“See!” Fynn nods enthusiastically. “That’s exactly it. She gets it from the start.”
“Well done,” I give her a little clap, and we all laugh.
She brings her cup to her lips, and gazes at us from behind it, her eyes curious and wide.
“So, what’s our plan for the day?” she suddenly wonders.
“Plan?” Fynn repeats.
“I know you guys need to go to the station, fill out a report, explain everything that’s happened with Kayne,” she nods.
“Absolutely,” I nod. “I’ll leave Fynn to handle that.”
“So, what else is new?” Fynn snorts.
“I was thinking, maybe later we could hang out… or something,” she adds, her cheeks blushing furiously.
“About that, Maddie – “ Fynn starts.
“I don’t mean to pressure you guys into anything,” she suddenly shakes her head, as if she’s said something wrong. “I probably shouldn’t have pushed. Sorry.”
“Whoa, whoa,” I chuckle. “Hold your horses, girl. There’s something we’d like to talk to you about.”
“About what?” she asks.
“Fynn?” I look over at him. “You’re better at this official stuff. Why don’t you explain it to her?”
“Guys, you’re really making me nervous here,” she smiles, a little anxiously, as she waits for us to clarify.
“You always leave me with the difficult part of the job,” Fynn grins. “Alright then.”
He clears his throat a little, before continuing.
“The circumstances under which the three of us met were anything but ordinary. And, I think we all felt the same in the beginning. We were pushing you away, because it was too dangerous. I had no idea how this would end. And, I didn’t even want to think about the worst possibility, which by the way, almost happened.”
“Why don’t you cut to the chase?” I poke fun at him, knowing he hates that.
“Then, why don’t you do it, smart ass?” he grins back. “Anyway, Maddie… you know our story. Well, most of it. You know what we are. You know what we do. What you may not know is that everyone in our clan chooses their mate. The person we choose has to be special, in more ways than one. She has to fulfill many conditions, and I don’t think I need to tell you that it’s difficult finding the right partner, or in our case, a mate.”
I watch her as she listens to him patiently. That lingering smile never leaves her face, and I’m sure that hers is the face I want to see for the rest of my life.
“A long time ago, Anderson and I vowed that we’d choose our mate together. That, as you can expect, makes things even more difficult, because not many would consider our offer. You… did. I can’t even begin to tell you how surprised I was at that. I mean, I hoped. Anderson hoped, too. But, you just blew our minds. You are so amazing, Maddie.”
She blushes at his words, and I want to wrap my arms around her, but I refrain from doing so. Fynn needs to tell her what we want, what we need from her, and we can only hope that she will agree.
“Maybe you already know what I want to tell you, what we both want to tell you.”
He pauses, her smile widens a little. I can see it in her eyes that she knows. She senses. And, she likes it.
“Will you be our mate?” Fynn asks simply.
She looks at him, then at me.
“Will I be your only mate?” she suddenly asks, like a little child, afraid that she will have to share her favorite toy.
“Of course,” Fynn actually laughs at this one, and I join in.
“I mean, you won’t replace me with someone later on?” she blushes ever more as she asks this.
“We have only one mate,” Fynn explains. “Til death do us part, as you like to vow to each other.”
“I think I’d like that,” she whispers.
I jump to her and wrap my arms around her thin little neck, as she is still seated on the chair. Fynn walks over to us slowly. He uses both hands to enshroud us both.
“So, is there anything I need to know about this?” she asks again, curiously.
“Like what?” I reply with another question, sitting back at the table.
“Like, will we all be living together?”
“Of course,” Fynn nods. “No question about it.”
“And, our kids – “
“Are our kids,” he answers that one, too. “It doesn’t matter whose sperm made it to the egg first.”
He says it so seriously that we can’t stop laughing at some point. Even he joins in. After a few moments of incessant laughter, she continues dreamily.
“And, where will we live?”
“I have a big house on the outskirts, just at the foot of a nearby mountain. I always wanted to live there once I settle down. And, I think Fynn agrees, as well.”
“There’s a view of the mountain from the window?” she smiles.
“It’s breath-taking,” I assure her. “And, you don’t need to worry about anything. We’ll take care of everything, of you, the kids, absolutely everything.”
“Oh, I have no concerns about that,” she beams. “You’ve proven yourselves to me more than once. I trust you with my life.”
I feel as if someone grabbed my heart and won’t let go. Maybe that’s what love feels like. It’s a bit scary. A bit overwhelming. But, you don’t want that hand to ever let go of you, even if it does occasionally squeeze a little too tight.
Chapter 28
It’s been a week since life has returned to usual. At least, it’s trying to, and we are doing our best to accommodate the new developments. For the time being, while my dad is at the hospital, all three of us are still living in his mansion. I’ve taken it upon myself to keep up with the cleaning and the usual housework, with a little bit of hired help. After all, it’s an unnecessarily huge house. I kept telling him to sell it, and just get a smaller one, maybe somewhere in the mountains, but his reasoning was always that he lived in this house with my mother, and he will die in it, too. I guess I understand.
I always thought living with someone would be difficult. After all, it’s two souls adapting to a new level of existence: co-existence. And, with us, there are three souls. However, it’s been nothing but smooth sailing. Anderson and Fynn are still very much different, but it is so easy to talk to them. I guess, it’s easy to find common ground when all parties involved wish everyone to be happy. And, that’s all I want, to be happy with the two of them.
It’s lunch time, and only Anderson is home. Fynn is at the station. He is needed on some top secret president-related matter, and it’s only him, so Anderson is given the day off. I thought he’d be a little offended, but he actually welcomed the day off, and spending it at home with me.
We sit down to have lunch together, and I relish his smile and his compliments about my new-found cooking skills.