Chapter 1 #3
He hoped that they’d find their mates sometime soon.
Especially his brother. Cullen needed to have a woman in his life more than anyone he knew.
She might be able to change him into a less sad person and bring out the part of him that laughed at jokes all the time.
He hoped that she could take the underlying things about his brother, too.
Cullen was a hard nut to crack and still had nightmares about things that he’d done while out of the country.
For the rest of the afternoon, they hung out together.
He could never get enough of hanging out with his brothers and was glad that he could count on them to be there for him when he needed them.
The same way he’d be there for them when they needed him.
Falkner loved his family more than he thought there were words to say.
“What are you going to do with the stuff that was in our bedrooms when we left home?” He said that Mom had made them take what they wanted, and she got rid of the rest. “Not ours, I’m betting.
She’s probably held onto things we’d made in grade school if I know her well enough.
I love her to pieces, but she could be sentimental about the strangest things.
” Falkner agreed but also said he’d not say that to her.
“No. I like my head just where it’s at, thank you very much.
She’d pop you in the back of the head quick as a snake if she thought that we were making fun of her. ”
They ended up in their rooms looking over the stuff that had been left behind.
Cullen had Navy posters in his room along with some of the things that he’d collected over the years while traveling out of the country.
There wasn’t much of those things that he’d sent back, but enough that Cullen decided that he was going to fill his office with the stuff he’d collected and make a nice display of the things.
He had posters, too, as well as a skeleton that he’d used to memorize the bones with. His name was Charlie Dixon.
Falkner didn’t know why he’d named the skeleton, but he had named it about the time he was seriously thinking about becoming a doctor. He had a doctoral degree in medicine and a minor in pharmaceutical drugs, both of which were helpful to be a good doctor, he told himself.
Cleaning out his room, he was able to find all kinds of things that he’d forgotten about.
His old chemistry set, some notes he’d made in health classes he’d taken over the years.
He’d lived at home the longest and had more than he thought he should have stored in the big room.
But since he now owned the family home, he could take his time moving the things out that he no longer wanted.
Cullen helped him move his bed into the master suite, as it was empty now that his parents had moved out.
The other bedrooms were empty as well since Mom had made the others come by and clean out their old rooms for him.
He would have to thank her for that as soon as he saw her.
The house was a large home with ten bedrooms and eight bathrooms. Each of the bedrooms had its own bathroom, which Mom and Dad had made sure that they could have when they were growing up.
The master had a beautiful room with seating near the fireplace that he was planning on using all the time.
Also, and this was something that he really liked, the living room and parlor had been converted into one room, so it was twice the size that it had been, so that they could enjoy hanging out together when they were all over.
“The kitchen is up to date as well.” He told Cullen that Mom and Dad had had it done when he started his last term of college.
“I’m glad that you made them happy with this, Falkner.
They have been waiting so long to be able to move out to their own little place that I can’t believe how happy they seem to be with their smaller house. ”
Cullen told him that their parents had been wanting to move into something smaller about the time he finished up his first term in college.
But they’d held off so that they’d not disturb his studies while in college.
Then, when he decided to go back, they put off again about not moving to something smaller so as not to disrupt his life while he was working so hard.
He, of course, didn’t notice anything going on around him as he’d been so focused on school and his studies.
He would forever be grateful to Cullen for pointing out what he’d missed all along.
At lunch, the cook, April, had cooked them a nice bowl of chili and cornbread. He knew that she was staying on, but he didn’t know about the rest of the staff. With a house this big, he was going to need help, especially now that he was going to be working full-time at the hospital.
He actually couldn’t wait to get started on working there; he wanted to be a doctor for so long, and now that it was happening for him, he couldn’t contain himself.
With his degree under his belt now, he could work at the hospital and not have to worry about keeping up with his grades while doing it. Christ, he was excited.
Spring was just around the corner, and he was looking forward to summer too.
He’d been gone during the holidays and wasn’t sorry about missing all the excitement.
He knew that he’d needed the vacation more than he could have imagined and was glad that his parents had thought of him in giving it to him.
He’d dragged Cullen along because he felt that he needed him there, not to mention he thought that his brother could use some time away from everything as well.
He found himself moving the furniture around in the master bedroom, well past the time he should have been getting ready for dinner.
It wasn’t until Cullen pulled him from the room that he realized how late it was getting.
Just as he was getting dressed to go, his parents called to say they were running late and would meet them all there.
Falkner was excited about being around his family tonight.
Dinner was loud and fun. Amy had made sure that the staff knew there was going to be a lot of them, and the manager of the restaurant had given them one of the party rooms where they could stretch out if they wanted.
Seeing them all together like they were, he pulled out his phone and started taking pictures.
He was going to treasure them for as long as he lived, having the family together like they were wasn’t going to be happening all the time as they grew their own families, and he understood that more than most. Anything could happen to tear them apart, and he wasn’t looking forward to losing any of them.
His grandparents were already talking about having their immortality taken from them.
They had lived their lives; he’d been told they said and were happy with the way things were going to go for them.
Grandpa Simpson said that he’d lived his life and wanted to rest now.
Grandma Dixon said the same thing. Even with Amy having a baby right now didn’t change their minds.
He was going to miss them all if they decided to decline what Dallas could give them, with him being the silverback of their kind.
Falkner decided that he wasn’t going to think about it tonight, not with them all here, but make memories of them being all together one more time.
He would take what he could get from them and never begrudge them anything for wanting to live out their lives naturally, like they were supposed to.
He’d miss them, that was a given, but he’d never force them into anything that they didn’t want to do. He loved them too much for that.