ISLA
"I know," Isla says, her understanding still so innate when it comes to things like this between them, it's almost as if they still share that strange companion bond. "It wasn't an easy decision for me, or something I decided on a whim. But I had to take everything into consideration, not just my experience of family life." Fondly gazing back at the twins, evidently Isla would have been happy to raise Fern right into toddlerhood and beyond, but it doesn't mean for a second that she loves her any less for being nine years old.
"Thank you," she adds, in response to Remi's congratulations, and despite the coffee, the wins, the toys and the stroller, she steps in to wrap him in a quick hug, kissing his cheek before retreating again. "And I will certainly let you know. Once I'm confident that Fern is a strong swimmer maybe we'll even settle for a normal sailboat. We can visit you whatever patch of shoreline you're moored at, then."
Sipping at her coffee before she forgets about it, she hums her agreement with the lie as they both regard the twins and their various states of intrigue. "I don't blame him one bit," she says of Ronin. "But for all that, I still look at Fern and see her like this. It doesn't go away." She hardly needs to tell Remi as much either, but still. "Gosh, though. Taliesin children? With strong opinions? What a shock." She grins.
"Thank you," she adds, in response to Remi's congratulations, and despite the coffee, the wins, the toys and the stroller, she steps in to wrap him in a quick hug, kissing his cheek before retreating again. "And I will certainly let you know. Once I'm confident that Fern is a strong swimmer maybe we'll even settle for a normal sailboat. We can visit you whatever patch of shoreline you're moored at, then."
Sipping at her coffee before she forgets about it, she hums her agreement with the lie as they both regard the twins and their various states of intrigue. "I don't blame him one bit," she says of Ronin. "But for all that, I still look at Fern and see her like this. It doesn't go away." She hardly needs to tell Remi as much either, but still. "Gosh, though. Taliesin children? With strong opinions? What a shock." She grins.
apres moi le deluge
after me comes the flood
after me comes the flood
