“Spoken like a true mama.”

“Just a proud big sister at the moment, but by the time the boys head off to college, I do fear I’ll suffer from some empty nest syndrome after all of this.”

“Then we’ll just have to fill the house up with pups of our own.”

Her head whipped towards me. “After basically raising four children through what many deem the toughest years of child rearing, you’d want to just start at the beginning and do it all over again?”

“You wouldn’t?” I asked, a little surprised.

“Of course I want kids. I just didn’t think you would.”

“Well, you thought wrong. I’m fine with waiting a bit. We’ve got a full house at the moment, but some day. Yeah.”

I glanced over and found her grinning from ear to ear.

It pleased me to know that I could make her that happy.

“You know, that just means we’ll have time to practice just to be sure we’re ready when the time comes.”

“Practice taking care of babies?”

“Practice making them.”

Her blush tipped the tops of her ears and I wanted to pull the van over and start practicing right then and there. But I knew we had places to be and we were already running late.

By the time we got to the airstrip, the jet was already touching down.

Tilly waited until I parked, got out, and ran around to open her door.

“I'm so excited.”

“I know, gorgeous. Come on.”

We held hands as we waited for the plane to land and unload. Though my impatient mate took off the second the stairs were rolled up and the door opened.

I heard the scream before Kayla stepped out of the plane and ran down the stairs to embrace Tilly. The two of them laughed, cried, and talked at the same time. I had no idea what was happening but I could feel nothing but pure joy flooding our bond.

For a brief second Kayla let go of my mate long enough to hug me. We'd met briefly in Australia but she had been busy helping her parents secure the King Tribe and I'd been consumed with work and family.

We'd have a full week to get to know each other and if all went well, she might even be sticking around longer.

“I have to heal d into the office today, so you have her all yourself,”

“Keen,” Kayla said.

“You're gonna love it here,” Tilly assured her as the two women locked arms and practically skipped to the van.

I drove myself to the Lodge while they sat in the back catching up. Once there they switched to the front while I said bye.

Tilly kissed me as Kayla obnoxiously cheered her on. I already understood that these two together could be trouble, but the harmless, fun kind of trouble.

“I catch a ride home and see you guys later.”

“Love you,” Tilly said.

“Awe!” Kayla sighed.

“Love you, too. Behave ladies.”