Page 20 of Arthur

“I love you, Patrick. More than I know how to say. You and William are my entire world. Please don’t let George’s return upset you.”

I shook my head. “I’m not upset. I am happy your brother has returned. Sad he didn’t find his One. I cannot imagine what it is like to have to go as long as the two of you have without having someone to share your life with. I am eternally grateful that I was paired with you so young.” That was the truth. I was incredibly young for having found my One. My years hadn’t even hit thirty yet, and already, I had Arthur and our first son. Would we have more? I wanted as many as we were to be gifted. I didn’t know how many that would be, but if William was to be our only child, I would be happy and love him dearly.

William started to fuss in earnest, and I nodded before I left to go to the outer room to get the milk. It was because of our magic that we all had the ability to keep such things in our individual homes. I had the milk prepared for William by the time Arthur had him cleaned up and his cloth changed. My heart fluttered when I reentered our bedchamber and saw Arthur sitting up in our bed, holding a fussy baby. I hurried to hand him the milk, and that was all it took for William’s fussiness to end. He started drinking loudly, making me wonder if he was hungry before and simply hadn’t woken up yet.

I joined Arthur in our bed, carefully laying my head down on Arthur’s lap and sighing. When I felt his fingers thread through my hair, I turned my head enough to look up in wonder. I shouldn’t have been surprised to see a gold glow around the milk, holding it in the perfect position for the baby to drink.

“I love you,” Arthur said again.

“I love you too,” I whispered back. I sighed as Arthur continued to run his fingers through my hair. “Do you think we will have more children?” I blurted out, letting my thoughts from earlier escape.

“That is my hope. Do you not wish for more children?”

I nodded my head before I turned back onto my side completely and sighed again. “I do. I would like very much to give you more children. I am, of course, pleased with William,” I told him. “And if he is all we are ever blessed with, so be it.”

“We will have more children,” Arthur said matter-of-factly. “I know we will. You were made to be a father. You are so amazing with William.”

“Not nearly as wonderful as you are.”

Arthur chuckled. “I was already fully grown when George was born. Just a bit younger than you are now, but I vividly remember holding my minutes-old brother. I wasn’t ready for my own child just then, but I’ve done a lot of growing since.”

I yawned. The late hour, combined with Arthur’s calming voice and the rhythmic gesture of him threading his fingers through my hair, had completely put me at ease. When Arthur patted me on the shoulder, I looked up at my One.

“Let me up so I can put William in his cradle.”

I moved, getting myself situated on my pillow while Arthur slid from the bed. He bent, placing our son in the cradle and moments later was back in bed beside me. He threw the room into darkness by blowing out the candles with magic. It only took moments after he wrapped his arm around me and pulled my head onto his chest for me to fall back asleep.

I woke hours later, alone in our bed. I raised my head, glancing around, and found that I was alone in our bedchamber. The door was pulled mostly closed, but I could still hear Arthur in the other room. It sounded like he was talking to William.

I quickly slid from our bed and went to the bathing area to take care of my morning routine. I was dressed and ready to join my One in just minutes. I found him in the outer room, most certainly talking to our son. I couldn’t help the quickening of myheartbeat and breath at seeing Arthur in nothing but his hose while feeding our son.

“Why didn’t you wake me?”

“You needed to sleep. You do too much. Your body has been through so much in the past several months. It is nothing for me to get up and take care of this precious bundle while you get your rest.”

I moved over to where Arthur was sitting and wrapped my arms around his shoulders from behind. I bent down and placed a kiss on his cheek. “You seriously spoil me so. It is not any issue for me to wake with our son. I didn’t even hear him.”

“I was up and woke him before he made a peep.”

Immediately, I was concerned. I moved to the side and knelt beside my love. “What is wrong? Is it George’s return? Are you worried?”

“There isn’t a thing wrong. I simply was up and brought the baby with me so he wouldn’t wake you. I am a bit concerned about George, but it is nothing more than what I would usually feel. He and I have always met and discussed our travels upon our return. Not having discussed anything with him as of yet, I cannot say if he returned just then or if he had already been here for a bit. This was the first time he’s ever come to my place in the middle of the night though, which tells me that something might be amiss.”

That was my concern as well. George was a warlock. The second born to the created warlock. He was powerful. If he’d been thinking clearly, he would have been able to sense the auras of two others in what he thought was just Arthur’s house. Was he distracted? Had there been something important that he needed to discuss with his brother?

“Why don’t you go find him?” I asked as I stood. “I can finish up with William, and then when he is finished eating and I’ve changed him, I can bring him to the main house, and we can allhave a visit. If you aren’t there because George needed to discuss something in private, I can simply visit with Oliver.”

Arthur looked like he wanted to take me up on the offer. I tried to help him make his decision by reaching down and taking William from him. Our son continued to drink his milk like he’d not just switched from one father to the other.

“Are you certain?” Arthur stood.

“Of course I am. Go talk to your brother. He came here for a reason last night. Go see how important it was. I’ll be along shortly. It will be nice to have a meal and a chat with Oliver anyway.” I smiled. “You have been saying I should get out more now that William is a bit older. Besides, it will keep Dad from having to come here to steal time with this little guy,” I said as I looked down at our son. Wallace loved children. He always had. I’d seen how he was with Frederick and Oliver’s children when I’d been here before. That hadn’t changed.

Now, we had provided him with his firstborn grandchild. Wallace held the baby every opportunity he could. Edison had held William a few times, but like before, he had a lot more responsibilities with regards to the coven. He often spent his days with the others, helping them with issues and working with them to be the best warlocks they could. Arthur often helped, but he’d stepped back in recent months in order to focus on us and then my pregnancy. Now we had William, and Arthur had been helping me with the baby.

“I will only be a thought away,” Arthur said as he leaned in and kissed me. I returned the gesture, and when he pulled away, it was to see him smiling at me. “I love you. You are amazing.” Arthur glanced down at William in my arms.

“You go. I am more than capable of spending time caring for our son alone. I understand your innate need to do it all, but that’s not necessary.”

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