by Lara Swann
“Nope.” I shake my head. “Believe me, I’m not interested. I’m done with all that, and not even a sweet-sweet-muffin-man will tempt me. I’m going to be the totally cool, eccentric aunt and it’s going to be wonderful.”
“Muffin man?” Naomi says, laughing.
Whoops, guess that one slipped out. Still, it is pretty hilarious and I grin back at her.
“Don’t you know the muffin man?”
“The muffin man!” Jackson yells, as he careens into his Mom, startling Kieran and setting him wailing again.
Well, we had a bit of peace for longer than I would have expected. Actually, I wouldn’t have minded if they’d all come crashing in earlier.
“The muffin man!” I repeat, picking Jackson up and twirling him around as I chant the tune at him so that Elizabeth can re-settle Kieran, while everyone else around me either cracks up laughing or tries to help Elizabeth. “Now, I’m going to go spend some time with your gorgeous children - they’re the ones I really wanted to see.”
I carry Jackson back over to the wading pool, figuring the girls should let him have a chance to enjoy the water too.
Yeah. Doing the cool-aunt thing is more than enough for me.
Chapter Four
Kelsey
By the time I get back to my own home, I’m totally exhausted and more than ready to take the rest of the afternoon to relax.
I love my nieces and nephews, but actually, maybe it’s a good thing I get to give them back to their parents after a while.
Between the long flight home, the jet lag and rushing straight back into getting everything unpacked, going to work and catching up with everyone…I think my brain might still be a little bit fried.
I smile to myself as I take my supplies out to the table on my back deck and start setting everything up.
I basically get the fun part of parenting. Such a win-win situation.
A few minutes later, I’m sat in the shade on the decking, enjoying the gentle breeze as I start painting. I’m not particularly good at it or anything - though I imagine I’m slightly better for all the practice I get - but it’s my go-to form of relaxing and escaping from the world, or my own thoughts, whichever are bothering me more at the time.
It makes me appreciate everything around me in a way that I don’t get to otherwise. I’ve probably painted this view dozens of times now, but every time there’s something new about it, something different. Things I’d never notice if I weren’t trying to paint them.
Today, there’s a slight haze over the mountains in the distance, and I’m not sure how long I get lost in trying to replicate that effect with my watercolor paints before a voice interrupts me.
“What’re you doing?”
I glance up, then smile when I see Maya leaning against the low fence between Liam’s backyard and mine, her arms folded on top of it and her head resting on them, looking slightly drowsy in the warm sun.
“I’m painting.”
“Ooh!” Her face lights up and she leans forward a bit more, enough that I start wondering how strong the fence is. “Can I see?”
“Sure.” I laugh. “Do you want to come through over here?”
“Yes please!” She grins, already moving to fiddle with the gate, any hint of sleepiness disappearing just like that.
It takes her a few moments to work the bolt, but she does it before I can get up and then she’s bouncing over to my decking. She comes up beside me to look at the painting - surprisingly careful for all the loose limbs and wild energy she seems to have
“Ooohh, wow.” She enthuses. “That’s amazing, Kelsey!”
I laugh, looking back at the painting. It’s getting there, but I still need to work on those mountains…
“Are you an artist?” Maya asks, her eyes big and wide, and I shake my head.
“No, I just like painting.”
“Oh, okay.” She sounds almost disappointed and I have to hide a smile.
“Do you like painting?”
“Yee-eess…” She says, tilting her head and drawing it out as if she’s thinking about it. “I think so.”
“You haven’t tried it much?” I guess.
She shakes her head, forehead creasing in thought. “I don’t think Daddy does painting.”
I laugh at that, and she frowns, not appreciating being left out of the joke.
Yeah, he doesn’t look like the painting type. Unless we’re talking ink. But then again, I would never have guessed he baked cupcakes for a living, either, so clearly I need to stop making assumptions.
“Where is your Daddy now?” I ask, glancing back at her backyard.
We’re totally visible and obvious from there - but still, I don’t want to send anyone into a panic attack over where their kid might have run off to. Inviting her over here to look at a painting seemed fine - there’s only a few yards in between our houses - but while I’d do that without thinking with any other kid in this town, I don’t exactly know Liam yet and I don’t want to get accused of something stupid like kidnapping his child.
“He’s working.” She says, the words hmphing out of her in a totally aggravated tone that makes me want to laugh again. “He’s looking at lots of paper and he says I can’t help.”
She folds her arms, looking decidedly put out about it.
“Well, that sounds pretty boring.” I offer. “Maybe it’s nicer not helping.”
“Maaybe…” She says, the grumpy expression easily giving way to enthusiasm again as she grins at me. “We have a deal - if Daddy works today, then tomorrow he’s going to spend all day with me. Doing anything I want. He promised.”
I laugh at the triumphant expression on her face.
God help him.
From what I’ve seen so far, I’m pretty sure she could come up with a few interesting ideas…
“Wow.” I say, sounding suitably impressed. “That sounds great.”
“Yeah.” She grins again. “It is.”
