Chapter Twenty-Six
Ronan
Maybe I’d gone overboard with the crafting supplies, but I’d decided to make suncatchers for the nursery, and that had required video tutorials and materials.
Because I never did anything halfway, there were neatly arranged containers of glass beads, metal shapes, crystals, and several gages of wire beside the nest, enough for suncatchers for all the windows in our home.
I couldn’t wait to see the light shimmer through them, splashing colors on the walls for the girls to ooh and ahh over.
I found dragonfly pendants and butterfly charms that I carefully wove into a pattern around a wide metal ring, interspaced with small glass flowers.
Alternating lime green and pink hues, I wrapped the wires around the metal, leaving nothing but bright colors behind.
It turned out that beading tutorials were as easy to follow as hair and makeup ones, or maybe it was just that with all three, my hands found a rhythm that made everything flow.
I got lost in the movements and the songs I sang to them as I crafted, finishing the first ring and getting to work on the smaller one that would hang inside of it.
“That’s beautiful. What are you making?” Rory asked, his soft voice penetrating the silence between songs with his gentle brogue.
“A suncatcher,” I said, beckoning him closer so he could get a better look. My brother’s mate had a shy side, but I got the feeling that once he relaxed and opened up, we’d be the best of friends. “Would you like to make one?”
“I wouldn’t know where to start,” he said, studying my hands while I worked.
“Wherever you like,” I suggested. “It’s just wire and beads. In the end it’s going to look amazing.”
“You sound a lot surer than I feel,” he said as he climbed into the nest to sit beside me.
I passed him the second tray I’d ordered in case I started something on one and got the sudden urge to try something else before I finished it, and showed him the beads, wires, and charms I’d amassed. His eyes widened, then he dug in, grinning as he picked things out to add to his tray.
“Have you made a lot of these?” he asked.
“Nope,” I replied. “This is my first, but I’ve watched a bunch of tutorials.
I thought about making a few for my apartment, but the lighting wasn’t the best, so I never bothered.
Having so many bright windows, especially the ones in here, made me think about how much the girls would love to see the colors dance on the walls. ”
“It’s so exciting,” Rory said as he paused and stroked the eggs. “I can’t wait to see them crawling around playing with everything.”
“Me too,” I replied. “Just when I think the room is finished, something pops up in my feed that I can’t resist ordering for them.”
“I caught Upalo browsing baby sites yesterday,” Rory admitted. “He pinked up when I asked if he was shopping for our nieces, or in the hopes of having a nest of our own soon.”
“I bet he said both.”
“He did,” Rory said, giggling. “I don’t mind in the slightest. I hope it happens soon. Then our dragonets will be close in age with yours.”
“Wouldn’t that be wonderful,” I said as I added another bead to my suncatcher.
“Sometimes I wake up in the morning and have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming them.
When I think about the way I came here and how lonely I was, it’s hard to wrap my head around how everything changed so fast.”
“I feel the same way,” Rory said. “Being awoken to learn that decades had passed took a great deal of getting used to. The world has changed so much, especially the technology. That’s something I’m not sure I, or my dragon, will ever be able to get used to.
Especially my dragon. I have to keep my hands off electronics, otherwise, he sends sharp electrical pulses through them and shorts them out. ”
“Note to self, do not hand you the remote on family movie night.”
“You have family movie nights?” He asked. “Movies I remember. There was a drive in theater near where I grew up. I’d sit in a tree on the edge of the property and watch all the movies they played on that giant screen.”
“I’ve never been to a drive-in,” I admitted. “I-I’m not sure if they exist anymore.”
“Sad.” He replied, slowly wrapping a strand of purple wire around his metal hoop. “I used that right, didn’t I?”
“Yup, and it is. I think it would be fun to sit in the car and watch a movie, though knowing my mate, we’d just wind up in the back seat.
As for family movie night, it is absolutely a thing, or at least, it will be, starting this Wednesday.
Odem even ordered a massive popcorn maker that sits on its own cart, and a slushie machine, so we can have real theater treats.
Wait until you see all the flavors of popcorn toppings he found, not to mention the ones for the slushies.
