Chapter 22 #2
Kieran knew that Samuel’s sister, who was actually Grant’s mother, had been married to Samuel’s mate’s brother’s sister — because that wasn’t confusing.
They’d had a baby, and then they had both died when Grant was very young.
“I’m sorry about your sister.”
Samuel nodded. “So am I, but I’m not sorry I met Jake. He’s meant to be mine, and I can’t imagine not having Grant or the others. They’re all the loves of my life.”
“I’m so happy to hear that.” Kieran perused the little menu at the cider stand. “Oh, white chocolate decaf hot chocolate…”
“Yummy, huh? So that or cider?”
“I’ll get the cider. It has cinnamon.”
“Is that your thing? Cinnamon?”
Kieran nodded even as Samuel chuckled at him. “I’ve got cinnamon candies in my pocket. It’s that bad.”
“Impressive.” Samuel’s wink was knowing. “Cravings are wild things, and what you want is the only thing that works, right?”
“Yeah, this time though, it’s been almost fun.” He ordered three ciders, and also an apple juice for Micah before continuing. “With Micah, I didn’t have a partner, and now I have Lachlan to make fetch and carry. He makes cinnamon toast and cinnamon bread and cinnamon anything I want.”
“I understand. That’s like the best part.” Samuel winked over at him, playful as anything. “We have to make them feel useful.”
“True. I mean, Alban would make me anything I want. Anything she wants.” Kieran put his hand on his belly. “But it makes him so happy to provide, and it makes me feel so good to know he cares.”
“Yeah, I hear you, trust me. From what Jake tells me, it makes them feel pretty good to be able to provide. Back in the olden days, that was their whole job, right? To provide for omegas when they were hidden away in caves, wrapped around their nests. Now it’s not quite so easy for them to get what they are looking for. ”
The lady at the coffee cart introduced herself again as Lulu, and they chatted for a few minutes. Then they took their drinks and caught up with Lachlan and Micah, who were now strolling with Jake and Grant, Gwyneth, and Gerri.
“Oh my goodness, so cute!” He couldn’t help but exclaim over their costumes. They had gone to the superhero theme and Grant was Iron Man, Gwyneth was Spider-Gwen, and baby Gerri was the Black Widow. Adorable.
So now he could see how Grant could possibly be problematic if he was trying to be a superhero while he was dressed up as Iron Man. That could cause a great deal of broken stuff.
“We gets candy,” Gwyneth told him, her little face incredibly serious.
“I see that.” He handed off a drink to Lachlan and had Samuel hold his other one while he poured Micah’s apple juice into a sippy cup. “Who’s our next victim?”
“Come on. You should totally meet the Jaramillo family.”
The Jaramillos were a lovely couple with two moms and a gaggle of children who ranged in age from maybe sixteen down to six. The children were handing out candy while the little ones roamed around, going back and forth between their own car and everyone else’s with their pillowcases full of candy.
They didn’t seem to have chosen a theme. The moms were both dressed as witches and all the kids had everything from a simple painted face on one of the teenagers that he thought was supposed to be something anime to a very well realized daisy.
Somewhere along the way they lost Samuel, but they gained Lars and his children. Kieran had never felt more a part of a community than he did right at this moment.
By the time he had met everyone and they had collected enough candy to feed Micah for at least a year, Kieran was starving. So he linked arms with Lachlan, Wiver dancing at their feet, and gazed up at Lach adoringly. “They said there was food inside the school.”
“That’s what they tell me. I think there’s going to be a fry bread. You know what they can do with that? They can sprinkle it with cinnamon and sugar.”
His eyes widened as his stomach rumbled. Lachlan laughed at him, squeezing his arm, still lugging around Micah and all of their gear. The man was like a pack mule. It was fabulous.
“Food ho! Come on. Let’s go to the cafeteria.”
They made the trek inside, waving at Bea, who was handing out raffle tickets at the front door.
He loved how the Guardians were present here, completely part of the festivities but also well aware that anything could happen at any moment.
Being part of a dragon wing could be fraught with danger because the human world was always encroaching from the outside somehow, not to mention stuff like what had happened to Lachlan and Kieran, both from other dragons.
But he wasn’t thinking about that. They were lions and tigers and bears today, and they could take care of themselves.
