Page 50 of These Little Heirs
Morvan still hadn’t called or texted me two weeks later and I was slowly adjusting to the idea that he was out of my life forever. His late-night garden visit gave me a bit of closure at least, I guessed. I no longer wondered if he laid awake at night unable to pick up the phone because he was so depressed that he might off himself. Well, I still did but now I knew he didn’t want me around. Patrica assured me every day that I wasn’t a failure as a friend, but I didn’t believe her and it made me more determined than ever not to be a failure at being a father, a mate, or a brother. Somewhere along the way of trying to save the world I lost sight of things. I hated to admit it and only ever confessed to Ciro, but I believed whole-heartedly that Torvan would come around and see that everyone having enough didn’t take anything away from him. Morvan and I both believed that one day he’d join us on our mission. That hope died when he did, and left me with the realization that some people are eternal assholes who never come around to see the light. I made up my mind that I wouldn’t waste anymore time on people like that. I’d still fight for a better world for my kids and my family, but I was done trying to make assholes see the light. Fuck them and the horses that held them up on their pedestals.
The only time I returned to London in the first few weeks after we found out Ciro was pregnant was to launch Moonscale Meals officially. I was there as baskets full of fruits, veggies, and plant proteins were handed out to families across London along with several cuts of prime meat for those who ate it. We weren’t turned away at a single door and all of our pickup centers were cleaned out (as planned) by the time the day was over. That wasthe only time I missed Morvan. The fucker would’ve loved seeing a big part of what we worked for panned out, but he still wasn’t speaking to me, Patrica, or anyone from the warehouse.
Back home in Heartville, I threw myself back into family life. Ciro and I took to performing an ultrasound everyday and creating a timeline of sonograms of our growing jellybeans. My brothers still called them potatoes in their good-natured ways. I’d have given them hell about it but potatoes were some of their favorite things to grow and eat. Potatoes were nutrient life and joy givers while jellybeans were shallow little candies full of dopamine that were gone without ever leaving behind more of themselves. Maybe it was better for them to be potatoes. Then again, I spent a lot of time overthinking life during the first third of Ciro’s pregnancy and my mate let me know every time he heard my thoughts spinning out of control. Ciro was the only thing that kept me down to Earthside sometimes.
Whenever my overthinking about the world got to be too much, Ciro would shift and I would take him to our hunting grounds. I didn’t shift and hunt there because the trees were too thick for a good draconic landing but I loved to watch him take down a deer. Soon, though, he was too pregnant to risk hunting. Sometimes deer liked to kick and when the biggest part of him, even in liger form, was his belly, we had to put an end to his hunting for himself. There was still enough fresh meat to go around and as his belly grew my concentration on the future left little room to worry about what the rest of the world was doing. It was being fed as much as I could help it and no one was being snatched off the streets while my friends were around and that was enough for me. It had to be enough. Moonscale heir or not there was only so much a person could do even if said person was a dragon.
Ciro joined the pregnancy workout class at the gym, and I took to working in the garden again whenever he went there.Soon, Baby Steel was belly scooting around the garden in his little wolf form and Indigo bought a harness for Baby Robin who wanted to fly even if he couldn’t get himself off the ground. Watching them scooting around gobbling up fallen produce and low hanging fruits was like a flashback to being a kid again. I couldn’t stop imagining the day when our kittens would join in the fray. All these little heirs running around. All these babies who didn’t know what the world held in store for them.
“Not if we can help it,”my dragon yawned.“Our kids will grow up and say uh… What? We didn’t always feed everyone? What? Were the plants lazy back then? Were the deer skinny? Did the cows go on strike?”
He kept it up until I gave in and laughed. He missed Morvan too. They were partners in crime and food but just as I learned to accept his absence so did my dragon.
Time spun around like the dancing hands of a clock as we prepared for our incoming triplets. There were prenatal vitamins to remember and supplies to stock up on. All of us were constantly trying to baby proof the house as Baby Steel and Baby Robin explored more often. It was an ongoing war but most days we gained enough ground to keep them safe even if Baby Robin ate an amethyst bracelet belonging to one of his young aunties and breathed out purple fire for a week. We ate worse things as hatchlings and lived to tell the tales.
Before we knew it time had spun us right into the time period where we might’ve discovered who our kittens might some day be. We hadn’t planned a big ultrasound like some parents did. Our scrap booking timeline gave us hints all through his pregnancies. Two boys and a girl.
“Make her heir and let Clarence sweat it out,” Cobalt teased every time we brought it up.
“She’ll be just as much of an heir as Steel,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, but when they visited, Steel peed on Clarence. He’s letting him know who’s the boss early on. Maybe he can give your kids pointers when they get here,” Cobalt laughed.
“Do you think they’re ready for kitten grandchildren?” Ciro asked, changing the subject to something much more serious.
“They’re not bigots,” I said before anyone could crack a joke about it. “I think they’ll have a lot of learning to do but they’re going to love the kids.” I wrapped my arm around his shoulders and pulled him in close.
“They already love the kids,” Cobalt chimed in. “What? They’re getting to be great grandparents. They’re freaking over the moon. They’re dreaming of kids we’re not even thinking about yet.”
“That’s true,” Indigo nodded.
“Three kittens,” Ciro said. “Part of me thinks it’s going to be a party. The other part of me thinks I should run for the hills before they start climbing the curtains.”
“Did you climb the curtains when you were a kid?” I asked him.
“Any time I see curtains tall enough I still want to climb them but I weigh too much for most of them to hold me up,” Ciro shrugged.
“Oooh!” Cobalt grinned. “When these babies are out of you we have to take you to the gym and not for that pregnant dude class either.”
“It’s not only men,” Ciro said, narrowing his eyes on Cobalt.
“Okay, whatever. We have to take you to the rope room, and you can climb to your heart’s content,” Cobalt said.
“I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before!” I laughed. “You’ll like it.”
“It sounds fun,” Ciro nodded. “Imagine setting our kids loose in there.”
“Eh, as long as you’re willing to fix whatever they scratch up, I don’t think Adrian and Nim will mind,” Cobalt shrugged. “Cord’s kids have destroyed more than a few things and they’re domestic house cats.”
“The real question is are these going to be blue babies?” Ambry teased.
“Midnight, Iris, and Powder,” Ciro rambled off, leaving me blinking. “What? I know a lot of blue shades. Midnight is also a name that runs in a lot of cat families. Powder too. I had a great uncle named Powder, and three distant cousins named Midnight. Iris is just pretty.”
“I like them,” I nodded trying to imagine what these little heirs would look like. “Giving them names makes them feel so much realer.”
“This,” Ciro pointed to his plump, pregnant belly, “makes them feel real. They’ve been real since the first night they trapped me in the bathroom for fur balls.”
“Here’s to the blues!” Cobalt toasted with his water bottle.
