“You both are very lucky.”He read over the headlines of the paper, going over them one by one.When it got to the part where she testified, he read over the accounting and could see the little girl that she’d been sitting up there trying to get through this all.The story that she had told him was the exact story that she’d told in the courtroom.Never in all these years had her testimony changed at all, and he was more believing of her than before.She must have been having nightmares nightly because of all of this.He knew that he would have.
It took him most of the night to look over the clippings.He knew that she was telling the truth about what had happened to her, but he still could see no reason why she thought that she wasn’t goodenough for him.She was his mate, and he was going to do everything in his power to make sure she was loved and pampered for the rest of their long lives together.
The first thing he was going to do was get the house finished.He knew that she and Thatcher lived in a tiny two-bedroom flat that was in an all right neighborhood.He knew too that she had a good job and that Thatcher had graduated from high school just last year and was taking college classes now.He’d be getting child support until he turned twenty-five, so long as he was in school.Olivia would get the same, according to the paper.He decided to get the house finished up without her help so that she could come and live with him.Thatcher would be welcome too, and he was happy to have a son of his own.He’d yet to tell his parents what he’d been doing, and thought that before they found out some other way, he’d tell them.It went over as well as he had hoped; they were excited for the three of them.
“I remember that trial as well.It was a long one for someone so young.”He asked his dad if he’d gone to the courthouse.“No.I always wanted to, but I was fearful that I’d rip the throat out of the man and be done with him.I would gladly have gone to prison for that and never seen you or your brothers again.I stayed away at your mother’s request.”
“Mom saved your life.”Dad said that it wasn’t the first time she’d saved his life.“No, I remember the story about how the two of you came to be together.”
The story was old and made better because they had stayed together all these years.Plus, they had the six of them, too, and that was wonderful.Sidney told his parents of his mate and how he was going to get the house finished for them so that they could begin their life together.
“I take it she’s not too keen on having you as a mate.”He said it was more that she was thinking he could do better rather than the other way around.“Yes, she would think that poor child.You keep an eye on her.Talking to you about this might bring up nightmares for her, too.I can’t believe that she raised the boy up on her own with only the help of her parents for a little while.She was nothing more than a child herself when her parents died.”
Sidney thought that the mother had been selfish when she’d died, but he kept that to himself.To leave behind her daughter and grandson like she did, didn’t sit well with him.Sometimes, he thought humans were about as selfish as they could be when it came to caring for others around them.
“I’ve been thinking about your house.You should have your mother go over and take care that it has magic in it.”He said that was on his list of things to do today.“Good boy.She’ll get that taken care of because, as surely as I’m sitting here, as soon as it hits the papers—and it will that you’re getting married to Olivia, all the past is going to be brought up again and again.People will want to get to either one of the three of you to get a scoop.”
“I never thought about that.Perhaps we don’t put it in the paper.”He said that might be the best idea yet.“Then we won’t.It’s no one’s business, so we’ll just leave that alone for now.I’d hate to have to kill someone because they thought it might be a good idea to come to the house to get a story on something that is that old.”
They talked about the house still having magic, and Mom said she’d take care of it.Both houses that he’d purchased would have magic that wouldn’t allow anyone in who would have ill will in their hearts to enter.He knew for a fact that it had saved one of his brothers from being shot and his sister-in-law as well.He loved his family and what they could do for a dragon starting out with his new family.
“We’ll need to get to know young Thatcher.Not to mention brushing up on some sign language so we can talk to her.Have you given her access to the link that the two of you have?That might work when she’s talking to you.”He told his dad he was brilliant.“I do have good ideas on occasion.”
“I never thought of that.I wonder if she’d be able to talk to me all the time?”He said he didn’t know why not; it had worked before.“I’m going to try it and see what I can figure out.Wouldn’t that be great if we all could talk to her through our links?I’m going to find her right now and see if I can make it work.”
He left his parents in the kitchen to go and find Olivia.He knew just where she’d be, and that was on the construction site of his new home.Finding her in the living room again, he asked if he could talk to her.
“We have a link that we can talk to one another with.”She stared at him when he touched her mind.“It’s used between mates so that they can speak to each other anytime they wish.I was wondering if you could use it to talk to me?All you need to do is think about what you want to say to me, and I’ll understand you.It’s as simple as that.”
