Serendipity (8 page)

"Mom, did you see? I swam all the way out here by myself!"

"Oh, no, I missed it!" Sarai called, turning to look at them. "Can you swim back to shore? I'll be sure to watch this time."

"You can do it," Jax said encouragingly. Able twisted to look back at him, scorn on his face.

"Of course I can," he said. Without warning, he pushed himself free of Jax's arms and started paddling back toward the shore. Instead of watching the boy this time, though, Jax watched Sarai's face. Her expression was a mixture of concern and pride. She loved her children so much it was almost painful to watch at times. He felt like an intruder on their intimacy. Could he ever really be a part of the family?

Able had reached the shore, and Sarai wrapped him tightly in her arms. Mali jumped up and down, squealing in delight and clapping her hands.

"I can do it, too!" Mali said suddenly. She leapt forward.

Before either he or Sarai had time to react, the little girl flung herself into the water, flailing her arms and legs.

Chapter Eight

Jax leapt forward, unsure if she had any idea how to swim. She paddled her arms and legs furiously, just managing to keep her head above water. Then the slow current started tugging her away from him, and he leaped forward to catch her.

She squealed in delight as his arms came around her, clinging to him. He slipped and fell, instinctively holding her above him as he let himself relax and float to the surface. She seemed completely unconcerned, trusting him with the complete faith that only a small child can have. He bobbed up, leaning backward and cradling her in his arms. Then he kicked back, pushing himself upright and finding his footing on the slippery rocks.

Sarai was still standing in the shallows, her face white. She clutched Able to her, although he squirmed against her hold.

"Mom, let go!" he said sharply, and she shook her head, as if coming out of a dream.

"Jax, thank you so much," she said as he started wading slowly toward her. Mali had grown quiet, laying her head against his shoulder and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Mali, you can never do that again! Don't you realize that if Jax hadn't caught you, you could have been drowned?"

Mali turned her head and looked at Sarai in confusion.

"Mommy, if Jax hadn't been here, I wouldn't have had the guts to do that," she said slowly and clearly, as if Sarai were the child and she was the adult.

"I see," Sarai said. She abruptly turned and waded out of the water. "I think it's time for us to go home."

"Mom!" Mali and Able wailed simultaneously. "That's not fair," Able added.

"We haven't even had lunch yet, mommy," Mali said. "Do we really have to go home?"

Jax could see the tension in Sarai's face. Watching Mali fling herself into the water without warning had terrified her, although she was trying not to show her fear. He waded over to the beach, and walked up to her, still carrying the little girl.

"Sarai, perhaps we could eat before we go home," he said in a gentle voice, trying to sooth her fear. "I'm sure both the children will promise not to go near the water again without your permission."

"I promise," Mali said quickly, and Able nodded in agreement. Sarai sighed, and ran a hand through her hair. It trembled slightly, and Jax averted his eyes.

"You know, you might find the water less frightening if you knew how to swim," he said. "I could teach you, too."

"I don't think so," she said with a sigh. She looked up at him, her face full of strain; seeing her like that made him ache. He had to do something to relieve her pain. Without pausing to think, he stuck his tongue out at her. Able and Mali burst into laughter. Her mouth twitched for a minute, then she turned away and walked over to the basket she'd packed their lunches in. He set Mali down, and the three of them exchanged a wicked look.

When she turned back, Jax and the children were all sticking their tongues out at her.

Her mouth twitched again, and on impulse Jax raised his hands, spread out his fingers and waggled them along the sides of his head. She burst out laughing, and then they were all cackling.

They laughed until tears ran down their cheeks, and by the time they stopped the tension seemed to be gone. Mali got the hiccups, and Sarai gave her a drink to help her get over them. Inevitably, it didn't work, and the next time she hiccupped, bright red juice came out her nose and they were all laughing again.

