Page 55 of Dreams Do Come True

She turns and hugs first Kean and then me. I hug her back.

“How are you both coping? Emily filled us in. Are you coping?” she asks with genuine concern, pulling back.

I sit on a sofa, Kean next to me, taking my hand.

“It’s hard when Lyric wants his parents and not us,” I tell her.

“Otherwise, it’s lovely, fun, noisy and exhausting,” Kean says. “It’s not even been a week, but honestly, it feels like forever.”

“And we still need to decide if we’ll be taking Lyric to his parents' funeral,” I add.

“Do you know when the funeral is?” John asks.

“Not yet, Monica was going to let us know, but I’ve not checked my phone today and I'm not planning to look until later,” I reply.

“If you two want some support, we can come with you,” Adhan offers.

“Thanks,” Kean says. “We’re not planning on taking River, if none of you mind babysitting.”

“I’ll look after my youngest grandson. We can watch sports and drink beer.” John says happily.

“We need some more girl children in this family,” Emily comments. “We only have two.”

“And I have lots, don’t I, River? Oh, he’s fallen asleep. Well, that’s okay, I can happily wake him up and play with him.” John says, grinning.

“Or we could lay him in the crib and he can stay asleep,” Kean says, standing up and rescuing River from John and swaddling him before placing him in the crib.

“Or that,” John says, fake-sighing. “Seriously though, Jodie, Emily and I will be happy to look after River.”

“Thanks. The boys couldn’t ask for better grandparents,” I say sincerely.

Lyric woke not long later, and after changing his nappy, he met Jodie and John. They were both enchanted with him. I went to get him some juice, but Emily said she would get it and came back with juice, chopped apple slices and carrots. He sat happily on Jodie’s lap while he had his snack, much to John’s disappointment.

Everyone came back throughout the afternoon, Jude carrying a sleeping Connie, who he settled down in her crib.

Sly, Ebby and the boys came back. Xander and Enoch, along with Nora, played with Lyric, trying to teach him numbers and letters.

Apart from the blip this morning and at the tearoom, it was a good day.

“Shall we read this book?” I say, picking it up.

Lyric snuggles back against me, holding his teddy and sucking on its ear.

I open the book and turn it so Kean can see the pictures as well, as I read the story of‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’. I have to read the book three times, but not long into the third read, I feel Lyric fall asleep.

River is lying on Kean’s chest, also asleep, his little legs pulled up, making him look even smaller.

We both gently get up. I hold Lyric up to Kean, so he can kiss his head, and he does the same with River, and we put both of them in their cribs and settle them down.

Kean wraps his arms around me, and I turn and wrap mine around him. We don’t say anything for a moment. Finally, Kean pulls back and looks at me. “I’m glad I’m on this journey with you,” he tells me softly. “I knew you’d be an amazing father, and I was right.”

“I don’t think I am, but thank you. I’m taking inspiration from your mum, brothers and Jodie and John.”

“Me too,” Kean says, smiling at me before leaning forward and kissing me, a much too short a kiss. “Let me sort the night lights out, you use your nifty magic and create a listening spell, and then we’ll go down for dinner.”

I do the spell and then shake my head. “I’m a muppet, you know that?”

Kean turns and looks at me, in the now soft light. “Why do you say that?”