Page 36 of The Griffin, the Tiger, and Their House Cat Omega

Matthew’s breath caught in his throat. His eyes filled. “It’s entirely gold.”

“I told you it would be,” I said.

“Yeah, but I wasn’t sure I quite believed it.”

“We did that. All three of us together. We made this happen.” I wiped a tear from my eye.

“I love you both so much.” Matthew leaned toward River. His arms out.

“And we love you,” River and I said in unison.

We both enfolded him with our bodies and our love.

“Now all we have to do is wait for it to hatch,” River said.

Chapter Twenty-Three

River

“I think it’s time.” Matthew’s eyes didn’t stray from his egg.

He’d been lying right beside the egg pretty much twenty-four hours a day, stepping away only long enough to pee and when we insisted on showering. So far, the eggs hadn’t done anything. Not a wiggle, but the midwife said they could hatch anytime between now and three days.

“It’s definitely now. We need to get Flora.”

I didn’t see what he did, but I trusted him. This was his egg, he knew it better than I ever could.

Flora was at school, and I’d almost kept her home that morning, but I wasn’t sure how to make an excuse.She wants to see her baby sister get hatched. Or brother—we didn’t know which. Although, Flora insisted that she did know and it was a girl.

“Okay, I’ll go get her.” I squatted down, putting my hand on the egg. “Stay in there just until we get back. Flora’s going to want to see you the second you’re born.”

We’d spoken quite a bit about whether or not Flora should be there for the hatching. We’d had her stay elsewhere during the labor, but that was a very different process. Seeing his Matthew Daddy in pain like that, we didn’t want that for her. True, she needed to know about the birds and the bees, but at five, maybe not in so many details.

I probably broke a bazillion traffic laws getting to the school, but I was terrified they would hatch before I got there. Our baby was going to be here and soon. I parked in the first spot I saw and jogged into the front office. “Hi, I’m sorry, but I need to pick up Flora.”

“Excused or unexcused?” The woman didn’t even look up.

“Her sibling’s being born right now, and we want her to be there.”

That changed everything. The woman looked up, a huge smile on her face. “Oh, that’s excused. 100 percent excused. Let me go get her for you.”

In less than two minutes, Flora was there, bouncing up and down.

“They’re gonna be here? They’re going to be here today?”

“Yeah. Matthew Daddy—thinks today is the day.”

“He would know. They’re…the baby…”

She looked around, the way she did when she worried someone overheard her mention my tiger.

If I were to guess, she almost said hatchling instead of baby. I had to give it to her. For someone who was five, she did an excellent job keeping the shifter world secret, as it should be. It was a lot to ask of a kid, which was why most shifters went to school with their packs or streaks or were homeschooled. But public school had been great for her. She made tons of friends, excelled in academics, and she even got to be a rock. she was still extremely proud of that.

We went straight home, running into the house.

“Is my sister here yet?” she called ahead of herself.

We’d told her numerous times it could easily be a boy, but she insisted it was a girl.

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