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“I think… Hey, why aren’t you eating? Are you okay?”
I don’t think she’s taken a bite. Her plate is still full. She lifts a forkful to her mouth and puts it down.
“I guess I don’t feel like eggs today.”
I finish them off for her. Whichever project I work on, I’m still in the digging stage. I’m going to need a lot of food. Maybe two birds for dinner. Oh, and one for Iara.
“What are you going to work on?”
“Oh, I have a new idea for a project.”
A few hours later, I’m tired of digging, mostly mentally. It’s so boring, but I’m happy with the progress. I wash my hands in the fountain we built and go looking for Iara.
I find her in the shed, the first structure we built on the property. Now it’s her workshop. She’s sanding short pieces of wood with the bark from one of the trees. I’m amazed at how smooth she can make the wood. It takes a lot of work.
“What are you building?”
I pick up one of the pieces she has finished and run my hand up and down it. I nod approvingly. Not because she needs my approval. I’m just impressed at how she can transform the rough wood into a silky-smooth surface.
She sets a piece down and wipes her brow.
“Ready for lunch?”
“I can tell you are.”
We head into the house. Lunch is usually an on-the-go affair, but today we sit on the porch. The day has warmed upconsiderably, so we don’t bother to heat last night’s leftover stew. I gobble down all of mine and finish hers as well.
Over dinner, we decide to tackle the details of the mating ceremony. It takes us a while to get through all the details, but when I slide everything back into the envelope for my mom, we have checked off all the things on the list.
“Don’t get me wrong, I can’t wait to be mated to you.” Iara yawns. “But does the ceremony itself have to be so much work?”
I laugh.
“I agree, sort of. But I am looking forward to having everyone there when we are mated. And it will mean a lot to my mother.”
She shakes her head. “I know. And I can tell she did a lot of work. Sorry to sound ungrateful.”
I wave it off. “Don’t apologize. But let’s talk about something more fun, like the honeymoon.” I hesitate, then go for it. “I had an idea.”
“What?”
“The beach. The one I told you about. We should, if you want to, go there. Finally, we could do that climb. I’d love to do that climb for the first time with you.”
“Oh, Rylan.”
She slides into my arms, and I kiss her head.
“So you like the idea?”
I’m expecting an enthusiastic response, but instead she gets up and walks away. Not just from me, out of the house.
I jump up and follow her. We enter the dark workshop. When she turns on the light, my eyes close automatically. It takes me a minute, and a lot of blinking, to open them. Then it takes another minute to absorb what I’m seeing.
It’s a baby bed. The slats Iara was sanding earlier form the walls. I look at her.
“I want to go to the beach with you and climb that wall. I just don’t know if I’ll be able to. Not for a while.”
She puts her hands on her belly protectively and looks up at me.
