Page 76 of Emerald Waves
Did I sense a hint of uncertainty from my brave protector? “It’s beyond words and the fact that you did this all by hand for Cade,” I sniffled. “Words escape me.” The quartz shone brightly in all shades across the rocky surface, catching the light in the room so perfectly. He couldn’t have found a more plentiful section of rock to choose to carve. Had he known? Had his element alerted him of the stones that lay within this specific area? My eyes continually landed on a new facet that my fingers immediately reached out and touched. “How did you get the finish so smooth?”
“A little bit of bonding with my element,” he pressed his lips to my neck. “Come on,” Caro took me by the hand to lead me from the room, but I wasn’t ready to go just yet. “Silly Daddy, you can stare at it more in a bit. I’ve got another surprise to show you.”
For the second time today, my mate whisked me away, only this time we stopped at the library where a swinging bassinet had been secured to the ceiling, gently swaying near my desk. “My goddess, how long was I asleep for?”
Caro laughed. “Odem leant a helping hand. You should see the massive stack of blankets and pillows that came in,” he rolled his eyes. “I’ll be washing laundry until our egg comes.”
“Hopefully it’s enough to fill the nest and bassinets. I want our egg and hatchling to feel as though it’s still cradled in my womb. It’s gonna be so much fun fluffing them up. Seriously Caro, this is beyond amazing and makes our impending parenthood so very real.”
“Yes, my love, I came to a similar realization as we set this up. There are still more boxes to unpack, but I was too excited to let the bassinets sit, so we started there. With the egg likely coming in the next month, having those, and the nest, set up is of the utmost importance.”
The dateline reality hadn’t hit me until now. “In a month we get to see our sweet prince’s egg.” Excited, nervous, so many emotions flittered through me as the buzz of our little one inside me rolled around. The vibration hitting me right in the… “Gotta pee.”
“I’ll start dinner, then we can open more baby gifts after.” Was Caro humming? With each passing day I learned so many new and exciting things about my mate. But I stopped dead in my tracks as I crossed the foyer that led to the entry way water closet and took in the massive sea of packages. “Holy shit.”
“Yes, indeed, on the holy shit part, that is. Go empty that bladder because we’ve got a long night ahead of us.” Caro playfully swatted my ass and got back to assembling our meal. By far I enjoyed this side of him as opposed to the grouchy Caro of the past.
“So full.” I hobbled over to the couch after dinner while Caro began unpacking the boxes. Each item was passed to me tooohandaahover then tell him which room to place it in. He had a pile for each—the nest and bassinet in our room, the nursery, the horde, and lastly, the library. Ensuring each room was properly set up to care for our egg and hatchling was a must. Running to another room for wipes or diapers while changing a baby Alex had already warned us against. Something about getting baptized and not in a good way. Not understanding what that meant was probably a good thing and led us to follow his suggestion.
“Now that everyone knows we’re having a boy, I foresee many more gifts to unwrap for our precious miracle on Christmas day.”
“Do you really think they will get stuff for the baby?” I was so excited. Tiny socks and booties, the cutest onesies and bibs with snarky sayings. Too freaking adorable. While we already bought a few ourselves, I couldn’t wait to see what the others would findfor us. “Can we do stockings this year?” The only Christmases I ever had was when I lived with Larkin and with it just being the two of us, we kept it simple. After I moved into the archive building, we pretty much switched to just getting together for dinner with no gift exchange. Gifts were great, but stockings were a wonderful treasure trove of silliness.
“Stockings, a tree, presents—we’ll have it all, baby! We have plenty of trees to choose from in the forest, but we’ll have to order ornaments for it.” Caro ran from the room then returned with his laptop. “Here, start shopping. Ooh, can we get stockings with our names on them to hang from the fireplace mantle? That would be so cool.”
“Anything for you, my love.” Finally, it was my turn to use that line. He’d spoiled me since the day he rescued me when I fell. Now, I’d get to give back, though I had a few other gifts in mind for my thoughtful mate too.
I came across the most wonderful website full of nothing but holiday goodies, including personalized stockings. “How many ornaments do you think we’ll need?”
“Given our high ceilings, I’ll utilize a pretty tall tree so, lots?”
Utilize…guess I’ll find out soon enough what that means. The question remained though, should I be scared?
“Um, not sure what that means, but I’ll do my best.” And will likely need to triple what I’d initially put in the cart. It appeared the Denarius brothers were of thego big or go homemindset. With us already being home, it was anyone’s guess what ‘big’ was to come.
While he busied himself with putting the baby stuff away, I switched over to another site to order something special for the Papa to be and his little dragon. One thing led to another and by the time I’d finished I was certain there’d be enough gifts under our very first tree to keep us busy on Christmas morning.
“Caro, don’t open any of the boxes that arrive addressed to me, please.”
I got a curious stare in return. “Ditto.”
Ah, not the only one the holiday shopping bug had bit I see. This was far too much fun. Oh, I wonder if the brothers celebrate their birthday and when it is.
“Tomorrow, I’ll find us the perfect tree. For now, it’s time for my mate to soak in the warm, bubbly tub I just filled for him.”
“Careful, my love, or I’ll get used to being spoiled.”
“That’s the plan, sweetheart.”
“Um, Caro, that tree won’t fit through the door.” Caro and Odem had just returned from the nearby forest with a tree to rival that of Times Square. The ornaments had arrived yesterday, and he was way too overzealous about picking the perfect one for his family, so he and Odem left at the crack of dawn to scour the forest for it.
“Sure, it will.”
“Wait, why are the roots still on it?” The root base itself was double the size of the door opening.
“Because I’m replanting it after Christmas is over.”
“Okay, that makes sense, but that’s never gonna...” Right before my eyes, the roots compacted as did the branches and he and Odem carried it right in.