By the time they had finished lunch, a sumptuous picnic Sarai served on a large blanket, Mali's eyes were starting to droop. Able was also looking tired. Exchanging a knowing look with Jax, Sarai said, "Do you want to lay down for a little while, Mali? I can scoot over on the blanket so there's room?"

"No, I'm not tired," Mali said instantly, sitting up. Able gave her a superior look.

"Young children need regular naps," he said, his voice a perfect imitation of Sarai's.

His mother laughed softly, and padded the blanket next to her.

"I'll tell you what, Mali," she said. "All of us can lay down for a little bit, and I'll tell a story. If you fall asleep, that's okay, but if you don't we'll go for a walk before heading home. Sound good?"

"I want Jax to tell the story," she said, lying down. Sarai raised a questioning eyebrow at Jax, and he nodded back at her.

"Do you want to hear a story that my mother used to tell me when I was a little boy?"

he asked softly. Mali nodded. Sarai lay down next to her, on her side.

"Able, you have to lie down, too, before I start," Jax said. Able flopped back on the blanket, and Jax lowered himself to his stomach next to the boy. He propped himself up on his elbows, and started speaking softly.

"Once upon a time there was a beautiful planet where every season was wonderful in its own way. In the spring, all kinds of new plants would grow, and there were parties to celebrate new life. In the summer, everyone would take the time to enjoy the beautiful weather. They would go swimming every day and eat yummy fruits that were only ripe for a few weeks every year. In autumn, they would harvest all the grains, makes piles of leaves to jump in and store up lots of wood to keep warm when it got cold. In the winter they would gather in close next to the warm fire and tell stories at night. During the day they would go sledding and ice-skating. They'd even build giant castles made out of snow and ice, and throw balls of snow at each other. Everyone who lived there was very happy.

"Now, the most amazing thing about this planet is that there were four different kinds of people, and each group had their own king or queen. The winter people had very pale skin, so pale that you could just almost see the light blue veins in their arms. They were ruled by a beautiful queen, who had long, straight black hair and eyes like blue diamonds.

Her husband was the king of autumn. Like all of his people, he had dark skin, and beautiful hair full of orange, red and brown streaks. The summer people were all golden, from their skin to their hair. They were the most fun loving of the groups, hosting fairs and dancing from morning until night."

"Every day?" Mali asked, popping her head up to look at him. Sarai reached an arm out to gently pull her back down, and Jax nodded.

"Yes, every day," he said solemnly. "Now, the last group was the spring people. They were magical, because they could make things grow. They had a beautiful queen who was all green, even her hair. Everywhere she walked, little plants would sprout out of the ground and flowers would grow. She was married to the king of the summer people.

"Now, every year all of the kings and queens would take turns ruling over the people.

For three months every year, they would open their palaces and have parties and feasts. It was a wonderful place to live, and everyone was very happy all the time. But then one day, something bad happened."

"What?" Able asked, enthralled.

"Well, you see, every 20 years or so they would pick new kings and queens."

"Why?" Mali asked, her face twisted in confusion.

"Well, I think it's because being a king or queen if probably very tiring," Jax said, trying not to laugh. He'd never considered the question before. "But this time, the winter queen they picked wasn't a nice queen at all. All the people had gotten together for a special party to honor the new kings and queens. Now, that new winter queen didn't want to take turns ruling, she wanted to rule all the time. So she invited all the other kings and queens to a special party, and served them a special kind of cake that she made herself.

"What they didn't realize, until it was too late, was that she had put poison into the cake. All of them died that night, except for the king of summer, who didn't eat any of the cake."

"Mommy's cake is very good," Mali said solemnly. "No one ever dies from eating it.

Not ever."

"That's good," Jax replied. "Now, because the winter queen wasn't able to kill the king of summer, she put a spell on him, freezing him deep down inside. You see, she knew that if she froze the summer king, there wouldn't be any more summers until he woke up. Since all the other kings and queens were dead, she declared that from that day on, it would only be winter. All the summer, autumn and spring people had to work for the winter people. It was very hard for them, because it became cold all the time. They were very unhappy, but they didn't know what to do to fix things.

