep you from me?”
Paul frowned. “It’s not exactly like that, Katrina. While I debated coming home many times since you arrived, I knew I couldn’t interfere right away. You were already facing the pain of losing your mother, then moving here and becoming an Enchanter… It was all so much. Maybe I was delaying things out of fear you wouldn’t accept me, but I thought it was best to wait. After what happened on the Fourth, Rose insisted I come home, and I agreed. The plan was for me to return in the fall, but after your run-in with Erebus, I couldn’t wait any longer. My mother wasn’t sure how you would react when we were to finally meet.” He smiled coyly. “Between you and me, I think she wanted to be the one to introduce us, and I kind of messed that up today.”
As I watched him speak, I memorized every inch of his face and the movements of his mouth, listing our similarities in my mind. He chose his words carefully that day, as if validating them internally before actually speaking. But I remember thinking how he seemed to be insightful and intelligent, exuding a quiet confidence.
“I have your eyes,” I said to him at one point during one of the stretches of silence.
He smiled, seemingly unaffected by my awkwardness. “Blue as a baby, silver as Enchanted.” A wistful expression appeared on his face, and it was like a blow to my heart.
My chest squeezed. “My mom used to say that to me.”
“Did she?”
I nod, thinking about the many times I heard her murmur those words when she thought I was asleep. “I didn’t understand it then.”
Paul shoved his hands in his pockets and faced forward like I had just made him uncomfortable. “Those were the words I spoke to you the first time your eyes met mine. You were so tiny, yet your eyes were so powerful.” A rush of emotion came with his words. I could feel the emotions as much as I could hear them. “They took my breath away. I can see they hold the same power today.”
I averted my gaze, surprised by the impact his words had on my heart. I wasn’t at all ready for him to see how emotional our reunion was making me. I didn’t think there as anything he could possibly do or say for me to forgive his absence. I wouldn’t ignore the part of me that was ready to burst with love for this man—the part of me that had already forgiven him. But the stubborn part of me played bully to my conscience. It was a frosty staredown between my heart and my mind, and my mind won out, encasing my heart in a block of ice.
In silence, we stared out at the horizon over the bay. The water was calm, air compressed with humidity, birds rudely squawking as they pass.
“This beach is exactly how I remember it from when I was younger. The endless ocean view, the scent of warm salty air, the sound of the water beating against the rock pier.” His fingers grazed the sand. “I remember walking this shore like it was yesterday, yet it all feels so faraway.”
Images I’d conjured up in the past of my mom and dad meeting in this very spot overwhelm me. I almost feel like he’s talking about her too.
I snuck a look at him. “That’s the beauty of sand, right? Every imprint washes away with a single wave. The history of our mistakes, the possibilities of our future. Poof. As if it never even happened. If you’re not careful, the good memories get carried away too.”
He turned to me, brows bent, head tilting. His expression carried the look of a man who was opening up a floodgate to a lifetime of pent-up emotions, and the words he had been wanting to say were about to burst from his lips.
“There’s so much to tell you, Katrina. So much time to make up for. But I’ll start with this, because it’s important that you hear it.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself.
“If there was any other way… I would have done anything just to be with you and your mother. You may find that hard to believe now, but it’s true.”
Maybe it was my fear that he would leave as quickly as he had appeared, but I found it hard to believe what he was telling me.
“I’d like to get to know you,” he said.
“Hasn’t Rose told you anything about me?”
There was a hint of disappointment in his eyes, but I watch his shoulders relax. “My mother has been angry with me for quite some time now. Our exchanges haven’t been pleasant.”