Chapter 35 Tula
TULA
Tula stood in the doorway of her house, her and Esag's house now, and watched him carry a box from the golf cart parked on the gravel path.
It wasn't particularly large or impressive, just a cardboard box filled with clothes, but it was symbolic, and she was emotional, and as was usual for her lately, tears misted her eyes.
"That's the first of many," Esag said while setting it down and straightening with a smile. "I had no idea how much stuff I've managed to accumulate during my time in the village."
She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her cheek against his chest. "I love you. Have I told you already how much?"
He smiled, and that smile of his was as bright as the sun. "Yes, you did. Several times in fact. Some of them while panting, and others screaming while climaxing. Then you told me you loved me again when I left to get my things."
She scrunched her forehead and pouted. "Are those complaints I'm hearing?"
"Not a chance." He kissed the top of her head. "I love it." His arms tightened around her. "I will never tire of hearing you say that you love me."
"Good, because now that you've released the genie from the bottle, it will never go back in, so you'd better get used to that."
"I'm loving it." He lowered his hands to cup her butt. "But if you don't let me go, we will end up in bed again, and that cart is not going to unload itself."
"Fine." She released him. "The sooner you are done, the sooner we can return to our favorite activity."
He laughed, and it was the light sort of laughter she still remembered from five thousand years ago. The contagious laughter of a young male with no cares in the world.
When he was done, Tula looked at the boxes he'd brought in. "That's all? What about all the other boxes?"
His clothes filled two medium-sized boxes, and a small collection of books filled another. The last one contained some personal items and a few mementos.
"The rest contain my tools and the figurines, and those will go into the shed once it is built. In the meantime, I'll stack them up on the front porch." He surveyed the small pile with something like bemusement. "Five millennia of existence, and this is all I have. But then what else do I need?"
She liked that he wasn't the type of man who needed a lot of things to feel important.
"You live your life unencumbered." She took his hand, threading her fingers through his.
"When I left all of my possessions behind in the harem, I thought I would miss them terribly, but I don't. They were just trinkets, pretty things I liked to look at.
They didn't carry much meaning. Things are not important.
Relationships are. The Fates were merciful and allowed me to take all my friends with me, and that makes me happy. "
He affected a pout. "What about me? Do I make you happy?"
She grinned. "The happiest."
He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it. "We will fill this home with new trinkets, and because we will collect them together, they will have meaning. They will be a reflection of our love."
That was so sweet that those pesky tears she was trying to hold back started leaking from her eyes.
Esag's smile evaporated. "Why are you crying? Did I say something wrong?"
She shook her head. "You said everything right. I'm just being emotional. Ignore me."
"How can I?" He cupped her cheek. "You are my entire world. My morning and evening star."
She lifted on her toes, intending to kiss the living daylights out of him, when a whizzing sound of an approaching golf cart made them both turn toward the still-open door.
Davuh was behind the wheel of the largest golf cart Tula had seen in the village since her arrival, and Roven was sitting next to him. In the back was an enormous pile of flat-packed materials.
"What's that?" she pointed.
"My new workshop." He turned toward the door, pulling her with him. "I bought a ready-to-build kit, and my friends volunteered to help me put it together. All the pieces are pre-cut and labeled, so it shouldn't be a difficult project. We can probably have it done in one day."
"That's such a clever idea." She smiled at Davuh and Roven, who began unloading the golf cart.
The pile of materials was even more impressive up close. There was even a box with a picture of an air conditioning unit.
"Where did you find the money to purchase all this?"
"I had some savings." Esag hefted a stack of panels and started carrying them toward the backyard. "Davuh and Roven loaned me the rest."
She frowned. "And where did they get the money?"
"They are officially Guardians in training now, and the position comes with a salary. They contributed their first paycheck to the effort."
The annoying waterworks started anew, but Tula was done being embarrassed by them. Everyone knew she was pregnant, so they would forgive her emotional state. She turned toward Esag's friends. "Thank you for doing this for us. For Esag. We will pay you back."
