“I’m going to start reading labels, too, from now on.I want to make sure that we’re both around for a good long time.”He asked her how long he’d been out.“Ten days.Mostly, you were sleeping, but once you started to get better, you weren’t out all that long.It was terrible seeing you suffer the way that you were.I love you, Brenin.”
“And I love you.I’m so glad that you were by my side all this time.It gave me something to look forward to when I woke up.Just seeing you now is something that I worried that I’d never see again.”Lisa leaned down and kissed him.“I love you so much, my heart.I don’t know what I’d do without you in my life.You saved my life just by being here with me all the time.”
“I don’t want you to be sick like that again, deal?I don’t want to live my life without you in it.”She kissed him again.“Davy is worried about you, too.When I told him that you were getting better, he burst into tears and said he was going to call you Dad from now on.He said that he loved you as well.”
“I love him too.Like he was my own son.I’d be honored to be called dad by him, and I’d think of him as my son forever.”She wiped at the tears on her cheeks, and he told her he was sorry that he’d upset her.“I promise that I’m going to take better care of myself from now on.You’ll be sick of me being around.I’m going to show you how much I love you daily.No, hourly.You make me want to be a better man.”
Tired again, he closed his eyes.Something that Kings had told him was that he was to rest when he needed to.That the poison was all gone, but it had effects on his body that they didn’t know about yet.Taking him at his word, he smiled a little as he let sleep take him under.
~*~
Lisa could rest better now, and she even was able to take a nap during the day to combat the exhaustionthat she’d felt while Brenin was down.It had been two weeks since he woke up and was talking, but she could see improvements every day.
Tonight, he and the others were going to shift into their dragons and fly in the sky.She wasn’t joining them this time as she was still having trouble with lift off.While she loved being a dragon, there were so many things that she had to remember so she’d not hurt anyone, while the other part of her.Like her tail.
She’d nearly taken out the new pool house when she’d been swinging it around.After that, she curled it up under her body and made sure that it didn’t get away from her again.As it was now, the pool house was going to have the roof repaired and one of the walls replaced.It was a good thing that she was smaller than the other dragons, or she might well have taken out the pool too.
Laughing to herself, she finished the stack of papers that she’d been grading and made notes on the ones that had been exactly alike.Word-for-word, the two papers were identical, and she was sure that they cheated.All the answers were right, too.She didn’t grade them, thinking that the teacher would need to go over them with the students, and started on her next stack of papers.She’d gotten into grading a second-grade class for paperwork and was loving the answers that the kids gave.Some of them were so funny.
She was just finishing up her work when it was time to go and get Davy at the end of the drive.Thanks to Lady Earth they had a troll at the end of their drive to make sure people couldn’t just come around when they wanted.He looked like a human to any other humans that came around, but to shifters, he was the biggest troll that she’d ever seen.Of course, he was her first one, but she thought that he was bigger than most.
Driving to the end of the drive, it had turned cold again, and she was ready for him to get off the bus when it stopped in front of the drive.When Davy got off and waved at Gruff, the troll, she wondered how he was so calm around the big guy.She knew that he saw a troll when he looked at the man, but he made her nervous.Not that he’d hurt either one of them, but he was just so large.Turning around in the driveway, she made her way back up to the house for snack time.
“I have to read ten pages now.”She asked him if the teacher knew he usually read more than that anyway.“I told her, and she said that was good.That it would be no problem for me to read fifteen.I love to read, and so does Dad.”
“He does.I know that he enjoys reading to you at night, too.”He nodded, and they went over his sight words twice before he got them all right.“We’ll get you a new stack added to this one soon.I’m betting that the teacher will be happy with your progress when grade cards come out.”
“She told me that I’m smart, but I don’t make fun of the kids who are struggling.Sometimes she asks me to go over the words with some of the classmates so that I can help them learn.It helps me too.”Lisa said she was proud of him.“I’m proud of myself, too.I love helping the other kids with their homework.”
