Page 12 of Dragon's Golden Mate
“You’re very generous,” Kendrick told her. “I thank you for your time and for letting us explore what you’ve got here.”
Tina’s grin was a little too wide as she looked at Kendrick, then Maeve, and then back at Kendrick again. “I’m happy to.”
They stepped out of the room, and Kendrick was grateful that they didn’t linger in the shop before they went out onto the street. A nice walk out in public was probably going to be a much safer way to spend time with Maeve. When the breeze lifted her hair, though, he was no longer sure.
5
Maeve noticedKendrick’s eyes on her and turned away, raising her chin and inhaling the fresh spring air. It hadn’t been easy to be in such close proximity to him, fighting to hold her concentration as she looked through all those texts. Maeve had always been good at research, but she usually did it alone, not next to a handsome dragon. Clearly, she hadn’t been thinking when she’d suggested they go to Tina’s.
“I’ve always liked spring in Salem,” she said, deciding idle chitchat would be safe.
He made a low grumble, a noise that came from him fairly often and seemed to mean he was listening. Was that a dragon thing, or a Kendrick thing? She wasn’t sure, but she liked it.
“I thought everyone liked fall in Salem the best, given its reputation,” he replied.
“Don’t get me wrong. It’s lovely. The coloring on the trees is breathtaking, and the magic is so thick in the air that you can feel it everywhere. That was one of the great things about Salem when I first came here back in the seventies. It was one place where I could truly feel like myself.” She smiled a little as she remembered those first few walks through the city that would soon wrap her in its arms.
“Spring is nice, but that sounds much better,” Kendrick noted.
“Well, the tourists are what changes everything,” she admitted. “Not that I don’t appreciate them. Many of those in our coven, such as Tina, rely on tourism dollars to keep their businesses open. The interest in Salem keeps it alive. You have to add an extra hour if you need to drive anywhere,” she laughed.
He nodded. “I’m finding that I prefer walking, to be honest. Everything here is beautiful. At this point in my life, I like slowing down and taking it all in.”
Kendrick was looking at her again, making her stomach tighten. “I’m sure all of this with the gargoyles is nothing compared to the more important things you’ve done.”
“I wouldn’t say that.” He scratched his arm, and his knuckles brushed ever so slightly against her. “Some of the smallest things we do in life can be the most important.”
“Such as?” She liked listening to him talk. His voice was like the sound of distant rolling thunder, the kind that didn’t bring the threat of a storm. It just reminded you that you were alive and part of nature.
“Raising children, for one. It’s a series of tiny decisions, and you can’t know the outcome until many years later. You’re constantly forming someone’s future, but in the moment, it simply feels like you’re trying to get through the day,” he theorized.
“You’ve…raised children?” she asked delicately. Beck, Kendrick’s nephew, had taken over as Alpha of the Alexander clan when Kendrick had stepped down a few months ago. No one had mentioned any direct heirs.
He nodded slowly as they turned the corner. “I have. A few of my own, and plenty of stepchildren or those that the clan took in. There was a time when my people were heavily persecuted, so few of us remain today.”
“I’m sorry.” Her throat choked up at the idea of losing children. Maeve couldn’t imagine what thatwould be like, even if those children were hundreds of years old at the time.
“Please, don’t be,” Kendrick replied softly. “Loss is a part of who we are. We each have to learn to deal with it. I’m sure that you’ve had your own challenges in raising your daughters.”
Though she was curious, she wouldn’t push him for details. Especially not there. Her girls were an easier subject, though. “They’ve certainly been challenging! I wanted them to be tough and fierce, to be able to stand up for themselves and handle anything. That makes them a bit hard to deal with as a parent, though,” she laughed.
“It seems to me that you were up to that challenge,” he said. “I know Chelsea a bit better than Kristy or Tina, with her living at the clanhouse. She’s a woman who isn’t afraid to stand up for what she believes in. I think I see a lot of you in her.”
“She’s got plenty of her father in her, too, and not just that fiery red hair.” Maeve laughed, but she cut herself off as she realized she was about to go into all the ways that she could see Patrick in her girls. There was Chelsea’s hair and Kristy’s eyes. She could swear that Tina’s business sense had come from Patrick. He was the sort of man who knew how to talk to anyone, whether he knew them or not.
Patrick was a good man. Whenever Maeve heard someone say there weren’t any good men left in the world, a small part of her had to agree because he was no longer around. He was a kind and generous panther shifter, and he truly loved his daughters. He’d worried just as much as Maeve had over how to raise them right. Many nights, they’d lain awake in bed, discussing how to encourage them to be fierce and yet understanding.
Kendrick’s gentle voice cut through her guilty thoughts. “How long has he been gone?”
“Oh, quite a few years now.” Maeve waved her hand in the air, wishing she could wave away the last several minutes of conversation and start over again. She’d talk to Kendrick about the latest restaurants opening in town, or his work, or maybe even just the weather. “It’s nothing I really need to think about anymore, but I do.”
“I wouldn’t say that.” He paused as they waited for traffic before crossing the street. “It can stay with you over decades. You don’t really forget about things like that, and I don’t believe a person should. It makes you who you are. It’s part of you.”
Maeve swallowed. She’d been devastated when Patrick had passed away, and no one had blamed her for that. But after a while, it’d only felt right to moveon. Not in the sense of finding someone new, but in staying strong for her daughters and her coven. Maeve still had to get out of bed every morning, and she couldn’t turn and stare at his empty pillow forever.
As they walked along, she realized that she’d been pushing down the last vestiges of her grief for Patrick, trying hard to keep them out of view. Here was someone who understood pain, loss, and mourning better than anyone else she’d met before. “I suppose that’s true.”
“It’s at least what I try to keep in mind. I’ve had a little more time to think about it now that I’m retired, though. I suppose that means I’ve become one of those old men who believes he knows everything,” he chuckled.