"A thousand years passed under the rule of the evil queen, and it was winter the whole time. They learned how to grow all their food in greenhouses, and everyone was cold except for the winter people. The poor summer people were the coldest, and the evil queen forced them to work for her in the mines. No one had any idea how to get rid of her, and she used her magic against anyone who tried to stop her.

"One day, a group of summer people were working down in the mines and they found a magical cave full of ice crystals. Inside of one of those crystals was a frozen man. They realized it was the summer king, still being held prisoner by the queen's spell. They tried to wake him up, but nothing worked. So they took him back to their camp and called a council, inviting all the spring people and the autumn people to help them try to figure out what to do.

"When the council opened, all the oldest and wisest people tried to wake the sleeping king. They used spells and blankets to warm him, but he stayed frozen. Everyone was very frustrated, and nobody knew what to do. One morning, a young woman who was there with her family woke up very early to find something very strange had happened in the night.

You see, when she had gone to sleep she and her family had been camping on an ice field, but when she got up there was a little patch of grass around their tent."

"Where did it come from?" Mali asked, eyes wide.

"She didn't know," Jax replied. "But right in front of her eyes, it seemed to be getting bigger. She started walking around the camp, and everywhere she went grass started growing. In the grass were little flowers, and she could feel the air getting warmer. It was so exciting that she didn't know what to do. So she kept walking until she got to the biggest tent in the camp, where they had placed the frozen king. She walked right into that tent and right up to the frozen king.

"Now, he was a very handsome man, and she was a very pretty woman. She took one look at him and fell in love. She decided she had to give him a little kiss, so she walked over to him and kissed him right on his lips. They were very cold against her skin, but the longer she kissed him, the warmer they seemed to get.

"Then he started kissing her back, right there. He sat up and wrapped his arms around her."

"This kissing part is getting boring," Able muttered, and Sarai laughed.

"All right, I'll skip the kissing part," Jax replied, grinning. "They heard a loud noise outside the tent, so they stood up and walked out holding hands. All around them the people were cheering and running around. There were flowers everywhere, and the all the snow was gone in the camp. They could hear birds singing and then everyone was dancing, because they knew the evil queen's spell had been broken. The king of summer was awake, and with him was a new queen of spring."

"Didn't the queen try to stop them?" Able asked, his voice skeptical. Mali nodded her head against the blanket, sucking her thumb.

"Yes, she did," Jax continued. "As they started marching toward her palace, all the snow was melting and she knew she was in big trouble. But no matter what she did, her magic wasn't as strong as the new king and queen. They got closer and closer to her, and as the air got warmer something horrible happened to the evil queen. She started getting very old, very fast. All her magic was failing her, and she aged a thousand years right then and there, drying up and turning into dust. Then all the dust blew away, and her whole palace fell down into rubble.

"The king and queen returned to the old ways, and a new king of fall and queen of winter were selected. Just like before, they each ruled for three months of the year, and everyone lived happily ever after."

"That was a good story," Mali murmured sleepily. Sarai smiled at Jax from across the blanket, and reached out a hand to run her fingers over Able's hair. The little boy was still awake, but he didn't seem inclined to move. She lifted a finger to her lips, and Jax nodded in understanding. If they just stayed quiet for a while, both children would drift off to sleep.

Jax closed his eyes, listening to the children's soft breathing and thinking about Mali's plunge into the river. He could understand Sarai's fear. What if he hadn't been able to catch her? She hadn't given him any warning.

He rolled on to his back, flinging one arm across his eyes. The warm sun was making him sleepy, too. Despite the almost constant ache in his loins, he was happy. Just being with her, with her children, brought so much peace into his life. A soft, rustling noise caught his attention. She must have rolled over, too. A twinge of longing wound its way through him. If she were lying beside him, he'd tuck her against his side and bury his face in her hair. It always smelled so wonderful.