"Honestly, I should've told them a long time ago. It was just hard. You know?"
"I know," she said, thinking about family secrets, hidden pasts, and old lies. At least her kids wouldn't have to have their griffin heritage kept secret from them.
Eren's fingers ran across her forehead and along her hairline, a slow repetitive stroking. "Do you wish you'd stayed with the griffins?"
"No," she said emphatically. She rolled over and squirmed closer to rest her face against his flat stomach. "Not in the slightest. I have everything I need right here."
EPILOGUE
The house wasat the top of one of the steep little roads that led down into Westerly Cove. It had stood abandoned for years, until Lucy began scouting for somewhere that she and Eren might make a home. She loved it at first sight.
The paint was peeling and the flowerbeds were overgrown with weeds, but it was clear that the house had once been purple with gold trim. Lucy could easily picture how beautiful it would be with a fresh coat of paint. She was already planning the many colorful flowers she would plant in the old flowerbeds and the fresh window boxes she would acquire.
Best of all was its commanding view over the harbor. They were high above the bay, and from here she could look across the red-and-white lighthouse on its point, out to the glimmering blue-green waters where occasional whale fins appeared. Inga had told her that she would sometimes see icebergs, as well as great flocks of migrating birds in the fall.
After buying the house with some of Lucy's windfall from the company settlement, they had been launched into a whirlwind of home maintenance and repair. Eren's siblings and Wyona's husband Gary, the town handyman, helped out, but there were a great number of things, from painting the rooms to cleaning up the flowerbeds, that Lucy wanted to have a hand in herself. She had to learn every bit of it, but there was something immensely satisfying about having her clothes splattered with paint and her hands rough from hard work. Every loaded paintbrush she applied to the wall, every weed she pulled from the flowerbeds, made the house feel more like hers.
It was high summer on the island, and the weather was gorgeous. She had never breathed such fresh air. The sky was a brilliant blue, flecked with clouds. Lucy was learning to shift more easily, and sometimes she and Eren would go up the coast in the boat to a secluded stretch of coastline where she could practice her flying and Eren could paddle around in the sea as a bear.
She hadn't yet seen any sign of her uncle or his men. The paperwork had gone through without a challenge, and she now had access to her bank accounts again. She had wondered if she would miss the company, but she found that she had far too much to keep her busy to dwell on it. She loved working at her new bookkeeping business, and was steadily adding clients. Between that, the house, and Eren, she couldn't imagine being bored.
"Okay, that's the last of the trim," Eren said, jumping down from a ladder. "I think this is going to be ready to move in soon."
Lucy did a happy little pirouette in the middle of the freshly painted room, almost splashing herself with paint from the brush in her hand. She dunked it into the can of water and stretched her back. "It'll need a while to dry. What do you say we pack a picnic lunch and sail up the coast?"
Eren caught her up in his arms. "Let's just try not to make this a week-long excursion. Bernie's baby is due any day now."
"Oh, I forgot! Do you think we should stay?"
Eren shook his head. "She's doing fine, and they can call us on the radio if it looks like we're going to miss it."
"Do they know if it's a boy or a girl?" Lucy asked as they put away the painting supplies.
"No, they wanted to be surprised. Of course, everyone's got a guess." Eren grinned at her. "Doyouhave a guess? Griffin's intuition?"
He smiled so much more easily now, it seemed to her, and every smile was a thrill. "I think they'll love whatever the baby turns out to be."
This brought to mind questions that she hadn't quite been asking. What kind of babies would she and Eren have? She loved thinking about little winged bear cubs.
There was a flutter in her abdomen at the thought that might only be eagerness. But lately she had been thinking that her griffin seemed shy and cagy, as if it was keeping a secret.
Perhaps she would find out sooner rather than later. She was excited at the idea of Bernie and Tor's baby having a little cousin. But—not sure enough to say anything. Not yet.
Holding hands, they walked down the hill in the fresh breeze. Everyone seemed to have a smile or a wave for them. Heddy Westerly was watering her flowers in front of the Westerly Inn and gave them a nod that was more brisk than cheerful.
"Your animals were in my herb garden again," she declared.
"Sorry, ma'am," Lucy said. "They're really not ours. They're more like wild animals that follow us around."
"Well, I'd better not catch them in my garden again," Heddy said, shaking her hose nozzle at them.
"Sorry, ma'am," they chorused.
As they walked down the dock to the Nilsson house, Lucy asked Eren, "Wherearethe trash griffins these days, anyway? I haven't seen them in a while."
"I don't know. I think they're nesting somewhere."
They went into the house, which was oddly quiet. Inga was out with the Westerly sisters, and Stieg was up at Tor and Bernie's lighthouse, hovering over the mother-to-be with all the combined father-in-law/mother-in-law hovering that he apparently felt was his due. Eren made sandwiches with thick slices of homemade bread, while Lucy collected a change of clothes and other supplies for an overnight stay.