Is Late Better Than Never?
by Lily Rasputin
Chapter Five

Dinner had not gone over as well as I’d hoped.

When I returned with the pizza, Kelly was upstairs in Sheila’s room. Thankfully, I noticed Devon was outside on the trampoline, so he wasn’t able to hear the screaming match taking place between my wife and daughter.

Sheila found it insulting that Kelly felt she needed someone to watch her. She kept insisting that she wasn’t a little child and could take care of herself. Kelly countered with the fact that she couldn’t keep taking time off work to be here when Devon got home. Or to start preparing dinner so they could have something to eat. Or the hundreds of other little things that needed to be done.

The argument came to a screeching halt when I clearly heard Sheila say, “You wouldn’t be doing it all by yourself if you hadn’t made Dad feel like he needed to get away from you!”

I slumped against the counter, hands over my mouth as tears formed in my eyes.

Did Sheila really think that Kelly was to blame for me dying in that car accident? That her mother drove me out into the storm?

If anyone was to blame, it was Namira for showing up thirty years late and ripping me out of the life that I’d built. I had no doubt that if she’d never showed up, I would have come back to the house much calmer and ready to discuss options that Kelly and I could both agree on.

Even if I decided that I couldn’t live without transitioning, and that led to a divorce, I would still be around as a parent.

Rather than a stranger.

I called Devon in and told him to wash up for dinner. His eyes bugged out of his head when he saw the boxes sitting on the stove.

“Ludo’s! We haven’t had that in forever! Thanks, Maddie!”

Then he ran over and wrapped his arms around my waist, hugging me tightly before rushing off toward the sink.

“Well, at least you have half of them on your side,” Kelly said from behind me.

I blinked rapidly to dispel the tears that were starting to form and turned around with a hopefully nonchalant smile.

“I take it Sheila is still less than thrilled about my being here?”

Kelly sighed and nodded. “She’ll come around. I hope.”

“I’m sure she will.” I gestured at the boxes. “Why don’t you have a seat, and I’ll get everything plated?”

She shook her head. “Maddie, I hired you to be a nanny. Not a maid.”

I laughed and waved my hand. “Just consider it an added perk of hiring me.”

I put two pieces of pizza on a plate for Devon, along with a glass of milk. Kelly also got two pieces, but hers was accompanied by a glass of Chardonnay from an open bottle I found in the fridge.

I put two pieces of the barbecue chicken and pineapple on a plate and set it at Sheila’s place. Kelly looked at the plate and then arched a brow at me.

“How did you know that was Sheila’s favorite?”

Oh, shit. Smart going, Mike.

“Uh, well. I went in and just happened to mention to … the guy behind the counter that I was picking up pizza for the Johnstons. And he told me about how it was a regular order for you.”

Once again, Kelly gave me a slightly incredulous look. I thought she was going to grill me further, but Sheila walked into the kitchen at that exact moment.

Our eyes met and I felt a surge of guilt and sadness tear through my chest like a tsunami of pain. For her part, Sheila’s eyes widened a bit at seeing me, and she paused in mid-stride on her journey toward the refrigerator.

We stared silently at each other for a few seconds before I finally recovered enough to smile and gesture at the table.

“Already have a plate set out for you, Sheila. What would you like to drink?”

She snorted in a remarkably sarcastic way and resumed walking.

“I think I’m old enough to get my own drink, thanks.” Her eyes cut over to Kelly, who was watching the exchange. “Unless my mother thinks I need a sippy cup.”

I saw Kelly’s face fall, and I clenched my jaw to keep from saying something that would have been extremely inappropriate coming from the new hired help. Instead, I merely smiled and nodded.

“Of course. Well, like I said, there’s food on the table for you. I was hoping that we could chat and get to know each other better.”

She grabbed a soda from the door of the refrigerator and then glanced over at the table. Her eyes widened a bit when she saw the slices of pizza. Then, she turned to Kelly and shook her head.

“Lame attempt there, Mother. Totally lame.”

Before her mother or I could explain that the pizza was my doing, she spun on her heel and left the room, slamming her door behind her a few seconds later.

As much as it pained me to see Sheila acting that way, it bothered me just as much that Devon didn’t seem to react to his sister’s outburst. He merely continued to chew on his pizza while watching something on his tablet.

