Page 36 of Mushy Stuff (Guardian Mates #1)

Epilogue

Five years later

I’m out in the garden picking vegetables with Nanni when I hear the high-pitched maniacal laughter of my son, followed by Pampa’s disgruntled muttering.

Nanni says, “Roscoe must be giving Pampa trouble again today. You know how he loves to get her worked up.”

I laugh, “I think everything gets her worked up these days.”

Nanni smiles. “Don’t let her hear you say that.”

I just giggle at that. Pampa is just now becoming a teenager, and it turns out that fae teenagers aren’t all that different than human teenagers. They have a lot of big feelings, and everything pushes their buttons.

I yell, “Roscoe!! You play nice with Pampa! ”

We were so surprised when I found out that I was pregnant with Roscoe. None of us knew that Wold could get me pregnant since I had been human. The mating bite changed all of that, though.

I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t know if I would have one baby, or a few.

We also had no idea what the baby would look like.

He ended up being just one baby, and he is the perfect blend of me and Wold.

His skin is a slightly darker shade of brown than mine, and he has adorable green freckles like Wold.

He has antler nubs, so he will have antlers when he’s older.

He also has one little leaf that sticks straight up on the top of his head.

I think that means he will have at least one hair vine when he gets older.

Much to his dismay, he doesn’t have Wold’s long claws and tail.

He says they would be good for climbing, and he hasn’t given up hope on them “coming in” as he gets older.

I secretly thank the Gods that he doesn’t have those.

I can’t imagine dealing with him being able to climb like Wold, plus his little fingers and toes are green and they are so adorable.

I can see Roscoe’s wild, wavy, green hair as he sprints up to the garden. I already know that he has been antagonizing Pampa because his eyes are glowing a bright yellow with excitement .

I’m glad to see that he is still wearing his shorts.

Most of the time I am able to get them on him in the morning, only for them to disappear by the afternoon.

It’s been an ordeal getting him to wear clothes because he wants to “be free like Guardians”.

Unfortunately, he is built more like a human or an Elven and all of his boy parts are on the outside.

We’ve had several conversations about why no one needs to see his junk except him, a healer, and his future mate.

As he runs into the garden, he springs right onto my back and holds on like he’s a little monkey. He cackles, “I can’t help it if I’m faster than she is.”

She storms up, pouting. “You are NOT faster than me. You cheated, and that’s how you won.”

Roscoe growls through his small fangs. “Did not! The rules changed, that’s all.”

I sigh. “Come on, you two, help us harvest the vegetables. We are planning to trade some of them tonight at the market.”

Both of their eyes light up; they both love going to the market. I can’t blame them. It’s such a magical place. We still have to be careful, but things have gotten a lot safer at the market, so we feel comfortable going as a family.

Faylen and Allium bought the tavern and inn that’s in the small town where the market sets up. It turns out that the vendors must pay to use the land when they set up the market. Since the tavern is part of that land, whoever owns the tavern also owns the land.

Allium has taken it upon himself to clean up the market and make it safer for everyone. There used to be a travelling brothel that set up with the market, but apparently they were trafficking fae, so Allium doesn’t allow them at the market any longer.

He also brought in several of his brothers to help with security. They patrol the market and kick out anyone that is up to no good.

We all love visiting the tavern and catching up with them.

I love getting to see Faylen. She and Allium have a bunch of little ones of their own now.

The oldest two are the same age as Roscoe.

They are twin boys, and they all love rough housing together.

They also have a set of triplets, two boys and one girl, who are about a year old now.

They are the sweetest little babies you have ever seen, but I have no idea how Faylen manages with all those little ones.

She is so happy now, and that’s all that matters. I love seeing her happy.

Roscoe says, “When will Daddy be home?”

“When he’s done harvesting the mushrooms for the market. ”

Roscoe sighs. He loves helping Wold, and he was very grumpy that he didn’t get to help with the mushroom harvest today. He’s going to be even more grumpy when I tell him that he’s about to have to take a nap so that he’s well rested for the market tonight.

We pick a few more vegetables and then I say, “Okay, I think that’s enough. We have to leave enough green stuff for us.”

I hear Roscoe pretend to retch. “Bleh.”

“Hey…I heard that. Vegetables are good for you! You better start liking them because I’m going to trade some of these for seeds of even more vegetables.”

Roscoe groans.

I begin to feel that little tug in my chest that always knows where Wold is. I can tell he’s on his way home. “Come on, I think Daddy will be home soon. Let’s go back to the house.”

Wold built us a beautiful log cabin-style house.

It connects to the mushroom cave, so Wold doesn’t even have to leave to tend to his mushrooms. It also allows me and Wold to keep the bioluminescent mushroom room as our bedroom.

