Milo: Xavier’s Hatchlings ― Paranormal Dragon Shifter Romance

by Kathi S. Barton

  When she disappeared, Jamie and he both looked at his mom. When she burst out laughing, it was all he could do not to tell her he didn’t think this was funny. Jamie, however, didn’t have any trouble asking.

  “You two. You’re able to talk to ghosts. I think it’s wonderful.” Jamie said she didn’t. “Well, it’s a bit late for that now, I guess. Welcome to the Ghost Watcher family, my dears. I’m so glad to have you aboard.”

  ~*~

  The pictures had simply shown up on the dining room table about an hour before they were to meet his parents in town. He told his mom what they had, and plans were changed for them to come to the house. Mom loved old photographs as much as his dad did. They were still going over the first book of them when Sarah told them that dinner was ready. It was nothing more than hot shots, his all-time favorite meal of beef and gravy over slices of bread and mashed potatoes. However, none of them wanted to stop looking at the pictures. Then Mom found the picture of Jamie’s great-great-grandmother.

  “Good heavens, you do look like her.” Holding up the picture, an old tin-type photo, so that everyone could see it, Milo was amazed. They didn’t just look alike, but the two of them could have been identical twins. From the way they both wore their hair pulled back in a long braid to them being built the same. “She’s a very lovely woman, your grandmother.”

  “She looks so young here. I would love to have been able to meet her. Can you imagine the stories she’d have about this house before it was upgraded and added onto?” Mom laughed, and Jamie looked at her. “What? You’d not like to talk to your ancestors?”

  “I have, as a matter of fact. They’re wonderful people. At least some of them were. Turn around, Jamie. I think you’re stronger than I first thought.” Jamie didn’t move except to look at him. He turned and saw her. “Jamie, I do believe your grandmother is waiting on you to acknowledge her.”

  Jamie did turn then. She did so slowly and looked at the woman standing just inside the doorway to the dining room. Her smile, so much like Jamie’s, could have lit up the sky. But she only had eyes for one person. Jamie.

  “Hello, child. My, but you’re as beautiful as Mildred said you were. Just look at you.” Jamie stood up, and Milo realized they were the same height as well. “Eat your dinner, and I will tell you what I’m able. I’m hoping that the Death Watchers will allow me a little bit of leeway on this. I might well forget myself at times and tell too much.”

  “You tell her what you know, Nelly. I do believe there are things you know that would help them both. This is my son, Milo Manning.” Nelly looked at him but turned back to his mom. “It’s all right. I won’t hold anything against you. This I swear to you as the Death Watcher.”

  “Even the treasures she can use?” Mom looked at Dad, and when he nodded, Mom told Nelly it would go a long way in helping others, so for her to tell all. “Thank you, my lady. I have heard you were the best of the Watchers. You’ve no idea how long I’ve watched over this house and kept others away from it. They would have squandered it, you know. Used it for things that would not have helped even those that found it.”

  Dinner was served by the faeries, and as they ate, Nelly looked around the room. She told them of the things that had been added to this room and what it had been when the house had been built. The room they were in now had been a parlor, a room to receive guests when they came calling.

  “Back in the day, we had many visitors to this estate. Most of them were nothing more than gawkers, as you can imagine. They wanted to see how we lived. We had a great deal more things than them, but nothing like they did in the way of love. My husband, he was a good man, but he wasn’t very loving.” Milo asked her about the name Darkhouse. “Oh my, that is a funny one. The stories I’ve heard of our name would just make you wonder at what people were thinking.”

  “You’re not Darkhouse then?” Nelly shook her head at Jamie as she sat down at the table with them. “You know, when I was looking through some of the pictures, I could see that the house was dark. I’m thinking that is where the name came from.”

  “‘Tis right. We were the Darks. The house, as you’ve seen there in the picture, was very dark at the time it was built. No brick back then, though we could have had it, but stone, right up from the river, was used to put this place together. We were the Darks, who lived in the dark house on the seventh street from the jail. Things like that seemed to stick, I guess. Go on now, eat your supper. ‘Tis getting chilled.”