Had he grown so accustomed to Sheila’s anger that it wasn’t anything more than normal to him by now? Or was it just another kid addicted to his electronics?

“Sorry about that,” Kelly said when I grabbed some pizza for myself and joined them at the table. “We haven’t ordered from Ludo’s since her father passed. The barbecue chicken and pineapple pizza was something they shared together.” She sighed. “One of the many things that connected them.”

I frowned, looking up at the ceiling in the direction of Sheila’s room. “What about your connection with her? What do the two of you share?”

“Sadness.”

The rest of the meal passed in silence until Devon pointed at his empty plate as he looked my way with a hopeful expression on his face.

“Can I have dessert? I ate all my dinner.”

I glanced over at Kelly and arched a brow before answering. When she gave me a little nod, I smiled at him.

“Sure. What would you like?”

“Can I have a popsicle?”

I stood up and walked over to the fridge, pulling open the bottom freezer drawer. “Hmmm, no purple. Sorry. How about a green one?”

He pouted about the unavailability of purple for a second or two, then nodded with a smile. “I guess green is okay.”

“Coming right up,” I said as I cut the top off the frozen treat and handed it to him. Then I began clearing the table while Kelly only nibbled at her pizza and looked between me and the doorway through which Sheila had departed.

“Do you need anything while I’m up?” I asked, before sitting back down across from her.

She looked back at me for a moment, not answering. Then she seemed to shake off whatever had been occupying her thoughts and smiled. “I’m good, Maddie. Thank you.” Putting the half-eaten slice of pizza back on her plate, she stood up.

“I’ve got briefs in the morning, so I think I’m going to go take a bath and go to bed.” She flashed me a hopeful smile. “I know it’s your first night, but…”

I nodded. “I’ll get Devon into bed with teeth brushed and everything.” I made a pretense of not knowing what the children’s bedtimes were. “How late can he and Sheila stay up?”

“Devon needs to be in bed by 8:30. Sheila is supposed to go to bed by 9, but I know she sits in there on her phone until much later. Just … let her be for tonight. Okay, Maddie?”

I nodded. “Okay. But she’s going to have to get used to me being here at some point.”

After Kelly went to her bedroom, I cleaned up the kitchen and then moved on to the living room. While I was straightening up, I saw Sheila out of the corner of my eye sneak into the kitchen. When I used the mirror on the wall in the foyer, I saw her standing at the counter eating a slice of pizza.

I quickly moved away and kept busy until I spotted her sneaking back out about fifteen minutes later. When I was sure she was securely behind her closed, and probably locked, door, I got Devon upstairs and ready for bed.

Even though the routine was something I could have done in my sleep, I had to remember not to know anything about the procedure. Or where anything was. He was a great teacher and made sure that I knew that he always wore his yellow SpongeBob pajamas on the weekends and the superhero ones during the week.

He asked me to read him a story. When I asked which one, he ran to the shelf and came back with a thin paperback book. Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site. I stared at the book in my hand for several minutes, confused as to why he chose this one.

However, before I could ask, he told me.

“My daddy used to read this to me when I was little. I know it’s more for little kids, but I … I just wanted to hear it again.”

I nodded, gesturing silently at his bed while I fought the urge to cry. True, I had read this book to Devon (and Sheila) so many times I could practically recite it word for word. But it had been more than two years since Devon had asked me to read it. The idea that it meant so much to him, much more than I thought it had, felt like a knife blade in my chest.

I had to read it twice before Devon was satisfied. I turned out the light and gave him a light pat on the head.

He smiled up at me, his cherubic face illuminated by the sliver of light coming in from the hallway.

“I’m glad you’re here, Maddie. I really like you.”

“I like you, too, kiddo. Sweet dreams.”

I pulled his door closed and stepped across the hall to Sheila’s room. Knocking gently, I placed my mouth close and said in a soft voice. “Good night, Sheila. See you in the morning.”

As expected, I received no response.

Returning to my room, I closed the door and sat on the bed, staring silently at the floor.
I was home. I was back with my family.

And I couldn’t tell them.

Even though she’d honored the letter of the agreement, she had completely trashed the intent. I shook my head, blew out a breath, and stood up.

“Fuck you, Namira.” The profanity sounded strange coming from my much more feminine voice. “I’m sure you think it’s hilarious, this situation you’ve stuck me in. Well, I’m going to make it work. No matter what I have to do.”

