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"Adair, don't give him any ideas, I'm the one that has to patch him back together," Adam complained.

Adelaide stepped forward rolling her eyes. She looked around until she saw Elizabeth. Elizabeth stood and she and Gavriel walked over to her.

Adelaide gave her a hug as well and stood back. "In case you haven't figured it out, these are my sons, Adam, Adair and Ben. This is my mate, Byron and you've met my squire, Marius."

Elizabeth nodded to the men. Byron and Marius gave courtly bows and Ben winked at her flirtatiously. Gavriel bared his fangs at the prankster.

Ben edged behind his older brother. Adair sighed but acted like the shield that his brother intended him to be.

Aiden grinning from ear to ear wrapped an arm around Meryn. "I think I know why you're here Mother."

Adelaide turned to look at her son. She took in his wide-open smile and the joy in his eyes. Her hands flew to her mouth and she gave a low cry. She raced over and pulled Meryn into her arms crying.

"She is, isn't she? Oh, Byron!" Adelaide was weeping tears of happiness as she turned to her mate, Meryn still in her arms.

"Yes, she is." Aiden looked at his father his own eyes a bit misty. "Looks like you're going to be a Grandfather," he announced.

Aiden's father surprised them all by giving an undignified shout and whooped loudly. He went to Marius, who was beaming and reached into the basket and rummaged around under the towel that held the cookies to pull out what looked to be a very old bottle of scotch.

"This calls for a celebration!" He shouted his cheeks red and his eyes bright. Beside him Aiden's brothers were laughing and clapping their brother on the back. The unit members hung back grinning at each other as they had already known the joyous news.

Byron waved them over as Marius helped Ryuu with glasses. Elizabeth sat with Meryn and Adelaide on the sofa as the men toasted and celebrated. Gavriel turned to her and smiled. She couldn't help the stray thought that maybe one day they would be celebrating their child.

"This festive atmosphere reminds me, are you all going to be able to make it to our house again this year for Thanksgiving?" Adelaide asked the warriors.

All of the men except Colton nodded. "I promised my mother I would spend the holidays with them." He heaved a huge sigh. "I'll miss Marius's and Ryuu's cooking," he said, making it sound like an epic tragedy. Darian immediately began to torment him about the food he would miss.

Adelaide smiled at their teasing and turned to her daughter. "Oh Meryn, you couldn't have given us a better solstice present. I wasn't sure earlier when you showed up at the sewing circle. Your scent had changed but I wasn't sure if that was because you had put on the amulet from Vivian,"

"Nope, just plain ole knocked up," Meryn grinned.

"Speaking of presents." Elizabeth smiled and reached into her pocket. She had been carrying around the keystones all day but had forgotten to give Meryn hers, now she could give them both to their new owners.

She dropped the keystones into their hands.

"It's so pretty. What is it?" Meryn asked.

"It's a keystone. My fathers had them made for me when I was sixteen, by then it had become pretty apparent that I was naturally accident-prone. They keystones are connected to the pendant that I'm wearing. If I'm ever in trouble or hurt, I rotate the pendant and it sends out an alert to anyone with a keystone. So if you see this stone flash that means I might need your help," she explained.

"Neat." Meryn put hers in her pocket.

Adelaide smiled at her warmly. "It's an honor and a gift that you trust me, thank you." She placed hers in the small fabric satchel on her wrist then turned to Meryn. "Oh my! Just think, a baby in the family again," she said, her cheeks flushed.

"I was kinda scared at first, but I'm used to the idea now. I can't wait to meet Meryn 2.0," Meryn said, rubbing her flat stomach.

Aiden frowned. "We're having a boy."

Meryn frowned back. "No, we're not. We're having a girl and I'm going to teach her all about the Doctor and Star Wars and handguns and grenades."

Aiden choked on his scotch. "Like hell! Even if we were to have a wee baby girl, she will be my princess. She'll have pretty pink dresses with lace and dollies!"

Meryn blinked. "Dollies? Lace? Pink? No fucking way!"

"Then have a boy," Aiden countered.

Adelaide clapped her hands together and they both quieted. "I have the perfect solution." Aiden and Meryn looked at her expectantly. "Just have twins Meryn, a boy and a girl." Adelaide beamed at them.

Both Meryn and Aiden paled and looked at each other. "Just one right?" Meryn asked.

Aiden nodded. "Definitely just one."

Adelaide pouted. "But twins would be so lovely, then triplets next time."

Meryn stared at her mother-in-law in horror before she looked over to Ryuu who was serving impromptu finger foods for their throw together party.

"Ryuu, ward off bad juju," Meryn said.

Ryuu lifted an eyebrow. "You have nothing to fear from Adelaide's words, denka. If Fate decides to give you twins there isn't much you can do about it."

Meryn sighed. "Fine, but if there's two that's just double the amount of diapers for you and Aiden."

"Hey!" Aiden protested. Adam, Adair and Ben laughed.

Ben clapped a hand on Aiden's shoulder. "So can I buy the drum set and finger paints now?"


Tags: Alanea Alder Bewitched and Bewildered Romance