“Hey.” He drops on his haunches again to speak at his own level. “Sorry about what happened today.”
Emily stops crying to stand up and look Rowan straight in the eye.
“I understand how you feel. It’s not nice to feel cut off. And it’s not nice that they did it, but you know what? It says a lot about who did it, not about you.”
“What does that mean?” Emily asks, sniffling.
“That there is nothing wrong with you,” Mason suggests, gently stroking her hair as Logan holds her hand.
“And I know there is nothing we can say to make you feel better right now, but I want you to know that we are here for you,” Rowan continues.
Emily wipes her eyes with her arm.
“And when you feel better, maybe we can go bowling or laser something…”
“Laser tag,” Mason helps him out.
“That, yes,” Rowan remarks, making my niece smile.
“All together?” Emily asks.
“Sure. All together.”
“That would be nice.”
“You know what else would be nice? Ordering a pizza for dinner. What do you think?”
“But Uncle Seth was cooking.”
Rowan turns to me. I have been crying for ten minutes.
“I’m sure Uncle Seth won’t be offended.”
“It wasn’t any good, anyway.”
Emily laughs, then watches Rowan for a few moments in silence, before wrapping her arms around his neck. Rowan immediately returns the gesture by holding her close, lovingly and securely, just as a father would.
“Thank you, Uncle Rowan.”
No one in the room has missed the name change.
“I’ve done nothing.”
Nothing? That’s what he says! He has just fucked up my whole world in one bloody evening.
And how do I get it back to the way it was now?
“How about washing your face? Uncle Seth and I will think about ordering dinner.”
“We’ll come with you,” Mason says before following Emily and his brother into the bathroom.
Rowan stands and turns to face me. I am enchanted by his gentleness, his confidence and those bewitchingly deep eyes that take a little piece of me every time they look at me.
“What…?”
I run to him and hug him too, just as Emily did. My arms wrap around his neck, gratitude in my gesture and despair in my heart that he will never recover from this imminent and inevitable disappointment.
Rowan takes a few seconds longer to return the gesture this time, but he does. His arms are as strong as I had imagined, and his hands on my back are as warm as I had dreamed. And his breath on my neck feels electrifying, just as I had hoped.