He was starting to add numbers now, and she couldn’t believe they were advancing so much in first grade.He could do it; Davy had been adding items up for a long time.He could subtract, too, which she thought was good.When she gave him his snack of carrots and dressing, he plowed through them like he’d been starved.She knew that he ate earlier in the day and probably was starving when he got home.Davy could burn a lot of energy when he was playing on the playground, too.
After he finished with his homework and put it all away, she handed him an ice cream bar because she was so proud of him.Eating it at the table, she wondered how she’d been so lucky to have had him in her life.And now that she had Brenin too, she was someone who couldn’t contain her happiness.
“I was thinking about something.This is going to be our first Christmas in this house.Do you think it’s going to be all right with Santa Claus that we don’t live in the other house anymore?”She’d forgotten that he still believed in Santa and told him he’d have no trouble finding him.“I’m going to write him a letter and let him know that we’ve moved anyway.I don’t want him to go there and find an empty house.”
“All right.When you want to do that, we’ll take care of it.”He said he was thinking about getting his dad to help him.“Whatever you want.I’m sure that he’ll be happy to help you with your letter.”
She was a little bit hurt that he wanted Brenin to help with his letter.But she was learning to share duties with him so that he and Davy could be closer.She knew that she couldn’t be selfish with things like this, but it still hurt her just enough that she had to fight tears.
Getting the mess cleaned up that he’d made, the cook said they were going to have roast beef for dinner and that Lord Brenin had approved the pie that she’d made.She was sure that he had.Brenin loved pie more than he did any other food.And if it was still warm with ice cream on it, he was even more happy.
She and Davy watched some television before Brenin got home.It was some show that she kind of liked about a family of dogs.It taught some good lessons, and she was glad that she didn’t watch too much of it.The dogs and their antics got on her nerves a bit.Laughing at herself, she knew she wasn’t their target audience.
“It’s snowing again.”She looked out the window and saw that it was indeed snowing.It was coming down in big flakes that looked like they were as big as quarters.“I hope that Dad drives carefully.He just got his new car, and I like it.Yours is great too.I love that we don’t have to worry about getting stuck in the driveway.”
“They usually have it plowed before we have to get out on it.”She also reminded him that since it had been warm the last few days, it might not stick so much.“I hope that’s the case.I’d hate for you to miss any more school due to the weather.You don’t have to make up any days yet, but if the weather turns again, you might not get a spring break.”
She had plans for Spring Break this year.Every year, she and Davy would fly to Florida and go to the park there.It was a nice, fun place to be, and they usually took a hotel room so that he could have breakfast with some of the characters.This year, Brenin was going to go with them, and she knew that they’d have even more fun than before.He was already making plans to be off the week, and so was she.Davy more than likely knew what they were doing and would be disappointed if they couldn’t go.But she’d make it up to him with something else they could do while he was off, even if it wasn’t for the entire week.
When Brenin got home, safe and sound, they sat in the living room to warm up with him.He said that the weather was supposed to turn bad overnight and not to expect school in the morning.She knew that was a possibility and was getting worried about their vacation.
She could take him out of school that week and might well do that.But she didn’t want to if she didn’t have to.Davy would think it was a blast to miss a little bit of school, and she didn’t blame him.He loved school, but loved being able to spend time in Florida, too.
After dinner, Davy and Brenin worked on the letter to Santa.It didn’t have what he wanted in it for Christmas.She usually got him what he wanted when she could afford it, but this letter was so that he could find them.She loved how his mind worked and was happy to see the two of them with their heads together doing it.
Getting Davy ready for bed, he seemed to have all kinds of energy now that he was used to getting up earlier to catch the bus.He also got home later in the evening, too, and that was throwing off his schedule.Now that he was used to both, she could see him getting back to his old self and having a good time.
It took her a bit longer to get him settled down, but she didn’t mind.He was in a good mood now, and she loved having fun with him.As he was sitting at his desk in his room when she was getting ready to leave, he told her that he loved her.
