2. Vera

2

Vera

I stare at the screen of my laptop, trying to come up with something to do, but failing. The others are all in Mathew’s office, trying to piece together what the Hearts might or might not have been doing. I was in there with them until about five minutes ago but couldn’t deal with the stress anymore.

They kept going between silently trying to find more evidence and then loudly —more like yellingly— discussing it with each other, arguing what was and wasn’t part of it.

At some point, it all got too much for me.

I hate yelling, I hate all of it.

So, instead, I decided to go to the library and maybe do something for myself, like taking another look at all the online courses I could be taking.

There are so many things I can choose from. Something practical like the basics of running a business or maybe I could study creative writing or something else to do with the arts.

But with my head so filled with stress and worry, I can’t bring up the excitement to make these types of choices. Everything just feels very ‘bleh’ right now.

I’ve been on the verge of tears for the last two hours and didn’t want to break down in front of the others. I didn’t want to add that to everything else they were dealing with. I’m not even upset, I’m mostly really tired, and stress makes me cry.

“Hello.” A quiet voice reaches me from the door and when I look up, a young girl with long light brown hair and blue eyes is nervously staring at me.

“Hello.” I try to keep my voice light. No use scaring the girl with my bad mood.

“Do you know where my dads are?” She glances behind her down the hallway and slips into the library, her eyes darting around before settling on me. She’s wearing a light blue shirt with dinosaurs on the front and her jeans have dinosaur patches on the knees.

I’m pretty sure I know who this girl is. From the stories I’ve heard of Derrick and Timothy’s kids, this must be Lily, their eldest.

Timothy told me that the kids usually don’t come into the main house, since their Omega, Eli, doesn’t want the kids to see what their parents do for a living and things can get a little violent around here at times.

Because of that, I’ve not actually met any of them, since I’ve not been out to their house yet, even though it’s on the other side of the kitchen.

“I think they’re still in Mathew’s office. Do you want me to get them?” I’m about to stand up when she quickly shakes her head, looking bummed.

“It’s okay. If they’re in Uncle Mathew’s office, it means they’re working. I shouldn’t disturb them when they’re working.” She glances down and I notice the tablet she’s holding in her hands.

“Is it something I can help with?” I hate it when kids look sad. It always makes me feel like crap and I can’t help but want to solve whatever is making them sad.

“How much do you know about prehistoric animals?” She takes a few more steps into the library, looking slightly more hopeful.

“Not much, I’m afraid. But I do like learning about them. I think they’re very cool.”

Anything that a kid gets excited about tends to be fun when you let them ramble. And you often learn something new to boot.

“I have to do a presentation at school about my favourite animal. I chose the a-nu-ro-gna-thus.” She speaks each syllable slowly and carefully. “It’s a type of pterosaur.”

“Pterosaurs are the flying dinosaurs, right?”

I do remember some of what I learned as a kid, and with lots of siblings, you tend to learn about some things over and over again. But it’s been a long time since I last thought about dinosaurs.

“No. That’s what a lot of people think. But pterosaurs aren’t actually dinosaurs.” She grins as she slides into the chair on the other side of the table.

“They split off from the group of animals that would become dinosaurs before they became dinosaurs. But they did live at the same time.” She puts the tablet on the table, flashing me a toothy grin, showing off that one of her top front adult teeth is coming in. “I’m Lily.”

“I’m Vera.”

“I know. You’re Uncle Mathew’s Omega, it’s why he’s been so busy lately.” She doesn’t say it with anger or negativity, but like she’s stating a fact. “You’re very pretty. It makes sense that Uncle Mathew would like you.”

She taps on the tablet and then climbs on the table, sitting next to it so we can both see the screen.

I quickly close my laptop and put it aside, giving Lily all my attention. I already like this girl, she’s expressive and not afraid to say what she’s thinking.

“At school, this will be up on the big screen, not my tablet. But we don’t have a big screen here.” Her small fingers move over the tablet at a high speed and a presentation pops up, showing the image of a small flying creature and the word ‘Anurognathus’ under it.

“These are the a-nu-ro-gna-thus.” She keeps breaking the word up, like it’s the only way she can remember the name. “It’s a small pterosaur that lived during the late Jurassic. They’re really cute.”

