Chapter 21
Maverick
“Look at those little toe beans,” I murmured, stretched out on my side with our two snow leopard cubs, Skyler and Ryder, pressed against my side.
“I could count them all day,” Leo said as he tickled a little paw.
It flexed beneath Leo’s touch, though our sweet little Skyler slept on.
“Here we go, all cleaned and tucked into their little onesies,” Briar said as he came in holding one of our girls, with Leo’s dad behind him carrying the other.
I pressed a finger to my lips, too sore and exhausted to do more than wiggle back to make space for him to lay the babies as Leo did the same across from me.”
“Sorry,” he whispered as he carefully stepped into the nest and laid Ember beside Leo before reaching back for Arden.
With the tarp gone and nothing but softness surrounding us, we marveled at the four lives we’d brought into the world.
“We’ll be downstairs if you need us,” Leo’s dad whispered. “But this is the perfect time for you three to start bonding with your cubs. Congratulations, guys; you did awesome. I’m proud to be known from here on out as Grand Papa.
"Gramps," "Grandpa," "Grampi," and "Grand "Papa"—that’s how the dads had chosen to be recognized. Their knowledge and steady encouragement had seen Leo and I through some difficult moments, especially when our second cub failed to descend and our second girl had presented feet first. Still no fainting on my end, but there had been a moment there when I’d considered sinking my teeth into Briar’s rear end and taking a chunk out of it.
Funny, but right now, as I watched him position himself where he could touch all four of our babies, all I could think about was how adorable he looked with his hair sticking up everywhere, looking frazzled and happy all at the same time.
The look on his face, though, wow. It was a goofy mix of tender awe, pride, and admiration as he peered at his family.
“Just look at our little family,” Leo murmured. “I can’t wait until they are old enough to be tucked into their carriers for their first walk in the woods.”
“I can’t wait for their first romp in the snow,” Maverick whispered. “With those fluffy-adorable faux fur snowsuits Grandma Tilly made, our girls will be as cozy as if they were shifted.”
“I love that for them,” Leo said. “Do you think she can make an adult-sized one?”
“I’m absolutely certain she can make anything she gets in her head to make,” Maverick assured him.
“Good, because I want to get down in the snow and play too.”
Hearing him say that got me purring and reaching out to clasp hands with him around our brood.
“She’s downstairs,” Briar said. “I’ll tell her you’d very much like to have one when I go down to show everyone pictures of the babies.
“Thank you,” Leo said. “They are as soft as blankets. I can’t help but feel like surrounding myself with a layer of fur will help me form a bond with their snow leopard sides.
“I bet they’d enjoy that even when not shifted,” I said. “All babies like soft things.”
“As do those of us who have to push them out into the world,” he replied.
“True that,” I said, squirming to sink further down into the blankets. “This feels amazing.”
“Everything feels amazing now that the painful part is over with,” Leo declared.
I was definitely in agreement with that, though I knew I’d stop feeling sore long before he did.
“Look at how tiny their fingers are,” I said as I let go of his hand so I could count little fingers and feel them close around one of mine.
“I wish I could freeze this moment,” Briar said as he tickled the bottoms of one of their feet and counted toe beans.
“Then we’d miss the fun of them growing up,” Leo muttered. “I can’t wait to see which of them decides to wage war with a skunk and requires bathing in the yard before you allow them inside.”
“If there was ever a lesson to be learned about choosing your battles wisely, I’m sure Briar learned it that day,” I replied.
“I can just picture us at the end of a day with these four, us sprawled all over the sofa in the den debating which takeout place to order dinner from while a dance party goes on over our heads because they’re still full of energy. ”
“It’s a good thing my mates have taught me the importance of healthy, vitamin-packed meals, because I feel like I can use all the C, D, proteins, and beta keratin I can get to have any hopes of keeping up with them.”
“Trick-or-treating is going to be so cute,” I said. “I can’t wait to see them in all of their adorable costumes.”
“We’ve got so many amazing moments to look forward to,” Briar said. “All those wonderful firsts to record. Their baby books are going to be bursting with photos and notes.
“How are we ever going to tell the twins apart?” Leo whispered.
“I’ve just been lying here staring at them, searching for even one distinguishing mark, but the girls have the same heart-shaped birthmarks on their necks, and the boys share all the same spots.
Do I even want to start thinking about how many times they’ll pull the switch on us? ”
“Probably not,” Briar said. “Two of my older brothers are twins, and they used to pull that shit on our folks all the time.”
“Hey, young ears are present,” I hissed. “Any more swearing out of you and we’ll institute a swear jar. All funds collected will go to getting our kids something from the educational toy store.”
“Oh, I love that place,” Leo declared. “The puppets are so cute. We have to get more books to pair them with.”
“Marionettes too,” I declared. “I found some websites online with video tutorials on how to make them move. “Now I’ve got it in my head to make them a theater, with a stage and curtains and everything, just so we can put on shows for them.”
“Would you like help building it?” Leo asked.
“Of course. We can work on it while Briar is having Papa time with the babies after work.”
“That’s perfect,” Leo said. “With the rotating schedule we put together, we should all have plenty of baby time as well as the opportunity to slip a few special projects in.”
“Something tells me you two are going to turn entertaining into an art form,” Briar said.
