Chapter 17 Cornelius
Cornelius
It had been an incredibly rough few weeks after Matthew’s breakdown at seeing Master Edison.
We’d had breakfast with them the following morning, but I’d almost called it off after holding my precious One for hours while he shook, cried, and mumbled apology after apology.
It broke my heart that Matthew was going through such grief that I felt relief when he finally cried himself to sleep.
But that was weeks ago, and Master Edison had yet to return. I knew from Master Arthur that he’d called Thomas to discuss things with the other fates. And something I didn’t know was Edison could talk to the goddess that had created him. But I wasn’t sure if he’d done so or not.
With my One so close to giving birth, we weren’t doing anything except sticking to our suite.
Matthew’s omega line had gone from silver to pink, and this morning when I’d looked, it had started to look a little red, so I thought that it was possible that he wouldn’t make his due date.
We’d have to wait and see, and I would have to check it several times a day to be sure.
“Do we have any tea?”
“Of course. What kind would you like?”
“Any. I’m just in the mood for some tea,” Matthew said from the couch where he was resting. I walked to him, his tea appearing in my hands as I made my way to my miserable One.
“I’m sorry, love. We don’t have to have any more children after this. I swear. How are you feeling?” I asked, holding out the tea. Matthew took it and gave me an exasperated look.
“You know exactly how I’m feeling. Like a whale. I know there’s only one. But I swear, this baby is huge and he’s pushing on my diaphragm and I can’t breathe. And I’ll have to pee twice because of this one cup of tea.”
“What can I do to help? Let me know and I will.”
“Honestly, if you would rub my feet and legs, I’d probably pass out.”
I nodded and quickly sat beside Matthew on the couch, pulling his legs into my lap. After he had a few sips of his tea, I took the mug and placed it on the gorgeous end table he’d picked out.
“Lie down, and if you can, just relax.”
Matthew did, turning toward his side a bit, and I started massaging his left foot first. When he moaned loudly, I smiled to myself. Those were sounds I always loved to hear coming from my One. But I just wished they were for other reasons.
I had no complaints about my relationship with Matthew. He’d become uncomfortable last week while making love, so I’d resorted to holding him and either sucking his cock or stroking it until he came, screaming my name. That was always more than enough for me.
When I moved up Matthew’s leg to his calf, the moans grew and I felt his muscles tighten. “Why didn’t you tell me your legs hurt you so much?”
“Mmm, I just did, and now you’re being an amazing mate and rubbing them for me. It feels so good.”
“Glad I could help,” I said, continuing the massage.
Once I’d deemed his left calf relaxed enough for now, I moved to his right foot and started the process over.
Sometime while massaging Matthew’s right calf, he dropped off into sleep, but I kept massaging his calf, hoping to release some of the tension I could feel in his body.
It worked because he eventually became a limp noodle, and I carefully placed his legs in my lap and sat there, thinking about how our lives were about to drastically change.
I thought about life growing up. I was an only child, my parents having met when my father was just shy of the half-millennium mark.
My mom was an amazing woman, who happened to be human.
My parents only lived until I was sixty-two when my father passed away from old age.
My mom followed three days later. It was then that I left my birth coven in Germany for America.
It had been something I’d been contemplating before, and now more than ever I was grateful I had.
I hadn’t immediately joined Master Edison’s coven. I spent decades moving every ten years or so, never staying in one place for long. I was searching for…Matthew. And come to find out, he hadn’t even been born yet. Nor was he even in my realm.
It had been explained to us that mates were paired by location, and I believed that I had a One somewhere in Germany, but for whatever reason, we’d never met. It was a moot point now. I had my One, and I adored him.
Carefully extracting myself from Matthew’s sprawled form, I got up, and after covering him with a light blanket, I headed to my office to retrieve my laptop.
I took it back to the outer rooms and sat at our small table, facing the couch across the way.
Sure, I could sense and feel Matthew through our bond always, but I wanted to be able to see him when I looked up.
