Page 32 of Returning to Everton

“Yes!” she squeals excitedly.

Quinn and I laugh at her enthusiasm. I get her out of her car seat and walk up the front walk to the porch. She’s still looking around in wonder, as she races around the porch.

“Mommy, can we get a swing for the front porch?” she begs.

I smile at her and walk around the corner to the dead-end part of the porch. I wave my hand in the direction of the back wall and a white wooden porch swing appears. It’s long enough to fit two adults and a child. It has purple cushions and matching throw pillows with little flowers on them.

“How’s that?” I ask her.

She gasps and stares, mouth hanging open at what I just conjured with magic. “You candothat, Mommy?! That’s so cool!! Is it real? Can I sit on it?” she questions me.

“Yes, baby girl, it’s real. Go on, sit down. Tell me what you think. I tried to make it comfortable, but it’s been a long time since I’ve conjured something like that. I’m afraid I’m out of practice,” I tell her.

She rushes over to the swing and jumps up. The swing goes flying backward when she does, but she quickly gets settled. She sits there with the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on her face. It seems my daughter is impressed with my use of magic.

“Mommy, look! I’m swinging!” she giggles. Violet sits there, pumping her legs back and forth for a few moments before she stops and looks at me all serious. “How come you’ve never used your magic like that before, Mommy? Can I do that? Make things out of nothing?” she questions.

“Well, sweetie, you know your dad didn’t like it when I used my magic. So out of consideration for him, I didn’t use my magic often. And when I did, it was either to entertain you or out of necessity. And conjuring things is not a necessity since we can just go to the store and buy it,” I remind her gently.

She sighs, “Oh yeah. But now you can use your magic however you want to, right, Mommy?”

“That’s right, baby. I can also teach you how to use your magic more now. Right now, you mostly just move things. Which is very fun and helpful, but there are a lot more things you can do,” I tell her.

“Yay! I’m so excited, Mommy! I can’t wait to learn how to use my magic like you!” she tells me eagerly.

“See, I told you moving here would be good for both of you,” Quinn gloats.

“Yeah, yeah,” I say. “Alright, Bug, let’s go check out the inside! You can pick out your new room,” I try to entice Violet into leaving her new swing.

She jumps down and runs over to us. “Okay, Mommy! Let’s go!”

We walk inside and I use my magic to turn on the lights like Declan did last night. Violet runs in and starts exploring the house while Quinn and I take a more leisurely approach. We’re walking toward the kitchen when I hear Violet holler from upstairs.

“Mommy!! I want this room!” she screams loud enough for me to hear her. Quinn and I share a look then head upstairs to see which room she’s decided on.

We get upstairs and I call for Violet to see where she is. “Marco!”

I hear her sweet giggle coming from down the hall so we head that way while she calls, “Polo!”

After a few back and forths of Marco Polo, we find her in the corner room. It looks out over the front yard and is plenty big enough. As I suspected, she picked the tower room. She’s twirling around the room.

“Isn’t it perfect, Mommy?! Can we magic me a new bed??” she asks.

I chuckle, maybe I shouldn’t have shown her I can do that. “Sure, sweetie. What kind of bed do you want?”

“I want a princess bed!” she says excitedly.

Of course, she does. Why would she want any other kind? I picture the perfect bed for her then wave my hand toward the middle of the side wall. A gorgeous four poster princess bed appears. With sheer pink curtains draped around the top rails. It also has pink princess sheets and a comforter with gold crowns all over it.

She squeals and runs over and jumps on her new bed. “Thank you, Mommy!! It’s perfect!!”

“I’m glad you like it, Bug. I agree, I think it’s perfect for this room,” I tell her. “It’s just like a princess tower. It looks like something out of a fairy tale book. No wonder you chose this room, Bug.”

She giggles at that. “Can I go play outside, Mommy? I wish Logan was here so we could play tag,” she says longingly.

“Well, you’ll get to play with him later at the park. Why don’t you just go explore our yard and decide where you want your new playhouse to go when we get one?” I offer.

She takes off running down the stairs, Quinn and I following behind. “She’s a little ball of energy today. What the heck did Hudson put in that cinnamon roll?” I wonder out loud.

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