Chapter 19
Chapter
Nineteen
Lachlan came out of his office after catching up on a few days of work, blinking at the bright light shining through the French door that led to one of the patios.
Goodness, how long had he been in there?
After Wiver had arrived, things had been askew for several days, and then Lachlan had avoided work for a few weeks, spending time with his mate and enjoying some time off.
Kieran was a wondrous mate, giving him comfort and care after the ward strengthening, and also making him laugh with Micah and Wiver and Alban as they played board games and watched movies.
But right now, the main floor seemed eerily quiet.
Kieran, where are you?
I’m working up in the nursery. Micah wanted his room painted after he saw that I started painting the nursery. I’ve been putting together furniture, being busy.
Lachlan twisted his lips, heading to the kitchen instead of directly upstairs like he wanted to. He was sure, without question, that Kieran needed snacks.
So did Micah.
Wiver always needed snacks.
Alban, bless him, was right there, rainbow feathers fluttering. “I made you a charcuterie board and then a little snack box for Micah that has Cheerios, bananas, and Little Smokies.”
“Thank you. I appreciate it. Do you know what they’re doing up there?”
“Redecorating, from what I understand. Kieran seems very busy, very focused.”
He fought the urge to roll his eyes. “Oh, excellent. I’m going to go up and help.”
The last thing he needed was an exhausted omega.
And Kieran could be very single-minded. Especially if Lachlan was not gently pushing him to rest occasionally.
They were very much alike.
He picked up the tray, Micah’s box and a little caddy of drinks in a sack over his arm, and headed upstairs to hunt down his omega and child.
When he got there, both the door to the new nursery and the one to Kieran’s new room were open, the smell of paint strong but not so much that he felt the need to growl. They were clearly ventilating.
So the nursery was a light peach, a very pleasant color, warm and bright.
Micah’s room, on the other hand, was purple. Like a bright, almost shocking violet.
“Wow, this is a great color.” And bright.
“Micah picked it out.” There was absolutely no arguing with those words. Besides, Kieran had paint on his nose, and it was adorable.
“I brought snacks.”
That earned him a grin. “Snacks are my favorite.”
Micah crowed and came running to him, chubby legs just working. “‘Nacks?”
“That’s right, I brought you snacks.”
“Like ‘Nacks. Nom, nom, nom”
God, that was so cute and sweet.
“I like snacks, as well. I really do.” Lachlan looked for a place to set everything down and he finally just settled on the drop-clothed floor. “Alban sent special snacks for you, but Wiver can share ours.”
Kieran snorted. “I bet Wiver goes to the kitchen. He doesn’t love the smell of paint.”
“No, I can’t say I like the smell paint either, but it is a beautiful color, that peach.” The purple, he wasn’t so sure about.
You don’t have to be sure about it, Kieran grumped. It’s Micah’s room, and he wanted it. I think we’re going to put little glow-in-the-dark stars all over the ceiling.
Uh-oh. He needed to step carefully. “That sounds like kind of back-exhausting work. Would you like some help? I’d be happy to do it with you.”
His mate blinked at him. “You would?”
“Of course. I would. Why wouldn’t I?”
“You were busy working.”
“Ah, love. I’m never too busy for you, I promise. All you have to do is send a thought and I can come help. Even if I’m in a meeting.”
“Unless it’s a guardian thing,” Kieran teased.
“Now, that’s cheating.” He grabbed Kieran up and swung him around. “And you know that if you need me, I would be here. Bryant would cover, or Lars would, or Bea or Logan or Jake.”
Kieran kissed his nose. “I know, I’m just messing with you. I’d love your help putting up stars.”
“We also need to talk about what we’re going to decorate the baby’s walls with. What does she think? Has she got any opinions yet?”
“I know she likes music and cinnamon.”
“Yes.” He knew this, too. He made cinnamon rolls and cinnamon toast daily, and Alban made snickerdoodles and coffee cakes and churros.
That little girl liked her spice.
