Chapter 156: Finding A New Normal

Bri

The contractor had been here, and he was done here in the house. Now, he and his crew had gotten to work getting the site ready to start building the new house. I was so excited. I knew it would take time, but I still couldn't wait for it to all be done. He had given me a couple of books to look through for ideas about certain design elements I wanted, like colors of paint, tile, flooring, and all of that stuff. We had plans for the three of us to sit down and go over some of it soon.

Now that the new door had been put in and the room all set up, I was busy trying to decide about the nursery. Knowing that most likely my dad would be moving in here after we ourselves relocated made me think about not doing anything so drastic. I had put a huge amount of effort into the other room, but the truth was that it couldn’t move with us. So I didn’t want to spend that much effort for a temporary room, essentially.

I was planning on actually having quite a bit of the design that we had in the nursery now redone in the nursery at the new house. It was easily able to be used for either boys or girls, so any of our kids would be able to be in that nursery. Also, it could be used as a playroom when we no longer needed a nursery, with all of the whimsical aspects and the family pictures.

Maximus had left yesterday to fly back to his house so he could get things arranged for a moving company to come in and get things moved here. He said he was planning to put things in storage since the guest houses here were already furnished. Then once things got organized, and we knew for sure what furniture we were moving to the new house, he would know better about moving his things in here and getting anything else he needed, as this house was bigger than the one he currently lived in.

He hadn’t had any issues with setting up things for his office to be relocated. He had an assistant as well as a secretary, but they were easily able to find new positions as neither wanted to relocate. They both had family there. Maximus said he would hire people once he got here and got an office set up. All of his contacts knew about the move, so that was covered. He’d set up to have a few days of video meetings once he got settled so he could talk to everyone about the Ilonians and all of that bullshit.

I had gotten used to having family around me because of Allan and Armond’s families wholeheartedly embracing me as one of the family. However, I had never imagined that I would be able to have my own father with me. I had to concentrate on the joy of the situation, or I could get murderously enraged at my mother and the Ilonian people about what they had robbed me and Maximus of. We both missed so much because of other people’s fucking prejudice and shit.

I couldn’t believe how fast it seemed the babies were growing, both the ones already here and the ones growing in my womb. My babies were pulling up with the furniture; they smiled, they babbled, they were displaying the different personalities they had and exploring the whole world around them. They made me smile all the time; my babies were magic, I would continue to say that to the end. My babies would always be magic.

Nicole, Bishop, and Sean had completed the mate bond, and they were all three ecstatically happy. She was the one who told me I needed to explain to the guys what I needed from them, that they were waiting for my permission and go ahead for them to touch me again. I hadn’t even realized how much it was bothering me about how different our relationship had been right after I got home.

Now, things were much more the way they were. I was still fighting with some nightmares, and I gave myself some grace about all of that. Having them there to hold me and help ground me was very healing, though. Now, we just needed to finish cleaning up all of this other shit. Dekon was out there, licking his wounds, waiting for a chance to strike; we all knew it. Our goal was to find him before that happened.

Sean had found more of his properties, and those had been taken care of, so those were more places he no longer had to hide and people who were no longer there to hide him or help him. We had also frozen quite a few avenues of financial support, so he was working without a chunk of his money. I honestly had no idea how much he had at his disposal, but at least we knew we were putting serious kinks in any plans he was trying to make.

They were planning a barbecue in a couple of days. They hadn't been having them with all of the bullshit going down with the other one. So, we thought this would be a good way for things to start to try and go back to more of a normal around here. Some things would never go back to normal, really. Both communities had lost members through all of this bullshit. We could start moving things towards healing and a new normal, but those scars would always be there.

I knew there were days that both Derek and Marie, as well as Armond, thought of and missed Arissa. They got reports about how she was doing from time to time. I didn’t ask questions; rather, I made sure they all knew I was here for them and loved them. So far, she was still convinced that Armond should have been her lover and run off with her, so she hasn’t moved towards getting better yet. I honestly hope someday she can.

I did make Rebeka and Marie promise no baby showers this time. After the whole fiasco of the last one, I really don’t want to suffer through that again. Of course, the majority of the mean girl wannabe squad was gone, but I still wasn’t a huge fan. They both reluctantly agreed.

We have a doctor’s appointment next week, and we’ll see how the babies are doing. Things are running smoothly. Now, we just have to see what we need to do in order to keep it that way. My feeling is we need to kill Dekon, and my parts inside completely agree.