Chapter 155

Almara’s Pov

The next thing I know I’m being shaken awake. “She’s here.” I hear a voice say in my dream. Wait, that voice is Arthur’s. “Almara, she’s back.” I shoot my eyes open and sit up in such a rush my head spins, but I can see her.

“Grace.” I gasp and reach my arms out to her. Arthur hands her over to me and instantly tears are flooding down my cheeks and pouring all over Grace as I smother her in kisses. “Where we’re you?” I ask her in between wet kisses. “Where was she?” I ask Arthur, forgetting we aren’t on speaking terms.

“I don’t know. I woke up and saw her sitting out in front of me.” He laughs. “I thought I was still dreaming.”

“I can’t believe it. And she’s okay?” I say and body inspect Grace who doesn’t seem the least bit bothered.

“She’s fine, but uh. . .” Arthur trails off, his voice shaking in uncertainty. I look at him curiously.

“What is it?” I ask. As long as Grace is okay and here, what could be wrong?

“She was digging into this.” Arthur says and holds up a dead rodent, a chipmunk of some sort.

“My poor baby! She was probably hungry.” I say and move to feed her, letting compassion for her hunger move me more than the repulsiveness I feel towards her actions.

“Yeah, but let’s think about that for a minute.” Arthur says, but I try to ignore him. All I care about is that Grace is in my arms. “She’s already learning how to hunt and she taught her self.” Arthur says and runs his fingers through his hair. “That’s almost unheard of.” He says blowing out a puff of air.

While I wish I could revel in our daughters advanced accomplishments, I can’t help but notice this growing disconnect that I feel. If she’s advancing in her wolf skills beyond her years, am I going to be of any need for her? I can hardly stomach the thought.

“We need to talk about how we’re going to handle her rapid growth.” Arthur says, driving my annoyance about the whole situation up to an all time high.

“Not right now. Our daughter is back, she’s okay, and she’s hungry.” I say. “That’s all that matters.” I tell him and try myself to believe it. I don’t want to think about how my baby knew how to hunt already.

Arthur tosses the dead animal aside. “Okay.” By the way he says it, I can tell by his tone that our moment of bliss and Graces return has come and passed. We’re back to being mad at one another.

I suppose one of the benefits of being fated mates is the ability to communicate telepathically and read each others emotions and body language with such ease that verbal communication is hardly necessary. The works well since Arthur and I are not on speaking terms at the moment.

We manage to get through the next couple of hours functioning in just this way. We take turns playing and watching over Grace, having an unspoken agreement about the time each of us gets. It’s currently my turn with her.

So, we’re using our time to build a sand castle. I’m laying on my side, my back turned to Arthur who is doing something with the environment’s resources. Out of the corner of my eye, I’ve seen him drag a couple rocks, large leaves, sticks, and shells all about. Though I hardly give him the satisfaction of turning completely around to see what exactly it is that he’s doing.

I watch Grace mold the wet sand together and stack her tower higher and higher. I sprinkle some dry sand on top and she claps her hands to tell me she likes it. She’s intensely focused on her project and if I so much as offer to structure the castle in any way, she moves my hand aside.

I want to laugh at her growing independence, but right now it just kind of stings. She’s always going to need you. You’re her mother. Lily says. I sigh. I’m glad she’s talking about Grace and not Arthur right now. Us fighting like that is just so out of character, then again I’ve never been with Arthur when he’s lost a child before.

I push Arthur out of my mind and focus back on my little girl. I dig a small trench along the castles perimeter and pour some water from a nearby bucket into the divots. Grace’s eyes go wide and she makes an ooh sound. I smile and do it again.

Soon enough, Arthur comes over and he needn’t say anything. I turn my head towards the ocean indicating that I agree my time watching Grace is over. He crouches down and scoops her up. “Daddy wants to show you something.” He says in such a happy, playful voice it makes me wonder if he even cares about our fight.

I give in to my curiosity and allow myself to see what it is that Arthur has been doing, but I try to keep my face disinterested. I know I’m being petty, and maybe I have been acting a little like Sofia, but- I fail to come up with any valid excuse.

Sure Arthur shouldn’t have yelled at me, but do I really expect him to be perfect all the time? Is pretending to not care what my husband has spent the past hour or so making for our daughter really what I want to be doing?

Though I already know the answers to these questions, my thoughts are interrupted as I discover what Arthur is doing. He created an obstacle course for Grace to maneuver through. He piled rocks for her to climb, leaves for her to hop from one to another, seashells for her to match according to color and shape.

I can’t help but be impressed by his attentiveness to our daughters growing needs. The obstacle course is an excellent way to nurture her skills and just as wonderful as a learning tool it is, I hate that I wish we didn’t need it. Even more that that, I wish we had come up with it together.

I watch with full interest now and Grace tackles the course like a learned pro. She clearly loves the mental and physical stimulation and this is definitely going to make her sleep well tonight. I find myself silently cheering her on when she gets stuck on matching the correct sea shell.

I also find myself staring at Arthor and melting at the way he’s completely consumed with his daughter. The fatherhood pride is a great look on him, I’m tempted to throw myself at him and kiss him all over and tell him how sorry I am. Instead, I stay exactly where I’m at.

I’ve gone crawling back to Robert enough times to know that it’s the man who needs to step up first. Maybe it’s my own pride, but Arthur knows the relationship I was in before him and he knows that I need to be fought for. I’m tired of being the one who does all the chasing.

I know Arthur will come around, I just wish he’d come around a little faster.