Chapter 10
Itidy the bed and put everything on the chest of draws, detour to the bathroom to throw the nappy sack away and go and find Lyric’s teddy and take it to him, and while Kean is looking after River, I empty the baby box, take the mattress out of the plastic wrapper, then the sheets.
I was worried the sheets would need washing first, but there is a label on the outside saying, “Already washed for you guys, Jess.”
I send a mental thank you to her, cover the mattress and add a little blanket.
“This will do until we have River’s proper crib.”
“How amazing is it that these are given out? I can imagine they would be a godsend to some people,” Kean comments, giving River his bottle.
“Like us at the moment.” I walk to the cupboard and take out two large mugs and fill them with coffee, adding milk to mine. I look at the time. “How can it only be half one?”
“Really? I felt sure it must be at least four.”
“Hot roast chicken sandwich with stuffing and pigs in blankets?” I ask him.
Kean sighs. “Yes, so yes.”
I laugh and pull out everything I need and happily make us sandwiches.
I go to a draw and pull out some mats and put them on a clear part of the table. I then bring the sandwiches over as well as our drinks and put the donuts and two napkins on the table, before tidying the kitchen.
“Grubs up,” I say, pulling out a chair for Kean.
He laughs and sits down. River's still having his bottle, so I drop a cloth on Kean’s shoulder.
I sit down and look at the sandwich. “Do you want me to cut the sandwich smaller and feed you?”
“No, honey, River’s almost done, but you eat up while you can.”
“Okay.” I take a bite of my sandwich and give a happy groan, so good.
“We’re going to need somewhere for Lyric to sleep. The bed is a bit big and high and has no safety sides.”
“We can make up a bed on the floor for the night, or use extra pillows and cushions to make a barrier around the bed?” I suggest.
“That might work.”
River finishes his feed, and Kean puts River over his shoulder and rubs his back. River lets out a large burp.
“Well done, Baba,” Kean praises.
I finish my sandwich and wipe my hands on a napkin, and hold them out to Kean. “Give me River and you can eat.”
Kean hands the baby over. I settle him in my arm in such a way that River can see what’s going on.
He takes my finger in his and holds it.
I drop a soft kiss on the top of his head and look at River. “Just think of the family you’ll soon meet. There are a lot of us, but they’ll all love you and your brother as much as your daddy and I do.”
I look up and see Kean taking a photo. He looks at the screen. “Best picture ever.” He turns the phone and shows me the photo, and it's lovely.
I pull out my phone and one-handed open it to the photo I took of him and River. “Here,” I pass the phone over to him.
“That’s lovely.”
“Flick through, I have some of you and Lyric.”
He does and laughs. He obviously clicks on the video as I hear him talk, and then Lyric saying, “Oh no, bad ass.”
“That’s just the best,” Kean says. “I’m sending all these to my phone and will send you the photos I just took.”
“Thanks. Do you think we should have given Lyric something to eat before he fell asleep?”
“Bit late now,” he says, finishing his sandwiches. “Pretty sure we can’t get into a proper routine until we’re home.”
“True. What are you going to do about work? Can you take time off, or do you want to go part-time for a bit?”
“I’m taking off as much time as I can. My clients know about our adoption journey and that as soon as a child is placed with us, I’ll be taking time off.
The report I finished yesterday was the last of anything urgent.
I’ll message my clients later and update them.
There is no way I’m not bonding with our children, and like Monica said, when we do go back to work, we can have the children with us. ”
“We can. We could see about taking over the downstairs lounge and having it as a children’s room, as no one really uses it. They can play with Connie in there.”
Kean suddenly laughs. “Nora will double her efforts to get Nix and Cam to have a child now.”
I laugh along with him. “She will. But she’ll have fun playing with the boys.
” I pause. “My life is mad. Not long ago, I was a pompous loner; now look at me. I have a partner I love more than I ever thought possible, two brothers whom I wish I had known since birth and two gorgeous boys, your mum, brothers, and Alfred, the other family witches, John and Jodie and Mollyanne.”
Kean takes my hand, his eyes shining brightly. “I love you, my Titus, I will forever be grateful for very tight jeans and pizza.”
I burst out laughing at the memory. I had driven back to Cadenbury after a long week at work.
Apparently, I had passed Kean. He went home, put on a pair of incredibly tight jeans that took a lot of jumping around and swear words to get on and do up, and came round to my house, carrying pizza and other foods.
I thought it was only me that had feelings, but it turned out Kean had feelings as well. We pretty much got together that night and have never looked back. “Best look ever,” I say.
Kean gets up and kneels at my side, pulling me into a kiss, making sure not to squash River.
We pull back, and I touch his cheek, overcome with emotion.
“We should set a wedding date,” he says softly. “I mean, we have children; they should have married parents, don’t you think?”
I laugh. “I had the same thought earlier. Yes, let’s set a date. We’ll be busy with the children, but Ernest, my brothers, Emily and Jody will jump at the chance of organising it.”
