Beckett’s POV
I hang back deliberately as Elodie and Callie file off the ship with Lena and Felix. I hover behind them, not quite close enough to draw attention to them but close enough that I can catch fragments of their conversation. Callie's voice, bright and carrying, is chattering excitedly to Felix about collecting shells, about building the biggest sandcastle anyone's ever seen. The two women walk a little behind before they are joined by Sicily and Ayla. I watch as Callie gravitates to the little girl, slipping her arm through and anchoring herself to the shy child who looks a little surprised at my daughter’s open friendliness toward her.
My daughter . . . That still feels foreign to me, but with every passing moment I find it harder and harder not to see her as such.
I watch f
