Later that night, tiny arms hugged Avery tight around the neck. She closed her eyes, savoring that feeling. Aiden still retained that baby smell she so loved. That he’d just had a bath didn’t hurt, too. After the day she’d had, his presence was a balm to her strained nerves.

She kissed his cheek and shifted on the bed slightly, setting him gently away from her. “Goodnight, baby.”

Aiden cocked his head to the side. “Mommy, why don’t I have a daddy?”

That dreaded question, along with the innocence in his high-pitched voice, caused her to blink tears away. “You do. Remember when I told you he was far away?” At his nod, she said, “Well, that’s still true.”

“When will he come back?”

She swallowed the lump clogging her throat. How did she answer that? Best to stick with something close to the truth. “I don’t know.”

Crushing guilt over something she couldn’t help consumed her. She slipped an arm around his shoulders. “You’ll always have me, though.”

“And Uncle Conner?” He leaned against her and gazed up at her with wide, earnest blue eyes.

Sorin’s eyes. For a few seconds, all words faded, and she could only stare at him.

Aiden was pretty much a little clone of his father, which was both heartwarming and heartrending. When he was an adult, her boy would have the gorgeous looks of his father. But those very looks were also a reminder of a painful time in her past.

She smoothed a hand over his honey-blond curls, again so like Sorin’s in color and texture. Aiden certainly hadn’t inherited her straight, brown hair. “You definitely have Uncle Conner, too. He’s so silly we could never be rid of him.” She paused and then muttered under her breath, “Even when we want to be.”

Aiden giggled, and she released him. “Okay, time for sleep, young man.”

He leaned against his pillows. “At preschool today, I wished for a daddy. Did you find him?”

Oh my God. All her fears from earlier hammered back and confirmed her horrible suspicions. Aiden had been at the center of her and Conner’s early evening interdimensional trip. If she weren’t so frightened, she’d be in awe of her little boy’s powers. But what mother wanted her young child to wield such fantastical magic? Worse, she didn’t have the slightest clue as to how they worked or why. But it looked as if she’d have to learn quickly what she could instead of pretending that everything was okay.

With shaking hands, she cupped Aiden’s face. “Baby, you have to promise to never make that wish again or any like it.”

His bottom lip jutted out. “Why?”

She needed to head off a tantrum before it could start. “It’s dangerous to wish for those things.” When his mouth opened to ask yet another question, she said, “Please, you don’t want to hurt yourself, Mommy or Uncle Conner, do you?”

He shook his head, a fearful expression flashing across his face. “Not hurt anyone!”

She bent down to hug him, guilt once more burning a hole in her gut. His speech always regressed when he was scared, which made her somewhat confident he’d wouldn’t make that wish a second time anytime soon. Though she hated to make him fearful, she couldn’t risk a reoccurrence of today’s events if it could be easily avoided.

“I know, Aiden. I know.” She forced a smile to her lips. “Time to sleep.”

“Stay with me?”

“Of course.”

She switched off the lamp at his bedside. After a few minutes, he drifted to sleep. Still, she sat there, staring at him. Just who and what had his father been?