After turning on my laptop, I opened my spreadsheets and snapped them to the right. On the left I opened the secure emails from Master Arthur and others in the coven and started inputting them, doing the financials for the coven and its members.
I paused, thinking about the many different jobs I’d had in my long life and got to thinking about Matthew again.
My focus was almost always on him anymore.
I glanced up at him and smiled. Would he want to get formal training as a chef?
Grantham had, and he said he learned a great deal, but working in a restaurant kitchen could be stifling and he much preferred being a private chef for the coven only.
I’d support Matthew in whatever it was that he wanted to do.
If that was raise our little fae and warlocks, then so be it.
If he wanted to spread his wings and go to school, I’d support that as well.
I knew one thing I absolutely wanted to experience with him was more travel.
Our original route had been cut short, but I couldn’t be upset about that.
We were about to have a baby, and his and Matthew’s health were more important than traveling.
Thinking about that, I remembered the early days of his pregnancy and how Matthew was so dizzy.
After bloodwork and other tests, Constantine had come to the conclusion that it was many things finally coming to a head.
The different realm, finding his mate, being claimed, the excitement of traveling, and lack of proper self-care all compounded to make him rather sick.
I made sure to watch what he ate, how often he drank tea and water, and made sure he got daily exercise and rest. I was doing my best to take care of my pregnant One.
I knew at times he became frustrated with my overly protective nature, but when he’d collapsed in Wyoming, it scared me a great deal, and I never wanted to go through that again.
Matthew rolled over on the couch, drawing my attention.
I checked in on him through our bond, and he was still asleep, but not deeply.
I got up and went to the living room and sat on the ottoman that Matthew had purchased that matched the couch.
We’d discovered that it was an amazingly versatile piece of furniture, and we’d had sex on it more than we’d used it for its intended purpose.
I sat there, watching Matthew for any signs of waking, and when he rolled over again and stretched, I knew he was waking from what was another power nap. He couldn’t stay comfortable for long periods, and power naps had become his go-to.
“There’s those gorgeous eyes,” I said when they fluttered open and searched around the room. At my comment, Matthew looked my way with a sleepy smile.
“Mmm, sorry. The massage felt so good. Did I sleep long?”
I shook my head. “Not long enough. About an hour, I guess. Are you hungry?” I asked, knowing the answer.
He was hungry, but would he realize it? That was something I’d come to understand—Matthew simply didn’t pay much attention to what his body was telling him at times.
He was easily distracted and got caught up in what he was doing.
“I could definitely eat. Did you want to go to the dining hall? Is it too early?”
I was surprised because Matthew hadn’t wanted to leave much in the past few weeks. Not since Master Edison’s visit. Most in the coven just assumed it had to do with his pregnancy. Only those that had been in the suite that day knew the actual reason.
“Of course,” I said and knew my surprise came through.
“Well, it’s just that in a couple of weeks, we’re probably not going to be able to leave even if we wanted to. We’ll have our little guy, and from my experience with my younger siblings, babies don’t sleep.”
I nodded. I had heard that. And had been warned many times from mated couples. Our lives were going to drastically change in just weeks. Were we ready? I thought so. We had everything we could need for him, I thought. What were we missing?
“Have you thought about names yet?” Matthew asked as he got up from the couch and walked toward our bedroom.
Names? We…yeah, we had to name him, and that was something we’d not discussed even once yet. I hadn’t even thought about them, honestly.
“Not a whole lot,” I said toward Matthew’s retreating back. “How about you? Do you have any favorites?”
“I know I’d like an unusual name. Mine is just so…boring, and yours is awesome and traditional. I want awesome and traditional.”
“Sweetheart, we can name the baby anything you’d like.
Have you thought of any names at all?” I asked as I followed him into the bedroom.
As suspected, he went to the bathroom to take care of what I was sure was pressure on his bladder.
I felt it but knew I wasn’t in need of using the bathroom.
When I heard Matthew sigh and suddenly the pressure subsided, I knew that’s exactly what he was doing.