Deciding to leave the full chore of unpacking for tomorrow morning, I dug out my toothbrush and went down the hall to the kids’ bathroom. I know Kelly had said I could use the master, but I figured it would just be easier to use the closer one.

I got undressed, put on a pair of sleep shorts and a tank top, piled my hair on top of my head and wrapped a scrunchie around the lump. Then I climbed into the bed, turned off the light, and drifted off into a restless slumber.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was behind the wheel of my car again, racing through the darkened, rain-slicked streets to try and run away from the pain and shame my confession had created. I turned into a particularly sharp curve and felt the back end of the sedan begin to hydroplane.

The car spun in a one-hundred eighty-degree arc and ceased all momentum. As did the torrential downpour. Time outside the vehicle was frozen as solid as a painting.

Including the pair of insanely bright headlights pointed in my direction.

Someone moved in my peripheral vision, and I turned to look at the passenger seat, expecting to see Namira sitting there wearing that smug grin that I detested.

Instead, I found myself looking at Madeline.

She glanced at me with a small, sad smile. Then she turned her gaze to look through the windshield at the danger coming our way.

“I hope you do a better job of being me than I did, Mike. Enjoy the life I couldn’t.”

I opened my mouth to respond, to tell her that she shouldn’t have thrown her life away, but the vertigo of the car’s momentum kicked back in before I could utter so much as a syllable.

The truck slammed into the car a heartbeat later.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I jerked violently out of slumber to sit up in the bed, a terrified scream lodged in my throat. My chest rose and fell in deep gasping breaths as the cool, air-conditioned air of the small bedroom sent a chill through my shaking and sweating body.

After several long moments of sitting there in the dark, trying to get my heart to stop racing, I finally laid back down and curled up beneath the blankets. The clock on the nightstand read 5:49AM.

I had a little over ten minutes before I needed to actually start my first full day as the teenage nanny to my own children.

When I climbed out of the bed, I couldn’t help but notice how painless it was. The years and mileage I’d put on my old body had made getting up a bit of a slow-going adventure. However, my new body was young and limber. Curiosity struck, and I raised my arms over my head and bent down to place my palms on the floor effortlessly.

I guess if I had to be shoved into another body, at least it was one that was in relatively good shape.

I switched out the damp tank top for a bra and a dark blue UNC-G T-shirt. The sleep shorts were replaced by a pair of black athletic pants while pink fuzzy socks and matching slippers covered my feet. I pulled scrunchie off, regathered my bed-tosses curls back into a pineapple, and restrained them again.

I headed downstairs and got coffee started. As the brew began to drip, I reached up into the cupboard and pulled down Kelly’s green “Grumpy” mug and set it next to the maker. Then I grabbed the cinnamon from the pantry and set it next to the mug.

Heading back upstairs, I tapped lightly on Devon’s door as I opened it. “Hey, Devon? It’s time to wake up, sleepyhead.”

He rolled over, stretched, then blinked open his eyes. For a moment, he just stared at me with a confused look on his face. “Maddie.” A smile split his face when he said my name. “Is it time to get up?”

I nodded. “Yes. You need to get up, get dressed, and get your stuff for school. I’ll go down and make your breakfast. Let me guess, you want two eggs sunny side up and two sausages?”

He laughed. “I do! How did you know?”

Laughing back, I winked. “What kind of nanny would I be if I didn’t.”

I reached out and tousled his hair. As I did, I felt a swell of tears form, blurring my vision. I turned away before Devon could see and stood up. With my back to him, I quickly dried my eyes and then gave him a smile.

“See you downstairs, Champ.”

Satisfied that Devon wasn’t going to go back to sleep and require a second wakeup call, I walked out of his room and across the hall to Sheila’s. After last night’s drama, I was dreading this moment.

Back when I was Mike, which to me was only yesterday, I would have gone into the room, sat down on the edge of the bed, and stroked her hair until she was gently pulled from slumber. It was a habit I’d picked up when she was a toddler, and something that had just continued through until …

However, I was sure that having the nanny she didn’t feel she needed waking her up the same way her father did would go over horribly. And the last thing I wanted to do was start my morning with an angry Sheila. Or one angrier than I’d seen her since my return.

Instead, I tapped lightly on the door a couple of times before placing my mouth close to it.

