“Not just to prove we can.” Cold sand folded over Neil’s bare feet. “But to prove who’s got the strongest mettle.” He looked down to Sydney. “The one who stays in the longest gets bragging rights. You’re welcome to join in.”

She looked almost as stricken as when she’d first spotted Melba. “Won’t you go numb?”

“That’s kind of the point.” Lilian stood now, shoes already off, shrugging free of her jacket. Always the same with Lilian—she decried the insanity right before joining in. “The faster you go numb, the better chance you have of making it past the first five minutes. Same rules as always?”

Neil nodded. “Waist-deep. No splashing.” Another glance to Sydney. Indi and Wilder were already heading toward the gap between tall rocks, the easiest place to enter the water on this stretch of shore. “Coming? It’ll be cold, but we’ve done this in the dead of winter before. Won’t be nearly as bad as that.”

For the barest moment, with the glowing, orange shades of dusk creating a halo over her hair, he could almost imagine Sydney Rose had always been a part of them. That she fit into their little family as easily as Wilder.

And maybe she wanted to. Because there was something deep and revealing in her sunlit eyes now as she watched the others race toward the water’s edge. A yearning so palpable he could almost hear its pulsing.

And then she smiled. “I’m in.”

Sydney reached the shoreline just as Indi and Lilian and Wilder were slogging in, the girls’ squeals rising above the sound of the water lapping at the edges of the rocky sand.

“Don’t dawdle, MacKean,” Wilder called, his voice trembling from the cold. “We have to keep this fair.”

She glanced over her shoulder just in time to see Neil catching up to her. Not once since coming to Muir Farm had she glimpsed such wild abandon on the man’s face. He spared her only a momentary glance before barreling into the water. “Come on, Syd. The longer you hesitate, the harder it gets to make yourself do it.”

She forced her feet into the ocean. Foam bobbed on the surface of the icy water as it tucked around her ankles, then her calves, her knees. Like a thousand stings all needling her at once and she couldn’t help a shiver.

“Oh my goodness.” She still had to make it in as far as her waist. That is, if she wanted to be a part of this ridiculous family tradition.

And she did. Oh, she did. She couldn’t have explained why if someone asked. She’d only been here two days, but she was sold on it—on all of it. The beauty of the sea. The closeness of this family. The earthy magic of Muir Farm.