  Jamie ate then but still peppered Nelly with questions. She had a few of her own, mostly about how the house was suiting them. It was a strangely put question, but Jamie told her now that she’d had it suited to the two of them, it was much homier.

  “That it is. I know your parents. My descendants, I guess you’d call them. Not at all the kind of people I would have liked to claim. Cold people, as I’m sure you know. They wished to have a sit down with you. I’d do it just so they can get whatever it is out of their bonnets, but I’d not take anything they say to you to heart. You’re a good woman, Jamie, and you’d be better off not allowing them any say so in your life and how you live it.” Jamie told her she wasn’t going to allow anyone to dictate her life anymore. Not that they ever did, she told her grandmother. Then she reached over and took Milo’s hand into hers. “I’m a woman in love with the greatest family a person could hope for. They’ve made me see, without any extra effort on their parts, what a truly loving family can be. My parents can stick their opinions up their asses for all I care.”

  Her laughter rang through the room. Nelly didn’t laugh like a dainty person but hooted loudly and with all her heart. It was a good sound, Milo thought. A sound that had been greatly missed in this house when Jamie’s parents had been living.

  After they were all finished, Nelly showed them around the house, indicative of the time that she had lived here. There were places she didn’t understand until she was in the next room, but overall, the house didn’t look anything, other than the front entrance, like it had when the house was used in her time. Nelly and her family were the third generations that had lived and raised families in the house.

  However, once they were outside, it was as if a whole new world had been opened for them. She told them of the gardens that had been put in. The type of foods they’d grown. Milo found himself recording the other woman just so he would be able to tell his brothers. It wasn’t until about five minutes after he’d gotten his phone out that his mother pointed out that she was a ghost, therefore not recordable, and he began making notes in a little notebook he’d picked up in his office.

  “Over there, we had us some pigs. Used their droppings for the roses that were around the fencing. Kept the varmints out, I tell you. But also kept the kids out. That was something we’d not planned on, but it worked for us.” Milo asked her about a barn. “Oh sure, we had a nice sized one out there from the house. About the place you have that one now. Some of it is built on the property the old one was on. I think you might well like the things you find in it. But we have to go to the place you’re using for a wine cellar. It’s where we’re headed now, if you do not mind too much. So you know, young man, I’m glad you don’t partake of the evil swill like the miss’s ancestors did.” He said his momma would hurt him. “She’s a good person. You don’t ever forget that.”

  “I won’t.”

  The basement was a combination of all kinds of floorings and walls. The wine cellar that Nelly had mentioned had not just a stone floor, but walls and the ceiling were also stone. Dad pointed out that the ceiling as well as the inside wall was newer stone but was very old as well. Milo was going to have his uncle come over and touch the walls to see what sort of story they had to tell. He’d bet anything there wasn’t a joist or board in this house that didn’t have something to say.

  There were only a few wines and other bottles on the well-made racks. About a couple of dozen, he thought. Dad told him that, j
udging by the dates on them, they might be worth some money unless he wanted to keep them as something special. He had an idea running in his head, but he kept it to himself.

  Milo would bet that whoever had put the racks in had been a wine enthusiast and had filled the beautifully oak racks fully. The grid, he thought it was called, would have held at least a hundred bottles on each side, while the other two walls held only about half that. He and his dad pulled the racks out carefully and set them aside, the well-wrapped bottles as well.

  After they were removed, they decided to wait until tomorrow to start on the floor. Nelly had to rest anyway, and he was sure the rest of them were as tired. His parents said they’d stay with them, and he was in his room with Jamie when he remembered they’d not spoken with his parents about what they’d wanted.

