Page 15 of Trickster King

I would call Jessica as soon as I escaped with my boy, and to comfort him, I rubbed his back before hugging him and keeping him tucked close. “Nurse Serena,” I greeted. “How long do you want me to keep him?”

“Two weeks,” she replied, offering a smile and sitting on one of the unoccupied chairs. “Fatigue is not uncommon among our best performing students, and Eddie has been doing very well with his classes. A two week break won’t hurt his education, especially with the school being focused on physical activities at the moment. Considering his home lifestyle, the administration feels he won’t fall behind.”

“He won’t. We’ll be working one of my ranches, and I’ll keep him on light duty. Does he require any medications?”

“I have a few vitamin supplements for him to take, and I’d like him to take a low dose of melatonin for the next week to make certain he gets sufficient rest. I have written down the dosage and the type best suited for children for you.” Serena handed me a sheet of paper, and as she had a healthy dose of empathy, which helped her better understand the needs of the student, she dared to give me a hug. “You need more attention. Eddie, do make sure you give your father extra hugs while you’re with him, all right? Consider that to be your homework until you return.”

My boy bobbed his head and burrowed closer to me. I kept rubbing his back with one hand while returning the nurse’s hug. “I was willing to fight his other fathers to get my hug,” I replied with a grin. “Just make sure, once my wife calls, that you report in that I require additional attention.”

“You just want me to get bossy with her again because she loves it almost as much as you do,” the woman accused.

“It’s true. Randy and Geoff are here, and we’re taking him to a ranch. How should I handle his responsibilities?”

“You know what I love about you as a parent, Pat? You bother to ask questions when you aren’t confident you know the answer. So many parents are convinced they are the final authority of their children and know everything that they don’t listen to empaths—or anyone else—about what’s good for them. Just watch him. If he says he’s tired, pick him up, put him to bed or onto a sofa to watch some television, and otherwise let him rest. Eddie doesn’t vocalize something unless he means it, so if he’s tired, you get to be his feet.”

I could handle carrying my boy around, and I hoped he was tired at least once or twice a day so I could enjoy prowling around my ranches with him in tow.

Soon enough, he’d be too big to carry anywhere without having to work at it.

“That sounds good. I’ll give his mother a call once we’re out of here. Let’s review the medications, that way, the RPS agents won’t have a meltdown over them.”

Serena chuckled and went to her desk, retrieving several printouts and gesturing at the pair of chairs. Aware of her suggestion Eddie should be carried around, I picked him up, hauled him to the chair, and sat down before settling him on my lap.

As he’d done from the day his father had died in service to the crown, he nestled close, closed his eyes, and went about the serious business of taking a nap.

Serena raised a brow. “Less than a second for him to drop off?”

“It’s his normal. When stressed, his response is to sleep it off. He’s been doing it for years, and I don’t feel it hurts anything. He’s an easy sleeper, and he’s not bad to get up. Usually five minutes of coaxing at most, and he won’t stir if I need to move him. I’ll just carry him to the SUV when we’re done here if you can handle the papers.”

“Of course. I’ll do a check before we leave. He has not been sleeping well the past few days, or so he says.”

Something truly bothered my boy, and I’d have two weeks to find out what, assuming I didn’t get him to open up. I hoped he missed my little firecracker of a daughter, who had taken to calling Eddie before she talked to Leo in the evenings. As of late, she missed calls with Leo, but she rarely missed calls with Eddie.

The school had put a halt to calls for a few weeks due to testing. I narrowed my eyes.

“You’ve thought of something,” the nurse stated.

“The no-call mandate. I suspect he’s developing empathy, and during no-call periods, his typical evening calls with the family would be blocked. It’s been going on long enough for stress to kick in, leading to fatigue. It would track.” While I didn’t speak to him daily, I’d made sure he got three days a week, often up to an hour depending on Eddie’s needs. “We may need to invoke the empathy clause in the school handbook to make sure he gets a daily call with someone from the family during testing time. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if the calls were monitored or there was an adult in the room.”

Serena nodded. “I’ll make a note in his file and discuss it with the principal, but frankly, if the king tells the school his boy needs daily calls for his mental health, nobody is going to argue about it. Hell, being frank, if any parent did that, the school would take the same steps. Mental and emotional health is important, which is why we’re here.”

“I’ll recruit Deidre for the calls. There’s no way she would be able to help him with the tests Eddie’s currently taking. He’s ahead of her right now as he opted to be an overachiever. They get along well, are the same age, and they’re friends, so it should support him. I’ll make sure my wife and I get him a day of the week alone. We’ve learned our children all need some dedicated time, and Eddie’s no exception.”

“I’ll come up with a schedule that I think should be healthy for him. I’ll also inquire about an extension for three weeks off, that way we can make sure his schedule is set up properly upon his return. He’s so far ahead he won’t have any issues catching up, especially if we resolve these issues now.”

I could work with three weeks spent doting on my boy. If my wife did catch me before the time was over, I’d take him home, toss him in with Deidre, and let the children exhaust themselves playing with horses and working at giving me gray hairs. “Email it to me, and I’ll send my approval. I’ll spare you from dealing with the wife.”

“Have the pregnancy hormones taken over?”

I grinned, as while we hadn’t made our official announcement yet, it was obvious my wife was caring for a new royal baby. “We’ll be making the formal announcement soon, but I expect I have no more than three weeks before I am reduced to being her willing slave for the remainder of the pregnancy. She prefers to make the announcement when she’s comfortable it’s unlikely there’s anything wrong. But she’s had the first ultrasound, and all is well.”

“Excellent. I’ll make a note in the file that you may call Eddie home for the delivery. Please email me when you can announce the due date, and we’ll make sure he’s available. He’s always marked exceptionally high when working with younger children, so we can cater his education to that when your wife is close to delivery.”

“I appreciate that, thank you.”

“It’s much easier on the parents when all children are accounted for and around during the first few weeks, and young Eddie is the appropriate age to begin learning how to care for an infant, so it will be credited time off. I’ll work at getting approval before he is back from his leave. Now, about his medications. Most of these don’t have any actual side effects, but the melatonin and sleeping aids may present certain issues. That said, seeing how it appears part of the problem may be security and an unidentified empathy talent, while I’ll give you the script, I will recommend against using it unless he proves to have difficulty sleeping while with you.”

She spent the next ten minutes discussing every single potential side effect before she declared she’d done her work and I could escape with my boy. As promised, she carried the papers while I handled the sleeping child. Eddie didn’t stir when I moved him, easing him into place so his head rested on my shoulder. She took care of opening the door, and she shushed the guards, who grinned at me and the child I carried.

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