“So what have you been doing while he’s working?”
“Well…” She kicks at the decking a little bit, some of the enthusiasm dimming. “I don’t know. I was going on a magical adventure, but sometimes it doesn’t work so well when it’s just me by myself - and then I saw you - and then I said hello and asked what you were doing - and now we’re talking - and I don’t know what next.”
I can’t help the way my heart seems to swell up as she talks, a familiar warmth spreading through me as I listen to this wonderful little girl. She’s adorable, and there’s just something about the way she talks that makes me want to reach out and hug her.
I manage to resist that impulse, but I do give her a gentle smile.
“Would you like to do some painting with me?”
Her eyes light up as she looks back up at me, her mouth going round as she steps onto her tiptoes.
“Can I?” She asks, so sweetly I think something inside me is going to melt.
“Of course. I’ve got lots of paint.” I say, then glance back at her house. “So long as your Daddy is okay with it.”
“He is.” She says, with an assurance that seems unconcerned with actually checking that. “He said I just needed to stay in the backyard. And put sunscreen on. And drink water. He has lots of silly rules sometimes.”
She wrinkles her nose at the last part, and I laugh again.
“They sound like good rules to me.”
“You’re a grown up. You would think that.”
Yeah. I’m liking this kid more and more.
“You’re probably right about that.” I grin at her. “But this isn’t your backyard, Maya, you should probably go and check with him first.”
She looks at the two backyards, separated by only a short white fence, and wrinkles her nose again. “It almost is. It’s basically the same thing.”
She’s got a point. Back when Juliette lived here and Sally was in Liam’s house, the two of them decided they’d rather have the extra space for their yards than the polite distance and path that
had been kept between the two properties before. I’ve never seen a reason to change that - with the easy familiarity I have with everyone in town, the idea of being physically close to my neighbors has never bothered me. Of course, I didn’t expect someone from out of town to move in next door, but still…from what I’ve seen so far, there’s nothing to worry about.
“Maya…” I give her a serious look. “I’d really like to do some painting with you, but we can’t do that if you don’t ask your Daddy, okay?”
“Fiiine.”
She makes a show of hmph-ing about it, but she’s still smiling as she turns and runs off in the direction of her house, her braid flying out behind her - and I can’t help smiling with her. She really is sweet.
And a similar age to Katy and Lily, I imagine…
I think again about what she said about playing alone, and wonder whether she’s had the chance to meet any other children in town yet. It can be hard to pack up and move to a new place when you don’t know anyone, especially as a kid. This road doesn’t have any children, but there are plenty of places that families get together, and everyone I know is friendly and welcoming…
I’m still thinking about it when I see her come outside again, moving slower as she balances a large plastic cup in one hand and a plate with - oh yes, it must be - what looks like cupcakes on it. I’m already grinning as I walk down to the gate to open it and help her.
“Daddy says thank you!” She sing-songs at me. “And he gave us cupcakes!”
She announces, as if I haven’t worked that out already, but it doesn’t take much to enthuse about it.
“I love your cupcakes.”
“Me too! I got Fairy Princess Surprise, your favorite!”
I think my heart melts all over again.
“Wow, thank you!” I grin at her, some part of me touched that she remembered.
I help her set everything down on the table, and then take a few pieces of paper out of my pad and set her up with her own place to paint. I only have one easel, but she doesn’t seem to mind painting on the table, and we use the plate and a few of the cups to make sure the light breeze doesn’t catch the paper. We have to find a couple of cushions for her to sit on so that she can reach, too, with her legs curled up under her and propelling her forward at times.
“What do you want to paint?”
I half-expect her to suggest a princess, or unicorn, or something like that - but she looks over at what I’m painting and points at it.
“That! I want to paint what you’re painting.”
“Okay.” I smile at her, then point to the horizon. “I’m painting what we can see from here. Does that sound good?”
It certainly sounds better to me. I had visions of trying to draw an outline of something for her to paint - and drawing is not my strong suit.
She nods, taking the paintbrush authoritatively in her hand. “Yep!”
“Great. Okay, so these are the paints…”
I show her the paints and explain how to use the water with them, impressed at the way she listens carefully, hanging off everything I say. Within a few minutes, she’s set up and started - and she seems absorbed enough that it’s not hard for me to turn back to my own painting. The setting has changed a little, some of the haze of the mountains easing now, but it’s not hard for me to continue - and now that Maya is here with me, I’m only partly paying attention anyway. More than a little of my mind is on the sweet girl next to me, painting with an enthusiasm and focus that’s more than a little impressive.
Whenever I try painting with Katy and Lily, they enjoy it, but it’s always punctuated with dozens of questions and a running commentary - and more than a few tears when something goes wrong. Then again, nothing has gone wrong yet…I wouldn’t be surprised if the tears were still to come.
Every so often, she’ll glance over at my painting, and I have a feeling she’s copying it more than the horizon. Either way, she seems totally absorbed - enough that I start to relax and get lost in my own painting again, caught up in the colors and depth in the landscape.