  Tomorrow, he told himself. They’d make sure they had to sit and talk tomorrow. He was also going to invite his brothers over, along with the wives, for dinner. It would be nice if his parents were leaving and not returning to have a good meal. Or if they were staying, they would make a good celebration meal instead.

  “I wanted to ask you something. I wanted to ask you earlier this morning, but you kept distracting me.” Milo wiggled his brows at Jamie as he stripped down to his skin. “See, you’re doing it again. Stop that.”

  “What? I’m just being me. My humble, lovable self.” She snorted, and he laughed. “What is it you wanted to talk to me about, love? Whatever it is you want, I will make sure it’s yours. You want everything I have? You already have that.”

  “That was very sweet. But I want you to marry me as soon as possible. I know we’ve talked a little about it before, but I don’t think you thought I was serious.” He stopped still and stared at her. “Or not. But I think marrying you would be everything I want. No, that’s not right. It would be everything I’d ever want until we have a child. You did say you’d like to have a child with me, right, Milo? If we can?”

  “Yes. As many as you would give me.” He got into bed with her and pulled her to his body. “Love? You do know that I would marry you right this moment if it were possible.”

  She pulled away and turned to look at him. “Good. But tomorrow will be perfect. Your parents will be here, and you’ll need to invite your brothers and their wives too. I’ve already contacted your aunt Carson, who I think is scary, by the way, and she is getting us a quicky license. Actually, she has had it filed already and said that your father could marry the two of us.” He kissed her, feeling all the love he had for this woman surround his heart tightly. Looking at her after she told him she loved him as well, he pulled her even closer than he had before. “Then, however we need to do this, I’d like to have a dozen or so children with you. Although not all at one time. Just one at a time if you can manage that.”

  “I’ll try. But don’t blame me if you have more.” She said she’d never do that to him. “I love you, Jamie. You’re the best friend and wife that a man like me could have ever hoped for.”

  “Ditto.” He grinned when he closed his eyes. For as much as he wanted to make love to her, he was going to wait. Tomorrow they would officially be man and wife because his dad would say so. “By the way, your mother is going to be my maid of honor. Pem suggested it so that it would be a major family event. Now, go to sleep. We have a big day tomorrow.”

  Yes, he thought, he was the luckiest man on earth.

  Chapter 6

  “What do you think?” Pem stared at her, and Jamie had a feeling she thought she was stupid. “I can still change if you think this is just silly. I just thought that—”

  “You are, simply put, beautiful. I didn’t know you were planning on doing this, but I think you got it perfect. It’s a wedding dress that is more than just timeless in its beauty, but it is timeless in that it was your great something grandmother’s. The faeries did such a wonderful job in replicating it for you. Did your grandma see it?” Jamie told her she had and had to leave. “No wonder. I bet she was so moved by emotion that she didn’t know what to say to you. This is the most wonderful thing you could have done, you know?”

  “Well, at the time, it seemed like a good idea. Like having Cindi as my maid of honor and you giving me away. But now that I’m thinking about it, I might have just been too sentimental. I’m not usually like this.” Pem told her that was what made it so wonderful. “I hope so. If Milo decides not to marry me today, not that I think he will, but I’m going to put it all on you. Just so I can have a romantic honeymoon.”

  “I’ll take it. Because I don’t think he’s going to be upset at all.” Jamie hoped so. This was so important to her. She wasn’t entirely sure why, but it was, so she went with it. “By the way, I think you having Xavier do the deed is making Finn and Theo jealous. I don’t know about you, but I get a kick out of them being jealous of one another. Saying that women are catty isn’t anything compared to what these guys are at things. I’m betting the other three have their dad do it as well.”

  “He’d love it. When I asked him about it, he was so teary that I hugged him. You know me—I’m not much of a hugger—but it felt right to have him hugging me.” She grinned at her friend. “I think, seeing how happy their father is right now, he’ll be a mess on those days. I mean, I’m just his daughter-in-law. The boys asking will be epic.”

