Chapter 27
Beryl
Guardians of Glitter Bomb Territory
Three days after the attack on Flight School, we seen Mum and Bree off to some undisclosed watery location.
I was a little butthurt that she wouldn’t even tell me where they were going, and it made me wonder if she even had a plan in mind.
She said she’d let us know once they were settled in and that I should focus on my pregnant mate.
We didn’t talk about Delin McCombs because Mum had said everything she had to say about the matter over the years.
I wondered if she thought I was mad at her, but I hugged her extra tight before she left, because I wasn’t.
If anything, she was the parent who always wanted me.
Delin had made me at her request but agreed to all her rules and stipulations too.
I understood that not everyone wanted to be a parent, but it still rubbed me the wrong way.
I tried not to think about it because plenty of people used IVF and the like, but I couldn’t imagine knowing I had a kid out there and never knowing them.
After Mum and Bree left, we settled back into our lives.
Jondi got his wish to miss some school days because we both agreed he needed to spend some time at home after all we’d gone through.
It was nice to all be together for a few days.
Eran stopped by several times, bringing baskets of snacks like this was our matingmoon and several lions from Jade’s pride dropped by.
Even Volex stopped by with a stack of pizzas to check on us.
Jade invited him to stay and eat with us.
Jondi took right to him and even asked if he was my dad.
Volex did a fairly good job at explaining the family tree of Frost and Juda in a way he could understand.
“And you’re the first in your family to shift,” Volex pointed out.
“I don’t want people to tell stories about me. They’d all be about what I was afraid of,” Jondi said, only half laughing in that nervous way he had around new people.
“Has anyone ever told you that you can’t be brave until you’re afraid?” Volex asked, putting another slice of anchovy pizza on Jondi’s plate.
“What do you mean?” Jondi asked, one of his little eyebrows climbing high on his head.
“Well, if you’re not afraid, you can’t be brave. Being brave means doing things even when you’re afraid. If you’re not afraid, you’re just doing things,” Volex said. “So, they’d tell stories of how you did brave things, if they were stories about when you were afraid, huh?”
Jondi nodded and took a bite of his pizza. It was hard to believe that Volex was the same guy from Medwin and Clarence’s memoir. In the book, he obviously cared, but he seemed to have so many hard edges. Had time worn them down or was it being in the presence of a kid that softened him?
“That was a time of war,” he shrugged at me as Jondi ran off to wash pizza sauce off his rock.
“This isn’t war. That was one battle from a group of idiots.
There is a season for everything, descendent of mine.
Just remember, if you’re living right as a parent, you’re taking heads with the same hands your kids hold.
They can do both. Seriously, they can do both and there is no need to show your children that other side of you unless they’re attacked in front of you, of course.
It’s okay for them to know that Daddy can be scary, but they should never be afraid of Daddy. ”
In the end, Jade agreed to let Volex work at the playroom.
As strange as my ancestor was, I was grateful for his presence there.
Even if someone did attack, he’d take them down faster than anyone else as far as I was concerned.
It did mean my dad was there a lot but I avoided him as much as possible.
I wasn’t ready to process his sudden appearance in my life.
Jade was growing more pregnant every day and Jondi was going to play soccer over the summer.
I talked to Mum and Bree every evening. They were on some private-ish island somewhere warm and tropical, and they were hopeful that Bree would lay her egg soon.
They’d built a nest on the shore pretty quickly.
I might’ve put off talking to Delin McCombs forever if Michael Lawngry hadn’t asked about my family history.
He offered to call Delin himself to see if he was willing to answer the necessary questions, but I declined his help.
I didn’t want Jondi to think I was afraid of my dad because dads weren’t something to be afraid of.
It wasn’t that I was afraid of him. I just didn’t know where he’d fit into my life now.
He might’ve sired me, but he’d never really be my parent.
Moms and dads and parents raised their children.
Volex had given me Delin’s number shortly after he started working at Flight School.
I almost didn’t take it but putting it into my phone was easier than arguing with Volex.
So when it came time to ask him I sent a short text.
ME: If you have some free time can we meet up and talk for like five minutes. I have a few questions about your family medical history. My mate is pregnant and the doctor said we needed it if at all possible. I understand if you’d rather not, but for the sake of my kid I had to ask.
His answer was almost immediate.
DELIN: Of course. Any time. Anywhere.
I almost suggested that we could talk in Jade’s office at the playroom, but didn’t want to bring family drama there. Delin was good with the little kids and he was a good fighter too. I wanted Jade and everyone at Flight School to be safe. So, I put up with him.
ME: Sandy’s before it’s time to pick Jondi up from school?
DELIN: OMW. I’ll wait. Come whenever works for you.
Jade offered to go with me, but I didn’t want him to get stressed out.
Our baby was growing at a healthy rate and seemingly no worse for wear from the attack and I wanted it to stay that way.
So, I went to Sandy’s by myself. I half-expected to see Volex waiting with him but Delin had come alone too.
“Hey,” I said, sinking into the seat across from him. He hadn’t ordered anything to eat but was sipping tea from a paper cup and straw.
“Hey,” he said.
I stared at him for a minute, trying to find my features in him.
Volex was right. I did look a bit like him.