“Can you understand me?”He nodded and grinned.“I can talk to you.Where is Thatcher?I need to say something to him.Will it work?”
“It should.You both have magic.”He saw his stepson just coming into the house, and he paused and looked at his mother.When she started to cry, he wondered what she would have said to him to make him cry as well.Turning to him, she smiled a watery smile at him.“What did you do?I’m assuming you said something that you’ve never been able to say before.”
“I said that I loved him.I’ve never been able to say the words to him before.Thank you for this.You can’t believe how long I’ve…I got to tell my son that I loved him because of you.”He nodded, himself feeling overwhelmed at the moment.
Olivia hugged him tightly, and Sidney reached out to his dad and let him know that it worked.Emotionally overwrought, he thanked his dad for the idea and told him how Sidney had gotten to tell her son that she loved him for the first time.He, too, said that he was emotional.
Sidney had an overly powerful need to tell his family that he loved them, too.Starting with his grandma.She cried, telling him that it meant so much more to her because it had been spur of the moment, she told him that she would forever love him no matter what.His mom asked him what he’d done, and he had to laugh.It would be just like her to think he’d done something wrong rather than him just wanting to say that he loved her.In the end, she told him that she loved him as well, and he was thrilled with her words like Thatcher was his mothers.Everyone was as happy as they could be, and he had his dad to thank for it all.
For the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening, he would ask questions of Olivia and her son.It was peppered with information about himself, too, and he couldn’t believe how much he was learning about the two of them.Once, he asked if they were hungry, and he heard from Thatcher that he could eat a cow.Then he asked how many he’d eaten in his lifetime.
He had to explain to him that he’d never been around when there was a time that he could eat cows.He was the youngest of his brothers, so he never got to fight in wars either.It was sad for him at times to be left out of such things, but he was also glad that he’d missed that time in their lives.He couldn’t imagine being his dragon and fighting castle wars all the time as they had done.
They still used sign language when they were out and about, but they made it so that he could hear what they were talking about, too.It was wonderful to be a part of their conversations, and he was happy too that he could join them when he wanted.
Chapter 4
The house was coming along nicely.The kitchen was nearly finished; they were just waiting for the appliances to come in and be set.The pantry, the place that she loved most of all because of the shelving in it, as well as the living room, now had two overhead fans that would distribute the air in the winter when the fireplace was going.Olivia loved the house that she was going to be living in with Thatcher, and that she had something to do with it as it was being remodeled.
She knew that Sidney was going to be living here as well, but she tried not to think about him too often.He was a nice man and had given her the ability to talk to her son when she wanted, but she just didn’t know about the two of them coming together as a couple.She really did think of herself as damaged goods.She turned in the direction of the light when she felt it slide over her.It was Gravely trying to get her attention.
“I have an outlet that’s not working right, and was wondering if you could come and have a look at it.I think it might have been damaged when someone stepped on it, but no one is owning up to that, so I don’t know.”She nodded.“Good.The kitchen is finished, but for the stove.I’m having it wired up to the wall as we speak.I don’t want someone to pull it down on top of them like they do dressers.”
Sometimes she could understand Gravely, but most of the time she would only catch a word or two of what he was saying.He didn’t have a mustache or anything that would keep her from reading his lips, but he would forget to stay still so that she could.When he turned away from her, she couldn’t see his mouth, which made it difficult for her to see his lips moving.
After fixing the plug, not the outlet, she finished up her area and moved to the dining room.She’d been changing out outlets all morning and was just about finished with the main floor.The kitchen, with all its new outlets, gleamed in the morning sunshine, and she liked knowing that they were as safe as she could make them.The glass panels in the dining room made the room sparkle with colors while she was in there, and she thought that it was the most beautiful room in the house, next to the master suite.
It was a large room that had a fireplace in it, too.There was plenty of room for a couple of chairs, and the little library made it so that someone could be cozy in the room while reading a good book.There were windows from floor to ceiling in the room that looked out over the back yard.She wondered if animals came out to play in the area in the evening, but hadn’t been around when that time of the day was upon her.She would just have to imagine it and hope that someday she would get to see it.Turning to head back to the kitchen, where her supplies were, she ran into Sidney.
