Chapter 3 #2
“I can watch them. If they’re comfortable with me.
I don’t mind kids. I like them, in fact.
Joseph is in his senior year of high school; Hailey will be starting it next year.
But if we’re going to be mates, shouldn’t I shoulder some of the responsibility of taking care of your younger siblings?
Didn’t you just say you would help with Hailey?
You said ‘them,’ but Joseph is seriously a nonissue.
He helps with cooking and housework, and I don’t have to worry about him.
Hailey, it’s just the current crowd she’s hanging out with. ”
I couldn’t help but grin. He was trying to keep things even, and I appreciated that.
“I won’t say no. But don’t want you to feel as if you have to take care of them.
We can plan to take things day by day and see how it works out.
It might be that you decide they’re too much for you.
Mae is a sweetheart, but she can get fussy at bedtime. ”
Oscar snorted. “All little kids get fussy at bedtime. That’s why they’re going to bed. Because they’re tired.”
“Probably true.” I stood and held out my hand.
Oscar looked at it before he finally took it.
I helped him up off the couch and pulled him closer.
I had no intention of doing anything, but I wanted to touch my mate.
He looked up at me expectantly, but I wasn’t sure how to tell him that I hadn’t ever kissed anyone before.
I’d never been with anyone, ever. I had read about it and had of course seen others kissing in public in our village.
But it wasn’t something I’d experienced myself yet.
Instead, I carefully reached out and ran a finger down the side of his face.
It was soft, and I knew that it wouldn’t take much to develop feelings for my mate.
I was already well on my way. Yes, it was fast, but he had already proven that he was a giving person.
He was taking care of his younger siblings.
Something I hadn’t been willing to do even a few years ago.
Having to be responsible for them for the past couple of years, and now being their only parent had been such a huge shift in how I saw life.
I grinned at Oscar before I took a step away. He looked at me in confusion. “How about we explore the house? It’ll be interesting to see what all is here.”
I did bring Oscar’s hand up to my mouth and kissed the back of it. He stared at me, his mouth opening slightly. I was, of course, nervous. I didn’t exactly know how to please my mate. I would have to figure that out with some help from him.
When I started walking toward the kitchen, I gently pulled Oscar along with me.
We found a few appliances on the countertop, and I had to wonder what some of them were, actually.
I would ask Oscar later. He opened the icebox and looked at me with a huge grin on his face.
“Well, they’re planning for us to claim each other. ”
“What? Why?”
Oscar tugged on my hand, and when I was standing behind him, I saw that the thing was full of bottles as well as fruit.
“The energy drinks and fruit. I would imagine there are a bunch of protein and granola bars in the pantry.”
“Well, we’ll need some other things in the icebox. I don’t see juice.”
Oscar looked up at me, then slowly shook his head.
“What?”
“Refrigerator. We call it a refrigerator here. The icebox is this, but we call it a freezer.”
Oscar pulled open a drawer in the bottom, and I slowly nodded.
“I’ll try to remember. Things are a bit different where I’m from.”
“I wasn’t complaining. We’ll work it all out.” Oscar pulled me along as we explored the kitchen. It was full of everything we would need, including a large cabinet full of foodstuffs.
“There’s a letter here,” Oscar said, pointing to it on the end of the counter.
Dear Monroe and Oscar,
We hope you understand that we all feel the two of you are going to be a perfect fit for one another. Please trust us when we say that it might be a bit of a bump in the beginning, but it will all be worth it in no time.
The children will all be fine, and we will ensure that they are most certainly cared for while the two of you adjust to being a combined unit instead of two separate ones.
Trust in each other, and give your mating a chance.
Thomas & Canyon
Oscar looked up at me and shrugged. “Well, there you have it,” he said as he placed the piece of paper back on the counter. “I wonder how many bedrooms this place has.”
“We could go look,” I said. I fully expected to have my siblings still share a room.
In order to have a house large enough for all of us to have our own room, that meant this place had to be huge.
There was no way that a house of that size would be given to me as a perk of accepting the position I did. Would it?
We went back to the room with the large windows, and Oscar looked around.
There was a hallway, and he went through it with me directly behind him.
There was a bathroom as well as another room.
It had a desk and chair, and I had to wonder if they were intending on someone else living here.
Why would we need such a room? It also had a bunch of windows that let in a lot of light.
It was somewhat bright out, but I was sure that was mostly because of all of the snow. I shivered thinking about it.
“What’s wrong? Are you cold? We could turn the heat up if you are.”
“I’m not cold, no. I was just thinking about all of the snow outside. We don’t have snow in our realm. It’s warm and green all of the time.”
Oscar grinned. “There wasn’t snow where I’m from either, and it got downright hot and humid in the summer, but I’ve found I prefer the winters here. My wolf loves the snow, and I look forward to running in it when I can.”
“I’ll watch while you and your siblings run and play. Maybe I’ll do some magic of sorts for the little ones, and they can feel like they’re involved.”
“That’s right. Fae have magic like warlocks.”
I nodded.
“You can do magic.”
I nodded again.
“That’s pretty cool. I don’t know. I think I might have preferred to have been born a fae with magic instead of being just a wolf.”
With knowing what had happened to him, I could understand that.
“Let’s see what’s upstairs,” Oscar said.
He pulled me along, and I had to wonder just what we would find up there.
The house was already plenty big enough for our current family, but would it support a growing one?
Did Oscar really want children? He wasn’t getting just a mate but a ready-made family.
But then again, so was I, and I was more than ready and willing to accept his siblings into my life. But would they accept me?
I followed Oscar up the staircase, worrying about them and how we would keep Mae from falling down them.
“We’ll get gates for the top and bottom. I’m not worried about Mason, but Maelie will need to be watched for another year or so before she can safely go up and down the stairs,” Oscar said as we climbed them.
“Gates?”
“Yep. I’ll show you later.”
“All right.” We made it to the top of the stairs and found a long hallway with doors everywhere. “Just how many bedrooms are there?”
Oscar grinned up at me. “I’m not sure, but it’ll be fun to find out,” he said. He grabbed my hand again and pulled me along the hallway, passing several rooms and heading for the door directly in front of us.