Chapter 14 Matthew
Matthew
Could life get any better? When Cornelius promised he’d spend all night making love to me, that’s exactly what he did.
And my entire body tingled the next day.
And the day after that. Now that I was feeling better and my mate knew it was perfectly safe for us to have sex, he spent hours doing so, and I couldn’t have been happier.
I was sitting on a stool in the kitchen, chatting with Grantham, and he was giving me his opinion about nursery themes. Cornelius didn’t care one way or another. I was leaning toward something magical.
“Wizards? You could do something like those movies? I’ve seen pictures of something like that before.”
I pursed my lips. Not really feeling that. I’d not seen the movies, but I had seen a few examples of nurseries done in that theme.
“I mean, wizard? For a baby of a warlock? Really?” I said with a small laugh.
“Well, okay, point. Let’s see, since you’re having a boy, how about…hmm.” Grantham stared off at nothing as he rolled out the dough for rolls. I stared at him, wondering why he was rolling it out though.
“Umm, question.”
“Yes?”
“Why are you rolling it out? Aren’t most rolls made from balls?”
“Yes, but I cheat and cut it with a pizza cutter and then just toss them into the pans to rise. They make nice, odd-shaped rolls, and nobody really cares.”
I couldn’t believe I’d not thought about that.
Although we didn’t have pizza or pizza cutters in the fae realm—something else I couldn’t believe now that I’d experienced both—but we did have knives.
I couldn’t understand why I hadn’t ever thought to cut the dough into uniform sizes and toss them into the pan.
I’d eaten plenty of Grantham’s rolls, and they were melt-in-your-mouth delicious.
“Oh, what about dinosaurs? They’re not really magical though.” Grantham set the rolling pin aside and pulled out the pizza cutter. I watched, mesmerized, as he quickly cut several dozen rolls. Something that would have taken so much longer if he individually pinched off and rolled out the rolls.
“Okay, not dinosaurs, but what about dragons? They’re magical, right?”
“They absolutely are. Why are we talking about dragons though? Is there a dragon shifter around?”
I jumped at the sound of Master Arthur’s voice behind me. I was trying, but he was rather intimidating. What he said finally registered with me though.
“There are dragon shifters? Really?” I asked while looking to my left. Master Arthur was right there beside me, looking at the tablet I had in front of me while looking for nursery themes.
“There are, Matthew. There is a dragon clan out there near Timber Valley, actually.”
My eyes grew, and Master Arthur smiled at me.
“I see you didn’t know that. They’re not the friendliest bunch overall. And they’re quite mysterious. But a dragon-themed nursery would be adorable. There’s that one kids movie that had an animated dragon in it.”
I had no idea what movie he was referring to. I’d seen some of the superhero movies with Aspen, but that was it. They were interesting, but I preferred to read.
“Does Cornelius have a preference?” Grantham asked. I shook my head.
“No. He said whatever made me happy. He wasn’t overly fond of the woodland creatures theme though. So perhaps he won’t care for the dragons either.”
“What about dragons?” Patrick asked as he joined us in the kitchen. I looked to Grantham for help as Patrick walked right up to me and stood on my right side. I sat there, sandwiched between Master Arthur and his One, Patrick. Both men were super nice, but I was incredibly intimidated by both.
“Sweetheart, why are you panicking?”
“Help. Please? I’m in the kitchen.”
Before I could even finish, Cornelius was there and wrapping his arms around me from behind. “Hello, sweetheart. What’s wrong? You’re upset? Why?”
I cringed. I didn’t want them to think I was upset. I wasn’t. Intimidated, yes. Upset no.
“I’m okay. Better now that you’re here. We’re discussing nursery themes,” I said, trying to change the subject.
“Yeah? What have you come up with?” Cornelius asked as he leaned forward, resting his chin on my shoulder and reaching out toward the tablet.
“Umm, dragons?” I said, but it came out more like a question than anything.
“Dragons are cool. We should have at least one green dragon and another should be purple,” Cornelius said excitedly.
“You need a blue one, one that’s shooting ice instead of fire,” Master Arthur said.
“Oh, and an orange fire dragon. It can be flying and fighting against the ice dragon,” Patrick said.
I tuned them out as they kept adding more and more dragons to the list. It seemed we were having a dragon-themed nursery, and I was okay with that.
When a mug of tea was placed in front of my nose, I jerked a bit and focused on first it and then Grantham, who was smiling at me while holding the tea in front of me.
