Page 45 of Spirit Island

He giggled andnodded shyly. Andreux came in wearing a sarong and carrying twocups of coffee. He was beautiful.

She grinned. “Ithought it would be tea.”

“Tea isbusiness. Orla said you like coffee, so coffee it is.” Goodmorning, gorgeous.”

She settledTerro against her and took the coffee carefully.

Terro looked ather and touched her neck. “Owie?”

“No, sweetie.Just pink.”

Terro stood upon her and kissed it with a wet smack. “Better?”

“Muchbetter.”

He startedlooking and found the bite mark. “Owie.” He kissed it, and shesmiled. “That feels better, Terro.”

Andreux satnext to them and said, “He’s gonna be busy.”

Jane grinned.“I am keeping the sheet on.”

Terro left wettoddler kisses on her shoulders, neck, and arms and then sat down,beaming. He looked at Andreux and blinked, scooting forward.

Jane smiled.“Your turn.”

The scratchesshe had left on his chest were attended to by their toddler, whosat back with satisfaction.

Andreux put hisarm around her and moved closer. Terro settled between them andsighed. “I could get used to this.”

Jane laughed.“I hope that your adjustment is quick because when he has a dreamor comes to us early, that little foot is going up your nose orinto your mouth.”

“I will manageit. I consider it a challenge.”

She rested herhead against his shoulder and sighed. Her whole body was throbbing,and she started doing math. Terro probably wouldn’t be an onlychild by the middle of the following year.

“What wasthat?”

“Oh, just somemath.”

He chuckled.“Honeymoon baby?”

“I don’t knowif I can keep that up for a month.” Jane sighed.

“Sore?” Hisfingertips caressed the new mark.

“Aware. Very,very aware.” She chuckled. She looked at the scratches on him.“Sore?”

He rubbed them.“Aware. My back is definitely aware. Also, when did you bite myass?”

“I dunno.Somewhere around two in the morning?” She wrinkled her nose andlaughed as Terro did the same. She held her hand up, twisted it,and a coconut appeared. Terro grinned in delight and began to rollit around on the sheets.

“What is thedeal with him and coconuts?”

“We sat througha tour and lecture about the coconut, how they float in and setroots down and then are dramatically plentiful. They are food,water, fibre, and material. Oh, and they are round, and you canthrow them. And like people, they are one thing with a differentface that can be removed with effort. I am guessing that he gotstuck on the round part, but now, he loves coconuts.”

Andreux noddedand said, “That was a good tour.”

“It was. Serintook us around and explained that just because they weren’toriginally supposed to be here, they were still needed andwanted.”

---