Chapter 18
Isit on our bed, pillows piled behind me, Lyric is sat on my lap. Kean is sitting next to us, feeding River. Both boys are in their sleepwear.
When we arrived home, Jodie and John were indeed there, sitting in the children’s lounge, River snug in John’s arms, wide awake and watching.
Kean laid Lyric in one of the cots, took his shoes off and covered him with a little blanket.
“Congratulations,” Jodie says, standing by the crib, looking down at Lyric.
“Thanks,” both Kean and I say.
She turns and hugs first Kean and then me. I hug her back.
“How are you both coping? Emily filled us in. Are you coping?” she asks with genuine concern, pulling back.
I sit on a sofa, Kean next to me, taking my hand.
“It’s hard when Lyric wants his parents and not us,” I tell her.
“Otherwise, it’s lovely, fun, noisy and exhausting,” Kean says. “It’s not even been a week, but honestly, it feels like forever.”
“And we still need to decide if we’ll be taking Lyric to his parents' funeral,” I add.
“Do you know when the funeral is?” John asks.
“Not yet, Monica was going to let us know, but I’ve not checked my phone today and I'm not planning to look until later,” I reply.
“If you two want some support, we can come with you,” Adhan offers.
“Thanks,” Kean says. “We’re not planning on taking River, if none of you mind babysitting.”
“I’ll look after my youngest grandson. We can watch sports and drink beer.” John says happily.
“We need some more girl children in this family,” Emily comments. “We only have two.”
“And I have lots, don’t I, River? Oh, he’s fallen asleep. Well, that’s okay, I can happily wake him up and play with him.” John says, grinning.
“Or we could lay him in the crib and he can stay asleep,” Kean says, standing up and rescuing River from John and swaddling him before placing him in the crib.
“Or that,” John says, fake-sighing. “Seriously though, Jodie, Emily and I will be happy to look after River.”
“Thanks. The boys couldn’t ask for better grandparents,” I say sincerely.
Lyric woke not long later, and after changing his nappy, he met Jodie and John.
They were both enchanted with him. I went to get him some juice, but Emily said she would get it and came back with juice, chopped apple slices and carrots.
He sat happily on Jodie’s lap while he had his snack, much to John’s disappointment.
Everyone came back throughout the afternoon, Jude carrying a sleeping Connie, who he settled down in her crib.
Sly, Ebby and the boys came back. Xander and Enoch, along with Nora, played with Lyric, trying to teach him numbers and letters.
Apart from the blip this morning and at the tearoom, it was a good day.
“Shall we read this book?” I say, picking it up.
Lyric snuggles back against me, holding his teddy and sucking on its ear.
I open the book and turn it so Kean can see the pictures as well, as I read the story of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’. I have to read the book three times, but not long into the third read, I feel Lyric fall asleep.
River is lying on Kean’s chest, also asleep, his little legs pulled up, making him look even smaller.
We both gently get up. I hold Lyric up to Kean, so he can kiss his head, and he does the same with River, and we put both of them in their cribs and settle them down.
Kean wraps his arms around me, and I turn and wrap mine around him. We don’t say anything for a moment. Finally, Kean pulls back and looks at me. “I’m glad I’m on this journey with you,” he tells me softly. “I knew you’d be an amazing father, and I was right.”
“I don’t think I am, but thank you. I’m taking inspiration from your mum, brothers and Jodie and John.”
“Me too,” Kean says, smiling at me before leaning forward and kissing me, a much too short a kiss. “Let me sort the night lights out, you use your nifty magic and create a listening spell, and then we’ll go down for dinner.”
I do the spell and then shake my head. “I’m a muppet, you know that?”
Kean turns and looks at me, in the now soft light. “Why do you say that?”
“Because I could have used magic earlier to change Lyric’s top.”
Kean takes my hand and we leave the bedroom, grinning at me. “Yes, yes, you are.”
I burst out laughing, and soon Kean is joining in. I pull him to a stop just outside the kitchen, where we hear happy chatter. “Love you, handsome.”
Kean lifts his free hand and touches my cheek. “So you should,” he then drops his hand, letting go of my other hand and grinning, walks into the kitchen as I burst out laughing.
Dinner has been eaten and we’re all sat round the table laughing and chatting when I see Adhan look towards the kitchen door, a look of shock on his face.
I turn to look and see who’s there, and see Lyric standing there grinning.
He toddles over to the table, and I pick him up.
“How did you get down here, little man?” Kean asks in shock.
Lyric smiles. “I climb.”
“You climbed out of your cot?” I ask him. I’m not sure if I should be impressed or not.
Lyric nods.
“How did you do the stairs?” Temp asks from next to me. Then says, “High five, Lyric,” and holds his hand up.
Lyric laughs and slaps his hand. “Five, Unk Emp.”
“We might need to toddler-proof the house,” Adhan says. “Child gates top and bottom of the stairs and probably the bedroom doors as well.”
“That might be a good idea,” Kean says.
“You should be asleep, little man, not having climbing adventures,” I say gently.
“Ver owie,” Lyric says.
Before I can say anything, Kean is up out of his chair and running upstairs.
“And I thought Sal was bad,” Jude says, shaking his head.
“Hey, I wasn’t that bad,” Sal protests.
We all look at him.
“Fine, maybe I was, but only for the first few days.”
“How do you know your brother’s in pain?” I ask Lyric.
“I feel.”
