But something had changed while I was sleeping. Today, I woke up and felt different. I didn’t exactly have energy, but I had drive…lots and lots of drive.
I made a huge pot of oatmeal and put out the toppings. It was one of my favorite meals, and if any of my mates didn’t like it, they never said. We had it at least once a week.
Breakfast made and ready for my mates to join me, I started to move furniture around. Archer put a quick end to that, saying that anything that needed to be moved was my mates’ job, because my pregnant self shouldn’t be doing heavy lifting.
He, of course, worded it nicer than that, but the gist was the same.
I didn’t have time to argue with him. Breakfast was ready and my stomach was suddenly empty. Wemade our bowls of oatmeal and went to sit on the porch, looking out at the beautiful morning as the sun fully came into the sky.
“You seem different today,” Talon said, squeezing my shoulder.
“Good different or bad different?” I still wasn’t used to being able to speak, and sometimes I just stared back, completely forgetting that I could. I’d been without speech for so long, it was more normal not to have the ability.
I took my voice coming back as a sign that my mom was still looking down on me, and that she had given us her blessing.
There were many reasons it could have been. It could’ve been because, in that instant, I felt safe and protected in a way that was stronger than the magic. It could’ve been that being pregnant somehow broke the connection of the spell. It could’ve been that there was a time limit and it was all coincidental…or that something Talon uncovered while investigating had done it.
We’d never know, and it didn’t really matter. All that did was that it was back.
My mates swore it didn’t matter to them whether I could speak or not, and they really meant it.
When I discovered Talon was trying to break the spell, at first it hurt, a lot, but then I discovered that Archer and Dax had pretty much told him to cut the shit unless I wanted him to do it. And that he was doing it because he thought it was what I wanted. We got better about our communication after that.
That acceptance had meant a lot to me.
And I did like having my voice back. I couldn’t wait to be able to sing lullabies to our little one the way my mom did for me.
My mom had one love…and he rejected me.
And our little one was going to have three fathers who doted on them like it was their full-time job.
I was so thrilled to be able to give them that.
“I feel motivated today. What should we do?”
“Motivated how?” Archer asked.
“I don’t know—like I need to be doing something. I thought moving some of the furniture around wouldhelp, but that wasn’t it. Painting? Or maybe something with the house?”
“Do you think maybe you could be starting to nest?” Archer asked.
It wasn’t something I’d considered, but now that he said it, it made sense. I was the size of a house, and it was about that time.
“Maybe. Can you help me?”
“We’re always here to help you,” Talon said, kissing my cheek. “Let’s finish up our oatmeal and go make a list of things you might need.”
It wasn’t often that I remembered how wealthy Talon’s family was, but when we headed to the store to pick up things we might need for getting ready for our little one, I was reminded.
Any time I attempted to look at a price tag, he handed the item to the sales rep and said we were taking it. He was sparing no expense.
I ended up buying throw rugs, blankets, pillows, stuffed animals, an essential oil diffuser, new lamps with special lights that were supposed to mimic the sun—so many things.
And by the time we got back, I was too exhausted to do anything with them.
“I feel like we need to finish what we started.” I bit back a yawn.
“And by what we started…” Archer met my eyes. “You mean take a nap? Right?”
