Page 64 of The Monster at the End of This Molt

I grinned at the name. Mokey had been my favorite Fraggle. She was so laid back and cool.

Mokey rubbed her snout along Weld's fingers, and then she turned to Kermit. It awed me how quickly our babies took to their legs and balanced with their tails, and she was no different. She walked up to the dragonet and poked his snout with her own.

"They're bonding," Weld said.

When we had first texted Mac to ask him about our dragonet's strange behavior, he said this might happen. Weld had been upset, thinking he would lose his connection to Kermit, but, "He's bonded to both of us."

"That's wonderful news." I leaned against his shoulder and looked around at our happy family. Satisfied that Mokey was here to stay, the boys had scurried to greet her, and now they were balancing along Kermit's long neck, headed for outside.

Instead of putting the window back, Weld and I hopped over the low sill and into the grass beside Kermit. The kids took turns using his tail for a slide and then climbing back up his wings to do it again.

"They're all here," I whispered to Weld as he leaned his head against mine. "What do we do now?"

I loved our little family so much my heart could burst, but reality was starting to overwhelm me. I’d read more parenting books than most to complete my schooling, and yet, here I was, at a loss.

Weld, ever the pragmatist, responded, "Keep them alive until we can send them to school." He whistled for everyone’s attention. "Mokey!"

She turned to squint at us from her spot on Kermit's back.

"Are you hungry?"

Kermit cocked his head at her, and then at us. He pulled a small piece of jerky out of his inter-dimensional space.

"Oh, no you don't." I took the dried meat from him, shaking my head. "She's a baby before her first molt. Her stomach can't handle this yet."

He snorted smoke at me. I handed the jerky back to him as a peace offering, and he gulped it down.

"What do you say?" I asked Mokey. "Do you want to come inside for your first breakfast?"

She turned her back on me and slid down Kermit's tail. I was about to call my papa to let him know we had another Clementine on our hands, but she was already crawling up the leg of my pajama pants. Wembley followed, while Boober and Gobo raced into Weld's outstretched arms where he crouched next to the window.

Kermit swung his neck up to my shoulder to tap Mokey with his snout. With a two-step running start, he launched into the air. The down force from his wings pushed me back toward the window, where Weld helped me inside.

"They can eat pancakes, right?" he asked.

A quick text to Alma confirmed yes, they could. With the help of our friends and family, the odds of keeping them alive increased exponentially.

I released a sigh as I watched Mokey eat almost twice as much as her brothers. She would catch up with them in size before long. My heart ached to see our beautiful family thriving.

"Is it everything you wanted?" Weld slid his arms around me and kissed my temple.

"It's so much more." I grinned up at him. "Thank you for making all my dreams come true."

He hugged me tighter. "Dreams like this are worth the wait, right?"

I snorted. "I wouldn't go that far …" Still, I would have waited forever for him, for this. He'd surprised me in the best way when he said he wanted this, too.

ChapterTwenty-Four

Weld

No one would ever sayteaching was easy, but it was a lot less nerve-racking to take care of someone else's kids after a full two weeks of parenting our own. I met with our children's first-year teachers and realized instantly that it was not a job for me. By the time they reached us, the teenagers knew what they could and couldn't do. Meanwhile, our little family thought anything was possible. Who was I to tell them any different?

I loved our little clutch. At the same time, I wished we had waited a year or two more. Time alone with Robin was now a precious commodity. Whenever I thought we could spell the walls for some privacy, one of the kids woke from a nightmare or banged on our bedroom door for a drink of water.

Three months passed in the blink of an eye. Our children had their first and second molts, all at different times. Lemon and Cook had both laid their eggs while we waited for ours to hatch. Robin's family was preoccupied with egg watch, forsaking everything else.

That wasn't fair to Punky and Lark. They and the rest of the family spent plenty of time with their grandchildren.

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