It was Kieran who craved things like Alfredo and other stuff with Parmesan cheese in it. That was his body asking for something it needed. But whenever it was their little girl who was making her desires known, it was cinnamon and sugar.
And in fact there were cinnamon sugar pecans and miniature cinnamon rolls on the charcuterie board.
Lachlan set Kieran on his feet. “I would love to hang out with you. After we eat.”
They settled together on the floor, Micah digging into his little snack box with these amazing sounds of joy.
It was the sweetest thing he’d ever seen in his life and he adored that child so much.
He could have missed out on this. He could have missed out on Kieran’s light and on Micah’s courageous happiness.
But he hadn’t. He hadn’t let hatred destroy his life and he’d never been prouder of it because it had been hard to trust.
He knew it was hard for Kieran and Micah to trust to begin with, but they all seemed to be on the right path now.
Micah nibbled on the Little Smokies first. He was becoming such a carnivore, and it was helping him with his growth. Honestly Lachlan was grateful he was an adventurous eater, because he wasn’t picky. There was very little he wouldn’t try.
“Yummo!” Micah waved one of the sausages at Kieran, who wrinkled his nose.
“No thank you, sweetie. You have them all.”
“Oh?” Micah’s eyes lit up. “Oh, I good! Papa, all the—”
He waved the meat.
“Sausages,” he helped out.
“Sawsigs. Sargzims. Sasasasaguses!”
“Right on, son.” He wasn’t going to argue with that. What good would it do? It wouldn’t.
Besides, it was adorable.
“He’s getting a way bigger vocabulary, don’t you think?” Kieran started tearing apart the cinnamon roll and eating it. “I remember I didn’t think he was ever going to speak, and now he’s just learning and learning.”
Lachlan nodded. Micah had needed friends and family input, but he wasn’t about to say that to Kieran, to make his mate have any kind of guilt. No, he understood why Kieran had lived as he did, and why he had been afraid to introduce Micah to something that might hurt him.
They had all had to come out of their shells in one way or another.
Well maybe not Alban. Their dragon of the house was open and loving and perfectly willing to zhuzh the rest of them along.
He nibbled on a piece of pickled beet to hide his smile. Alban had made all sorts of things possible for them.
They enjoyed their snack time, and little Micah ate most everything in his box before rolling to his back and kicking his feet in the air.
They still had quite a bit to work through on their charcuterie board so he winked at Kieran.
“Do I need to ask Alban for more cinnamon things?”
Kieran tilted his head to one side, pursing his lips. Clearly, he had to think about it, which meant they probably needed to get some more of those cinnamon buns up here. “I think I’d like to hang stars first but I would certainly take some more in a bit.”
“Anything you want, mate.”
Kieran chuckled, feeding him a piece of cured meat. “You’re very accommodating today.”
Lachlan put a hand over his heart on his chest. “Are you saying I’m not accommodating every day?”
“No, just that you’re very humor the lunatic today.”
“Kieran, you’re not a lunatic. You’re pregnant. And I’m happy because I got all my work done, and I can hang out with you now.”
Kieran beamed at him, his cheeks going pink, and the smile he got was absolutely overjoyed. “Thank you. I am, too. I missed you the last couple of days, and I’m happy to be hanging out, doing baby things.” Kieran glanced at Micah, who was pursing his lips. “Little boy things.”
Micah giggled, holding one Li’l Smokie up in the air. “Yay! Things!”
Lachlan’s laughter rang out. He couldn’t fight it, not for love or money.
“Eat the rest of your snack, my sweet boy.”
Micah nodded seriously. “Need rooms in my tums.” He sat up to devour the rest of his food. Then he flopped over again and began snoring.
“Would you like me to put him down for a nap in our room, or just make a pallet for him here and leave him here?”
“Do you mind taking him to our rooms? That way he won’t be in the middle of the paint fumes but, if you leave the door open, he’ll be able to get up and come find us when he wakes up.”