He even got a giant box of theater candies and promised to make sliders, so we have proper food to go with all our snacks. ”
“Oh yum, I can’t wait.”
“Now that the nest in the living room is done, we can sit together with Ruby and Opal to watch our first official family movie.”
“Do you have something picked out already?” he asked.
“Yeah, but you have to promise not to laugh.”
“Why would I laugh?”
“It’s How to Train Your Dragon,” I admitted.
“Oh my gosh, that’s not funny at all. Just from the title alone it’s perfect and the best part is that I’ve never seen it before, so I get to see it for the first time with Ruby and Opal,” he replied. “Do you um, think you can teach me how to um, take care of our dragonets once they’re here?”
“We’ll learn together,” I said, reaching out and covering his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze of reassurance.
I knew exactly what he was feeling. The uncertainty, the fear of screwing up such a precious responsibility.
“I’ve got no practical knowledge of babies either.
I checked out a bunch of books and watched a ton of videos on how to change diapers and give them baths, but outside of practicing on a doll, I’m kinda clueless. ”
“I’ve spent some time around Ionus’ and Caro’s dragonets, just playing with them,” Rory said.
“But beyond that, I haven’t changed a diaper either.
When we entered our slumber, the furthest thing from my mind was finding a mate and having a family.
I just hoped that one day we’d rejoin the world again.
Beyond that, I didn’t dare get my hopes up. ”
“That’s how I felt when I got here,” I admitted as our suncatchers slowly took shape.
I’d hung a crystal dragonfly so it dangled from the top of my smaller ring and attached it so it was surrounded by the larger one, with all of its beads and flowers.
Now it was time to work on the strands that would dangle from the larger ring, one long, with two shorter ones on either side of it, one half the size of the other, to create a cascade of light.
“My one hope was to reach somewhere safe,” I said.
“Once I had, I didn’t know what was supposed to come next.
I knew what I wanted my life to be like, but I had no idea what steps I was supposed to take to get myself there.
If it wasn’t for the folks at intake making sure I had a place to stay and pointing me in the direction of the diner when I admitted to having no job skills whatsoever, I don’t know what I would have done. ”
“I was just beginning my apprenticeship to become a blacksmith when we were forced to retreat to our cave and slumber,” Rory admitted. “Unfortunately, our blacksmith was lost among those who bought time for us to get safely tucked away.”
“My father is a blacksmith,” I said. “We haven’t had the chance to speak about it yet, but I’m sure he’ll need a forge. Once it’s operational, who better than his new son to apprentice with him, if you still want to learn.”
“I would love to, but do you think Upalo would allow it?”
“Why wouldn’t he?”
“In my experience, alphas aren’t fond of their omegas learning anything that doesn’t involve taking care of the home,” Rory admitted.
“It was the same way where he and I were raised,” I said. “But Upalo never believed that was fair. He would want you to learn anything you had your heart set on learning. If you’d like, I can speak to dad about it when he returns.”
“No,” he replied as he finished the first ring of his suncatcher and held it up so he could watch the light shine through the glass beads. “I’ll speak to him and Upalo both and make my wishes known. It’ll be much easier now that I know that I have nothing to worry about. Thank you for that.”
“Anytime. I’ll always be here to listen if you need to talk.”
“The same goes for you,” he replied. “I’m excited to have a new little brother.”
“How am I still the youngest?” I moaned.
“Well, technically, I’m older than Upalo,” he pointed out. “I’m just behind on the times after more than fifty years of slumber.”
“Oh my gosh, I never even thought about that,” I said. “My brother went and got himself a much older mate. You must promise never to let him forget it.”
He winked, giggling as he carefully attached aqua and lavender wires to his second ring. “He’s already been warned that he might find himself in the time-out corner if he doesn’t behave.”
Our laughter prompted giggles from the girls, who were always happy to join in anytime merriment took place in and around the nest. I couldn’t wait to tickle their tummies and listen to them babble and squeal at one another.
Sometimes I’d lay awake at night listening to them in their eggs, giggling and cooing back and forth, already with their own secret language.
