Chapter 4 - Meredith

I’m seated at a spot on the patio at one of the local brunch places.  It’s meant for families, a play area with soft turf and a smaller area for babies outside next to the patio.  I got here for our reservation early after walking here.  Selene had things that she wanted to talk about and I often find it easier to move during those conversations in my head.  Might as well do something productive.

            Julie, the owner, comes over to the table.  “Hey, Meredith!”

            “Hi, Julie.  How are you?  How are the pups?  And Joe?” I ask her.  Julie has become a good friend and Gael, Hakeem, and I had helped her with the capital to get this place off the ground.  Because of that, we are the only people that actually get a reservation here.  She says that if you really want something, you either arrive on time to get a seat or its worth the wait.

            “Joe is perfect.  The girls are giving me gray hair trying to figure out their major at the college.  And the twins have just gotten their wolves, so things are a bit crazy in the house.”  Even as she describes her life as something chaotic, a smile beams from her face.  This she-wolf thrives on chaos.  “Are Fati and JoJo meeting you today?”

            “Monthly girls brunch,” I confirm.

            “And those adorable little pups?” she asks with a giddy smile.  Even though only one of the triplets is an actual werewolf, offspring from a wolf are referred to as pups.  It’s a cultural thing.

            “They better be here,” I joke.  “I need my fix.”  JoJo and her mates have been so busy lately that I haven’t seen my grandsons for nearly a week.  It’s entirely too long for this Grammy to go without them.

            “Of course I brought them,” JoJo says, coming from the side of the patio.  “If I didn’t, my mother would string me up from the flagpole by my toes.”

            I turn to see JoJo and Alexander.  Alexander is pushing the wagon stroller combination that they use to cart the pups around.  It’s huge, but honestly one of the best pieces of baby paraphernalia that I’ve ever seen.  It carts around all three pups but can also double as a pack and play so that the pups have space to move and even sleep if they need to.  JoJo is carrying their huge diaper bag.

            I jump up from the table, giddy to see my babies.  They are completely identical, except for their powers, which have already started to develop.  I mean, they are all the sons of a god, a godling, and an angel.  Though they definitely have an affinity for one of their fathers’ powers, they all have great power.

            It makes things interesting for my daughter and her mates.  Never a dull moment when the triplets are awake.

            I run over to the stroller and grab Calix, who’s Nephilim wings are out as he starts to fly out of the stroller.  “What are you doing, my little angel?”

            He grins up at me, his normal gummy smile marred by the appearance of a tooth poking out of his bottom gum.

            “What’s this?” I coo to him.  “Did you get your first tooth?”  His the last of the three pups to have his first tooth come in.  Demetrios, the demi-god of the group, has two teeth and Brison, our werewolf pup, has nearly an entire mouthful of teeth after his first shift two weeks ago.

            Yeah, sounds adorable to have a literal pup running around, except we didn’t know that was something that could happen.  That was an interesting nap wake up.

            Calix coos back at me, smiling broadly and drooling a bit.  Brison gives a bark to grab my attention and Demetrios gives out a squawk of indignation that he wasn’t picked up first.

            I laugh at them.  “Let me sit down and I will hold all of you.”

            Alexander navigates the stroller to the table, bending to kiss all three pups on top of the head and then engaging JoJo in a long enough kiss that Julie and I have all three pups out of the stroller and are playing with them before he leaves. 

            He knows the deal.  This is a ladies only time.  The only Y chromosomes allowed are still in diapers.

            Just then, Fati runs up.  “How am I always the last one here?”

            JoJo, still a little dazed from Alexander’s goodbye, scoffs.  “We always wonder that too.  Been staying up too late with Caleb?”

            Fati lifts her chin in mock snobbery.  “I refuse to answer such questions.”

            I snort.  “That’s a yes,” I tell Brison and Calix, who are sitting in my lap.

            JoJo dissolves and giggles while Fati stares at me like I’ve turned against her.