"He'd better." Davuh hefted several boards onto his shoulder. "I don't care about the money, but this thing will take much longer to build than the one day he told us it would. More like three or four."
"I'll work for beer," Roven said. "Please tell me there's beer."
"There's plenty," Tula assured him. "I'll keep you watered and fed while you work."
"Thank you, sister." Roven winked at her.
Sister.
He called her sister because she was Esag's mate and they were his brothers. They didn't share blood, but they shared so much more, and now they were accepting her into their small family.
She fled to the kitchen to hide the geyser of tears that was about to erupt, and while she wiped them away furiously, the men got to work, spreading out the component parts in the backyard.
They argued over the assembly instructions, with Davuh losing his patience and tossing the instructions aside.
Tula prepared a large tray with beers, water, and cut fruit and carried it to the back porch. After setting it down on the outdoor dining table, she sat down on one of the chairs and watched them work.
She wanted to offer her help, but the truth was she didn't know how and would just be in the way. Besides, there was something deeply satisfying about sitting here and watching her future take shape.
The shed was going to be Esag's workshop—a place for him to carve and create, separate from the house so the sawdust and noise wouldn't disturb her and the baby.
It was a practical and sensible solution, but to Tula, it was so much more than that.
The shed represented permanence. It was a commitment. It was Esag putting down roots and planning to stay for good.
After five thousand years of placeholder relationships and a guarded heart, she was finally settling down with the one she'd been waiting for, without knowing that all along it had been Esag.
How could she have known?
And now here she was, crying on her back porch because the man she loved was building a shed.
"Tula?" Esag's voice cut through her thoughts. He had paused his work and was looking at her with concern. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine." She wiped at her eyes, embarrassed. "Pregnancy hormones. Everything makes me emotional these days."
He didn't look entirely convinced, but he nodded and returned to his work.
The California sun was beating down on them mercilessly, even though it was winter, and soon all three men had worked up a considerable sweat.
"Bless you," Davuh said as he grabbed a bottle of cold water and drained half of it in one long pull. "I forgot what doing real work felt like."
Roven snorted. "You think this is real work? This is child's play. It's like those building blocks that fit into each other."
Tula smiled, content to watch the good-natured bickering continue. The shed was beginning to take shape now—a floor platform laid out, the first wall panels being attached to the frame. It was still just the skeleton, but she could see the potential in it.
It was by no means the main attraction, though.
As the morning wore on and the sun climbed higher, the men stripped off their shirts one by one, tossing them aside and working bare-chested.
Tula's mouth went dry.
They were all handsome. That was simply a fact of immortal genetics. Davuh was broad and solid, built like a warrior. Roven was a little leaner, but Esag was on a different level.
Memories of another time flooded through her mind unbidden, when she had been a young girl watching Khiann and Esag spar in the courtyard.
As a god, Khiann had been almost painfully beautiful, radiating otherworldly perfection.
But Esag was warm, his good looks not as perfect but approachable and inviting, his easy smiles and teasing banter making him even more attractive.
When he moved, he moved like water, flowing from one position to the next with a grace that rivaled the god he served.
And when he laughed, throwing back his head, Tula had felt something flutter in her chest that back then she hadn't had the words for yet.
When Khiann and Esag fenced or wrestled, Annani and Gulan would often come to watch, with Annani drooling over Khiann and Gulan drooling over Esag.
Tula had rolled her eyes at both of them, but secretly, she had watched too. And secretly, she had compared the two magnificent males.
She had been a little in love with Esag even then, she realized now.
She'd just been too angry at him to acknowledge that.
Come to think of it, perhaps she hadn't been angry at him only because he'd been leading Gulan on with no intentions of breaking his engagement to Ashegan, but because Tula had wanted him for herself.
She just hadn't recognized the feeling for what it was.
