“Spunky?” Katarina snorted. “That’s what moms call unruly daughters that never listen to a word they have to say.”
“Like I said, spunky,” Lailee teased with a wink. “No, Cassie is such a wonderful girl. She pushes Elliot to balance the sport with family more. She’s from a big family too, so sometimes we get the whole herd together at this pizzeria near the field. You’re, of course, invited. Cassie’s a journalist, she was given the story on Elliot’s last season and the sparks…just…flew.”
Katarina wiggled her eyebrows, causing Lailee to cackle as she led her further down the hall. It warmed her to know Mrs. Bonesaw also liked Elliot’s girlfriend. Which, she found, a few feet down, between two bedrooms were a collection of newspaper articles all pinned to a shadow box with photos of a curly haired blonde on the side of the field next to Elliot, both passionately cheering. Katarina stopped to look at the pair, posed by a bar in ‘post game’ interview attire.They’re cute together.
“Now, the bathroom is here. Faucet is a simple turn; left is cold, right is hot. All the soaps are on the rack hung on the faucet. Oh! This is Jessie’s old room, there’s still a bunch of big t-shirts and gym shorts in there, all clean, in the drawers.” She bounced around, showing everything off to Katarina before she pivoted on her heels. Katarina lurched, frozen like a deer caught in her crosshairs. Lailee smiled. “And, I know it’s hard. Jessie won’t want to include you in most of what he does. If you ask him to tell you, he’ll tell you. But the dirty work? Titan didn’t want me tagging along either. Especially not while the boys were young and needed a parent to tuck them in at night.”
“And Nik?” Katarina wasn’t sure why she blurted it out, only to see Lailee’s face brighten.
“Well, Nikolai’s a good boy. Always has been. He’s pretty set in his ways, but you can’t blame him for that. It’s safer, or at least, he believes it’s safer if people don’t know him all the way.But he’s a good boy. He cares for Jessie like no other and I can tell he feels the same for you. He’ll want to protect you too. Keep you out of all their mess.” Lailee shrugged with a hum. Her gaze fell away from the succubus, roaming down her hall of memories. When her attention returned to Katarina, it was soft and a little misty. “You know something no one told me enough while I was raising them?”
“What’s that?” Katarina softened, her shoulders slouching.
“You’re doing a good job, Katarina. You’re a good mom. Your baby’s got a roof over her head, food in her belly, and you’re teaching her to take care of herself. To value herself and love herself the way society often doesn’t teach little girls. Teaching her to know good people when she sees them. And no one recognizes how hard it is to help sculpt a whole new human from scratch, especially on your own. So, don’t beat yourself up over the little lumps and bruises…” Lailee gave Katarina’s calf an affectionate pat. “You’re doing a good job. Dinner will be done by the time you get out.”
Katarina sank back against the bathroom doorframe, winded and teary eyed. She strained her ears to catch a scrape of her daughter’s squeal of joy when Lailee joined them in the kitchen again.She’s safe. She’s fed. She’s growing. And she’s learning that sometimes the hardest thing to do is to take care of yourself…but it’s so important to do.So, putting strength back into her bones, she headed into the bathroom full of little blue cows and a checkered shower curtain, and threw herself into the shower.
By the time she got out, dried off her hair enough to put it in a loose braid, and dressed, she could smell finished dinner. Katarina followed it down into the kitchen. Nik was sitting at the table with Isabella on his lap, she was talking a million miles an hour until she saw Katarina. “Momma! Dinner!”
“I smell it,” Katarina chuckled, sliding into the chair next to Nik. Jessie put a plate in front of her with a drink before sliding in across from her, Rex next to him. “Bella, why don’t you sit with Momma so Nik can eat his dinner?”
“What? Fluffy?” Isabella glanced up at Nik who snorted.
