Page 83 of The Dragon's Perfect Omega
I just got done helping Ryan set the presents out on the table when the doorbell rang again. Lowen went to get it, and came back into the dining room with Adrian, Tyrel and their children in tow. By now, our house was truly full, but I didn't mind. At least my own babies were still asleep, even if they were due to wake up from their naps any minute.
One of Adrian's twins came up to me as I sat a bag Tyrel handed me on the table with the presents. "Where's the cake?" the kid asked. "It's a birthday party, so where's the cake?"
"In the kitchen. We're not going to serve it for a few more minutes. Why don't you go sit with your brother?"
"That's boring!" he complained, but before I had a chance to respond, Roger spoke up. He was sitting at the table, but his voice was loud enough to be heard throughout the room.
"Has anyone seen Allory?"
My brow furrowed. Hadn't I just seen her talk to Sky?
Roger groaned when no one responded. "I swear that girl runs off every five minutes!"
"Sky's gone too," Finn noted.
"I'll look upstairs," I said, and as soon as I left the room, everyone else swarmed too. I only got halfway up the stairs, though, before a loud crashing noise came from below. Almost as if something had fallen over in the basement. Or as if a child was playing with Lowen's old drum set.
All of us adults were down there within minutes, only to find Roger's renegade daughter at the drums and Sky tapping an extra set of drumsticks together to cheer her on.
I left the children's parents to deal with their offspring, hearing Roger mutter something that sounded distinctly like 'I swear we need to put a leash on her,' on my way out.
Deciding to bring the cake out, I entered the kitchen, only to find more misbehaving little dragons. Adrian's twins had found the cake and somehow managed to utterlyeliminateat least half of it in the matter of minutes. The moment I opened the kitchen door, they turned to me with wide brown eyes. The very picture of innocence. If they didn't have icing stuck to their hands and all around their mouths.
"Adrian!" I called before the two of them could say anything in their defense. Not my circus, not my monkeys. I had my own children to deal with—and thankfully, enough other foods and snacks in the pantry to feed all my guests.
Eric and Taryn stuffed their hands in their mouths as if trying to destroy the evidence of their misdeed. When their daddy came into the kitchen, they pleaded innocence.
"It was like that when we got here!"
Adrian only sighed. "You two are going to miss all of your toys so much.”
I had to leave the kitchen because I very nearly burst into laughter at the expression on the boys’ faces when they heard that and the implication of their daddy’s words dawned on them.
Time to check up on my own kids.
When I reached the nursery, the babies were still asleep. They’d be up soon, but until then, they were perfectly well behaved. And so adorable. I leaned over their cribs, studying their peaceful faces. It was still funny how just a year and a half ago, I hadn’t even known I could get pregnant, and now, here I was, celebrating the first birthday of my twins. On Dragon Island.
I used to think I had to get into the family business to afford my eventual children the same luxuries my parents had afforded me, but that was all in the past. These days I knew the greatest gift I could give them was the freedom to grow up away from all those expectations.
But maybe I didn’t have to hide them from the rest of the family forever.
Idly, I glanced at a part of today’s mail that I’d set down on the corner table earlier.
That was when Lowen stepped into the room. “Hiding out here?” he asked.
"Nah, just taking a moment to marvel at what perfect little angels our daughters are when they’re asleep." Lowen came to stand next to me, and I let myself lean on him. "And thinking what a crazy year this has been." So much had happened since the twins were born. It had only been twelve months, but it might as well have been a hundred. Especially in the early days when the babies were keeping us up all night and we were still handicapped in our ability to run errands since Lowen hadn't been able to shift. He'd regained that ability about three months after our children were born.
His magic had come back along with it, but that was a secret we kept between ourselves. Personally, I never had another vision after that first one. Something I was thankful for. I could do without that sort of magic.
"It's been an amazing year," Lowen murmured.
"Oh, definitely. Let’s make the next one even better." I gave my dragon a kiss, and then I got my phone out.
"What are you doing?"
"Just taking a picture."
"A picture?" Lowen peered over my shoulder at my phone. "Of the girls? Who are you sending it to?"
