It took a couple of minutes for Troy to notice it, but when he did, he charged forward. Pauline caught Val up in her arms and ran after him, laughing at Troy’s cry of, “Raaaaaaargh!”
The rabbit, of course, leaped away as soon it noticed Troy running, but that didn’t dissuade the little boy one bit. Pauline wondered what he’d been planning to do if he caught it.
Eventually, he had to concede defeat, and slowed to a halt. “It got away,” he reported to Pauline.
“Sometimes they do,” Pauline said. “Where to next?”
Troy looked around. “I want to see if I can jump over that stream!” He pointed.
“Let’s do it!”
Troy could not quite jump over the stream, as it turned out, but wet sneakers weren’t the worst thing in the world, especially since Troy didn’t seem to care. “I’m going to climb that rock!”
“I bet you can do it!” Pauline had set Val down to let the girl pat curiously at the stream water while Troy made his attempt. Now she caught her hand and led her in a little jog after her big brother.
Troy summited the rock—with Pauline’s help—and leaped down from it to the ground, tried and failed to climb a tree, tried and succeeded to climb another tree, challenged Pauline to a race with Val on her back, and finally circled back to the clearing where they’d started (with a little bit of gentle leading on Pauline’s part), and flopped down in a sunny spot with a big whoosh of a sigh.
With perfect timing, too, because just as Pauline settled down next to him, she heard the underbrush rustling, and two predatory figures came bounding out of the woods. Val toddled up to meet them.
“Drew!” Troy shouted, sitting upright.
Drew skidded to a halt in the grass and shifted back, followed quickly by Carlos.
“Who won?” Pauline asked.
“He did,” Carlos said proudly. “He wasn’t kidding, he knows these woods like the back of his hand.”
“Mom took me out a lot, before the kids were born,” Drew said. His mouth twisted a little, and he looked over his shoulder.
Pauline looked at Troy, who had decided to try and climb Carlos like he had the tree. Carlos was Troy’s favorite jungle gym, these days. She stepped closer to Drew, keeping her voice low. “These woods must make you think of her, then.”
Drew hesitated, and then nodded. “I think—she’s out there somewhere, isn’t she? I wonder sometimes, where she is. If she’s happy.”
“You know you can talk about her whenever you want, right?” Pauline said quietly. “We’re not going to think you don’t like us, or anything. She’s your mom forever, even if she’s not here anymore.”
Drew nodded sharply, blinking a little—and then surprised Pauline by lunging forward into an awkward hug.
Pauline immediately wrapped him up tight, holding him close.
“Thank you,” Drew whispered to her.
“Oh, Drew.” Pauline’s heart felt like it was swelling. “You don’t have to thank me. We love you guys, we want you with us, but we don’t want you to forget your mom. Okay?”
Drew pulled back, blinking a little. “Okay,” he managed.
Pauline squeezed him tight one more time, unable to resist, and then stepped back and clapped her hands. “Okay!” she said. “It’s my turn to shift! Who wants to play hide-and-seek with an owl?”
“Me!” Troy yelled.
“Teams!” Carlos said immediately. “Troy, you’re with me. Drew, you want to take Val? Pauline, you close your eyes and count, and when you’re done, shift and find us.”
“You better do a good job hiding,” Pauline told him with a grin. “I’m not going to give up until I find you.”
He leaned forward and kissed her quickly on the mouth. “Can’t wait.”
“Come on, let’s go!” Troy tugged on Carlos hand, and Pauline let her grin bubble over into a laugh as she closed her eyes. “One...two...”
End