I opened my mouth and shut it again. Everything I knew about him came from the memoir.
His parents were killed by Ferrick’s henchmen and he was whisked away to the Other World so that he wasn’t killed too for seeing Ferrick kill his own brother. That must’ve fucking sucked.
“Not going to lie, it did,” Delin nodded and I cringed.
Of course, we were on a family link. That’s how I knew he was in the GGB to begin with.
“I’ve written everything down that I know.
Mostly my family was healthy as far as I know.
I had an aunt who had scale cancer but it’s the sort that migrates from skin cancer.
Her not related to me parent was a hairless cat shifter.
They’ve moved on now too, though. She survived the cancer with treatment and a complete scale stripping. ”
“Thanks,” I said, looking down the family tree along with the aliments Delin had scribbled down. I almost asked if he had a family back in the Other World but stopped myself.
“No,” he answered the question as soon as it crossed my mind. “And I didn’t come here to uproot your life either. Pras said you needed guidance. Something about a rock in a pond.”
“Uh… Jade and me had a rough start because of the whole Ferrick thing going on. Everyone was on edge,” I said.
“Makes sense. He had a way of doing that to people,” Delin nodded.
Silence fell between us and the server brought over two of my usuals. I wasn’t sure if Delin had the same tastes as me or if the server just wanted to break the tension. She also brought out my usual chocolate raspberry smoothie. I thanked her with a grin and glanced at Delin.
“For what it’s worth, you’re mom and I… We were never a couple.”
“I know. She bought your services.”
“She bought the conception of a baby,” Delin said.
“No, she didn’t know why I was over there.
She only knew I knew of her family and that genetically I was pretty solid.
It was so important to her that you had the best start you could.
To be fair…. This is going to sound shitty of me.
I’m not even really into women and I think she is really into women.
I know there’s talk of her sleeping with guys and that… ”
“Mom is bisexual. You don’t get to change her label because she loves Bree,” I said, trying to keep my tone as nonconfrontational as I could.
“You have her temper,” he grinned. “That comes from Pras. Hell, maybe it comes from Volex himself.”
“It’s okay you’re gay,” I added on because him not liking women wasn’t the reason for the awkward silence between us.
He laid a folder on the table between us. It was old and battered and impossible to tell which color it originally was. He opened it up onehanded.
“I wanted to show you this. This is my copy of the original contract of your conception. Have you seen it before?” he asked.
“No,” I shook my head, “and I’m not sure I want to.”
“You don’t have to read it. I highlighted and pulled to the front the one clause that’s important.”
If the carrier/mother of the child (DIAMOND MAGNOLIA MOONSCALE) is to perish before the child (BABY MOONSCALE) the custody of the forementioned minor child is to be granted to the sire (DELIN HEATH McCOMBS) immediately.
“I didn’t want you to be alone or in the system or something if something were to happen to Diamond,” he said when I finished reading it.
“I wasn’t ready for a kid. I wasn’t sure I ever wanted a family.
I’m still not. Though, I felt I owed it to my parents to carry on the bloodline somehow.
This side is my will. I mailed your mother a copy of it as soon as I reached Earthside.
Well, after the fight, because I wasn’t sure you’d open anything mailed from me.
You don’t have to read it, but if something happens to me, all the wealth I’ve accumulated on Earthside and in the Other World is to be divided between you and your brothers.
As far as I know, you’ve never met them. ”
“I haven’t. I think I’d know because of the family link,” I said, my brows furrowing together. I didn’t want his money. I didn’t…
“Then put it in a trust for your kids,” he said, picking up my thoughts over the family link.
“Look, I don’t plan on dying but if I do I want you and your brothers to be taken care of.
It’s the least I can do. Most of this money is family money.
It’s what my parents would want. If I ever meet my true-mate and have kids, I’ll adjust the will to include them.
If I die and you don’t want anything to do with the money divide it between your brothers.
They’re not any more at fault than you are. ”
“Thank you,” I said, because at least he was thinking of us now.
“Are you set with everything for the baby?” he asked and I almost told him to mind his own business.
“Jade has been shopping like crazy and everyone has all this stuff that never got used when they had their last babies because of how much support goes on here. We’re having the baby shower this weekend and I’m lowkey dreading it but my friends are coming in and…
Do you want to come? Is that strange to ask you?
You don’t have to bring a gift or anything. You don’t have to come at all… I just—”
“Glad to come,” he nodded.
We ate our food in silence, when we were finished and about to leave, Delin insisted on paying for the food and the tip. I let him, because I couldn’t imagine a time when I’d let even a grown-up Jondi cover the tab.
“For what it’s worth, my parents would’ve been thrilled at the very idea of you and your brothers. I was an only child because my carrier had such a hard go of it, but they always wanted tons of grandkids to spoil.”
I nodded because for some reason that did help. Plenty of my friends had been pressured over the years by their parents to have kids. I couldn’t imagine trying to live up to a dead mom’s expectations. She never rushed me on anything but still it would’ve been hard.
“Are you planning on staying in town?” I asked.
“Yeah, for the foreseeable future, at least,” he nodded.
“Cool. Volex knows where we live and he’s coming to the baby shower,” I said and shook his hand.