I did convince him to bring a mattress in while I was pregnant with Roscoe.

Sleeping on a boulder just wasn’t cutting it anymore .

We built a large garden on the land that Wold cleared for lumber. We were able to trade at the market for seeds and roots to get it started.

We were even able to get some chicks, and now we have a little flock of colorful fae chickens. They drive Wold crazy because they like to sneak around and peck at his mushrooms. I catch him threatening to eat one of them at least once a day.

With the help of Allium, we were able to build a wood-burning oven outside beside the house. Nanni has fallen in love with cooking, and spends most of her days experimenting and making amazing dishes for us. She’s gotten very good at it.

Nanni, Pampa, and Roscoe each have their own rooms in our house. Pampa still loves Wold’s old burrow though. She frequently takes Roscoe “camping” there.

Wold has been talking about clearing some more trees for lumber to build a house around it for Pampa.

She will eventually want a home of her own, and she loves the burrow so much.

She has mentioned that sleeping there was the first time she felt like herself.

She’d never felt like a Guardian at Lord Varik’s home, and sleeping underground surrounded by glowing mushrooms really made her feel at peace and at home.

She finally felt connected to her family’s territory and felt what it was like to be a Guardian.

Wold still bears the burden of protecting his land from humans, but we have managed to get him to switch back to a daytime schedule. I know he’s always afraid that a human will wander in and he will have to kill them.

I made “No Trespassing – Private Property” signs that we hung along the border, and they seemed to help a lot.

We eventually built an old-fashioned log fence along the sections of the border that had the most problems with humans.

Those seemed to have worked the best to deter people from wandering in.

I can’t even remember the last time Wold had to run off to scare away a human.

Even when someone has ignored the fence and snuck in, a quick loud roar from Wold is usually enough to send them running back the way they came.

I can tell that it has lifted a weight off Wold. He seems to be at peace now.

As we are walking up to the house, I can see Wold standing in our outside “kitchen” area. He has a bag stuffed full of mushrooms from today’s harvest.

Roscoe squeals when he sees Wold and takes off running straight to him. Once he’s close, he flings himself at Wold, who easily catches him .

“Daddy! Did you harvest a lot of mushrooms? Momma says we are going to trade some of them for even more vegetables.” With that, Roscoe makes a gagging face. “Why can’t we just eat rabbit, Daddy? Oh, we could eat the chickens too!”

Wold just laughs and shakes his head. Nanni, Pampa, and I reach the house and set our baskets of vegetables down.

I immediately go to Wold and wrap my arms around him. I missed him even if he was only gone for a little bit. He balances Roscoe on one arm and wraps the other one around me, then he bends down and gives me a kiss.

He says, “It looks like we have more than enough for the market tonight.”

Roscoe looks at Wold with big pleading eyes and says, “Daddy, can we get a goat? Mr. Allium has goats, and I love playing with them.”

Wold groans. “No goats. Goats eat everything. Even more than the chickens, and I can barely stand them.” I giggle at the thought of Wold having to drag a goat away from his mushrooms. As if on cue, our most cantankerous hen comes up and pecks at Wold’s tail fur.

He mutters darkly and tries to swat her away with his tail, but she is not deterred and pecks him again .

Roscoe says, “I got it Daddy.” Wold sets him down and he screeches and flaps his arms and chases her away.

“Okay, Roscoe,” I finally say, “it’s nap time. You need to get rest for the market tonight.”

Roscoe immediately starts grumbling.

“You don’t want to fall asleep and miss everything again,” I say.

He begrudgingly agrees and heads inside to his bedroom, walking as slowly as possible.

Wold gives me a heated look. I can see his eyes starting to glow brighter. He says, “I think we will take a nap too.” I squeal when he scoops me up bridal style and carries me into the house.

Pampa is close enough for me to hear her groan and say, “Gross.” I couldn’t see her, but I’m sure there was epic eyerolling too.

When we get to our room, he brushes his hand on the wall to light up the mushrooms. As I watch all the mushrooms light up, I say, “That still hasn’t gotten old.”

He sets me on the bed and helps me tug my dress off.

I look up at him and say, “I missed you.”

He smiles and says, “I missed you too.”

He cradles my cheek in his palm, and he kisses me as he presses me back onto the bed and lays down between my thighs, resting his big body on mine. He buries his face between my breasts and inhales deeply. Then he sighs and says, “I will never get enough of this scent.”

He buries his face between my breasts again as I idly stroke his hair.

“I love you, Wold.”

He looks at me, his eyes glowing so brightly. “I love you too, Lydia. Forever.”

“Forever,” I agree.

The End