“Sheila? It’s time to get up and start getting ready. The bus will be here in about an hour.” I paused. “Would you like anything in particular for breakfast?”

There was nothing but utter silence from the other side of the door. Sighing, I tapped lightly again.

“Sheila? You need to start waking up.”

“I’m awake.” The annoyed voice was absent any semblance of sleepiness or disorientation.

Which made me wonder how long she’d been awake.

“What would you like for breakfast?”

“For you to go away.”

I frowned. “I’m sorry, Sheila, but you know I can’t do that. So, do you want anything else?”

There was a pause of about five seconds before she responded.

“For my father to be alive again.”

A sharp lance of pain skewered me right through the chest, and I sighed as I turned and headed downstairs.

When I walked into the kitchen, I found Kelly rushing around back and forth, attempting to get a handful of files shoved into a small briefcase. The cup I’d set out for her was on the table, wisps of steam rising from it, but the travel mug next to the coffee pot was empty.

“Sorry,” she said, closing the briefcase and straightening her blouse. “I had a hard time falling asleep last night so I’m running around like a lunatic this morning. Zimmerman sent out an email at eleven-twenty last night requesting a meeting at eight.” She grabbed the cup off the table. “Are the kids awake yet?”

I nodded as I filled her thermos. “Devon is up and getting dressed. Sheila is … awake.”

“Wonderful.” Kelly flashed a sympathetic smile. “I want to apologize in advance for rushing off so early on your first day. I feel like I’m throwing you to the wolves. Or, at least, the wolf.”

I put two spoons of cinnamon into the mug, stirred it, and then screwed on the lid. Walking over, I put it down on the table and reached out to lightly place my hand on her arm.

“Kelly, you don’t have to worry about doing it all yourself anymore. I’m here now.” I grinned in a hopefully optimistic manner. “I’ve got this.”

She nodded, turning to grab the dark gray blazer from the chair next to her. As she shrugged into it, she looked at me. “How do I look?”

“Like the stars cannot hope to compare.”

The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

Kelly froze and stared at me, the color slightly vacating her cheeks. “What?”

“Morning, Mommy!”

Devon came into the room, dressed in a pair of jeans that looked relatively clean and a Blue Beetle T-shirt. Of course, he was only wearing one sock, the other still in his hand. He crossed the room and threw himself against Kelly, nearly knocking the mug from her hand.

“Guess what! Maddie’s gonna make me eggs and sausage for breakfast.”

Kelly slowly took her eyes off me to stare down at Devon. “Oh? Is that what you requested?”

He nodded. “I’m glad I don’t have to eat a Pop-Tart today.”

Kelly’s face reddened a bit and she smiled.

“Well, that’s why we hired Maddie, honey. So she can make sure you get a hot meal when Mommy has to rush off.”

He nodded and grinned at me as Kelly ruffled his hair and then leaned down to kiss the top of his head. Rising back up, she gave me another of those concerned looks. I pretended not to notice and smiled down at Devon before heading to the cabinet to get the sausage going.

“I don’t know exactly what time I’ll be home this evening. Hopefully the deposition scheduled for this afternoon goes quickly. If so, I should be here before dinner. If not, don’t wait on me to feed them.”

“Got it. Anything in particular I should make or are you leaving it up to me?”

“Leaving it completely up to you.”

She drained the rest of her coffee and set the cup in the sink before glancing at her watch and grumbling. “Okay, I have to go or I’m going to get stuck on 40. Good luck.”

I dropped a quartet of sausage links into the pan, then turned to look at her. “We’ll be fine. I promise. Just go be legal.”

A door slamming upstairs made us both jump. Kelly’s face flushed again and she mouthed ‘sorry’ before grabbing her briefcase and heading toward the door. Pausing at the bottom of the steps, she called up to Sheila.

“Sheila, I’m leaving for work. Maddie’s making breakfast and will be here when you get home this afternoon. Behave, okay?”

When she received no response, she sighed and left.

I fried up Devon’s eggs and sausage, put them on a plate, and served them to him with a glass of chocolate milk.

“Thanks, Maddie. These look great! Just like my Daddy used to make.”

It would have been a touching, tear-forming statement if it hadn’t come at the same moment that Sheila walked into the kitchen.

When she heard Devon’s declaration, she snorted and shook her head. “Doubtful. Daddy’s breakfast is one of those things that’s just as gone as he is, Dev. Get used to it.”