The smell when they walked into the cafeteria was something wondrous. Frying bread mixed with this deep scent of hot chilies and some sort of stewed meat, maybe barbacoa. But there were also hot dogs. Oh, Wiver loved his hot dogs.
“Go ahead and sit. I’ll go get you some goodies.” Lachlan told him, eyes warm on him.
Tempting, but he didn’t think so. “Oh, no, I want to come see.”
He wanted to meet everyone and see the costumes and be in the middle of all this. This is what he had been asked to do, and he was finding it quite amazing.
“Of course.” Lachlan shifted Micah into the carrier on his chest, the sweet baby sound asleep, cuddled into his papa’s shoulder, and they headed into the thick of things.
The cafeteria was bright and light, and the decorations were pure joy — witches and ghosts and spiders, all obviously handmade by the students at the school. They made him smile.
They got in the line and grabbed a tray.
“I spoke to the principal at the school.”
“Did you? Well, excellent. I’ve met her a few times. She seems very pleasant.”
Kieran nodded. “Yes, she’s very kind, actually, yes, and I really liked her. I told her I think I’m going to start coming up a couple of days a week and teaching a few art classes.”
Lachlan beamed at him. “Oh, well, that’s exciting.”
“I think so. We’ll have to find something to do with Micah…” He wanted to give Lachlan an out.
“Between me and Alban, we can figure it out. We’re resourceful.”
“You are.” And loving. And so kind.
“Do you mind if I break in?” A sweet-looking dragon with a mass of dark hair and heart-shaped face move up behind them. “I’m Patrice. I teach here. And we do have a preschool sort of daycare for people who work at the school. If you wanted to bring your son.”
“Hi, Patrice. That sounds great. I’m Kieran. You’ll have to excuse me if I’m distracted.” He put a hand on his wee baby bump. “She’s hungry.”
“Oh, that’s always difficult.” She chuckled. “One never knows if it’s something you want or something they’re craving.”
He snorted out a laugh. “In my case, if it’s cinnamon? It’s her, totally her.” He chuckled at himself and shook his head. “What do you teach?”
“Second and third grade right now. Although I think we’re getting big enough that I might become just a second-grade teacher next year. You’re going to teach art?”
“Looks like it. I have a meeting with Cerridwyn to iron out the details. I imagine it will just be part time.” But fun! And if Micah could make more new friends, so much the better.
“Wonderful! We have an art room, but it’s been catch as catch can.”
“I’m excited to make it something more…real.”
They chatted for a few minutes, kind of wandering as the line did, with Lachlan just standing there, beaming over them like a proud papa.
“Well, welcome to the team.”
“Baby. Fry bread.” Lachlan winked at Patrice. “Time for food.”
“Ah yes, the important part.”
Kieran nodded and turned toward the fry bread, which was amazing.
They had them stuffed with taco fillings.
They had them stuffed with cheese and potatoes and beans.
There were ones that were stuffed with nothing but covered in cinnamon sugar, and he was going to die.
“Can I have one of each and two of the cinnamon?”
He knew it was greedy, but it just smelled like hot oil heaven.
“Of course you can.” Lachlan ordered for them, his voice booming over the crowd.
They also got a couple of empanadas because they were filled with the apple pie filling, which was stuffed with cinnamon.
As soon as they sat down, they were mobbed by other people and the parade of costumes made them exclaim and clap and compliment.
Micah slept through it all, his earlier excitement having worn him out.
Wiver curled around their feet, staying out of the way, and Kieran had to admit he was impressed by him because he had worried he’d trip people up.
Finally he groaned down to his belly and leaned back against Lachlan’s shoulder, feeling sleepy. “Oh that was so good, that was perfect, thank you.”
“You’re welcome love. Did you want to play any games or are we just going to wait for the costume contest?”
“Can we come back to that question? There might be time for games, but right now I’m so full I’m sleepy.”
Lachlan wrapped an arm around him. “If you need to have a little bit of a nap, just lean on me and doze. I promise I’ll keep you safe.”
“You always do.” He snuggled right up next to Micah, letting Lachlan hold them both, and dozed until it was time to announce the winner of the costume contest. All of the kids who had entered did a little parade for them, and he had to clap his hands and laugh.
He couldn’t remember ever being happy, feeling so connected to this place.
Somehow, finally, he was home. Home. Born, mated, and happy