Two centuries. I was over two centuries older than my One. There were many who had even larger age gaps. My friend Constantine was a solid three centuries older than his own One. Even Master Edison and his own One, Wallace, had a large age gap.
“Is it bad? Are you like ancient or something?” Camden asked. He appeared to be teasing, though, because he had a huge smile on his face. “I don’t care how old you are, Maxwell. You’re my mate. You were picked to be paired with me because we’re supposed to be a good fit together.” Camden’s expression suddenly turned sad. “Am I too young and you’re no longer interested?”
With a gentle finger, I lifted his face so he was looking directly at me. “Not at all,” I said. “I’m not quite three and a half centuries old, and I was thinking that perhaps you would be upset with the fact that I was so much older than you were. Castiel is over twice as old as Garin, but they don’t seem to have any issues with the age difference.”
Camden made a face. “Why would I care what age you are?” He pushed out of my embrace and took several steps away. “We need to sit and have these conversations, I guess. But don’t go assuming that I’m going to be upset because my mate is older than I am. I wouldn’t care if you were nineteen. I’m not set for life since it’s basically indefinite now, but I’ve made good investments, and I have a stable job that pays well. I can support myself and my mate if needed.” Camden shook his head. “I don’t need my mate to be the same age as me. Just treat me fairly and hopefully, eventually, fall in love with me.”
I shook my head as I moved closer to Camden. I didn’t touch him, though, as he’d pulled out of my embrace just moments ago. Instead, I leaned one shoulder against the wall near him. “I don’t treat anyone unfairly. I do my best, no matter what someone’s situation might be, to treat them with respect and kindness. My One, who happens to be you, will be treated no less. In fact, I’ve been hoping to find my One and had every intention on spoiling them as much as they would allow. It’s always been a dream of mine. I’m a doctor, a nurturer by nature. I want nothing more than to take care of you. But I don’t wishto control you. Loving you…that’s going to happen. Probably sooner than you expect.”
I didn’t love Camden. Not yet, anyway, as we’d just met. But it was going to be easy, and I knew I would fall hard and fast. He was my One. He was my perfect match, and I was going on the assumption that as a fellow doctor, he was a caring person.
“That’s not fair,” Camden said.
“How so?”
“Because. I think I’m already halfway in love with you simply because you’ve been so kind, and you took me to see your friends to reassure me that it wasn’t going to be an issue that we were coworkers. That was sweet. And I fell for you a little then and there.”
I smiled and took a chance to move closer. I reached for Camden, and with a little tug, he came to me, and I was able to wrap my arm around his waist again. “I am not going to complain about you falling for me, Camden. In fact,” I said as I leaned down closer to his face, “I plan on doing everything I can to make you fall for me.” I closed the distance and kissed him again. Camden leaned closer, and although I wanted to completely wrap him in my embrace, I remembered what happened last time, and this was certainly not the place to do such things.
I pulled away and smiled when my One tried to follow once again. “It’s good you don’t care about my age, nor I yours. That is out of the way. Other discussions…children.”
“Yes. I want them,” Camden said without any hesitation. “I don’t need to have eight like my parents did. But I’m certainly not against having a larger family. I don’t want to stop working though. At least not completely.”
I nodded in agreement. “Garin still works. And you haven’t met them yet, but out in Amherst, at the coven there, their doctor’s One is his nurse. Miles didn’t stop working. They hadtriplets, and he took time off after he had them, but their coven has an excellent childcare program. The same can be said about the council. There is a childcare facility next door. It’s behind the store and bakery.”
“Really?”
“Yes.” I grinned down at my One. “We can certainly put any of our children there if we wish. But we also have the option of bringing them to work with us.”
“We do?”
“When they’re younger, yes. I would think that once they’re moving around, it might be better to put them in the childcare facility.”
“What if it’s full? I don’t mind staying home for a bit, but I really want to continue working. I spent a long time going to school to become a doctor.”
I placed my left hand on his shoulder before moving it to his neck and giving it a gentle rub. “You don’t have to quit. The childcare facility doesn’t ever not have openings. Unlike those in the human world, we don’t have strict regulations. There are plenty of volunteers, as well as paid workers, who run things. As you’re here longer, you will come to understand and realize that around here, everyone pitches in and helps out when needed.” It was truly a wonderful community to be part of. There were a lot of hiccups in the beginning, but the same could be said for anywhere that was trying to get something up and running.
Camden started nodding. “All right. What about you? Do you want children?”
I grinned and pulled my One closer. “Absolutely. Even before I knew you, I wanted a One and children. I know some alphas and even omegas who don’t. And that’s all right. Children aren’t for everyone, but I very much want children.” I took a deep breath. “I’d like at least two, but beyond that, I’m willing to have as many as my One wants.” I leaned down and kissed hisforehead and then rested my nose against it. “If you want only two, I’ll be the happiest man. If you want a dozen, we’ll have a happy and hectic house, but that’s all right.”
Camden moved his head back enough to look up at me with wide eyes. “A dozen?” He blinked several times before shaking his head. “Probably not that many. Maybe four or five?”
I chuckled. “I’ll happily help with as many as you want.” I knew that it was completely up to fate how many we had, but I’d grown up as an only child and didn’t wish for that for my own child. Although I was certain that any children we had while living here on Treasure Ridge wouldn’t ever want for playmates, I knew that siblings often made the best playmates, and it was beneficial to a child’s social development.
“Good,” Camden said. “Now that we’ve decided that yes, we both want children, more than one, I think we’ll need to figure out where we’re going to live.”
I nodded slowly. “Yes. We can pick out a place together if either one of our current homes isn’t to your liking.”
Camden snorted. “I’ve been in mine all of two days. I haven’t even unpacked completely.”
“All right. Did you wish to see mine? Are you willing to move into it?”
Camden bit his lower lip, something I wanted to do as well. I told myself that I’d indulge soon enough. “I’m not normally…” Camden sighed.
I reached and cupped the side of his face. “You can say anything to me. I’m not going to be upset. What is it that’s bothering you?”
“How do you know? Other than I’m stammering all of a sudden.”
