Page 58 of Jack of All Trades

“I felt the same with Maltin,” Trudy told him as she retook her seat. “They are born, and you actually miss them, even while they’re in your arms.”

“That makes no sense, Trudy,” Rodney said as he and Maltin stared at the two of them.

Jack gazed at her and said, “It makes all the sense in the world.”

While Maltin slept peacefully next to him, Trudy and Rodney safely at the best hotel in town, Jack read over the book Ms. Tempest had given them. Learning about himself, about his mate and their children, Jack found himself wanting to know more.

Books could only contain so much. As he felt the children in him move, he knew it was difficult to express how scared he was and how excited he felt. Simultaneous fear and anticipation. It was crazy, but he had both crowding him.

In the morning, once Maltin was occupied at his desk writing a movie for After Life Streaming Services, a little tale of a hellhound shifter finding his fated mate, Jack decided to go out for the morning. “I’ll be gone for a couple hours,” he told his mate.

“Why not wait for me, darling? I’ll only be another couple of hours.”

“I’d rather go alone. I love you, but I won’t be alone soon, once the babies are here.”

Maltin kissed his forehead and whispered, “Be very careful, Jack. You’re precious cargo.”

“The babies will be fine.”

“I’m not just talking about the babies, Jack. You’re every bit as precious to me.”

With that to cloak him in love and security, Jack drove the Thunderbird out of the industrial district. He found he’d miss it, though Maltin would never give up the warehouse. Not only were his cars stored there, but so were the memories of their meeting and falling in love.

Jack drove to the city with one destination in mind. He hadn’t been back to the library, that wonderful place of knowledge and entertainment, since he and Maltin had checked out the book on the seat beside him.

Smiling wistfully, thinking about that day, how nervous they were, and how curious, Jack knew more than he had but still wondered.

He parked in the lot behind the library, walking slowly to enjoy the cool of the day. The apple trees were leafless, but they werebeginning to bud, and the green grass was taking over the yellow in the soil between those trees.

An old city, a vibrant one, Valleywood had given him more than he’d ever imagined.

He stopped on the sidewalk to pay it thanks, seeing the rising buildings downtown, watching the cars hurrying to the studios to make their movies and shows. Every kind of car from the most expensive money could buy to old beaters, like he’d once owned. The hierarchy of the city of dreams for all beings supernatural.

Continuing to the wide stairs secured by the winged lions, Jack felt his babies begin to flutter madly in his stomach. “What is up with you kids?

The closer he got to the doors, the more movement he felt from them. He laughed, as it kind of tickled, like they’d found all his tickle spots inside him. “Settle down! You have to be mellow in a library. Oh well, you’ll learn that the first time Ms. Tempest scowls at you.”

Inside, he didn’t see her at the front desk, so he started strolling around the stacks, in no hurry. He saw the great authors of both human and supernatural realms. Tomes of witchcraft for beginners to the highest priests and priestesses.

“Jack, how are you?”

He turned to see her pushing a cart of returned books. “I’m…”

As he laid his hands on his big, round gut, she smiled warmly. “I can see. I’m happy for you.”

“I am, very happy, that is. Maltin is…wonderful.”

“I’m glad of that. Not all fated mates are good. It’s the roll of the dice, I’m afraid. More than I’d like to admit don’t live happy lives just because fate deemed them to join together.”

“How did you…know? Who are you, really? I read in that book that there are…gods at play with certain shifters.”

As her lips curled into a smile, Ms. Tempest suddenly lost all the lines and wrinkles formerly on her face. Her hair grew thick,coming out of the bun she usually wore to cascade down her shoulders.

A very young woman, she stood before him, leaning on the handle of the cart, her bright blue eyes shining in the dim light of the room. “You’re too smart for your own good, Jack Pengrove.”

“Jack Graves,” he said proudly. “I took Maltin’s name, because…well, biological parents, adopted ones, it doesn’t matter. He and the babies are my family now.”

“Don’t cast away those that you’ve been born to, whether you came from their genes or not, Jack. All of us have our tests and trials, and we don’t conquer them all, but there are a few we succeed over. Hold onto those.”

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