My hands curled into tiny fists all on their own. “Sheila, that wasn’t a nice thing to say.”

Until that moment, I didn’t know my daughter could sneer. The thought of Sheila’s upper lip curling back in an act of defiant hostility was a totally alien thing. But sneer, she did.

“Sorry if the truth hurts his feelings. The sooner he deals with the fact that our dad is dead, because our mom is a heartless bitch, the better off he’ll be.”

“Sheila! Your mother is not a heartless …” I paused and looked over at Devon, who had abandoned his tablet to look at his sister and me. “She is not heartless. She’s hurting just as bad as you two.”

Maybe worse.

The teenaged bundle of angst and anger shrugged, pulling open the fridge to grab the container with her leftover pizza. Setting it on the counter, she pulled down a mug and filled it nearly to the brim with coffee.

“Since when did you start drinking coffee?”

She shot me a confused look that quickly morphed into one that said I was better off minding my own business. Picking up the container and her cup of java, she walked over to the table. She put them down, splashing a bit of coffee onto the table as she stared balefully at me.

“Look, Maddie, let’s be clear, okay? I don’t want you here. I don’t think we need you here. But since my mom and Devon have overruled me, as usual, I’m stuck with you being here. So, do us both a favor and take care of Devon, do all the shit my mom asks you to do, and stay the hell out of my room and my business. Got it?”

I opened my mouth, then closed it with a nod. “Got it.”

She took her coffee and departed the room without so much as a backward glance. Sighing, I packed Devon’s lunch and made sure he had all his books and supplies in his backpack. While he waited at the door for me, I went to the bottom of the steps and called out to Sheila.

“I’m taking Devon to the bus stop. I’ll be back in a bit.”

“Don’t care,” came the acidic response.

As we walked the block and a half to where the bus would pick him up, Devon seemed to be particularly sullen. Which was a far cry from how he’d been acting earlier.

“What’s going on, D? Why so mopey?”

He shrugged. “I thought when you got hired that Sheila would stop being so mad about everything. But it just seems like she’s even more mad now that you’re here.”

I nodded. “I think it’s just a big change to her. She’s a creature of routine and habit. Throwing a new person into her life, especially one she didn’t feel like was needed, has got her a bit wound up. She’ll come around.”

He shrugged again. “What if she doesn’t? What if she convinces Mom to fire you? I don’t want you to go.”

I stopped and looked down at him. The high color in his face and the gleaming wetness hovering in his eyes nearly ripped my heart in half. I knelt down and placed my hands on his shoulders. I really wanted to pull him in and squeeze him with all the love I felt, but reminded myself I was still a relative stranger in his life.

“Listen to me, Devon. I’m not going anywhere, okay? Your mom picked me, out of all the others, to take care of you and your sister.” Well, it was actually a mediocre genie that picked me, but that’s not the point. “Sheila will eventually accept that I’m here and we’re all going to get along. Okay?”

He nodded, sniffled, and wiped his eyes with his palms. Then he nodded again.

I stood up and took his hand, resuming our trek to the corner. When we got there, I could see the dark yellow school bus trudging slowly up the street. Devon released my hand and sighed.

“Sheila doesn’t think I miss Daddy as much as she does, but she’s wrong,” he said softly. “I think I miss him more because he never spent as much time with me as he did with her.”

I could only stare speechlessly as the bus stopped in front of us, and Devon hopped onboard, waving bye to me through the window as he was carried off to school.

The walk back to the house seemed five times longer, since my brain was a bag full of cats struggling to get out. Had I really paid more attention to Sheila than Devon? I didn’t think so, but obviously I had. At least enough for him to be a bit jealous of her.

It hadn’t been a deliberate thing. Sheila was the first child. The one that turned me from a husband into a father. A little favoritism was bound to be expected, right? Wasn’t that always the way? You love both your children equally, but is it wrong to have a little, tiny bit more love for one?

When I walked into the house, I found Sheila sitting at the kitchen table, scrolling through her phone. Before I could say a word, she held up her hand.

“No, I don’t need an escort to the bus. No, I don’t need a reminder that it will be here in forty minutes. No, I don’t need you to pack my lunch. Yes, I have all of my books and supplies packed.” Her eyes slowly rose to look at me with more malice than I believed possible from her. “Just so you know, I’ve been taking care of Devon and myself almost every morning for months. We didn’t need a nanny then and we don’t need one now. Why don’t you go clean or something.”

