Page 20 of Forged

Nick frowned and reached for his phone in his back pocket. Sure enough, he’d had a missed call from her roughly an hour before. He’d just begun his walk with Bax when she’d called. He hadn’t heard the ring or felt the vibration.

“Sorry I missed it,” he said then went right into, “Imogen is here for the day. I’m paying her and she probably needs the money.”

“I do,” Imogen said hesitantly. “But I’ve also got a paper to write for half-term.”

“There you have it,” Nick’s mum said with a nod. “Imogen has a paper to write. I’ll take the babies so that you both can be free. I’ll even pay for your time,” she told Imogen.

“Really?” Imogen brightened. “That would be ace.”

Nick’s mum arched one eyebrow at her lingo, then marched into the flat like everything had already been decided.

Nick and Imogen followed her into the flat. Imogen gathered up her things then said goodbye to the kids and headed out.

“You didn’t need to chase my babysitter off like that,” Nick said as he helped his mum get the kids into their coats while she packed their nappy bag.

“I didn’t chase her off,” his mum said. “I freed up her time and yours. Besides, I love spending time with the babies.”

Sometimes Nick wondered about that. She certainly took her time before coming over to pick Macy up and bounce her in her arms.

Nick ignored her comment in favor of chasing Jordan to put his coat on, but everything came to a screeching halt when his mum said, “You should just let me keep them.”

Nick straightened abruptly, pulling Jordan up into his arms as he did. “I beg your pardon?”

His mum turned to him with her serious discussion face. “I’ve been thinking about it quite a bit lately, and I think you should hand the children over to me to raise.”

“No,” Nick said, laughing at the ridiculousness of the idea. A wave of fear pulsed underneath his laughter, though. “I don’t need anyone’s help raising the kids.”

“Don’t you?” his mum asked as Jordan whined and tried to get down. “You’re always giving them over to babysitters.”

“Because I have a job,” Nick said. “Most people have jobs and put their kids into some sort of daycare.”

“But you don’t have to, darling,” his mum argued. “I live less than twenty minutes away, I’m retired, and Joann also lives with me. She’s trained in these sorts of things, you know.”

“I’m trained in them, too,” Nick said, trying not to get upset. Jordan was wiggly enough already, and the kids had a way of picking up on his mood.

“You are not,” his mum said with a frown.

“I’ve been a father for three years plus,” Nick said, moving to the couch so he could set Jordan down and do up the zip on his coat. “If you ask me, that gives me more experience than anyone who went to school for early childhood development.”

“You’re a single man in your prime, Nicholas,” his mum said. She was clearly exasperated, since she was using his full name. “You should be out dating. You should be looking for a new wife to help raise your babies and so that you can have more.”

Those words felt like ice water trickling down Nick’s back. He didn’t want to date. At least, he didn’t want to go out with a bunch of women he wasn’t interested in. He didn’t want to pick at all his reasons why, though.

“If you found someone else, you could move out of this madhouse and find a place of your own,” his mum said once he finally sorted Jordan and picked him up again.

Nick blew out a breath. If he’d had a free hand, he would have rubbed it over his face in frustration. That’s what the whole thing was about. His mum wanted him to move away from Hawthorne House. Knowing her, she probably wanted him to cut ties with Raina’s family entirely.

“No, Mum,” he said as calmly as he could. “I’m not farming out my children like they did in the old days. We’re doing just fine as we are.”

His mum sent him a withering look as they headed out into the hall. She didn’t say anything more about her plan as they took the kids down to her car, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t thinking about it. Nick chose to ignore the issue as he bundled his babies up to go spend a day with Granny, but despite having given his mum a firm no, he would have been an idiot to think the whole thing was settled. His mum didn’t give up that easily.

SEVEN

Something was there.Something was definitely there. Nick had started joining Bax on his morning walks on a regular basis, even though Bax was fully aware that he had a thousand other things to do. Walking or jogging through the wintery grounds of Hawthorne House quickly became a daily thing for the two of them, and Bax had never been more excited.

He was even looking forward to Imbolc, despite losing his coven. Once he’d been taken off the group WhatsApp chat, that had been it. He hadn’t heard a single thing from any of the people who had once been as close to him as his own family. Damien probably had something to do with that, since his ex was jealous for attention. Bax should have been devastated by being cast out, but instead, he spent the day of Imbolc working on the arts center’s audit and walking around the house with a spring in his step.

Maybe it was silly of him, but he took extra care dressing and getting ready for the feast that Nick had offered to host in the forge. Nick had insisted that he take care of the food, and Bax had everything ready for a short ritual to honor the hearth and welcome the light of spring into the world. He also preparedby making sure his hair was brushed just so, his natural fiber trousers, top, and vest looked good on him, and he even put on a touch of musky cologne that he always wore when he had a hot date.

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