“I might need to check out a few tutorials and see if I can create a couple unique puppets, just for the abominable snow leopard stories,” I said.
“I’m looking forward to hearing more of those,” Leo said, locking eyes with me.
“No question of what we’ll all be carving into the Yule log as our ‘thankful for’ this year,” I said.
“Yeah, seriously,” Briar whispered. “I doubt anything will ever top this moment.”
“I don’t think I’d want it to,” I said.
Bright blue eyes popped open, allowing me a close-up view. My tiny daughter blinked, then let her eyes close again as she wiggled and cooed.
Giggling, I leaned in so I could softly coo back to her, and that’s when she sneezed and shifted, mewing and letting out tiny snow leopard cries when she wound up trapped in her onesie.
“Did she just…” Leo stammered as Briar and I reached for her at the same time.
“She did,” I told Leo as I withdrew my hand so Briar could tend to her.
After eight months of carrying two babies around inside of me, I was good with letting their Papa take over for a little while.
I was one worn-out dad, and I knew Leo was an exhausted pops.
Watching him deliver our girls into the world less than an hour after I finished delivering our boys had left me in awe of the life we’d created for ourselves since the day we’d met at the cabin.
I doubted I’d ever be so thrilled over another’s mistake, but if it hadn’t been for Branson and those double-booked cabins, we wouldn’t be on the verge of our first holiday as parents.
Within moments, Briar had untangled her from the onesie and removed her outfit before laying her beside her furry brothers.
“Oh boy, now they’re really hard to tell apart,” Leo groaned, dropping a palm over his eyes.
Giggling, I watched her snuggle up beside one of her brothers and settle in for a nap.
“I’m just blown away right now,” Leo muttered, a soft shimmer of tears in his eyes. “I hoped they’d inherit the ability to shift, but I was so scared they wouldn’t and that they’d resent me one day when they were old enough to understand the difference between a human and a shifter.”
“Awe, sweetheart,” Briar groaned as he wiggled up behind Leo to hold him while we clasped hands again. “You shouldn’t have kept that from us.”
“Figured it was mostly the hormones fueling it,” he explained.
“Even if it was, we’d have wanted to know,” I said. “Our world is still so new for you that we expect you to have questions.”
“I guess I just didn’t want you to think that I was sad that they might be different from their siblings and cousins. I didn’t want them to grow up wishing for something I couldn’t give them.”
“Only you have,” Briar said, nuzzling the back of his neck. “Look, our other little girl is starting to wake. I bet we’ll have another accidental entanglement as soon as she realizes she’s not lying beside her sister.”
We watched her slow awakening in silent anticipation, waiting for that moment when she wiggled and fussed until she’d shifted just like her sister and required her Papa’s help.
Once all four were curled up between us, Leo and I started stroking their fur, our fingers occasionally bumping, until we caressed each other’s hands right along with all that silky fur.
“Papa, why don’t you shift and come snuggle your babies?” Leo encouraged.
Briar needed no further prompting to strip and shift, crawling out from behind Leo to wiggle up beside our kids. His rumbling purrs soon drew the little ones to curl up in his fluff. I drew my phone out from between the folds in the nest to take several pictures of them that way.
“You beat me to it,” Leo whispered. “Shocking.”
“What can I say? Your shutterbug tendencies have started to rub off on me,” I said as I took a couple more.
“We’ve got to frame one of those and hang it in the living room,” Leo said.
“I will leave that part entirely up to you,” I replied, catching the moment when Briar licked one of the cubs.
Our fingers met on our mate’s furry flank, stroking and caressing his fur. “I love you,” we blurted, giggling at the way our thoughts had lined up to be so in sync.
Even Briar huffed and resumed grooming the babies.
“He says he loves us both beyond time and definition,” I conveyed to Leo the moment Briar conveyed the words to me.
Leo lowered his head to rub his face against Briar’s fur in a move that was far more snow leopard than human.
While our mate would never have a snow leopard form, he’d already adopted several of our traits and was sure to pick up more the longer we were mated together.
Leaning in, I rubbed noses with Briar and felt his paw stroke over my hair.
I felt the last of my energy draining as I snuggled deeper into the nest.
“Another first,” Leo muttered, his voice beginning to grow a bit dim and foggy.
“First what?” I asked when my brain refused to produce a list of possible answers.
“Family nap time,” Leo whispered as Briar let out a gentle purr.
Between us lay four tiny snow leopard cubs, while downstairs, our family was no doubt swapping stories while cooking up a storm.
Their efforts would ensure that we would have plenty of food for the foreseeable future.
Tonight, our family hadn’t just grown by four, but our community had too.
Someday, when they were old enough, we’d take them to the fall carnival in the park and the orchard to pick the perfect apples for pie and dipping in caramel.
I closed my eyes and drifted off to images of cubs bounding through corn mazes and sticky bits of toffee in fluffy fur.
Talk about double the treats, to be born the day before the biggest candy holiday.
Tomorrow, we’d celebrate our first Halloween with our little ones, and damn, if there wouldn’t be some hyper days in our household when they were old enough for back-to-back birthday cake and trick-or-treating, but we’d make marvelous memories too.
And I’d manage it all without fainting, thank you very much.
We’d manage it and so much more, surrounded by family, community, and a whole heaping cup full of love.
~ End ~