Kean grins. “That’s true. Shall I ask them? I can set up a group chat for it.”
I nod. “Perfect.”
Kean gives me another quick kiss and sits back in his seat and picking up his phone, sending the message. “Done. Now let’s wait and see what they say.”
We don’t have to wait long; not even a minute later, our phones start pinging.
I open the new group and laugh at Kean’s message.
Who fancies planning a wedding?
Ernest is the first to reply.
Time away going well, is it? Yes, so, so yes. Leave it with us and we’ll sort everything. Just send us the date.
Temp replies next.
About time, Cass and I have been planning your wedding since you got engaged. We’ll share our thoughts with everyone.
Cassie adds.
What Temp said. This is so exciting.
“Did you know about Temp and Cassie?” Kean asks.
I shake my head. “No, I had no idea. Pretty sure we can pick a day within the next three months.”
“Months? Oh, honey, I’m thinking weeks.”
“Yeah, okay, I can agree with that.” I look down at River, who is obviously bored with our talk and has fallen back to sleep. “Time to try the box bed out,” I say, standing up, swaddling him and laying him on the mattress.
Kean stands up. “I’m going to check on Lyric.”
“And I’ll tidy all this,” I say, collecting our dirty crockery. I hear Kean talking, so Lyric must be awake.
I chop up some chicken and a small sausage, and trying to be a responsible parent, I add some chopped carrots and cucumber.
I don’t have any plastic plates; we didn’t think to buy any earlier, so I look in my cupboard and see I've kept some takeaway plastic containers. That will do for now. I put Lyric’s food in a container and set it on the table while I make him some watered-down juice.
I’m just setting that on the table when Kean walks out carrying Lyric, who is clutching his bear.
“Hey, little man. Are you hungry?” I ask, dropping a kiss on his head.
He nods, then looks at me. “Mama, dada.”
I look at Kean and see sadness in his eyes.
“Sorry, Lyric, it’s just Kean and me,” I say, stroking his head.
He buries his face in his teddy and gives a loud sniff.
Kean is rubbing his back, and I’m stroking his arm.
We stand like that for a few minutes when his tummy rumbles.
Kean gasps. “Was that a tummy monster I heard?”
Lyric lifts his head up, his eyes full of tears.
“I think it was. Shall we feed your hungry monster? We don’t have a high chair, but you can sit on Kean’s lap and eat.”
“No Clean,” he holds his arms out to me. “Tus.”
Kean hands our son over and pulls the chair out for me.
I sit down and pull the food container closer.
Kean sits by us. “Look at that. You have chicken, some sausage, carrots and cucumber.”
I pick up some chicken and give it to Lyric to eat.
“Is that good?” Kean asks him.
Lyric nods before opening his mouth to show him.
Kean smiles and shakes his head. “Not sure I really needed to see that.”
Lyric picks up some sausage and eats it, then picks up some chicken, squishes it in his hand and holds it out to me.
Seriously, he wants me to eat his squished chicken? I look at it, but I don’t make a move to take it.
“Tus,” he commands.
Kean is laughing at me, so I take the squished chicken from Lyric and eat it.
“Yum,” I lie. “I can’t wait to see if he does this with Uncle Ernest.”
Kean booms out a laugh, quickly dialling the sound down when he looks towards River. “I’m so going to make sure I video it when that happens.”
Lyric picks up a carrot piece and eats some of it, slobbering over the rest. He holds it out to Kean.
“I’m sorry I laughed at you now,” he groaned, taking the carrot out of Lyric’s hand and eating it.
“Good job, you’re a wolf shifter and can’t get sick, isn’t it?” I reply, grinning.
Kean huffs.
It takes a while for Lyric to eat his late lunch, and Kean tidies up and brings a cloth over, wiping his hands and face. Seriously, how did he get just as much food on his face as he did in his mouth?
I spy a couple of books I took out of the baby box. “Shall we go and read a story?” I ask him.
Lyric nods, and I get up, picking the books up and taking them into the lounge.
Kean joins us, carrying Lyric’s sippy cup and our coffees, putting them on the coffee table before sitting down on the sofa with us.
I hand a book to Kean to read and move Lyric so he can see the book.
Lyric leans back against me, sucking on his teddy’s ear, as Kean reads the book, turning it so we can see the pictures.
Once that book is finished, I pass the next one to Kean.
“No Tus,” he says, crawling off my lap and onto Kean’s. He picks up the book and passes it to me.
I open the book and start reading, turning it so we can all see. This is a numbers book, so I point and count out everything.
Once we’ve finished reading time Lyric asks to get down, so Kean sits him on the floor. “Do you know where his new toys are?”
“In the hall, I think with your bag,” I reply. “Do you want me to get it?”
“Nope, I can get it. Is there a bathroom off the hall?”
“Yep, second door on the left.”
“Good, be right back.”