Before I can reply, Kean walks back in holding a grizzling River. “He feels hot,” Kean says.
Justice stands up. “Let me see him. Al, can you grab my bag from the hall for me?” he asks, taking the baby and sitting down.
“Yep,” Alfred says, jumping up and quickly walking out to get it. He’s back a moment later. “Here you go, my Doc.”
“Thanks, love,” Justice replies, un-swaddling River.
As soon as he is un-swaddled, River pulls his little legs up and his fists clench.
Justice takes a baby thermometer out of his bag and puts a plastic end on the tip, before undoing River’s sleep baby grow and putting the thermometer under his arm.
River starts crying.
“I know, little one. I need to find out what’s wrong, though,” he takes the thermometer out and looks at the screen. “His temperature’s normal.”
“Ver owie,” Lyric says, pointing to his tummy.
Justice has a little feel around and then smiles. “No need to panic, he just has some trapped wind, don’t you, little one?”
I breathe a sigh of relief and see Kean doing the same.
“Ver stinky,” Lyric says.
Justice grins at him. “He does indeed need a stinky. Let’s see if we can help shift that, shall we?” he asks River, then starts doing a soft, gentle massage over his stomach. A few moments later, River does indeed do a stinky. A major stinky.
“Geez, how can one baby make such a smell?” Cassie complains, covering his nose.
Ernest waves his hand, and the smell vanishes. “The joys of magic.”
“My lap’s wet, I think there was a ‘poonarmie’,” Justice gripes, picking River up, and yep, there has been poo leakage.
“Oh, that’s gross,” Alfred says, screwing up his nose.
It really is, and I know it’s cheating, but at the moment I honestly don’t care - I ask my magic to clean it all up. It recoils at first, but soon both River and Justice are poop free, and River redressed.
Justice smiles at me gratefully. “Thanks.”
“Thanks, Justice,” Kean takes River. “You feel better now, Baba?”
River takes Kean’s fingers and holds them.
“Good going, Lyric, getting help for your brother. You were such a good boy,” I praise him.
Lyric grins. “Ver bet.”
“Yeah, he is, little man,” Kean says, sitting down and showing Lyric his brother. “See?”
Lyric nods and leans forward, kissing his brother’s head. “Luv Ver.”
“Us too, little man,” I say.
“They’re so cute,” Cassie says.
I look at him and grin. “Getting broody?”
He shakes his head. “Nope, just loving my nephews and nieces.”
Lyric gives a big yawn and snuggles into my chest.
“Okay, little man. We need to take you and your brother back to bed,” I say to him. “Say goodnight to everyone.”
“Night,” Lyric says.
“Say goodnight, Baba,” Kean says, waving River’s little hand.
After a round of goodnight, we leave the kitchen and walk back upstairs to our bedroom.
As we walk in, we see Lyric’s blanket on the floor by his crib, his teddy on top.
“Did you drop them there to have a soft landing?” I ask him.
Lyric gives a tired nod.
“Good boy. Let’s get you settled down now, okay?” As I say this, I lay him down. Pick up his little blanket and teddy and put them back in the crib. I stroke his head. “Night, Lyric,” I whisper.
I move over to River. Kean has re-swaddled him and laid him in his crib. I watch as his little eyes close, and he falls asleep.
I touch his little head.
Kean slips his arm around me. “I was worried there for a minute.”
“Handsome, children get coughs and colds, it’s part of growing up. Even shifter children get colds until their immune system is stronger,” I say, slipping my arm around him.
“I know. I guess I’m conscious of his birth in case he was injured and it hasn’t been picked up,” he confesses.
“I can guarantee Justice used his magic to check River out earlier. If there was an issue, he would have told us. Plus, there’s the fact that Lyric felt what was wrong with his brother.”
We walk out of the bedroom, leaving the door open.
“Did you know he could do that? I’m not sure it was in any of the Kitsune paperwork Justin gave us.”
I shake my head. “No. I’m glad that he can, though. Let’s check out the boys' rooms, we’ve not looked yet.”
We walk into River’s room first. It’s perfect.
“Sly and Ebby did a good job in here,” Kean says.’
“They did. This is how I would have set everything up.”
The furniture is decorated in rainbow colours. It’s cheerful, and I can imagine any child loving this room.
“We can ask Nix to decorate this room, keeping the rainbow theme going,” I suggest.
Kean nods. “We can do that. Sion said he put the baby formula, bottles, etc, in our kitchen,” Kean says.
“That was nice of him.”
As we’re talking, we walk into Lyric’s room. The furniture is blue and white and screams Lyric.
“We can get Nix to decorate in here as well. Should we have put them in their own rooms?” I ask Kean.
“Possibly. I’m sure River won’t have a problem sleeping in his room. Lyric might have a problem if he can’t see us, though.”
“How about we try tomorrow night. We can start both boys in their rooms and see what happens,” I suggest.
“Sounds like a plan,” Kean says, stepping close to me, so close that our chests are touching. “You know, I think we could both do with a shower. How about it honey?”
“Yes, always yes, but no screaming my name as I make love to you,” I tell him, grinning and slipping my arms around his neck.
“Oh, honey, I can keep silent, but can you?” he doesn’t wait for an answer, but pulls me into a passionate kiss.
I finally rip my mouth away, grab his hand and pull him back into our bedroom and then into the bathroom, closing the door behind us. I start to strip him out of his clothes, before turning the shower on, thinking my clothes out of existence and following Kean into the shower.