“I can absolutely do that, my love.” He bent over the board and took a kiss from Kieran before he stood and gently hoisted Micah into his arms to carry him into the big room that sat between the two smaller ones Kieran was working on.
By the time he got back, Kieran had eaten all of the pecans and was nibbling on some cheese that was probably some sort of parmesan.
“Are you ready to hang stars, because I am here with my tallness.”
That had Kieran giggling. “Your tallness. I love that. Your alpha-ness.”
Lachlan struck a pose. “I do have that in sort of full supply.”
“My goodness yes. You are my big alpha dragon.” Kieran batted his eyelashes at Lachlan and then blew him kisses.
Lachlan lunged for him, shoving the charcuterie board out of the way and taking a nice long kiss.
That just made Kieran giggle harder and cling to his neck. “I really want to finish Micah’s room today so we can put the furniture back in and he can sleep here tonight.”
“See how you are.” Lachlan sighed. “But I hear and obey.”
“I like that in an alpha.” Kieran stole another kiss, then rubbed their noses together. “Do you have any thoughts about what you want to decorate the baby’s room in?”
He shrugged. “Well, no matter what we choose, we could change it when she’s old enough to have an opinion and express it.
” He pursed his lips as he thought, rocking Kieran gently.
“What do you feel about fun, fat baby dragons flying through the air, having bottles, and playing, being in the clouds? I could paint clouds on the ceiling, even.”
“Oh, how cute. You do have the best ideas, love.”
“You like it? Really?” He would never step on Kieran’s toes but he had a feeling that if Kieran had a plan, he would have told him and not asked for Lachlan’s opinion.
Not that Kieran was bossy or in any way difficult to deal with, but this was his purview.
He was the one who was going to have strong feelings about the baby’s room because he’d be spending a lot of time there, changing the baby and reading stories and just generally being in the space more than Lachlan.
“I genuinely love it. I think it would be wonderful. Do we paint the little dragons on the walls or do we get decals or what do you think?”
“Let me ask Alban where he sources that sort of thing from or if he can paint it. I think clouds are about the extent of my artistic talent.”
That had his mate, giggling madly, squeezing his neck. “That and hanging stars, right?”
“Precisely.” He rose, lifting Kieran with him, and he went to move the charcuterie board outside the door of the room into the hallway so they didn’t step in it.
Then he took the peel and stick stars and moons and all the glow-in-the-dark doodads that Kieran handed him and he began to hang them.
The most strenuous thing Kieran had to do was direct him where to place them, and he didn’t even object when his mate started painting the baseboards because at least he was sitting on the floor to do that.
Lachlan could feel Kieran’s joy just at the fact that they were working together.
It felt amazing to be able to get Micah’s furniture back in, have everything settled so their son could have his room back. He seemed pleased too, pulling his toys out of his toy box and putting them back in, over and over.
“Come on, love, let’s get cleaned up. It’s supper time.”
Kieran beamed at him, his mate tired but happy. “Oh, is it? We had a productive afternoon.”
“We did, and I’m starving. Hopefully there’s something tasty for our late meal.” He was hoping for a roast, honestly.
“Alban always has something going,” Kieran said with absolute certainty. “Are you hungry, Micah, my love?”
“POOD!”
That sweet baby was eternally hungry.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Lachlan teased.
Kieran chuckled. “Well, let’s go get cleaned up, then, and go find Wiver.”
“Wiver!” Michah staggered over to them, arms up.
Lachlan lifted him, and they trooped off to the bathroom to wash up before going in search of supper. The sun was setting outside, casting long pink shadows, and he loved this time of day with his family.
Did that make him sappy? That a long, leisurely supper and lazing on the couch made him so happy?
It may make you sappy, but I’m glad that you love it. We love hanging out with you. I was hoping we could play cards tonight, in fact.
Oh, I’d like that. We can play after Micah goes to sleep, you, me, and the cribbage board.
And cinnamon cookies. Or cinnamon toast…
Yes, my love. Anything you want.
That’s a dangerous promise.
He laughed, because he had to. Happiness this big couldn’t be contained.