Page 88 of Wedding the Werepanther

“And humble.”

“I’m a cat. We don’t do humble. We don’t need to.” The patter of tiny footsteps comes from the stairs. “Speaking of cats—”

Victoria opens the door, and the werekittens burst into the room, all three wearing T-shirts and shorts. “Look at us!” “We can play video games now!” “Show us, please!”

They leap onto the bed and start bouncing so hard I have to swoop forward and save Kayla’s cup before her coffee can spill.

“They can’t wait for you to teach them how to playSuper Mario,” I say.

All three kits stop bouncing and gather at Kayla’s side, turning huge, pitiful eyes on her. Wisp lets a plaintive “Please” slip out, her tiny voice wavering as if she’s on the verge of tears.

The little con artists.

They’re amazingly hard to resist when they look this adorable, but I’ve had practice.

My witchy beauty has not. Her eyes widen, and she blurts, “Of course I’ll teach you!”

They cheer and clamber onto her for quick hugs, then race for the living room.

She turns to me. “Did I just get played?”

“You did.” I hand her the coffee.

We eat breakfast together in the kitchen, Victoria opening and closing cupboards as needed while also carrying on a conversation with Mother about human cooking techniques. When we finish eating, Kayla sets up a tablet for the two of them so they can watch cooking videos on YouTube.

The rest of us go to the living room, where Kayla syncs the children’s game controller to the Switch and starts teaching them how to playSuper Mario. She remains equally patient with all three of them, as they each take their turns, explaining both the controls and the details of gameplay over and over while Mist and I watch.

When I head into the kitchen for more coffee, I bring Mother back with me. “You need to see this.”

We watch as Dawn makes the little cartoon man leap for a power-up star, her tiny hands flying across the controls.

“Look at how good they already are with their hands,” I murmur.

“Way to go, Dawn!” Kayla says. “Now make sure you get that stack of gold.”

Mother whispers, “She’s good with them.”

“She is.” Patient and giving and kind. She regularly asks each of them if they’re still having fun or if there’s something else they’d rather do. Kayla’s making sure they always have a choice—she’s respecting their ability to choose for themselves, even though they’re young.

I’ve never felt prouder of her for overcoming how her parents treated her to become this amazing woman.

This woman I love.

This woman I want to spend the rest of my life with.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Kayla

The whole gang shows up to that evening’s Witch Bitch Spicy Book Club. While we line up to get our cupcakes and cocktails, I make an extra effort to say hello to Willow and the other witches I don’t really know so well, and they all look a little surprised before smiling happily back.

Yeah, I totally need to make more of an effort. What can I say? I’m a work in progress. Maybe I should stop wearing my tee that says:I know I said hi, but that doesn’t mean I actually want to talk to you.Spending more time with the Witch Bitches I’m closer to has been really nice. If these fake weddings have done one thing, they’ve worked as cognitive behavioral therapy: I did a lot of social interacting and got good results, which helps to reprogram my anxiety response.

Some of it is also Shadow. His outgoing nature might be rubbing off on me a teensy bit.

Violeta pats the couch cushion, and I shove in beside her.

Hannah calls the meeting to order and looks around. “Anyone have anything magical happen? Any new powers?”