“Kelsey.” She says after a while, her tone sounding almost contemplative.
I’m not sure how long we’ve been painting together, lost in our own little worlds for a while, but I look over at her with a smile.
“Yes?”
“Are you a fairy?”
I…what?
It comes out of nowhere and I blink. Whatever I was expecting her to say, it wasn’t that.
“No, I’m not a fairy.” I say, smiling as amusement sets in.
“Aww.” She says, obviously sounding disappointed.
“I’m sorry.” I add, then pause for a moment before leaning forward. “But…”
Her eyes flick back up to me at the change in my tone, sudden interest back in her face.
“Yes?” She asks, almost holding her breath.
The animation that this girl has is really doing things to me. She’s the image of totally engaged - giving all the right responses or adding some other amusing tangent whenever I try to interest her.
“I do know a place where there’s a super secret fairy pond.”
“You do?” She gasps, her hands rising to her mouth now, and I grin. “Where?!”
It’s rarely this easy with Katy. Lily, sometimes, but Katy is getting to the point she wants to act like she’s beyond childish things.
“Well, it’s a secret, but…”
“Ohh, tell me. Please, tell me!”
I look around deliberately, then finally nod.
“Okay. I guess it would be okay for you to know. It’s in the middle of a deep forest, off the paths anyone travels down, but if you know where you’re going…you can get there. There are trees all around, but there’s a little clearing for this pond and if you’re really quiet you can sit and wait and watch, and see different animals come to talk to the fairies.”
She gasps again. “Wowww…”
“At night, if you’re lucky, you can see all the fireflies - these little sparkling lights - floating around.”
“Really?”
I nod. “It’s beautiful - but you can’t tell anyone. If people knew, they’d come and they wouldn’t be quiet or still and they’d scare all the fairies and the animals away.”
She nods back, her eyes very serious.
“I won’t.” She promises, then pauses. “Can I tell Daddy?”
I make a show of thinking about it for a few moments, then eventually nod.
“I think that would be alright, if he promises not to tell anyone too.”
“He won’t.” She says, with the same assurance she had earlier when speaking for him. It makes me want to smile, but I nod seriously at her again.
“Good.”
“Can I see it? Can we go?”
I do smile at that. “Maybe sometime, if your Daddy wants to."
“He does!”
I laugh. “Well, you probably need to tell him about it first.”
“But I want to see it nowww.”
“It’s a long way away, Maya. Away from all the people - it’s not easy to get to. Fairies don’t like being found.”
“I guess.” She sighs dramatically, then looks over at my painting again. “Can you paint it? So I can see?”
“Actually.” I say, her suggestion making me pause. “I already have - wait here a moment and I’ll get it for you.”
I get up and turn to head inside the house to the sound of her ‘really?!’ behind me, making me smile.
I wasn’t making up the place I described - it’s one of my favorite spots to visit, when I’m looking for an all-day outing or some time to sit and be still with only trees and animals around me. There are probably others like it, I imagine, but this was the one I found and over the years I’ve definitely come to think of it as mine. My secret.
I smile to myself at the thought of sharing it with the most enthusiastic little girl, feeling nothing but pleased about it. Maya seems like someone who might really appreciate the plac
e in the same way that I do. It was the time I spent camped out there at night, when I saw the fireflies, that brought it to mind when she mentioned fairies - but really, anytime of day it’s beautiful there.
I’ve painted up there several times and I flip through my old paintings, looking for the best one to capture the magic of it - then pause as soon as I see the one with the deer lapping at the pond.
Yes. That.
I grin as I take it out. I cheated slightly with this one - taking a photo of the deer and working from that for several hours afterward, but there was no way it was going to stick around to be painted. I deleted the photo after the painting was done though. I don’t have any photos of that place - I’ve never wanted them. Taking photos of every little thing can just make everything seem…ordinary, somehow. The paintings are the only memory I’ve ever wanted.
When I show it to Maya, I get exactly the reaction I was hoping for and she exclaims over the painting for long enough that I do end up promising to take her and her Daddy up to see it sometime. It seems like the only way to settle her down again.
She decides she wants to paint a deer next and I make a bit of a mess of drawing an outline based on the painting I brought out, but she either doesn’t notice or is nice enough not to comment on it. Before we start on the painting again, we eat the cupcakes and a few snacks that I bring out too, and it feels like a little party for the two of us. Sure, she might be a little girl, but she’s awesome too - and even though I always enjoy spending time with kids, I’m surprised at how much fun I’m having, sitting here painting and chatting to her.
It might just be my idea of a perfect afternoon.
She’s halfway done with her deer when Liam walks out of his house and over toward us, waving.
“Hey, princess, you’re still over there with Kelsey?”
“Yep!” She nods, then grins at him. “Look at my painting, Daddy! Look!”
He gives me that honey-warm smile of his, the gesture going all the way into the sparkle in his eyes, and like this - out here, the sun on his gold-burnished hair and his powerful muscles flexing as he walks - I have to stop myself from getting too distracted by the sudden pulse of heat that goes straight to my core.