“There is something that I’ve been wanting to talk to Upalo about,” Rory said. “But with all the missions and the new arrivals there just hasn’t been the right time to bring it up. I thought, maybe, when we were down in the hot spring, but then…”
His face flushed then and he squirmed and shrugged.
“He made you forget everything you wanted to talk to him about, didn’t he?”
His giggle was all the confirmation I needed.
“I just wish I knew how to bring it up,” he said. “Like, how would you approach telling your mate if you thought that there was a chance you had another mate?”
Blink.
Blink. Blink.
Whoa.
Was my brother on the verge of being doubly mated?
Cool!
“I…” Stammering, I couldn’t think of a single thing to suggest, aside from, well, my tried and true, which was to be as blunt as possible.
“Well, I wouldn’t suggest storming down Main Street advertising it the way I did when I found out I was pregnant,” I said. “But I think you need to just tell him so you can approach the other party together.”
“The other party is low-key terrifying,” he admitted. “But seriously smokin’ hot.”
“Now you have to tell me who it is,” I said.
“Who what is?” Upalo asked, a tray laden with snacks in his hand.
“Yay, your patrol is over!” Rory said, setting his tray aside so he could open his arms for a hug.
I set mine aside too, ready to take the treats from Upalo so he could hug his mate.
“You’re timing is impeccable,” Rory said. “That or your ears were burning.”
“Why, have you guys been talking about me?” Upalo said. “If my brother has been sharing stories of my rebellious youth, he’d better remember that I have a wealth of baby Ronan stories that I will happily share with Odem.”
“Bring it on,” I said as I popped a piece of smoked salmon in my mouth. “Yum.”
“Well,” Rory began, “We were talking about you, or more specifically, something that I needed to talk to you about.”
“Okay.”
Rory licked his lips, then plunged ahead, the same as I’d have done.
“I’m almost positive that Larkin is our mate.
Whenever I’m near him, I can sense how overworked and exhausted he and his dragon are, but more than that, I-I feel like his dragon tried to reach out to mine the last time we were in the same room, but I didn’t realize that was what was happening until it dawned on me that I felt the same pull whenever I was away from you. ”
“Larkin?” Upalo murmured. “As in the sheriff? I…during intake I wondered if maybe, but then I learned about you and was overcome with such excitement it drowned out everything else.”
“So, it’s possible?” Rory said. “You felt it too?”
“I did,” Upalo said. “But with all that’s going on right now, I don’t know if it would be a distraction to him if we were to tell him what we sensed.”
“Keeping it to ourselves feels wrong,” Rory said. “It felt wrong not to have told you before now, but when I started to, things got distracting.”
My brother chuckled and winked at his mate.
“That’s one way of putting it. You’re right though.
Keeping it to ourselves wouldn’t be fair.
I’m sure Odem knows how to contact him. We’ll arrange to meet with him when he’s free, whenever that will be, with all the added work he’s been saddled with lately. ”
“We can always invite him to supper,” I suggested. “I’m sure he doesn’t have many opportunities for a home cooked meal. Afterward, Odem and I can slip away and leave you three to chat. By then they’ll be no question of if you are mates or not.”
“Bro, that’s brilliant,” Upalo said.
“I have my moments,” I said, preening as I popped another piece of smoked salmon in my mouth. There weren’t many left now, so I decided to leave the rest for them and nibble on the steak tips next. “I’ll speak to Odem and have him reach out to see when Larkin is free.”
“Perfect,” Upalo said.
“You and I can cook,” Rory told him. “I’m sure we can come up with an awesome meal if we put our heads together.”
“As long as you don’t get distracted putting other things together,” I muttered, but dragon hearing meant they heard and started laughing in response, which meant my happy girls were in on it too.
“Says the dragon whose already proved that two and two do indeed make four,” Upalo remarked.
“Following that logic, I’m looking forward to three plus three equaling six by the time all is said and done,” I shot back and watched his face pale.
“Game on,” Rory said, grinning wildly. “I used that one right too, didn’t I?”
Smiling at my new brother, I nodded. “You sure did.”
“Wicked.”
“And now you’re three for three,” I told him, passing him the tray, hoping, for both of their sakes, their mating dilemma turned out the same way.