Page 37 of House of Kallan
“This is exactly why I said you’re so brave, Lydia. Despite your fear, you’re willing to take it on with your eyes wide open. For your son,” I said.
She smiled. “Thanks, Miss Tatum.”
A nurse knocked on the door and I excused myself while she did her checks on both mother and child. Much of what the nurses did wasn’t just the normal checks, but they also continued to note anything that might be useful about the infant. Any details that would better help us place them later.
The last stop for this afternoon was the orphan wing, but this time, not to see Shadow. I wanted to check in on toothy girl. I’d been thinking about her a lot and especially when I was just talking to Lydia about isolation, it made me truly think about how she must be feeling. Even as an infant.
Pushing the door open, I took a minute for my eyes to adjust. The lights were always dim and soothing instead of the harsh, bright lights of the hall. Stepping inside, I went straight to her crib with the metal bars. One hand was wrapped around a bar as she lay on her side, looking out.
I crouched down to be level with her. “Hey, sweetheart.” Her big eyes settled on me. “Are you lonely?”
She sighed, and it only reinforced that I thought these babies understood us.
“Can I pick you up?”
Her hand released the bar, her eyes following me as I stood. Reaching in, I traced my hand down her arm. She was covered in little mouths with sharp teeth lining them. Her little hand gripped my arm, so I gently picked her up, careful to avoid the mouths.
Bringing her to my chest, I hugged her tight.
There were no bites, even as her little exposed mouths touched me, opened and closed against me as if she were tasting me. Learning me by taste. But what nearly broke my heart was the way she gripped me tightly.
“I’m sorry, sweetie,” I said quietly. “We’re trying to find you a home. This really isn’t fair to you, is it?”
She sighed again and pressed her face to my neck. I hugged her gently but firmly, keeping her tucked against me for a long time. When it came time to head to my other stops, I decided I’d take her with me. Unlike with Shadow, I didn’t grab a stroller. Just a blanket. The orphan wing was always warm, and I didn’t want her to get cold.
But she needed contact. She needed touch. So I was going to hold her for the rest of my shift.
After the third stop, she picked her head up and began looking around. One of the other nurses was so enamored with her that she asked to hold her. My little girl was thrilled with this. She even smiled.
Yep, we definitely needed to do better by her. I touched her face, and she leaned her head into my hand. I could see the gratitude in her eyes.
These weren’t babies. These were little people. Their emotions and intelligence were far too complex to be that of an infant. Or even a baby several months old.
My concern for what Silence was attempting to do in breeding these new monsters just escalated, yet again.
Tatum
By the timeI got home, I was ready to crash. It was a late night, but only because I didn’t know how to leave at a reasonable hour. And I might have been sidetracked for the last few hours chatting with the Malaks via our group chat. My cheeks hurt from smiling so much.
That was not a bad problem to have.
Even as I climbed into bed, I continued to chat with Aden, both separately and within the group where Rahael was also still awake. I had a lot of fun with them. I loved learning about them all and seeing the way they interacted with each other. There were little glimpses of their individual relationships as well as their larger group dynamics.
Honestly, I could spend days just watching them.
When I was a teenager and first learned about The Harem Project and how you could get matched with a family, I was always concerned that someone coming in brand new to an already well-established family might be awkward. The new person would always feel left out. There was nothing in my mind that could change the way I thought about this.
If I thought about it, this was probably the reason I never took the time to get matched. I didn’t want to be an extra wheel.I didn’t want to watch from the outside and feel like I didn’t belong.
Strangely, even though I was the new link, I hadn’t felt like that once. Not even via texts when two or three of them went off on a tangent I had no idea about. Just watching them go back and forth put a smile on my face. I could feel their familiarity and affection for each other and I enjoyed it. It made me happy.
When they brought me back into the conversation, I didn’t ever feel like it’s ‘oh, right—there’s someone else here and we’re making her feel left out’ kind of vibe. It was a natural transition in the discussion. Their inclusion was because they wanted me to be involved and it was a good opening for me to join in.
I wasn’t sure how to describe it if I had to put it into words. I loved what we were building. There was just no doubt in my mind about it.
My phone was still open when I closed my eyes for just a minute. I awoke when my phone began ringing. It was close to my head, so I nearly rolled off the bed in my haste to get away from the loud sound. Grabbing blindly since the light of the screen seared my eyes, I answered.
“’Ello?” I asked groggily.
