Page 26 of Overbooked at Dragon's Landing

“Willow,” Ralph offered.

“I like it.” Craig smiled.

Willow.We have a daughter. And her name is Willow.And she was already better than all of us.

“How did we get to be her dads?” Tears streamed down Craig’s face.

“I-I don’t know,” I murmured.

Ralph kissed the side of Craig’s head, and I did the same.

I knew one thing—I was going to treasure every second I had with her, just like my parents and grams did with me.

Epilogue

Craig

It was difficult to believe that a year had already passed since the day the three of us walked into the bed-and-breakfast to discover there was no room for our mate. I’d been so confused at the time, my feelings so intense, so quickly, and for a stranger. I hadn’t even known his name, but already I knew he was important.

It was so terribly confusing, especially with my feelings for Ralph so strong for so long. How was it that I was suddenly attracted to someone when I hadn’t been, ever? And why wasn’t I jealous of the way my roommate was obviously so enamored with the sexy dragon?

But being human, I didn’t have the ability to scent my mate the way they did and know instantly that they were there for me. Still, I knew. I didn’t have the words for it, but I knew almost instantly that we were meant to be together—all of us.

All those years of unrequited love weren’t so unrequited after all. They were simply waiting until the right time. It was beautiful, and I kept waiting for it to get hard. People always tell you marriage is hard. And I wasn’t married—I was mated. And I didn’t have just one husband to deal with; I had two.

I’d call it a lot of things, but hard wasn’t one of them. We were meant to be together, full stop. And while we didn’t always agree on everything, that was always there. It was always a given. It was the three of us until we took our final breaths.

“Hey, baby girl, are you ready to get out?” I looked down at Willow, her eyes open, but barely. We’d been waiting for her to wake up from her morning nap, so for the first time since she hatched, she took a long one.

Maybe we needed to plan something really cool for every morning and she’d sleep in. A full night’s sleep would be nice. Or even a half of one. My mates were great about taking turns with her during the night, but that didn’t stop me from waking up.

When my midwife suggested a chest pump, I thought it would go unused. I was home, and Willow was here with me. Why would I need it? I was so glad that my mates didn’t listen to me on that one. Pumping for night feedings had been a game changer. This way, we had three tired daddies but none completely running on fumes.

Willow didn’t answer my question, but I didn’t expect her to. She was still in the newborn stage, her communication pretty much exclusively cries. Her eyes were open, and her feet were wiggling, so I took that as a yes and got her changed up. Today was the day she was going to meet both of her dads’ beasts.

We had waited a short while—not because we wanted to hide that part from her or anything wild like that but because we wanted to do it in the same place I met their beasts, their dragon and wolf. She was still too young to remember it, but Ralph said his family always met their parents’ wolves the day they were born, so by that barometer, we were very late.

I brought her out to the living room to find both my mates sitting on the couch, clearly waiting for us.

“The car is packed. We have a stroller, a play yard, blankets, water, food, three pairs of baby clothes, a package of wipes, a package of diapers…” Trace went through the mental list he’d made for himself.

“Did you leave anything in the house?” I teased.

“Hey, just being prepared.” Trace came over and held his hands out for our daughter, and I placed her in them. “Let’s get you in the car. You’re going to meet your dragon and wolf.”

Normally, she fell asleep in the car, but the ride was short, and she’d just woken up—which made it easier. Waking her unnecessarily was like poking a bear. Nobody ever won.

I climbed in beside her, my mates up front, and we drove the short distance. She was so stinking adorable I couldn’t stand it.

Once we arrived, the work began. We really had brought too much.

“I arranged a picnic area for us using the blankets, laid out some food, and set up her play yard with a swaddle blanket draped over it in case she wanted to take a nap. Not only for bugs but also to keep the sun off her. And then, of course, there was her stroller—but she was still trying to decide if she liked it or not. I usually wore her as opposed to putting her in it, so I had a feeling she was going to decide against it, but only time would tell.

I sat on the blanket with her in my lap.

“So, I know everybody’s hungry, but she’s awake now.” She was still in that very sleepy stage—she didn’t stay awake for super long, and she dozed off quite often.

“Okay, then. Let’s do this.” Trace was excited to show her his dragon.

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