  Cindi joined them a few minutes later. She stood in the doorway to their bedroom and sobbed about how beautiful Jamie looked. Jamie thought if she could get half that reaction from Milo, she’d be happy. After getting major hugs from her, they were all set.

  The flowers were from their faeries. The dress had been made by them as well. She’d been surprised by Jangles suggesting that they could whip it up for her. Also, and this touched her in ways she couldn’t put a word to, that Winnie had provided them with an island all to themselves, and she was going to take them there and pick them up. That way, they could get there and get back quickly and not have to worry about planes and ships taking them out to it.

  “Are you ready?” She was and watched as Cindi started for the door. When she turned back and hugged her again, it was difficult for Jamie to control her emotions. “I love you, Jamie. I love you and all the girls so much. Thank you for doing this for us.”

  She wasn’t sure if she meant having them as a part of the wedding or marrying her son. Whatever it was, Jamie was thrilled she could do it for her. As soon as Cindi was out the door, Jamie let out a long breath and took hold of Pem’s arm.

  The house was perfect for a wedding. Not only did it support a large dining room, thanks mostly to the faeries, but it also had the most beautiful staircase that curved around and ended up in a large receiving area. When she paused on the steps to look at Milo, she could see on his face that he was pleased with her choice of dress.

  “I told you so.” Pem kissed her on the cheek as they descended the rest of the stairs. As they were walking to the living room, which had been emptied of all the furniture for this, Pem spoke to her again. “You’re my best friend in the entire world, Jamie. And I couldn’t think of a better way for us to be related than you marrying Milo. I love you.”

  Before she could say anything, even if she could have spoken around the lump in her heart, Pem was seated. Then she hopped up as if she’d only just realized she was supposed to hand her off to Milo. Taking both their hands into hers, Pem addressed them and the few guests that were there today.

  “Milo, I’m giving you my best friend today. I love you both very much. However, I want to say this to you both. If either of you gets hurt by the other, there will be no hole deep enough that I won’t find you and kick your fucking asses. Do I make myself clear?” Everyone laughed a little, but she was sure they all realized that Pem wasn’t joking. They both nodded at her. “Good. Just so you know, I want you to make me an aunt as soon as possible. And I’m going to spoil the shit out of it too. Welcome to the Manning family, Jamie. And you, Milo, are o
ne of my favorite brothers-in-law.”

  When she sat down, Jamie looked at Milo and burst out laughing. The look on his face as he stared at Pem was priceless. And when Rachel did the sign that she was watching him, he shivered. Laughing a little had Milo turning to her.

  “I would never hurt you.” She kissed him on the mouth and told him she knew that. “You’re my life. Everything. You know that, don’t you?”

  “I do.” He asked her then to explain that to her sisters. “I will. After you say, I do. Then we can be on our honeymoon and perhaps never return.”

  “Yeah. I like that.” He kissed her then, and it took his dad clearing his throat for him to pull back. “Dad, I have the best of the best here. It’s hard to resist her.”

  “Give it your best shot, son. We have a cake to eat yet.” Jamie had forgotten that Xavier loved cake. Mostly it was the frosting, but he got around to eating the other part too. “Come on now. Let us get the two of you married and celebrate.”

  They were married in less time than she thought went into planning the wedding. After they kissed for the first time as man and wife, each of his brothers kissed her on the cheek, then hugged their brother. The women, all of them good friends now, hugged her and kissed her as well. She had a family now, and one she was very happy to be a part of.

  The cake was delicious, as was the rest of the food. Sarah and the faeries had gone all-out, making this a special day, and she was glad they had helped. Just as she was going to the dining room for more treats, the doorbell rang, and Milo answered it.

  The pack had shown up to give them wedding gifts, it seemed. She was so touched by the small gifts the children and adults gave them that she invited them for food and cake. The children were especially delighted, and the adults were happy to see Xavier and Cindi, as well as the rest of the Mannings. She’d not even known they had met before today. She asked Cindi about it.