“I finally get to meet the famous Daniel,” Kean says, grinning.
“You’ll probably meet him before the wedding. The funeral is Thursday. Monica sent the details through earlier,” I drop a kiss on Lyric’s head.
“I can honestly say I’m not looking forward to it,” Kean says, “and I didn’t even know them.”
“Me either. It’s a shame neither of them had any family apart from the boys,” I look at Kean. “Maybe we should take both.”
“If you take both, Sly and I can come with you; we can watch your back.” Ebby offers.
“Thanks, we’ll let you know,” Kean replies.
“If you do go, Xander, Enoch, you can both come here,” Emily says.
“Thanks,” Sly says
“So that’s the wedding taken care of. We need to decide about River’s naming ceremony and a welcome to the family for Lyric,” Kean says.
“Everything is going to be amazing,” Ernest says happily.
CHAPTER 21
“So, what do you say, little man, fancy sleeping in your room tonight?” Kean asks as I lay River down in the crib in his room.
After the family meeting, we took the babies into the playroom, Cass and Temp played with River and Connie, and Nora and the boys played with Lyric. They had fun with the building blocks. Building little walls and Lyric knocking them down, too much laughter.
After lunch, where we finally made Lyric sit in his highchair, we settled him down for an afternoon nap. We’re trying to get the boys into a routine, fingers crossed it works.
I'm sat in the playroom watching over the children, while researching on my tablet. I am trying to find out more about Kitsunes and Lyric’s ability to connect so well with River, but then I give up and shop online for baby bits. We really need a baby bath, as we can’t keep washing River in the sink, and he is much too little to sit in the bath. I find one and add it to the basket. I find some cute clothes for the boys that can be worn on Thursday, and anything else that catches my attention. I complete that purchase and then buy Easter Eggs for the family. Until Adhan brought Easter up earlier, I had forgotten it wasso close. I also find the perfect top for Kean, one where he can snuggle with either Lyric or River.
For the moment, the room is quiet, even Connie is asleep in her day crib. Kean is in the kitchen washing bottles and sterilising them. I look at our boys. This time last year, if anyone had told me this was going to be my life, I would have called them nuts. Nothing like this was even on my radar. I thought I’d be alone forever, but here I am living my unexpected best life.
I smile when I see Cass walking in. “Hey, Cass.”
He glances at the babies and comes and sits by me.
“You okay?” I ask him. He’s not looking okay, but then he hasn’t for months. “Why didn’t you say something, Cass? I kept asking what was wrong. I knew something was troubling you.”
“You mean like the way you kept brushing Temp and me off when we were worried about you?” he points out.
I sigh and put my tablet down. “Yeah, okay, I accept that. It was just hard to talk about, I didn’t want to burden you two with my sadness.”
“We would have helped you through everything.”
“I know. Honestly, I just didn’t want any pitying looks,” I admit.
“It wouldn’t have been pity, more like anger on your behalf.”
I shoot him a smile. “That’s what Kean said. How come you didn’t tell Sion?”
Cassie lets out a massive sigh. “I think he’s more pissed with me than you and Temp combined. Things with me and Sion are complicated. I’m still annoyed he pushed me away when he was ill, but even when we try and start something, it feels weird, incomplete somehow. I honestly can’t explain it. Plus, he’s been through so much. When the messages started, I didn’t tell him because he was so ill; it was just easier to focus on him. Then I got so used to not saying anything, it became a habit.”
“What do you mean, things seem incomplete?”
Cassie sighs. “I don’t know, it feels like something is missing, which is weird because I love him and he says he loves me, but yeah, we’ll figure it out. You know, I saw Madam Cleo at Halloween?”
I nod.
“One of the things she told me was to wait for the missing piece, and all will become clear.”