Page 130 of Healed
“Be nice! She likes him!” Avaleigh said.
Suddenly Daniel was slapped on the back so hard he stumbled forward several steps and had the breath knocked out of him. He turned around ready to strike someone and found Carnage standing there grinning like a loon, with his wife standing beside him. “Did you just hit me?” Daniel demanded.
“It was more like a pat on the back,” Avaleigh said hurriedly. “A really, really hard pat on the back.”
“Yes. Sorry. He doesn’t know his own strength sometimes,” Carolena said.
Carnage scowled for a moment at Carolena. He knew exactly how strong he was, and he’d shoved Daniel on purpose. He didn’t like anybody glaring at Boon. Boon was a good male. And Boon liked his daughter and this male would just have to get over it because if Boon wanted her, he’d help Boon take her just like he had Carolena.
Daniel looked at Carnage, then at Carolena, but he wasn’t fully convinced it was an innocent shove.
“Booon maate,” Carnage said, pointing at Boon and Angelle across the room at the kitchen island, as he nodded enthusiastically.
“How do you know?” Daniel asked.
“Booon lone. Now, Booon no lone,” Carnage said.
“Boon has never been one for crowds. He much prefers the quiet of the woods, hunting, fishing, camping to all the small talk required at a social gathering. He wouldn’t have come today if it hadn’t been for Tempest. He and Tempest are very, very close. She told Boon that when she went into labor, he had to be here. He’d regret it for all of his life if he didn’t come. The way he’s taken to your daughter, I wonder if Tempest knew they were meant for each other. Look how happy he is,” Carolena exclaimed.
“Pest know,” Carnage insisted, crossing his arms over his chest defiantly.
Daniel looked over at Angelle speaking animatedly to Boon, and Boon hanging on her every word, smiling at her and nodding as she spoke.
Avaleigh laid her hand on Daniel’s arm. “Look at her coming alive talking to him. And she’s just like him. She doesn’t like crowds and people she doesn’t know, and she loves fishing and camping. It’s like it was meant to be.”
Daniel continued staring at his daughter and the Gargoyle who might be her mate. “Can’t be,” he mumbled. “Just can’t be.”
A baby’s weak cry brought all conversation in the room to an immediate standstill, as everyone in the house waited for another cry. Finally, after what seemed like an unbearably long time, a stronger wail filled their ears, followed immediately by another and another.
“You’re a daddy!” Remi said, hugging Brandt.
Brandt was grinning, but was still scared. Nobody had said a word about Tempest yet. He stood, his hands clasping and unclasping as he stared in the direction of the bedroom, waiting to be called.
They all heard the bedroom door opening, and Lily walked into the living room. “Brandt? Tempest is asking for you.”
Brandt almost ran across the room as he rushed past Lily on his way to the bedroom.
“Mother and baby are both fine,” Lily said, smiling at everyone with tears in her eyes.
Brandt rushed into the bedroom and came to a sudden stop when he found Tempest lying in bed, reclining on a stack of pillows, with a bundled baby held gently in her arms.
“Tempest, are you alright?” he asked, hurrying around the bed to kneel right beside where she lay.
Tempest smiled tiredly. “I am. I’m just tired. But Momma made sure that I didn’t have much pain, and she managed toturn him so that he could pass through the birth canal. We’re both fine.”
“Thank the gods,” he said, resting his forehead on her shoulder. Then his head popped up. “Him? It’s a boy?” he asked.
“It’s a little boy,” Tempest said, pulling the baby away from her chest so Brandt could look down at him. “And he’s perfect.”
“Yes, he is,” Brandt said, his voice cracking. Now that he knew she was going to be alright, he could appreciate the miracle that was their son. “He’s got your eyes,” Brandt said.
“He does. And he’s got a head full of your dark hair. And look,” she said, loosening the blanket swaddling him so Brandt could better see him, “he’s got a silver streak in the back. That’s my grandfather’s blood making an appearance, and it makes me really happy.”
Brandt laughed. “Me, too. He’ll be a warrior.”
“He will! And look at him. He’s already got a hint of a little tiny jawline. Like a little bitty grownup already. I think he’s going to have your jawline.”
Tempest completely unwrapped him, and laid him across her lap. “Ten fingers, ten toes. All his parts and pieces are in the right places,” she said as he gripped onto her pinkie finger. “He’s so strong.”