Five thousand years later, watching him work shirtless in their backyard, that flutter was back. Much stronger now, deeper and mature, accompanied by the certainty that this man was hers.
He still moved with that same fluid grace, still smiled with that same easy warmth. The muscles beneath his sun-bronzed skin flexed and shifted as he lifted panels and hammered nails, and Tula was completely, utterly captivated.
Noticing the way she was staring at Esag, Davuh elbowed him and jerked his head in her direction with a knowing grin. Esag turned, following his friend's gaze, and when his eyes met hers, his smile transformed into something wickedly sexy.
He straightened slowly, deliberately, and flexed his arms in an exaggerated display that was clearly meant to be over the top and comical but somehow managed to be devastatingly attractive anyway. His grin stretched from ear to ear, boyish and proud and familiar.
This was exactly how she remembered him. The playfulness, the joy, the refusal to take himself seriously, even when it had been warranted.
Five thousand years of guilt and loneliness had layered sadness over that sunny disposition, but it was still there beneath the surface, and it was emerging more with each passing day.
She was bringing him back to himself just as he was bringing her back to herself.
She'd spent the last five thousand years being cynical and angry, but Esag was bringing out the spirited girl she used to be before her entire world had collapsed.
Tula crooked a finger, beckoning him over.
Esag's grin widened, and he set down his hammer before sauntering toward the porch. He was taking his time, letting her appreciate the view, and when he reached the steps, he leaned down, bracing his hands on the arms of her chair and bringing his face close to hers.
"You rang, my lady?"
She grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him down for a kiss.
It wasn't a gentle kiss. It wasn't the kind of kiss appropriate for broad daylight with an audience. It was deep and possessive and flavored with salt from his sweat, but she didn't care one bit about propriety.
Behind them, Davuh and Roven hooted and cheered, their voices carrying across the backyard.
"Get a room!" Davuh hollered.
"Don't mind us!" Roven called out. "Don't stop on our account!”
Tula ignored them both, losing herself in the feel of Esag's lips against hers, the warmth of his skin beneath her fingers, the solid reality of him here, now, building a life with her.
When he lifted his head, she kept her hand on the back of his neck, holding him close.
"I love you," she said.
The words came easily now. She had said them before, had broken through that barrier days ago, but she found herself wanting to say them to him again and again. Just to hear herself speak them. Just to feel the truth of them resonating in her chest.
"I love you," she repeated. "I love you so much."
His eyes were glowing faintly, that warm inner light that meant his emotions were running high. "I love you too," he said, his voice rough. "So much that I feel like my heart is going to explode."
"Kiss me again," she commanded.
He obliged.
Davuh's voice drifted over from the work site. "Are we still building this shed, or should we go home and give you two privacy?"
Esag pulled back with a laugh, pressing one more quick kiss to her forehead before straightening up. "Keep working. I'll be there in a minute."
"Take your time," Roven called out. "We'll just be here. Doing all the labor. In the heat. While you make out with your lady."
"Mate," Tula corrected loudly. "Esag is my mate. Not my boyfriend, not my boy toy. My mate."
Esag's smile could have lit up the entire village.
"Mate," he repeated softly, just for her. "I like the sound of that."
"Get back to work." She gave him a gentle push. "You need to finish building your shed so you can start creating again."
He caught her hand before she could withdraw it, pressing a kiss to her palm. "As my lady commands."
The smile wouldn't leave her face as she watched him return to his friends. They resumed their work with renewed energy and even more teasing. The shed was taking shape, wall by wall, panel by panel.
By evening, it would have a roof.
By tomorrow, it would have windows and a door and an air conditioning unit.
And by next week, it would be filled with Esag's tools, his figurines, his half-finished carvings, and his creative energy.
Tula rested her hand on the swell of her belly and allowed herself to feel something she had suppressed for five thousand years.
Hope.
Hope for the future.
Hope for the family she was building with the male she loved. Hope that after millennia of merely surviving, she was finally, truly going to live.