I stood there, staring at her. If you’d asked me two days ago if I ever thought my daughter would be capable of speaking to another person, much less someone in authority, in such a fashion, I would have vehemently argued its impossibility.

Was this what my death had done to the eternally optimistic Sheila? Had losing me crushed her beyond repair? I refused to believe that. She was just still in pain and would return to her old self with time and healing.

They all would.

Forcing myself to smile, I merely nodded. “As you wish. Though, to be fair, I never doubted your ability to take care of yourself. As much as I know you didn’t want your mother to hire me, I think you’ll eventually see that it was a good idea.”

“Doubtful.” Her attention drifted back down to her phone.

“Sheila, I think…”

“Don’t care.” She stood up, shoved her phone into her back pocket, grabbed her backpack, and walked outside to sit on the porch steps.

“Wow, she is so your daughter.”

I spun around to find Namira sitting on the counter next to the stove. She was dressed in a simple white shift with a side split that went all the way up to her hip. Grinning at me, she nodded toward the door.

“Such anger. Reminds me of you when you found out I’d granted your wish.”

I stalked across the room to her, not caring that it was probably not a good idea to threaten a powerful entity capable of rewriting reality.

“This is your fault, you know.” I held up my hand. “Yes, I know that I made a wish and that you were required to grant it. But you didn’t have to keep me away for six damned months. If you’d brought me back sooner, I could have done some damage control before things got this bad.”

She shook her head. “I told you that I had to wait until all the proper pieces were in place before I could fulfill your wish. Be glad it was just six months and not six years.”

My retort froze in my throat as my brain leapt ahead to imagine what Kelly, Sheila, and Devon would be like six years after my death. The picture that came to mind was not even remotely pleasant. It was all too easy to see Sheila on her own, keeping zero contact with Kelly. Kelly being depressed and sullen. Devon being a shell of himself after years of being abused by his sister.

“Fine.” I said, slumping against the fridge. “I concede your point. Isn’t there anything you can do to help?”

Her smug smile faded a little and she shook her head, reaching out to pat me on the cheek. “No, sorry. You made a wish to ‘be a girl’, so a girl is what you became. If you’d wished to be ‘female’, then I could have put you in an older, more adult body.”

“I don’t think that would have helped a lot. Sheila’s not in a place to accept any sort of authority. She might hate that Maddie is only a few years older, but I think it would be worse if I was in my twenties or thirties.”

“Probably.” She hopped down off the counter and stared at me for a moment. “For what it’s worth, I am a little sorry I took so long to get to your wish. However, I think you’re going to be just fine in the end.”

I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

That arrogant grin returned. “Trust me, Maddie. I have a one hundred percent satisfaction rate. It’ll just take some time, and it probably won’t be smooth, but I think you’re going to eventually enjoy living that life you always felt denied.”

“I hope so.”

Her hand came up to rest on my shoulder. “I really shouldn’t do this. It’s technically against the rules. However, I will make you a special offer. One time only.”

“What offer?”

“I can release Maddie’s memories.”

I blinked. “Release them? You mean they’re still in my head?”

She nodded. “Deep down, locked away. I can release them. The flip side is that Mike’s memories will fade. Not immediately, mind you. But they will.”

“So, I’ll be two people at once? Maddie and Mike?” The idea seemed dangerous. Given how Maddie’s emotional instability led to her demise.

“For a little while.” Namira held up both hands at even levels. Slowly she lowered one and raised the other. “As time goes by, you will be more Maddie than Mike. To the point where Mike will disappear entirely. Only Maddie will be left.”

I shook my head. “No. I mean, it might make it easier on me in a lot of ways, but I don’t exactly trust Maddie, the old Maddie, with my kids. I’ll keep my own memories, thanks.”

She smiled in a manner that made me instantly suspicious. “You know, I had a feeling that you would say that. And while I would really like to stick around and see how this all plays out, my time with you is at an end.” Before I could respond, she stepped forward, grabbed me in a tight hug, and blew softly into my ear, sending a strange shudder running through me.

Then she stepped back and gave me a wink.

“Good luck, Maddie. Enjoy your new life.”

I stood there and watched silently as Namira faded away, leaving me alone.