Page 23 of Fire and Rain
“Of a helicopter?” Sean shook his head. “No. We’re strapped in.”
“So, are you two…?” Mila pointed first at Eden and then at Sean.
“Eating? Yes.” Sean took another bite of crab and saw Eden fight not to laugh. “Have you had your fill of crab legs yet?”
The kids shook their heads.
Mila gave a wave of her hand. “They’ll have that for supper. They’re selling eight for two hundred dollars, so I’m going to buy a bag. Come along, kids. Auntie Eden and herfrienddon’t want to be interrupted.”
When Mila had gone, Eden looked over at Sean. “God, she gets on my nerves!”
Sean grinned. “I have no idea why.”
* * *
Eden handedSean her keys so he could unlock the door. She lifted a sleeping Maverick out of his car seat and carried him inside to his crib, where she removed his shoes and pants and covered him with his favorite blankie. Then she walked out to the living room to find Sean standing in the kitchen, leaning back against the counter, phone in hand.
He slipped his phone back into his pocket. “I think we wore the little man out.”
“He had a great time today. We both did.”
“And I got to meet your cousin Mila.”
Eden laughed. “I loved how you handled her nosy question. Did you see her face?”
He shook his head. “I was trying not to make eye contact.”
“She’s not used to people standing up to her.” Then Eden remembered. “I promised you a cup of nettle tea.”
“Right.”
She set a pot of water on the stove to boil and put dried nettle leaves with dried mint into the diffuser of her teapot. “You’re not still skeptical, are you?”
“About your skills with nettles?” He chuckled. “Absolutely not.”
“My grandmother has been drinking this tea all of her life, and she’s going to be a hundred in four or five years.”
“Wait.” Sean gave her a puzzled look. “She doesn’t know how old she is?”
“She says ninety-six. But my mother and aunties say she’s ninety-five. She doesn’t have a birth certificate.”
“Wow.”
While they waited for the water to boil, Eden got down two mugs and a jar of honey and shared her grandmother’s story. “Her family came from Afognak. She grew up living the old ways—seal hunting, gathering plants for food and medicine, and fishing. Then she met my grandfather. In her lifetime, she went from a traditional subsistence lifestyle to living in a house with electricity, driving a car, and traveling by airplane. Can you imagine that?”
Sean shook his head. “My great-grandfather had a farm in Illinois. He grew up with horse-drawn wagons, barn-raisings, and kerosene lanterns. He used to talk about how incredible it had been to watch men walk on the Moon. He died when I was still little, but I remember thinking he was ancient. To experience that kind of change in a single lifetime...”
“How does a person keep up with that?” The kettle whistled, and Eden poured the steaming water into her tea pot and carried the pot to the table to steep. “I hope you like—”
She tripped over something and dumped hot tea and wet nettle leaves down the front of Sean’s shirt. “Oh, God!”
He gasped, shot to his feet, and caught her, the front of his T-shirt soaked.
She set the teapot on the table and darted back to the kitchen. “I’ll get a cold cloth. God, I’m so sorry! I hope the burns aren’t bad.”
“I’m fine.”
Eden stuck a washcloth under cold water, looking over her shoulder to see Sean pick up one of Maverick’s toy trucks.
