Chapter 19
I’m still feeling totally blissed out as I wake up the next morning to hear River starting to grumble.
We spent a long time in the shower last night, both of us making love to each other, how we managed to put our PJs on and stumble into bed, I’ll never know.
But we didn’t wake the boys, thank goodness.
I manage to untangle myself from Kean without waking him up and walk over to River. I look at Lyric, and he’s fast asleep.
I pick the baby up and smile. “Morning, River, did you have happy dreams?” I ask quietly, yawning.
I carry him out of the bedroom and into his room, and set out to change his nappy.
Then walk into Kean and mine’s kitchen. All the brothers, including Emily and Alfred, have their own kitchens; we just tend not to use them.
I’m thankful we do have one, though, as it saves me going down to the family kitchen to make the bottle up.
I manage to give River his bottle before he can wake anyone, and walk back into his bedroom.
Off to one side is a lovely-looking rocking chair, and what I call a snuggle chair.
Slightly bigger than a normal chair, but perfect for snuggling close.
I settle down on the rocker and feed River as I gently rock back and forth.
I rest my head back against the chair for a moment.
I might still be blissed out, but I’m tired.
I look down at our son, feeling an overabundance of love.
I know River will grow up calling us Daddy and Papa.
I just wonder if Lyric will ever call us that.
“We’ll just have to work on your brother, won’t we, Baba?
How clever was Lyric to let us know you had a sore tummy last night?
All I can say is thank goodness for magic, as you made a mess of Uncle Justice’s lap. ”
“Yes, thanks for clearing that up,” Justice says from the doorway, looking tired and dressed.
“I didn’t fancy cleaning that nappy. Are you off out?”
Justice shakes his head and leans against the door frame, crossing his arms over his chest. “No, just coming back in. Earl Hamilton isn’t doing too well, but is refusing to go to the hospital.”
“Come in and sit, you look tired, or should you go back to bed?”
Justice comes over and flops down in the chair, sighing. “I love these chairs. I’m on call today, so I won’t go back to bed, but I’ll go and see Alfred in a bit.”
Justice clicks his fingers, and a cup of coffee appears in his hands. “Want one?”
“Thanks, but I’ll wait and have one with Kean.”
I see River has finished his bottle and lift him up and burp him.
Justice hands me a cloth that was folded on the chest of draws.
I laugh and take it. “Thanks, last time I didn’t use one, he brought his milk back up all over my shoulder.” I carry on rubbing River’s back and hear laughter from the bedroom.
“Sounds like Lyric and Kean are awake. I’ll go, and you can join them,” Justice says.
“Stay, they can have bonding time. Talk to Molly about Earl. If he’d be better off in a hospital, she can make him go,”
River lets out a loud burp.
“Good boy.”
Justice looks at River. “He’ll say that now, but when you do it when you’re older, you’ll have to apologise.”
I laugh at that. “That’s true.”
“You need to come into the surgery and register the boys, especially River, so we can keep an eye on his weight, give him the relevant jabs and things like that.”
“We can do that, can’t we, Baba?” I ask him.
“Right, I really am off now. I miss Alfred, and if needed, I’ll ask for Molly’s help,” Justice says, standing. “See you at breakfast,” he salutes me with his mug.
“You will,” I say and watch him leave. I hear playful growling from the bedroom and look at River. “Shall we go and see your daddy and brother?” I stand up and walk into the bedroom.
I see Lyric crawling over the bed, with Kean pretending to chase him. I sit on the side of our bed.
“I’m going to eat you up,” Kean says, trying to catch him.
Lyric sees me. “Tus,” he says, grinning, crawling quickly over to me.
“Quick, sit on my lap and you’ll be safe,” I say playfully.
Lyric climbs on and laughs.
I wrap my arm around him. “All safe and protected.”
Kean sits back and huffs. “Well, that’s not very nice.”
“Here,” I say, holding River out.
“No nack Ver,” Lyric says.
“I guess I could just snuggle with him then,” he says, taking the baby and kissing his head. “Morning, Baba.” He then leans closer to me and kisses me. “Morning, honey.”
“Hey, handsome.”
“Did I hear Justice earlier?” Kean asks, settling next to me.
“Yeah, he was just coming back in. We chatted while I fed River. Just so you know, that rocking chair is heavenly.”
“Then I can’t wait to try it.”
“I hold Ver,” Lyric says, looking at his brother.
“You can,” I reply. “Sit here, though,” I say, picking him up and sitting him in the middle of the bed, his back resting against the headboard, and putting a pillow on his lap.
