Page 7 of Cathmoir's Sons

“Is Gal teething?” I ask Teddy.

“Like a bugger.” She nods. “I swear she’ll have more than thirty-two teeth at the rate she’s going. Here.”

She tosses me a knot of cloth. Cold bites into my fingers. I juggle the freezing cloth between my hands.

“What’s this?”

“Teething cloth. Give it to Gal. She knows what to do with it.”

“It’s too cold for a baby.”

Teddy snorts. “You’ll see.”

“Oookay.”

I offer the cloth to Gal, who immediately grabs it with a chubby fist and swaps it out for the Lego in her mouth.

“So, not too cold?” I ask, filing away that hypothermic lips are evidently okay for babies.

“Nothing’s too cold for our little Fire babies,” Teddy says, snapping a green and red onesie over Nor’s kicking legs and plopping him on the floor next to his sister. “Two ticks and she’ll be whining for G’daddy to make it cold again.”

I tickle Gal so she giggles while continuing to chew the cloth. “Good news for you, kiddo. I can make that cold, too.”

“She’ll love you forever,” Teddy says, leaning against the changing table and rubbing her stomach. I’m sure her skin and muscles are still adjusting to not being stretched by the cherub sleeping in her crib on the other side of the room.

“How’re you doing, mama?” I ask.

“Eh. Not gonna whinge. Charlie’s got me circuit training to get back in shape. Bastard that he is. Yesterday was core day.” She rubs again. “He’s trying to keep me distracted.”

“I know you were close to Carrie,” I say gently.

Teddy pushes her hand through her straight, black hair, ruffling it up from her forehead. “I’m a right numpty, ain’t I?I know everyone dies. Even Dar’s granddad, Mother keep him. Just ... Carrie. I thought she’d still be terrorizing freshmen when the twins get to Bevvy. I can’t imagine it without her. I can’t imagine theworldwithout her. I keep expecting her to email a question that’ll have me turning me melon inside-out for days. I made her favorite muffins the other day?—”

Teddy breaks off, pinching her nose, wiping her eye with her thumb.

I roll up off the floor and pull my friend into a hug. “It’s okay to let yourself feel her loss, Teddy. I know I do.”

Teddy sniffs and hugs me back. “I haven’t been much of a friend to Jane. Every time I try to talk to her about Carrie, I bottle it.”

“Jane understands you’re grieving, too. There’ll be time for you to share with Jane, to listen to her stories about Carrie and tell her yours. That’s how we honor Carrie’s memory.”

“Yeah, you’re right, mate.” She lifts her head. “Oh, for feck’s sake, I’m allowed to have a scryke without the Light Brigade chargin’ in!”

I turn to follow her gaze. Gabe, Charlie, and Darwin are all standing in the nursery’s doorway, watching their wife anxiously. Gabe’s silent because he’s an Air-mage. Darwin’s silent because he’s fae. But Charlie’s a big guy and a Fire-mage, so there’s no reason he should be able to sneak up on me and his wife. Unless Gabe’s cloaking the sound of their movement, which I wouldn’t put past him.

At the appearance of their fathers, the twins begin to coo.

Charlie pushes through the doorway, crossing the room to us. He opens his arms, and I hand Teddy off to him. She grumbles and rolls her eyes but slides into her husband’s embrace and lays her head on his broad chest. Charlie gives me a wink from under his sandy bangs. Teddy calls him her Vikingand with his big build and the blond beard he’s grown since we were at Bevvy, I totally see it.

Charlie cradles Teddy’s head against his collar with one huge hand. “You don’t have to be so hard, bean. We all know what she meant to you.”

Teddy thumps her husband’s shoulder. “I’m not bein’ hard. I have a bloody newborn. I’m too busy to cry.”

“Don’t let my father hear you say that if you’re going to continue to turn down his offers of nannies,” Darwin says, coming up behind Charlie and sliding his arms around both of them.

Darwin’s always been cold around me. It’s understandable. He’s a high fae prince. Showing emotion is a political liability. But he’s completely different when he’s in private with Teddy and their family. Watching him be so affectionate is always slightly surprising, and totally heartwarming.

“No nannies,” says Gabe, scooping up Gal as she tries to scale Darwin’s leg. “I mean it. I’ll quit teaching if I need to, but our babies are being raised by us.”

---