“Griffins just don’t mingle much with other shifters. No one I talked to has even met one.” Ben smiled crookedly. “It’d help if your people got out more.”
“If we got out more, we wouldn’t be in this mess,” Tyr muttered in disgust.
The wind ruffled the leaves on the trees, now in their full leafy growth. Having grown up on a barren Atlantic island, Tyr was still impressed at times by the rich lushness of summer on the mainland. He had seen that same wonder on Cela’s face, and remembered how it had nearly knocked him flat the first time he experienced a full continental summer.
“Greenhouse is looking good,” Ben said. “Oh, wait, I almost forgot to give you these.”
He reached into his jacket, dusting off a little cat hair—hismate ran a cat rescue, and Tyr always smelled a light scent of cat on him. Taking out an envelope, he handed it to Tyr.
“As requested. Dad came through, for once. Everything she needs is in here: birth certificate, social security card. She’ll have to get a driver’s license the old fashioned way, apparently they’re much harder to fake even for Dad’s shady connections, but now that she has the proper documentation, she can easily get one just like anyone else.”
Tyr slid the papers out and glanced at them. Cela Lirin Skye. He had been surprised and flattered when Cela decided she wanted his sister’s name as her middle name; he had not known until then that Lirin had helped her when she left the island.
“Thanks, man. Do I owe you anything?”
Ben shook his head. “Nah. Dad owesme. We’re getting along much better these days, thanks partly to Loretta, Dad’s mate, and partly to having finally given him a grandchild—oh, speaking of which, Skye’s my daughter’s name, I just feel the need to point that out.”
Tyr laughed. “Sorry, I don’t think Cela meant to steal it.”
“I doubt there’s a monopoly.” Ben nodded to the papers. “Birth certificates for the kids are underneath.”
Tyr shifted the papers to display them, bracing himself for the sight of Cela’s former mate’s name—and stopped.
Terry Raines.
“That’s my name on there as their father,” he said, staring. His legal human name, anyway.
“Yeah. Cela insisted. I guess I should’ve asked, but I just assumed you’d talked about it beforehand. You’re okay with this?”
“Yes,” Tyr breathed, flipping the papers.
Cela had put down Tyr as her son’s middle name—Aven Tyr Raines—and Ayra was listed as Ayra Gabriella Raines. Apparently she and Gaby had really bonded.
Feeling overwhelmed, he slid the paperwork back into its envelope and laid it down.
“If you’re feeling dizzy, you need to bend over, put your head between your knees ...” Ben said, half-playfully.
“I’ll be fine,” Tyr said. His voice came out faint.
“It hits you like that sometimes. The day I first held Skye, the moment she looked into my eyes—those are memories that will be branded into my soul forever.” Ben grinned. “I couldn’t faint, because if I had, I’d’ve dropped the baby and Tessa would have brained me with the nearest heavy object. But I felt that feeling, believe me. Kids are forever, and that’s a good thing, but it’s also a really big thing.”
Kids are forever.
“I know,” Tyr said. “I remember when Austin and Lissy were born. I had some time to work up to that, at least. This—hit me out of nowhere.”
Ben blew out a breath and got up. “Well, I delivered my package, so I guess I’ll get on the road. Oh, are you coming to the barbecue this afternoon? There’s a thing out at Gaby and Derek’s farm, and everyone’s gonna be there. You’re more than welcome if you want.”
Everyone—including Paula and her mate Dan. Under other circumstances, Tyr might have said no, or dropped by for a few minutes solely to see his kids. But today he felt a complete absence of the—not jealousy exactly, but wistfulness, that he used to get when he saw Paula and Dan together. Dan was her mate, and therefore the person she was meant to be with. He made her happier than Tyr ever could. But Tyr realized that he hadn’t felt nostalgia for those lost years with Paula in a long while. Since Cela came into his life, actually. She had washed all other women out of his head.
“Yeah,” he said. “If Cela wants to go. Actually, as tight as she and Gaby are getting, I’d be surprised if she hasn’talready said yes.” He rose and shook Ben’s hand. “Thanks for getting this sorted out. I really appreciate it.”
Ben looked him in the eyes. “You know I can tell when people lie, right? Well, I know that you aren’t. And that means a lot. Cela seems like a nice person who’s been through a lot. Take care of her, and the kids.”
Gaby was the one who drove Cela home from work around noon. Increasingly she’d been getting rides with her co-workers so Tyr didn’t have to bundle the twins into their car seats on a daily basis.
She bounced out of Gaby’s passenger seat, her silver-gold hair gleaming in the sun, spilling out of its messy bun. Tyr longed to to run his fingers through it.
“Gaby invited us to a party!” Cela called. “Can we go?”