“Thank you,” I said as I took the mug and then a sip. There was just something about a good cup of tea that no matter what, it helped. At least for me, that was.
“You three are overwhelming the poor man. Instead of talking over one another behind him, why don’t you go to the nursery and decorate?” Grantham suggested with a raised eyebrow. I got the feeling it wasn’t really a suggestion though.
“Did you want to come, love?”
“Not just yet. I was going to help Grantham for a bit longer, if that’s okay?” I asked, hoping it was.
“Of course. I’ll see you in a bit,” Cornelius said as he and the other two left. Once they were gone, my shoulders sagged in relief.
“Is it just Master Arthur or Patrick as well that bother you?”
I flinched. I hadn’t realized it was that obvious. “Well, they’re both quite intimidating. And I…” Could I tell Grantham? Did it even matter what I’d grown up thinking?
“You what?”
“They’re quite intimidating, and I want them to like me. Accept me. This is Cornelius’s home and…you know,” I said instead. And since none of that was a lie, Grantham couldn’t necessarily tell I wasn’t telling him what I was hiding.
“True. But they like you. Everyone does. We love having you around. You’re just so happy and cute,” Grantham said as he tossed another few clumps of dough into a pan.
“Cute? Really?” Did any grown man want to be cute? Really? Babies were cute. Kittens were cute.
“Yes. You have to realize we mean nothing negative about it. None of us here have ever seen a fae before you joined us.”
“Yeah, but cute?”
Grantham chuckled. I watched as he spun and put the pans of dough clumps on the stove, covered them with a towel, and then started cleaning up the large island.
Grantham tossed the cloth down on the island and held up a finger. “You’re surrounded by tall, slender warlocks. You’re a foot shorter than all of us.” A second finger joined. “You have the blessing of looking young eternally.”
I rolled my eyes. Yeah, because everyone wanted to look like they were sixteen for their entire life.
“No, hold up.” A third finger was raised. “You’re just happy. And that’s infectious. If you haven’t noticed, warlocks can tend to be serious. Most times, too serious.”
“That I have noticed. Especially like Connie.”
Grantham’s brow furrowed, and I snorted. “Constantine?”
Grantham’s eyes widened, and I laughed outright.
“Oh my fates. Don’t ever let him hear you call him that,” he whispered.
“What? Why? He seems very proper, but once you get to know him, he’s quite easygoing.
” And he was. What started as Dr. C coming to see me in our suite because I was too sick to move was quickly becoming a friendship—a friendship that was blossoming because he was an open and friendly warlock who happened to be friends with my mate.
Which was reassuring because I needed friends.
I adored my mate, but these were his fellow coven members, and I wanted to get along with them.
I desperately wished for them to like me because this was his home. And I never wanted to embarrass him.
“You’re upset. I didn’t intend to upset you again.”
“Whaa…no. I was just thinking about Constantine actually. I think that perhaps he’s misunderstood? I know very little about him, but I know he’s older, and his family line goes all the way back. I haven’t been very inquisitive in questioning.”
“Yeah, that’s what we pretty much know. I only meant that he didn’t seem like the type that would like a nickname. Especially not one that sounded feminine.”
I smirked. “Oh, I’m sure not. Which is why I did it. To ruffle his uptight ass.” Grantham’s jaw dropped, and he stared at me in shock. “Just because I say he’s kind and probably a bit misunderstood doesn’t mean I can’t agree that he’s uptight.”
It took a few seconds for Grantham’s mouth to wobble. I watched as he tried so very hard to hold in the smile. But it grew, and before long he was laughing with me.
“So…tomorrow. You sure you want to help all day?” Grantham said after he sobered enough to talk.
“I do. Cornelius has started working from the suite, but tomorrow he said he had to go into the city with Master Arthur for a meeting. I obviously can’t go,” I said as I glanced down at my stomach.
I wasn’t huge. But I was due in six weeks, and I was definitely showing.
It didn’t help that I was smaller framed, and the baby didn’t have much room to grow except out.
And in the week since the ultrasound, he’d started to grow.
“Okay, so tomorrow you’re with me. And if you get tired, let me know and we’ll get you back to your suite.”
I nodded in agreement. I had energy right now and was taking advantage of the fact. I’d been around my mother while she was pregnant enough to know that those last few weeks the energy levels just weren’t there.
“Good. I’m looking forward to helping. Everyone has been so kind and welcoming, but I feel like I’m not pulling my own weight.” I sighed.
“You are, you just don’t know it. I don’t think you realize it, but I meant it. You make people happy. There’s something about you that changes moods.”