Page 13 of Rescued By My Dragons

”Yes, but there he was—Elliot, right there in our living room!With wings and horns and a tail and…!Jenna, how can they be that?How did their world get that way, with people living in a place full of…them?”

Shrugging, I said, “I don’t know, Nana.You know, Daddy always talked about how there were an infinite number of possible worlds, and how most of those worlds had to be strange and different places from here.With endless universes and endless possibilities, there must be endless strangeness.The world of Tellus is probably one of the most ordinary worlds, compared to millions of others we’ve never even started to discover.”

Nana’s eyes widened a bit at the idea.“You call that ordinary?!”

I couldn’t help but laugh a little at that.“Well, you never know.Probably somewhere in some other universe, there’s a world of intelligent, talking mosses living in cities made out of tree bark or something.The strangeness of this one universe probably doesn’t have any limit, so there can’t be any limit to the strangeness of infinite universes.”

My grandmother rubbed her brow and sounded even more weary.“Jenna.Oh, darling, you’re sounding just like your father now.Wherever he is.”

”Yes,” I said, a bit wistfully.“Wherever he is.”

We were quiet for a moment.From outside came the muffled sound of the waves rolling in on our private section of beach.Considering who was out on our deck, I was never more grateful that it was private.Then, Nana spoke up again.

”You really like them, don’t you?”

For a second I flashed on exactly how much I liked them, and how much they liked me, and how much we liked the things we did to show it, but I quickly hid my feelings.There are things a girl wants to be a bit discreet about, especially with her grandmother.“Yes, Nana.I like them very much.”

She nodded knowingly, in spite of the things I was so carefully not saying.“Especially the big one—Elliot.He’s your favorite, isn’t he?”

I felt myself blush.“Nana…!”

”Oh, now, Jenna.Maybe you’re a young scientist in training, but you’re also a young woman and perhaps I’ve gotten on, but I still know how a young woman looks when there’s one particular young man.”

”Nana, I’m friends with all of them,” I said.

”And I may be a little conventional or provincial about some things, but there are a good many things I remember from being your age.There are different kinds of ‘friends,’ Jenna.”

”They’ve all been good to me,” I said.“They’ve all looked out for me.”

”I can tell.But just like, as you and your father say, there are infinite numbers of worlds, there are many, many different kinds of relationships.Sometimes love takes on a shape you’d never expect—pardon the expression and sometimes love isn’t what we expect it to be—or doesn’t come with the number of people we expect.”

Hearing this from my own sweet grandmother, I could hardly believe my ears.I was suddenly hearing Nana hinting at things a girl doesn’t expect her grandmother even to knowabout, let alone think about.“Nana, really,” I said, “they’ve all been really good to me, and yes, I’m especially close with Elliot, but…but…”

Now it was her turn to pat my hand.“Hush, child.Hush.There’s nothing to be upset about, Jenna.Or guilty about.Our feelings can be very unpredictable, can’t they?”

”Nana, they’re all good.They really are,” I said.

“Of course they are.My granddaughter wouldn’t be friends with them if they weren’t good young men.”Her belief in me made me feel as happy as I felt just from being home.The love and faith of the people who matter the most to you in the world is “home.”

”You may not think about me this way,” said Nana, “but I remember how it was to be a young girl.Somewhere inside, I’m still the same as you are now, and oh, I recall the things I felt at your age.It’s the most common thing in the world for a girl who’s just become a woman to entertain fantasies about more than just one boy, or just one young man.We look, we see—and we want.It happens every day.Every girl sees and wants.I look at your three lads, and I can just imagine you—seeing and wanting.”

As much as I appreciated the honesty, and all the kindness and warmth, of her words, I began to feel just a little twinge of discomfort.That desire to be discreet with her came back.I started to get up from the bed.“Nana, maybe I’d just better let you get on with your reading so you can get some sleep…”

But she took me gently by the wrist and said reassuringly.“You have nothing to be embarrassed about, darling and nothing to feel guilty about.Jenna, all women dream and all women fantasize and just a few women actually live the things that they dream about.Many people aren’t brave enough to live those things.But you, my dear—I can see you’re different and I don’t judge you, Jenna.Not at all.”

Now I was more curious than embarrassed.“Nana, did you ever live out the dreams you had?”

She chuckled heartily.“Oh, dear, your grandfather was ‘dream’ enough for me.But no, I grew up in a different time than you and lived a very different life than you.Entertaining those fantasies was enough.”She made that same little chuckle again, and for a second I could see her at my age.“And they were quite entertaining.”She took on a wistful and melancholy look.“But I would never have imagined myself living the kind of life that you are, meeting young men like the ones you brought home today; young men who are also…that other thing.Jenna, I would never have dreamed such things were even possible.Other worlds.Beautiful men who become dragons.I never would have dreamed it.

”I’m not you, Jenna.You have a life that is so very far beyond me, and it hasn’t even really begun yet.The places you’ll go, the things you’ll do, the woman you’ll become—it’s just so much more.But Jenna, darling, no matter where you go or what you do, or who’s there with you, there’s always one question more important than any other, and you must remember that.”

”What question is that, Nana?”

She gave my hand a squeeze and a shake to emphasize her meaning.“Are you happy?Because really, the most we can do in any kind of life is to try to make ourselves happy.Because our happiness is our most important responsibility and you shouldn’t have to be my age to learn that.”

My eyes started getting wet from overflowing emotion.“I love you, Nana,” I said, almost sobbing.

”I love you, my sweet girl.”

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