Page 101 of Dreams Do Come True

“Dirt,” I correct, and kneel down next to him. “Time to get out of the dirt.”

Lyric nods and stands up.

I brush some of the dirt off him and pick him up. He’s still covered in the stuff, and now so am I. “You scared your cousins, did you know that?”

Lyric shakes his head.

“They couldn’t find you. Thankfully, Uncle Ben found you. If you’re going to a different part of the garden, you need to tell someone so we don’t worry.”

Lyric looks at me. “I bad?”

I shake my head. “Not this time, but you still need to say sorry to your cousins.”

Lyric looks at Xander, Nora and Enoch. “I sorry.”

“We’re just glad you’re not lost,” Nora says.

“I play,” he says, pointing to where he laid.

“Yep, we can see that,” Enoch says. “Come on, messy, let’s go back and play on the swings.”

I put Lyric on the ground, and he happily walks back holding Enoch’s hand.

“I really am sorry,” Xander says softly.

“Hey, none of that,” I say to him, pulling him into a hug. I pull back. “I’m honestly surprised that it’s taken him this long to hide from us. He did that back at my flat one morning. Kean had to sniff him out.”

“Really?” Temp asks in surprise.

I nod. “Yep, he hid down the side of the bed in one of the spare bedrooms. With how big the manor and grounds are, I thought he would have tried hiding before now,” I look at Xander. “These things happen, so honestly, don’t worry about it.”

“Just maybe don’t take your eyes off him,” Emily says. “Ben was the one who always hid. You’d turn your back for a second, look back, and he’d be gone.”

Ben laughs. “I remember that. I hid up the chimney in the dining room once.”

The dining room is a room we never use. I’d forgotten the manor even had one.

Emily laughs. “He did. He was gone for hours, and we searched everywhere.”

“Dad found me when he heard me sneeze. I didn’t know I’d been hiding for so long.”

“How did you not get tired holding on to the inside?” Temp asks him.

“There’s a ledge in there. No idea why, but there is, so I sat on that.”

“And he was filthy when Hector got him out,” Emily adds.

I think that’s the first time I’ve heard Daddy Stone’s name ever mentioned.

Ben suddenly burst out laughing. “I ran around the house hugging my brothers and getting them as dirty as I could.”

We all laugh at that.

“I can imagine you doing that, Greasy,” Temp laughs at his lover. “You still like getting messy.”

He nods. “I really do.”

By this time, we’ve reached the main part of the garden. I look over and see Lyric on a baby swing with Enoch pushing him. Nora is pushing Xander, trying to get him as high as she can, to much amusement of the others.