So they bundled themselves up and went out into the snow. It wasn’t nearly as windy and cold as it had been yesterday, and the sun had broken fully through the clouds and was shining through the trees to sparkle against the spotless drifts of new-fallen snow.
“It’s beautiful,” Leah said. She’d lived in Montana all her life, but since Emily was born, she’d rarely had the chance to get out of town. And while it had definitely been a one-horse town, there was still enough civilization to turn the streets brown and slushy. This pristine wonderland was something else entirely.
“You should spend more time up here in Glacier,” Jeff said, smiling at her. “There’s plenty more beauty where this came from.”
Leah wished suddenly, achingly, that she could. That she could just stop here, with Jeff, and not have to get her car fixed and head out in it with Emily strapped in back, making their way across the highways to set up shop in her mom’s tiny home.
A burden again. Leah had thought she’d gotten out, gotten far enough away that her mom would never have to resent Leah’s presence under her feet again, but it turned out she’d only taken a vacation, and now she was descending again, ready to mess up her mom’s life again, this time with a daughter and a granddaughter.
Oh, if only she could just stay here.
But she couldn’t, and that was life. For now, she was here in the middle of the snowy wonderland, and she was about to see this wonderful, amazing man work real, actual magic.
Jeff grinned at her, a completely undiluted joyous smile that lit up his entire face. Leah smiled back, unable to help herself.
Then he shifted.
Leah had been too shocked the last time to really take in what he looked like in his leopard form. Now, out in the sun, expecting the change, she drank in the sight.
He wasn't as big as she'd been expecting, but was made entirely of compact, powerful muscle. He paced back and forth, looking at her to see what she thought, and she could only shake her head in wonder. "You're beautiful."
Because he was. His coat was white and gray with darker spots, and even in the sun it had a shadowy quality, like he could walk into the shade of one of the trees and vanish without a trace.
And he moved with an impossible grace. She'd seen echoes of it in his human form; he was beautiful to watch whenever he did anything. But this was the real thing. Every movement he made seemed planned for the best effect; every turn was fluid and powerful.
His teeth were impressively sharp-looking, and when he sat back in the snow and flexed his claws, they looked wickedly dangerous. But when she looked into his eyes, they were exactly the same endless clear gray as his human form.
"Can I touch you?" she asked, hesitant. She wasn't sure if it was rude to ask.
But he immediately padded up to her and waited expectantly. She tugged off one of her gloves and reached out.
His fur was amazingly soft, and his
body was so warm. "I remember this from before," Leah said softly. "I touched your fur, and you were so soft and warm even though my gloves..." She ran her fingers through his fur, and he pushed into the touch. Just like a cat. She smiled.
"Emily, do you want to pet the leopard?" she asked.
Emily was watching every movement Jeff made with wide-eyed fascination. She reached out a hand.
Leah pulled off her mitten and crouched down in the snow, leaning forward so Emily could touch Jeff's side. Emily patted him with her little hand, and then grabbed a handful of fur and yanked.
"No, no!" Leah laughed as Jeff jerked his head up in startlement. "Be soft and nice. See?" She extracted Emily's hand from the fur and then flattened it out, showing her how to pet.
"Aah," Emily said.
"That's right," Leah told her. "Jeff. This is Jeff."
"Ah ah ah!"
"Yes, he's a leopard right now, but soon he'll turn back into the Jeff we know. Isn't that amazing? Magic is real, Emily."
As she said that, she felt tears prickle her eyes. Magic is real. Leah had always been a practical person, and after Emily was born and Rob left, she'd stopped believing in any kind of magic, even the mundane kind like love.
But she'd been wrong. Magic was real. And it was right in front of her, in this man.
"How about we ask Jeff if he can show us more things he can do as a leopard?" she asked Emily, swallowing back her tears. "Does that sound fun?"
She stood up, Emily sitting on her hip so she could see, and took a step back.