Page 39 of My Orc Nanny

Dismissing my friends from my mind, I gave her a smile and a little bow. “The secret is Italian dressing.”

“Oh, I’m desperate for the recipe, if you don’t mind. There have been days when I just can’t manage to cook, and it would be delightful to have something so delicious in the fridge to look forward to!”

The woman, who looked so much like Hannah, except for the bright pink headscarf she wore to hide her missing hair, beamed up at me, and I found myself beaming right back.

“I’d be happy to give you the recipe, ma’am. And I’ll pack up the leftovers to send home with you today.” In fact, I vowed to make her a weekly batch of it—or any meals she wanted—if it would make her treatments easier.

“Oh, call me Allison,” she insisted, beaming at my friends. “I’m Hannah’s mother. You’re our new mayor, Mr. Sakkara.”

“Just Sakkara,” he said smoothly, with a smile. “And this is Tarkhan, one of our new residents.”

“Allison, my dear, you don’t need to settle for just Aswan’s potato salad.” Tark bent over her free hand with a charming smile, then winked at her. “Have you tasted his lobster ravioli? I’m sure he’d make anything for you.”

As the older woman blushed, flustered, I found myself also shifting awkwardly. “Tark’s right, ma’am—Allison. I’ll makeyou any meal you’d like and deliver it on the days you’re not up for cooking.”

Her mouth dropped open in surprise, but before she could answer, Hannah came bouncing up, full of energy. “What are we talking about? Are the burgers ready?”

“Not yet,” I murmured, pretending interest in the meat, when I really wanted to gather her to my side and drop a kiss to her lips. “Almost.”

I thought I heard Sakkara snort softly under his breath as Hannah linked her arm through her mother’s. “Aswan’s food is amazing, Mom. He used to own a restaurant, you know.”

“I didn’t!” Allison beamed at me. “And now he’s helping to raise my grandbabies. I was very impressed by how much Ben has matured, you know. I’ve missed being able to spend as much time with them as usual. Hopefully when these treatments are done…”

I saw Hannah tighten her hold on her mom and press their shoulders together. “Soon,” she promised. “We’ll all go on a fun vacation in August, okay? Maybe to the mountains.”

I would love to see the East Coast mountains and compare them to my home. Maybe something showed on my face because her mother glanced at me. “Can we bring Aswan along to cook? I’m going to need more of this potato salad!”

Hannah started in surprise, glancing between us, and I saw the worry in her gaze. Worry, because she didn’t want anyone to realize what had passed between us when we were alone?

I forced a nonchalant shrug. “I can send some along,” I told her—just her—so she didn’t have to worry about inviting me.

But from the way her shoulders slumped and the flash of disappointment in her eyes, that hadn’t been the right thing to say.

Suddenly Sakkara cleared his throat. “Excuse me. Nikki is finally here with Emmy, and I promised I’d help carry Tova’s present from the car.”

I nodded to him as he slipped away, and it wasn’t until I turned back to our little group that I saw Allison’s surprise.

“How did—” She shook her head in disbelief. “I didn’t hear anything, and he wasn’t looking at his phone. How did he know his wife was here? Is it an orc thing?”

I exchanged a glance with Tarkhan, who raised a brow in challenge and gestured for me to explain.

Fine. I could do this.

Taking a deep breath, I considered my words.

“To humans, marriage is…a partnership. A promise?” I gave a little shrug, even as Hannah’s mother nodded. “It is a choice, is my point. To orcs, there is more. Mating is…more.”

I winced, knowing I was explaining it poorly, and knowing Hannah was watching me intently. My hand went to my chest, my heart and myKteerpounding beneath my palm, and struggled to find the words.

“When we meet our Mates, the person who is going to be our…ourforever, we just know them. That’s how it was explained to us as kitlings—there is a knowing. Not justfrom us, but from our Mates as well. They—shewill recognize us if the Mating is to be successful.”

I couldn’t look at Hannah, for fear that she would see the longing in my eyes. Instead, I focused on her mother, who looked so interested. “Once the Mating bond has been completed, and the couple has committed to one another, then their connection becomes even stronger. They can…sense one another.”

Allison’s brows had risen. “How fascinating. So Sakkara justfelthis wife—excuse me, hisMate? Is the Mating bond ever wrong? What happens if one person doesn’t want to be Mated?”

Since she was looking at Tarkhan when she asked this question, he shrugged helplessly. “Then the other accepts her decision and lives in misery. It’s not completely unheard of for a female to reject a male, and while that male will never find another Mate, hewillrespect her decision.” His expression turned almost pitying. “You have to understand that in the world we came from, there were so few females that many of us only knew one Mated male, and that was our fathers. We had no hopes of finding Mates.”

As Hannah frowned, studying me, her mother glanced from one of us to the other. “Since coming to our world, have either of you found your Mates?”

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