She could see her, assuming she was still alive. But what good would it do? Violet could question her, but there would be no satisfactory answers.
"Tell me how we can make this work,” Tristan said, jolting her back into the present. “What’s acceptable to you? Tell me, and we’ll go from there."
"Why are you being so nice?"
"Do you not want me to be nice?”
"I don't know." The truth was, she just didn't trust it. She didn't know how to react to his reasonableness, to his calm demeanor. Her insides were a whirlwind, a tornado. A maelstrom. While he was a placid lake.
"Do you need some financial assistance? If I were human, I'd be paying child support. Or we would split the costs."
"No. You know as well as I do that we don't need money to survive."
"There's a lot more to life than survival. I think you know that as well as anyone.”
She slammed her hand down. "Don't talk to me about survival. I know survival."
"I know that you do. You are a survivor. You did all of this by yourself for so long, so let me help you. It doesn't have to be romantic; there are no strings attached. Let me help our pup."
Violet flinched when he said ‘our pup.’ She couldn't help it. She knew she was all over the place. "You're not going to try to take her away?"
"No. I just want to be a part of her life. But in return, I need you to promise you won't take off again."
Could she promise that? Not really. She couldn't imagine staying in one place. Or even trying to consider a promise she made to someone. But he wasn't just someone. He was Arabella's father. "I won't run away."
"Good. Thank you. I want to get to know her. I want to hear how that's going to happen,” he said. “I understand if you want to be there while I hang out with her. I won't fight you on that."
"I don't know how much time I can get off work."
"You don't have to work, not right now. I can make sure you have everything you need."
"I'm not going to rely on you like that."
"What about Arabella? Would she like to rely on me? She said she wanted to go to camp. I could pay for it. She doesn't have to know it's me. It could come from you."
Great. Here he sat, able to provide for Arabella in the way that she could not. Arabella had always been satisfied being homeschooled and learning as they traveled. But ever since they'd gotten to Alaska, she’d changed her tune. She wanted school. She wanted camp and sports and activities. All of those things cost money.
"Are you worried about her blending in with humans?" he asked.
"No. She's good at it. She has a knack for knowing how to interact with them. She's been doing it since she was a baby. We've lived in remote areas, but we've also made sure that we integrate a lot, so that she’ll never be eighteen years old and find herself completely unable to navigate the world.”
He nodded in understanding. "If you could, would you send her to camp this summer?"
"I don't know. Maybe a day camp. I think she's not old enough for any others."
"Get me a list of her favorites, and I'll pay the fees,” he said.
"Why would you do that? What's your motivation?"
"My motivation is that I want my daughter to be happy. I want to give her the things that she wants. I want to give her all the things that I missed out on being able to do earlier.”
"So you're saying I can't provide for her."
"I'm not saying that at all. She's obviously doing great.” He motioned toward Arabella who was balancing on top of the swings bar.
She tried to take a calming breath and remind herself that he wasn't attacking her.
"I'm sorry. I'm extremely defensive because of the way that my own family operated. I don't know if that's ever going to change. Are you sure you want to be around that?"