“I’ve got long arms.” He shrugged with a non-committal hum. Katarina spared him a ‘if you change your mind, say the word’ look, but he didn’t. Rex talked about opening the shop and some goofy customer nonsense. Jessie told Titan about Pierre showing up then the Enforcers, leaving out the juicier details while Isabella was paying attention.He also didn’t mention that Katarina told Aravis to arrest Pierre.Then Lailee talked about the Healer’s Hut. Katarina let herself just absorb the cozy sensation of being surrounded by family.Ah, so this is how it’s supposed to look.
And she wasn’t completely fooled, there was definitely a little stink eye going from Titan to Jessie about the Enforcers. Lailee was definitely ‘mom-ing’ Rex harder than Jessie. Not to mention Rex and Jessie got into a small spat about what was an important delivery and what was ‘pertinent’ information. But, despite that, she could see the love and connection between all of them. Their auras, though faint as she wasn’t feeding nor was she looking too hard, were all mixed around the edges. Things like that only happen through deep connection.
Jessie and the boys eventually climbed to their feet. They spared Titan a hand to his broad shoulders and a kiss to Lailee’s cheek. All three of them stopped by Isabella who was fighting a food coma. Rex ruffled her hair affectionately, but Jessie and Nik gave her cheek the same kiss they gave Mrs. Bonesaw. Jessie tapped Katarina on the shoulder and nodded at the back door. She slipped away from the table and walked them out.
“We’ll be back by morning,” Jessie reiterated. He closed the door leading to the kitchen behind them, caging her back against the hard wood. His voice was soft as he spared a kiss to her temple. “If we’re not back in time to take the kiddo to school, Ma should be off tomorrow.”
“Don’t worry about us, we’ve got Sera in my back pocket.” She waved off their concern with a flap of her hand.
Jessie caught that hand and brought it to his lips. “Sweet dreams, baby girl.”
Just as he slipped away, Nik winked at her, “Be good.”
“Never,” Katarina snorted.
Nik chuckled the whole way to the driveway, Rex sparing her a wave before they headed for the sidewalk. She imagined they were headed back to the shop, or going back to the house.Damn, I should have asked for Barnibus…Bella’s gonna be sad not to sleep with that damn platypus.Ducking back inside, Katarina slid up beside Lailee. “Hey, do we have a ridiculously adorable stuffed animal for Isabella to sleep with? The boys have been spoiling her with Barnibus, and I don’t have it with us.”
Mrs. Bonesaw smirked. “You want me to find Jessie’s old stuffy?”
Katarina snickered, “You still have it?”
“Captain Goobers will report for duty after I get these dishes cleaned up.” Lailee giggled with wicked glee. Normally, Katarina would interject, as Lailee cooked. However, she glanced at Isabella, covered in cheese sauce, and grimaced. Excusing the pair of them upstairs, she scoped out a t-shirt for Bella to snuggle in while her child peeled layers of school crud off her body. It took a quick dip and lots of encouragement that she could, in fact, bathe without rubber duckies and bubbles, but Katarina got her squeaky clean. Isabella sat on the counter, brushing her teeth lazily while Katarina worked her hair into a loose braid like her own.
Isabella blurted out, mouth full of foam. “We live with Fluffy and Jessie now?”
“Yeah, we do, Bug. How do you feel about that?” Katarina cocked her head, inspecting her work.
“Like Fluffy and Jessie.” Isabella shrugged, twisting to spit into the sink. Katarina handed her the pre-prepped cup of water to swish. After a second spit, she grinned up to Katarina to prove her squeaky-clean chompers.
“Good job,” Katarina laughed, finishing off the braid with a tie. Thankfully, there was a basket of them under the sink as well as spare toothbrushes. Katarina stood up, hands to her hips in a pensive power pose. “How do you feel about Momma with Jessie and Fluffy?”
“Momma’s happy.” Isabella swayed from side to side. Then, she furrowed her brows, a confused frown forming on her lips. “Daddy’s still gone.”
“Well, we’re not together anymore, Bug. Daddy and Momma aren’t a couple anymore,” Katarina grimaced, realizing that this conversation was always impending.