            Julie decides to take that as her cue to leave and get our food ready.  She passes Demetrios to Fati.  She immediately tosses him into the air, catching him as he laughs and coos at her.

            “Well, sit down,” I tell my girls.  “I need to catch up on what’s going on with my pups.”

            The girls sit down and a waiter brings over three large glasses with mimosas.  We don’t play with champagne flutes during brunch.  I don’t need to keep getting refills, give me the extra large slushy cup from 711.  I’ll call it the lushy cup.

            I take my first sip and then set my sights on JoJo.  “Alright.  What’s going on with Jacob?”

            He’s been going through the process of changing back from being a Throne, a process which started about two months ago.  It’s been grueling and really painful for him.

            JoJo’s happy smile turns down, becoming serious and sad.  “He just went through another siphoning, so he’s in stasis at the Archeon River.  Hermes is there with him.”

            I wince.  The siphoning of the Throne powers is excruciatingly painful for Jacob and brings him near to death every time.  The hardest part of taking away the angelic powers is that Jacob’s DNA was literally changed.  It’s a lot easier to add to DNA than to take away from it, especially if they want to keep Jacob the same as he was before.

            That explains why Alexander gave JoJo such a thorough goodbye.

            I shuffle Calix and Brison in my arms and reach over to squeeze her arm.  Fati wraps her arm around her sister, laying her head on JoJo’s shoulder.  Demetrios reaches over and taps his mother’s cheek. 

            Well, he doesn’t have great motor control, so it’s more like a slap than a tap, but he’s trying to be sweet.

             JoJo grabs his hand and blows a raspberry on it, causing the little boy to squeal with laughter and that sad look to turns immediately to a grin.  She grabs him up from her sister, leaving Fati to grab Calix from me.

            I can tell that JoJo is done talking about it.  Especially when she turns to us and says, “Soooo, I might be pregnant again.”

            “WHAT!” JoJo screams and I struggle to keep a straight face.  Not my matebond, not my body. 

But the pups are just 6 months old!  If she was pregnant now, the triplets wouldn’t even be a year by the time they are born.  Can you imagine having SIX kids under a year?!?!

“It’s not like I’m trying to have another set of triplets right now.  That dud batch of birth control that went out?  I had it and we were in Olympus during the last full moon, so I didn’t even get the emergency back-up pill.  So it’s entirely possible,” she says shrugging.

“Well, shit…” Fati says.

“So, you’ll know in the next few days,” I say.

JoJo shrugs.  “Yup.”

“Fucking glad I don’t have to worry about that,” Fati says.

I’m about to respond, but our food arrives right at that moment.  I wait until everything is on the table and our waiter walks away.

“Speaking of that,” I say and JoJo shoots me a look.  She knows what I’m going to say and she really doesn’t want me to.  It likely isn’t going to go over well, but I promised Gael and Hakeem that I’d brooch the topic with our oldest child.  “What are you and Caleb going to do about your matebonds?”

Fati shoots me a not so nice look.  “What do you mean, Mom?”

Not a big fan of the way that she said my name but moving on.  “Are the two of you still looking for your mates or are you two going to take each other as chosen mates?”

“We haven’t really talked about, Mother,” she says for me.

“Look, I’m not trying to push you.  You dads and I just want you to be happy.  By your ages, I had already had the two of you.  Your fathers and I were happily mated for years and we just want you to be as happy as we are,” I say before taking a huge bite of my French Toast so that I don’t say anymore to put my foot in my mouth.

Fati doesn’t say anything for a moment before looking at me.  “I want to find my mate.  But I’ve been looking and I can’t haven’t found him, her, or them.  I would take Caleb as my chosen mate in a second.  But I don’t want to take away his chance at finding his mate.”

“But you haven’t talked about it with him?” I ask.

“I’m afraid to,” she admits.

“Maybe that’s a conversation you might need to have.  And soon,” JoJo says and the forlorn that comes over Fati’s face makes me wish I hadn’t brought it up in the first place.