Their foundation was also helping with marketing, administrative, and outside contributions. That left the service organization free to scale up how many meals they were providing—and hopefully, they would be able to have those kinds of events on a continuous basis, not just on holidays. That Christmas Eve was their first, and they had two dinners—one at twelve and another at three. They would feed six hundred folks that day and another six hundred the next.
The service organization did the actual food prep and service, so would leave them free to work on other projects throughout the city. It had taken much more than they’d realized to get to where they were. They were watching a year of work finally reach thepeople who needed it. Now that they’d gotten the ball rolling, hopefully, they would be streamlining the process.
As the meals started coming out, Kenji was thrilled to see dinners flying out and making it to tables quickly. They had little time between events, so keeping to a tight schedule was important. By the time everyone had been served, it was apparent that the event had been quite the success.
“I think we can get out of here and head back to Aspen,” Cryss said. “They know what they’re doing.”
“I’m very impressed with Dinah,” Kenji said. “I was a bit worried about the young volunteers struggling a bit in these roles, but Dinah has a real knack for getting them prepared and ensuring they’re doing what’s needed. That’s going to be vital moving forward.”
“Indeed,” Qylar said. He turned to Kenji. “Are you finally comfortable now?”
Kenji smiled. “Yes. I’m finally comfortable now.”
Qylar sighed with relief.
“I know it’s been a hard year,” Kenji said. “And I’ve been frustrated with how slow the process has been, but now that it’s come together, we can recreate this same structure over and over and over again throughout the year and really help a lot of people.”
“And as more time passes and they get more comfortable, we can step back and allow SANFR to take more control in leading some of these processes and look at other ways to help the citizens of this city,” Cryss said.
“Six hundred people, guys.” Kenji smiled. “We’re ensuring six hundred people who might not have had food in their stomachs don’t go to bed hungry tonight. Does that not feel amazing?”
“It really does,” Qylar said. “And it also feels amazing to have followed through with my promise to you.”
“We really need to get back to Aspen,” Cryss said, checking his watch. “If I don’t get back soon, Alex might try to mess with everything I prepped for tonight’s feast, and wecannothave that.”
After checking in with the SANFR team, they headed back to their townhouses and transported onto Cryss’s waiting ship. They were soon cruising back to their family and their babies’ first Christmas. Kenji couldn’t wait for their reaction, though at only seven-months-old, most of what they’d done was stare at the lights in awe. That was okay. Soon enough they’d be big kids and better understand. For now, they had two sweet infants who were their world.
As soon as they got inside, he found Norah and Tomlin having belly time while Zaadi was teaching them to crawl. Tomlin took one look at Kenji and the big, fat, wet tears started. Kenji scooped up his papa’s boy and wiped those sweet baby tears away.
“Did you miss papa, Tom-Tom?” Kenji asked before raining kisses all over his adorable face.
“Uncle Kenji!” Zaadi said. “You’re interrupting our lesson. Theyneedto learn to crawl.”
“Says who?” Kenji asked. The minute they got mobile, that was the beginning of the end in his book. That’s when they’d startgetting into everything—and he had two of them to worry about getting into messes.
He sat down on the carpet, a foot away from Norah, and suddenly saw movement.
“She’s doing it, Uncle Kenji! Look!”
“Qylar!”Kenji called, never taking his eyes off their daughter.
Kenji enticed Norah a little closer, her big, beautiful grin reminding him of Qylar more and more by the day. Finally, Norah crawled a bit closer before putting her hands on Kenji’s knee and lifting herself up onto her knees. She cooed at Kenji a moment before he scooped her up, too, and kissed those gorgeous cheeks, all while listening to her giggle.
He searched behind him and saw Qylar filming his daughter’s first crawl with his phone. Qylar’s gaze drifted to Kenji’s, adoration in his eyes. Kenji sighed within. He had the most gorgeous husband in the world in his opinion. No—the universe. There was no one who could make him melt like Qylar.
Qylar shoved his phone in his pocket and crawled onto the floor with the kids. Norah was totally a daddy’s girl, and there was nothing Qylar could do wrong in her eyes. Tomlin was his fussy boy who always wanted Kenji’s attention. The older they got, their personalities were really beginning to shine.
“So when are you going to have more babies?” Zaadi asked Kenji.
“I think we’re good for now,” Kenji said, chuckling.
Having twins had been a challenge for first time parents. Soon enough they’d have one-year-olds and the jump into the terrible twos. Kenji wasn’t ready to add to their number just yet. If ever. The four of them were kind of perfect the way they were in hismind. That could change down the road, who knew, but he was good.
As it got later, more family and friends arrived for the holiday feast. Soon enough, the house was near packed. All of Alex’s parents were there as well as his human brother Ethan and Ethan’s girlfriend Keeley—as well as his siblings who’d been raised on Nefyria. King Krythar arrived and immediately stole one of the twins, using his grandfather by default card as he’d started doing since they’d been born. Since neither Kenji nor Qylar had a father in their lives, Krythar didn’t have any competition for Poppop status, and he was quite pleased he had two more children to spoil.
Kenji was scared they might end up with a mountain of gifts from the king, too—but if they did, he’d work with Alex to donate most of them to kids in need. Let Krythar spend his money however he saw fit, as long as it eventually went to where it was needed.
Xandor had just turned one earlier in the month and he sat in Grandmother Helen’s arms, utterly in love with his middle namesake, Ray. Who could blame him? Ray was the sweetest man and seemed the only true logical and rational parent Alex had.
