Meg smiled at how everyone talked to her coyote as if he understood every word.
“Meg, why don’t you take Maze and get going on your run before I give in to those sweet yellow eyes and fix him a plate of bacon.”
Maze licked his chops at hearing the word “bacon.”
“You sure you don’t want me to help you clean up in here?” she offered.
“Oh, thanks, honey, but I got it. You go enjoy the morning.”
“Well, come on, you wily coyote,” she called to him.
“Hey, Meg?”
“Yeah, mom?”
“I’m so thankful to see you feeling better.” She smiled widely and as she did her eyes glistened with emotion.
Meg nodded, feeling her love warming her heart. She crossed the room quickly and wrapped her in a big hug, burying her face in the crook of her mother’s neck, just as she did when she was a little girl. Margo smelled like home. Meg held her for a moment, basking in the glow of her unconditional maternal love. “I love you, mom.”
“I love you, too, Meggie,” she cooed.
“I don’t ever want to let you down,” Meg confessed. “I don’t want to let the family down.”
“Oh, little one. You’ve always felt the need to take on so much. There is nothing you could ever do that would stop me from loving you.” She kept her strong hands on Meg’s shoulders even as she pulled back to look her in the eyes. “You are my daughter, my breath, my heartbeat. Don’t you see? You and your brothers—you gave my life meaning.”
“But what if I mess up? What if I’m not strong enough to keep us safe? All I am is a stupid, emotional girl. I’m an enormous ball of useless mush—even my evolved gift weakens me.”
“You listen to me, young lady,” Margo’s brows furrowed with the gravity of what she was trying to make her daughter understand, “there is nothing ‘weak’ about you! Nothing! Don’t you ever, for one moment, think feeling emotion is a weakness. Your strength comes from your emotions. You feel everything—passionately. You’ll learn how to harness that passion into a ferocious strength, and with that strength, you will level anyone who dares threaten your family!”
Meg stared into the crisp flashes of fury glistening in her mother’s eyes and nodded slowly.
Margo’s eyes softened with nostalgia. “I didn’t know one thing about taking care of babies when I first brought you and your brothers into hiding. Did you know you taught me? You showed me how to know what the boys needed. You taught me how to hold you, even taking my soldier’s calloused hand in your soft, pudgy one and wrapping my arms around you. And when I was worried or anxious, you always knew. You knew when any of us needed you, and you would come to me and snuggle in my neck—freely offering your gentle comfort.
“You have always taken care of all of us, Meggie. Don’t you see? It’s your emotions, your God-given gift of empathy, that is not only a fierce strength in itself, but even more powerful because of the strength your love unlocks in those around you. You aren’t an emotional superconductor, little girl.” She shook her head. “You are a generator, a power source—with the limitless ability to summon the best in everyone around you.” The woman who gave up everything to be Meg’s mother stood emotionally bare and raw in front of her.
“My tiny, dark-eyed baby girl—” her voice echoed with memories as she brushed errant curls away from her daughter’s cheek. “You have been my strength, Meg. Open yourself to the truth of who you are. Pray about it. Ask for strength and wisdom. Don’t be afraid of being an angel of healing. And don’t think God expects you to fight with flowers and fluff.
“You are a warrior—lethal, brave and loyal. There is a balance between the angel and the gladiator. You are both. The two parts of you are not exclusive—each side of you only strengthens the other. There is so much I see in you, daughter. See yourself through my eyes.”
Margo closed her eyes and rested her forehead against Meg’s. Effortlessly, her daughter’s empath gift channeled into her mother’s emotions. Her emotional signature was absolutely beautiful. She was Texas skies blue, yellow sunlight bursting through and she smelled of cinnamon and crisp apples. Every word she spoke was her truth. She showed Meg, Alik, and Evan her pure love. She wrapped them in her devotion and determination.
She showed little Meg curled up in her arms rocking back and forth, her small toddler’s body snuggled as close as they could be—her plump arms wrapped tightly around her mother’s neck, breathing slowly together in the glow of the moonlight. Then she showed her an image of Meg now. She saw her as a winged warrior. She saw a light inside her bursting through her skin. That image seared her mind brightly—causing Meg to gasp with the strength of the vision.