“Here you go, Lyric, make sure you gently support his head,” Kean says, gently laying River in Lyric’s arms and making sure his head is supported correctly.
Lyric smiles a big smile. “Luv Ver,” he says, bending and kissing his brother’s head.
River looks at his brother and then pulls a face, and loudly fills his nappy.
Lyric screws his nose up. “Stinky Ver.”
“Very stinky,” I reply, because it really is.
“Let me take him, little man, then I can clean him up,” Kean says, retrieving River and taking him back to his bedroom.
Breakfast is just coming to an end when Adhan gets everyone’s attention. “Two things, firstly, Reverend Blockly phoned me yesterday, reminding me about the Easter Egg hunt, Sunday morning after the Easter service.”
“I’ve ordered a shed load of Easter Eggs, they’re being delivered tomorrow,” Cam says, finishing his coffee.
“Wait, who is Reverend Blockly? I thought the vicar was called Reverend Portello,” Ernest asks, looking confused, mind you, so am I.
Reverend Portello has been the vicar of Cadenbury and the next town over for about five years, but spends most of his time at the other town.
“Reverend Portello is on extended leave. The new vicar arrived a few days ago,” Adhan replied.
“I’ve not noticed anyone new in town,” Ernest comments.
“He’s probably too afraid to leave his house on account of the ungodly heathens who live in this cursed town,” Ben says, laughing.
“Reverend Moaner really said that?” Cassie asks, finishing his toast.
Adhan nods. “Oh yeah, and much, much more. That’s why he’s on an extended leave, to heal his soul from dealing with the wicked and corrupted town.”
“Have you met the new vicar, darling?” Emily asks him.
“I did, he seems nice enough. He was shocked by how normal the town looked and that I didn’t have horns and a tail.”
Ernest grins and lays his hand on Adhan’s arm. “Did you tell him you only have a tail when you shift into your wolf?”
“No. I’m not sure he knows about our world, and I wasn’t going to enlighten him. The sadly gone Reverend Portello left him a long, thirty-page letter, telling the new vicar all about the evils of the town.”
“Which he obviously paid attention to if he phoned you about the Easter Egg hunt,” I say.
“Exactly. I told the new vicar we’ll sort it all out, hide the eggs and then check at the end they have all been collected.”
“I’ve never done an Easter Egg hunt,” Nora announced. “Lyric, Connie and I will have fun, won’t we?”
“I’m sure you will,” I reply for Lyric, who is happily sat on Temp’s lap, squishing his banana. He should probably be sat in his high chair like Connie, but there you go.
“Secondly, I had a phone call from Cleo. Elliot’s had an accident. Once he’s released from the hospital, she wondered if he could come and stay here, as his caravan is not the best place to recover.”
“I hope you said yes,” Emily asks.
“I did indeed. He should be here the Tuesday after Easter.”
“Did Cleo say what happened?” I ask.
“His arm got caught in a ride, and he needed surgery to fit metal pins and the like. He might be here for a while.”
“We can all help look after him,” Temp adds
Lyric looks at Temp and holds up a very dirty hand. “Five Unk Emp,”
“How about we clean your hand first, and then I’ll high-five you,” Temp suggests.
Lyric looks at his hand, nods and then wipes it on Temp’s top.
“Hey now, I didn’t mean wipe it on my top, little man,” Temp complains.
Lyric just smiles and holds his hand up. “Five Unk Emp.”
Temp shakes his head and gives him a high five.
“Titus, Kean, tomorrow morning is the town baby and toddler group. We’re taking Connie if you want to join us,” Jude says, wiping Connie’s hands.
“We can do that,” Kean says, looking at me.
“We can indeed.”
“When you have your wedding, are you having a baby naming at the same time, or do you want separate days?” Cassie asks.
I look at Kean. “No idea, we’ve not discussed it.”
“We’ll talk and let you know,” Kean says.
“You know the town is down for parties,” Adhan says.
“The New Year's Eve party with drones was epic,” Ernest reminds us. “Not sure how we can top that.”
“We don’t need to top it,” I point out.
“We’ll have a chat and let you know tonight,” Kean replies.
“Also your wedding date. We have everything ready to go, just need the date,” Emily adds.
I finish the last of my coffee. “We’ll talk about that today as well. I need to check my phone to see if there are any funeral details yet.”
“We can all come and support you if you want,” Ben offers.
“Thanks,” Kean says. “But for now, our Lyric needs a wash and to dress. Don’t you, little man?”
Lyric grins. “Unk Emp bath.”
“I’m sure I can help with that, I mean, how hard can it be?”
I’m trying so hard not to laugh; my poor brother will soon learn about our water demon.