Meagan and I shot straight out of our seats and ran toward the water where we'd heard Marvel scream.
"What happened?" I asked, seeing Marvel in Jaime's arms, clutching on to his shoulder. Jaime and Marvel were only about knee deep for Jaime.
"Nothing," Jaime frowned. "Why did you come tearing down here like that?"
"We heard Marvel scream," I said. "We were worried something happened."
"Ohhhh," Jaime said. "Mar, tell them why you screamed."
"Jaime said he gonna drop me in the water. And the water is cold, Daddy!"
"Jeebus Christmas on a cracker," I rolled my eyes. "Marvel, please don't ever scream like that unless you or someone is in real trouble!"
"Sorry, Daddy," Marvel said, lowering her head to Jaime's shoulder and putting her finger in her mouth.
"It's okay, pumpkin. You just scared Mommy and Daddy. But, since you're both fine, I'm going to go back to my chair and try to get my heart to go back in place."
Jaime smirked at me. Meagan and I went back to our seats and watched Marvel and Jaime. At one point I saw they'd gone a little deeper, about to Jaime's hips, and he had Marvel floating on her back. I watched my oldest son with my youngest child and smiled.
"Jaime! No let go!" Marvel yelled.
I couldn't hear what Jaime said back to her, but watched as he took his hands off his sister. She was floating on her back, by herself (in her life jacket).
"Nooooo!" She screamed (but nowhere near as ear piercing as before). "Jaime! No let go!"
Jaime scooped Marvel up and I smiled more as she laughed. Meagan looked over at me and smiled.
"He's really a special kid, Pete. He just dotes on Marvel. Bronx and Saint think he's the best thing to happen in their lives. And I have to admit, he's kinda nice to have around."
I smiled back at her.
"I was really worried when. He came to live with us, that we'd have problems. I mean, he's 15. He has so many reasons to be angry. And he was. But he's really come around. I hate to say this, but I think his suicide attempt was kind of, I don't know how to word this. But I think that's part of what helped him realize we really do want him around and as part of the family."
Meagan nodded.
"We promised Marvel ice cream if Jaime behaved at his MRI," she smirked. "And we'll probably have dinner in a few hours. Let's get the two of them out of the water, if we can, and go for a walk and get some ice cream."
"Sounds like a good idea," I smiled back, taking her hand and kissing her knuckles. I got up and walked towards the water's edge.
"Marvel, did you ask Jaime if he was a good boy for his test?" I asked her. She looked up at Jaime.
"Jaime? Was you good in your test?"
Jaime looked at me with a raised eyebrow. I winked at him.
"I listened to everything they told me and I behaved," he smiled at his sister.
"Daddy! You said! You said if Jaime was a good boy, we could have ice cream!"
"Did I say that?" I asked. "That doesn't sound like something I would say."
"Daddeeeeee!" Marvel whined.
"Well, see, here's the thing. We can go have ice cream, but you can't have ice cream in the ocean," I said.
"Why not?" Marvel asked.
"The sharks and fish might get jealous and come nibble your toes," Jamie said to her, as he swung her into his arms and carried her like a baby.
"Fish don't eat ice cream, silly Jaime," Marvel laughed.
"No? Maybe that's turtles, then. And they will definitely get jealous," Jaime said. "Turtles are very jealous creatures."
Marvel squealed with laughter.
"Turtles don't eat ice cream either!" Marvel laughed.
"Hmm. I'll ask Crush next time I see him," Jaime said. Marvel's eyes went wide.
"You talk to Crush?" She asked, in complete awe of her brother. Jaime laughed.
"Yeah. We're old buddies. We go waaaay back."
"Daddy! Jaime knowed Crush the turtle!"
I smiled at Jaime, who winked back at me.
We gathered our belongings to toss into the car before we went walking along the street side to find some ice cream.
We had Marvel's stroller and convinced her that she had to eat her ice cream in it. For safety. Obviously. But really, I wanted to be able to chat with Jaime some without the little pitcher with the big ears.
We found an ice cream parlour and the four of us ordered and then went outside to walk more and eat our icy treats. We walked along the sidewalk looking at the windows of the shops along the stretch of beach we were near.
"Jaime, are you okay?" I asked him as he took a spoonful of chocolate peanut butter ice cream. He looked at me thoughtfully.
"In terms of what?" He asked after he swallowed his ice cream.
"The test today," I said.
His features clouded over.
"Yeah," he said simply.
"Look, if you're worried about something, anything, you know you can talk to Meagan or me, right?"
"Dad?" He said.
"Mmhm?" I said through a mouthful of cookie dough ice cream.
"Can we pretend, just for today, that I didn't just have an MRI? I mean, yeah. I got stuff on my mind, but I just want today to be about Marvel and us and just being. Can all that be a tomorrow problem?"
I put my arm around my son's shoulders.
"Yeah. Yeah we can. But I do want to talk with you about what's on your mind. But okay. Not today," I smiled at him. He smiled back at me.
"You have your mom's smile, you know," I said to him.
He sighed.
"I miss her," he said. "I'm still kinda mad at her. But I miss her."
"I know," I said.