Stella raised her eyebrows.
“That was my mother speaking through my mouth,” he muttered. “I don’t know where that came from. I haven’t thought of it in years.”
Stella smiled softly. “It’s a beautiful thought. Your mother must be a wise woman.”
“She was,” he said quietly. “She passed away when I was in high school.”
“What was she like?”
“Kind,” Nate said. “Very religious—church twice a week, she taught Sunday School, the whole nine yards. One of those people who just wanted to serve others.”
Stella nodded. “She sounds like a lot to live up to.”
“She’s the reason I joined the Marines,” Nate confided. “I thought—well, I thought that that was the best way for a man to serve. My horizons have expanded a little bit since then, but I’m still glad I did it.”
Stella bit her lip. “I’ve never been an advocate of violence,” she said quietly, “but I can see where the idea of sacrifice could make it...worthy.”
Nate nodded. “These days, I’m not such a fan of violence either. I work security in part to keep violence from happening, if possible. Any day I can prevent someone from getting hurt is a good day.”
“That is a worthy goal,” Stella said, heartfelt. She stood up, brushing herself off. “All this talk about my daughter is making want to get back to her. Are you ready?”
“Of course.” Nate thought he should point out that that was his question to ask, since he was here to follow her around and make sure she was safe, but he refrained. It felt like he’d be throwing a courtesy back in her face if he objected.
And he didn’t want to do anything that might hurt her feelings.
She shivered and shifted, and he followed suit, thinking that he was getting in deeper and deeper with this woman. The way she cared about her daughter...the way she tried so hard to meld her own flighty, adventurous nature with the need to be a responsible and caring mother. It tugged at something in his chest.
They ran in the general direction of their starting point. Nate kept his pace measured, so Stella could keep up, but was amused to see Stella’s character coming through even now—every few minutes, she’d veer off, and he’d see her checking out an interesting smell, an obstacle course of rocky outcroppings, a field of flowers.
He could absolutely believe that she’d gotten hopelessly lost in search of a beautiful view. He wondered what that was like, the ability to just throw oneself headlong into the moment. Chase after the thing that was the most beautiful, and enjoy the journey even if you didn’t get there.
Nate had always been too conscious of his duty to live his life like that. Although, he supposed, he’d indulged that side of himself in his dating life. Live in the moment and enjoy what’s beautiful really did apply to how he approached women.
Maybe it was time to expand that mindset to other things. Because it never would’ve occurred to him to go check out those rocks for anything other than security purposes, but he sure as hell enjoyed following Stella as she leapt from one to the other, her stubby tail upright with excitement and her ears twitching with glee.
Eventually, they caught the others’ scents, and Stella sped up, leading the way back. They found Ken and Lynn still lion and lynx, sunning themselves on a rock while Eva worked herself steadily up a series of rocky ledges.
Stella bounded after her daughter while Nate went to join Ken and his mate on the rocks. They lounged in companionable silence for a while, watching as Stella caught up with Eva, tagged her with her nose, and instigated another game of chase.
Nate reflected that if he hadn’t been working security for Stella, this would’ve been a disconcertingly domestic scene. Mom and daughter play while Aunt Lynn and Uncle Ken and...whoever Nate would be in this scenario...watch by the sidelines, everyone spending a summer day out in the wilderness together.
It was a strange idea. He tried to remember the last time he’d felt like he was part of any kind of family scene, and drew a blank. At work, he was always professional. He didn’t date seriously enough to ever meet a woman’s kids, if she had any. Some of his employees had children, and they’d bring them to any company barbecue and let them run around, but they were his employees, and he wasn’t Uncle Nate to any of their kids or anything like that.
Frankly, most of his employees seemed to be intimidated by him, at least a bit. Except Connie, which was pretty funny when he thought about it, because Connie was the only one who didn’t have a background in the military or law enforcement or some other kind of tough-stereotype field. But Connie took no shit from anyone.
Eventually, Eva seemed to get tired of running around. She shifted back, laughing and shaking her head, and went to go flop on the sunny rocks with the rest of them.
Stella, on the other hand, came darting in to tag Lynn. Lynn eyed her, and then leapt up in a burst of motion to race after her. Ken opened one eye, and then went back to snoozing, his big lion form spread out over twice his fair share of space.
Nate shifted back to keep Eva company. “Have fun chasing your mom?”
Eva rolled her eyes. “It’s like she never runs out of energy. I don’t get it. She’ll sit down for, like, four seconds, and then something shiny passes by the window, and she’s hopping up to check it out.”
Nate thought of the tired, drawn woman he’d met, and the determined way she’d squared her shoulders to face her ex-boyfriend, and his heart ached. He wanted Stella to have that back. “Sounds like life with her is never dull.”
Eva shook her head emphatically. “Nope, not for a second. You know I’ve lived in literally twenty different places in my life? That’s more than my age.”
“Was it hard?” Nate asked cautiously, thinking of Stella’s worries about not giving Eva a good childhood.