Page 4 of Lumi

“Why them and not me?”

“I dunno.”

He kept hugging me, as he walked with me in his arms, and then he sat down on a large rock with me in his lap.

Drying my eyes, I saw that he’d brought us in the opposite direction of the others.

“I miss my mum.”

Damian caressed my hair. “No one can replace yer mum, lass, but ye do have a family. We’re yer new family.”

I still had one arm around his shoulder. Damian and I hardly knew each other, and yet he didn’t feel like a stranger anymore.

“And one day, lass, ye’ll be a mum yerself, and ye’ll tell yer husband and children stories about yer mum. As long as ye’re here to remember her, she’ll never be truly gone.”

My eyes were full of tears. “You think so?”

“I know so. Ye’ll have a long line of suitors, and if any of them treats ye poorly, ye let me know.”

Damian’s voice shook a little, and his eyes were moist again. He might be big and strong, but my grief affected him.

“What if you die too? Your job is dangerous.”

He shook his head. “Naw, lass. I’m not goin’ anywhere. Ye won’t get rid of me that easy. I think I was at the right place at the right time to take that bullet, and that we’re meant to be friends for life.”

Damian’s Irish pronunciation of think was tink, and for some reason, the melodic lilt of his words made me like him even more. My lips quivered a little as I nodded my head and linked both my arms around Damian’s neck again. “I would like that.”

We sat in a tight hug for a long moment, and then he kissed my hair and pulled back to look at me. “How do ye feel?”

My heart was heavy with grief, but my chest felt a little lighter. “Better,” I muttered and kept gazing into Damian’s warm eyes until my mind put a word to the weird sensation in my stomach. I’d never been in love, but I’d read enough books to understand that my fast pulse, my curiosity, and my sudden interest in him had to be a case of attraction.

Suddenly feeling self-aware, I dried my eyes and untangled myself from Damian. “I’m fine now. Thank you.”

He stood up and walked next to me with an arm around my shoulders like he was my big brother. I had no idea how to handle the melting pot of emotions inside me, so I ran to River, who was calling my name.

“What was that about?” I heard Kit ask Damian.

“It’s fine. Lumi said that she feels better now,” he answered.

I didn’t comment on that because I wasn’t sure that I felt better at all. Feelings of sadness, hope, curiosity, interest, grief, and attraction were swirling around inside me, and more than ever, I wanted to run to my room and hide in a book.