“I’ve thought about several, actually,” Matthew said before I heard the toilet flush and then the water in the sink turn on. I sat on the bench at the foot of our bed and waited. When my One came out, he walked over to the dresser and picked up a notebook off the top and returned to me.
“Okay, so right now I have Oliver, Sebastian, Florian, and Silas as the front-runners. Do you have any that you’d like at all?”
I thought about it and panicked a bit. I honestly hadn’t given it any thought.
I’d been so busy worrying about Matthew.
“Well, I grew up being called Corny when I was younger, despite the fact that I’m a warlock.
So whatever we come up with, I’d like him to not have the possibility of a crappy nickname. ”
“Oh. I didn’t even think about that. They all have possible nicknames: Oliver has Ollie, Silas I guess would be Sy?”
I pondered it for a bit. Sebastian could easily be shortened to Seb or Bastian. Either of those were nice nicknames. Florian made me think of flowers and if I wasn’t mistaken meant blond. Neither of us were blond, and the chances of our son being so were slim.
“I actually like Silas. But Oliver is probably a great fit.”
“How so?” Matthew asked as he circled the name in the notebook.
“Because although you are not an elf, the name Oliver means elf warrior. And since he’s a fae, the nickname Ollie would be cute and fitting. At least I think so.”
“Okay. Ollie it is, then. Are elves real?”
I thought about it and shrugged because I had no idea. “I’m not sure. We could ask. If there are, I don’t believe I’ve ever met one.”
Matthew took that for what it was, and we left our suite, heading for the dining hall.
I didn’t even ask, just simply teleported us there.
Yes, it was good for Matthew to walk, but he’d done that earlier by pacing around our suite, worrying about making sure everything was ready for Oliver.
It seemed odd to finally have a name for our son.
We’d spent the past simply referring to him as the baby or our son.
It made it feel more real, and thinking about that had me worrying.
“There’s a look of a warlock who is realizing his world and focus is about to drastically change,” Master Arthur said as we walked up to the large table that was filled with tonight’s choices.
It looked to be Italian, and I wasn’t going to complain about spaghetti and meatballs.
Looking at Matthew piling meatballs on his plate, I’d say he wasn’t either.
“Did you want help, Matthew?” I asked.
“Oh, I have him,” Patrick said and rushed to Matthew’s aid, holding his plate for him.
“You two doing okay?” Arthur asked.
“As well as expected, I think. It seems to be hitting me in waves. We just decided on a name, and now it’s more impending.
I hadn’t even thought about a name until Matthew asked.
Does that make me a terrible father?” I asked as I watched Patrick help my One pile other goodies on a second plate and then take everything over to the table that Patrick and Arthur always sat at.
“No. It makes you a distracted and pulled-in-a-million-other-directions father-to-be. How’s that for a mouthful?”
I looked at our coven master and smiled. He had such a look of understanding on his face.
“Can I ask you something?”
“You can always ask questions,” Arthur replied.
“Does it get easier?”
When Master Arthur didn’t respond, I pulled my gaze away from Matthew and Patrick and looked at him. “What? Being mated? Being a parent?” Arthur said as I looked at my One.
“Yes.”
Arthur chuckled loudly and shook his head, drawing attention to the two of us. I sighed. Yeah, that’s what I thought.
“You’re still newly mated though. It won’t ever get easier.
Being mated is hard. You both have to work at the relationship.
And adding children is another obstacle.
They will demand attention, and you will both focus on the little one instead of one another.
But you must remember to make time for the two of you.
Or your bond will suffer.” Master Arthur placed his hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
“Thanks. I hope I remember that in the coming days.”
“You only need to remember this. You two are not alone in this. You have an entire coven here to help if needed. Several of us have already traveled the journey that you two are about to start. We’re always here to help. It’s what family is for.”
“Thank you. That means a lot,” I said. Master Arthur nodded and walked to his table while I grabbed a plate and started filling it.