Page 87 of Dreams Do Come True

I laugh at that. Molly nicknamed Sly Dark One when they first met, as Darkling was already taken by Sal. “Just think of all that bonding you guys are having.”

“Too much bonding is a bad thing,” Adhan says, grinning, before looking at Sly. “Magic away.”

“Yes!” Sly practically shouts.

I watch as he throws his magic out, and moments later, the play set is completed and ready to use and big, really big.

“Hey, that’s cheating,” Kean calls out.

“Don’t care,” Sly shouts back, eating more of his biscuit.

“Come on, Nora, let’s check it out,” Enoch jumps up and runs over to the play set, Nora hot on his heels.

“Do you want me to take Connie, so you can join them?” Emily asks Xander.

“I’m good,” he replies, snagging a biscuit.

I look at River, who is just waking up. I pick him up and drop a kiss on his head. “Hey, Baba, did you have good dreams?” I ask softly.

River grabs my finger.

I hold him in the crook of my arms, so he can see everyone.

“Are you ready for tomorrow?” Adhan asks me.

I sigh. “Probably not emotionally. River will be fine, but Lyric? I need to remember to take lots of tissues for him. Kean found something online called a Memory Bear.”

“I’ve heard of them,” Xander says. “They use clothes to make keepsake bears.”

“That’s them. We want to have two made out of Doris and Reggie’s clothes so the boys have one each.”

“That’s lovely,” Emily says.

“Yeah. We still need to put their photos up in the boys’ rooms at some point and start creating memory books for them. Both about Doris and Reggie and about their lives with us.”

“There’s time enough for that; you don’t need to get everything done now. Take this time to keep bonding with your boys and do the other bits when you can,” Adhan suggests, picking up a drink.

“Plus, if you want any of us to do the night feeds so the two of you can have some uninterrupted sleep, let us know,” Emily tells me.

“Do we look that tired?” I ask. I mean, I know both Kean and I feel it, especially me after last night, but do we look that bad?

“Yes,” they all pretty much say.

“We will do, thanks, Emily.” I hear Lyric and the children laughing and look at River. “Shall we go and see your brother and daddy?” I stand up and walk over to the play set.

Enoch and Nora are trying the monkey swing and Lyric is crawling through a tube that has holes cut into it.

He sees me. “Tus,” he calls, sticking his head and most of his body through the hole and smiling at me.

“Careful, little man, don’t get stuck,” I caution, pretty sure he’s about to realise that heisactually stuck.

He tries to move backwards but can’t. “Tus,” he says, looking at me, his bottom lip going.

“Hold on, little man,” I say. I call on my magic to release Lyric, and it does. Now Lyric is standing in front of me.

Lyric looks around and then laughs. “Five Tus,” he says, holding his hand up to me.

I high-five him and then, with one arm, pick him up. “Snack time.”