She shows me another picture, one where it’s flying with its mouth open to catch what looks like a butterfly.

“Their bodies are really small, but if you measure from the end of one wing to the end of the other, that will be more than five times as long as their body.”

Her eyes go wide. “And they’re fluffy. They have a sort of early type of feathers all over them. I think they would be really fun to cuddle, if they lived now.”

She flips to another picture. “Oh, and do you know what their name means?” She beams at me, clearly very excited to have found an adult to share her interests with.

“I don’t know. What does it mean?”

“You have to guess!” She grins wide.

“Does it have to do with that they fly?” I have no frame of reference for what anurognathus could mean.

“Nope.” She moves to another picture. “It means frog mouth. Because they have such big mouths.” She pulls her cheek to the side with her empty hand, like she’s showing off how big their mouths are.

“That’s very cool.” I can definitely see why someone would name it for it’s very large mouth. It does indeed remind me of a frog, just a lot more hairy.

“I know, right?!” She slides closer to me, so I can see her tablet even better. “They did research and found that they eat insects by flying around with their mouth open.” She opens her mouth wide, moving her head like she’s trying to catch imaginary insects.

“It must be hard to see where they’re going when they do that, though.” She frowns slightly, thinking.

“Are there other prehistoric animals that you love?”

“So many! But I had to choose one for the presentation, I couldn’t do more than one. I wanted to do hal-lu-ci-ge-nia, which is from even longer ago, but Daddy Eli thought that could be too confusing…”

The laughter bubbling up inside me feels good. Lily is fun and bright and she seems very excited about her upcoming presentation.

“There you are!” Eli is standing in the doorway, drying his hands on a towel. “I was wondering where you were sneaking off to.”

Lily’s face falls and she takes her tablet, climbing off the table. “I wanted Dad Derrick or Dad Tim to look at my presentation. I didn’t mean to bother Aunty Vera.”

I quickly glance at Eli. “She was no bother. I liked learning about anu?—”

“A-nu-ro-gna-thus.” Lily helps out.

“Those small pterosaurs, yes.” I grin, and Lily beams that I remembered they’re pterosaurs and not dinosaurs. Then I look back at Eli. “I don’t mind keeping an eye on her for a while longer, if you’re busy.”

Eli smiles softly. “While I appreciate it, and I might take you up on it in the future, I’m actually here to tell you that lunch is ready. It’s waiting for you in Mathew’s office.”

He holds out his hand to Lily. “And our lunch is waiting in the family kitchen.”

Lily waves at me as she follows Eli. “Bye, Aunty Vera.”

“Bye, Lily. And good luck with your presentation.”

She nods excitedly as the two disappear into the hallway.

Lunch, right. That’s probably a good idea.

I stand up, stretching, as I take a deep breath. I kind of don’t want to go back to the office if everything is still doom and gloom in there.

As I look up, I find Caleb leaning against the doorway, his eyes on me warm and filled with joy. “I heard you were hanging out with the resident dinosaur expert.” He reaches for me and I step into his arms, nuzzling his chest.

“Prehistoric animal expert, and yes, I did. It’s like listening to a small and excitable version of Timothy. She’s very polite, if she remembers to be.” I take in his deep woodsy scent, liking this moment of calm with him. “How is the mood in the office?”

He lets out a low laugh as he wraps his arms around me. “I’m sure it will be better once you’re there. We’re just going in circles at this point and the other two are butting heads.” He sighs deep.

“I’m tempted to lock them in the nest so they can fuck it out, or fight it out, whatever they prefer.”

That almost sounds better than when I left, but I’m not entirely sure.

“Hey, don’t worry too much.” Caleb’s voice is soft as he kisses the top of my head. “We’ll figure it out. And they’ll figure things out too. Part of it is just the stress we’re all dealing with right now.”

Well, yes. That, we’ve got enough around here.

Caleb puts his hand under my knees and lifts me up bridal style. “Let’s get some lunch into you. If you’re going to grow a little person inside you, you’re going to need all the energy you can get.”

I lean against him, smiling. “I’m pretty sure that that’s not going to be a problem. Eli has been making us very nutritious meals, so I’m sure that energy won’t be a problem.”

Rest and stress on the other hand… That might be tricky.

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