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.«When our guests have gone home.»He frowned.«But they're not even here yet.»«I know,» I said with a grin.I wormed out of his embrace as high-pitched screeches reached my ears.«They're here,» I signed to Zachary as I ran outside.Lysander stood in the grass, squinting against the sunlight.They might be within hearing distance, but there was nothing to see yet, not even if I squinted my eyes.The three of us waited and watched, until finally."There," Lysander screamed in Phae, jumping up and down."They're coming."They were, though they weren't much more than bumpy shadows amongst the clouds.Zachary laughed at Lysander's antics."Not if you scare them away."I snorted.«They'll think he's prey if he keeps that up.»Lysander stopped and narrowed his eyes at me, probably wondering if I was joking.«We might be bigger than sheep, but that doesn't eliminate us as food.They're nestlings; they don't know the difference, yet.»«They know their Uncle Lysander.»«Not from that distance, they don't,» Zachary chimed in.As if on cue, the first bumpy shadow broke free from the clouds.Judging from its size, it had to be Digger, the eldest.Buttercup came soaring past him with a warning growl.Digger growled something back in a cute, high-pitched voice that sounded nothing like the apology his mother no doubt expected.Shaking her head, Buttercup landed with her tail turned toward us, keeping her wings spread and ready to catch her nestlings.Digger, stubborn as he was, bypassed his mother's wings and landed without fail on all four feet in front of Lysander, flapping his wings with pride when he managed to stay upright.«Well done.» Lysander petted Digger on his head.Digger's grin was almost as scary as his mother's.One by one, the rest of the family landed, and soon, jumping, running, rolling, and growling nestlings invaded my home and did their best to find things to play with, no matter how carefully I'd put them away.Five adults should be able to keep five nestlings in check, right? Wrong.We spent almost an hour chasing them until they had run themselves out of energy and fell asleep in the nest I'd created.We spent the rest of the afternoon catching up with Buttercup and Thumper until they had to wake the nestlings up for the flight home.Their nap had recharged their energy, judging from the way they were jumping and bumping against each other on the grass as we said our goodbyes.This time, they'd be traveling on their parents' backs, though Digger didn't seem overjoyed by the prospect.We cuddled the nestlings and wished them all a safe trip.«Thanks.Aside from Digger's defective ears, I expect no trouble,» Thumper said.«He's worse than Buttercup.»Buttercup lightly swatted her tail at Thumper.«He's a menace,» she admitted, «but with him around, I don't fear the others getting lost.He always knows where home is.»We stood shoulder to shoulder as they flew off and waved until they were nothing but dark shadows among the clouds again."It's good to be home," Lysander said in Phae as we went back inside.Both Zachary and I stared at him."What?" he asked.«It's good to be home, you said,» I told him.Lysander grabbed our hands and held them to his cheeks before signing, «It is.You two are home to me.Don't think you're not because I'll be screaming to leave in a fortnight.No matter where I am, you two are my home.»Maybe we both did know, but Lysander had never told us in so many words before now.My heart burst with joy, and I smiled at them before stepping up to Lysander and brushing my lips against his.Zachary's arm went around my waist as he joined us, and I turned my head to kiss him in the same way.Holding each other tight, we stood with our foreheads touching and our hands entwined.I'd missed them when they weren't here, but for the next fortnight, they were all mine, and I wasn't going to waste even one minute with them.It was time I showed them our new bed.A big thanks to my critters—Jarsto, Terry, and Patricia—for helping me polish this story,to Aija for helping me solve some issues early on,to Justin at Dare Empire eMedia for the gorgeous cover,and to the Storm Moon Press staff for their guidance and support, as always.Blaine is a purple haired, forty-something writer of gay romance with a love of men, music, mystery, magic, fairies (the pointy eared ones), platform shoes, and the colors black, purple, and red, who sings her way through life.Born and raised in Zutphen, the Netherlands, Blaine spent many hours of her sheltered youth reading, day dreaming, making up stories, and acting them out with her Barbies.Though she wrote her first gay fiction as a teenager, Blaine's true inspiration comes from the wonderful gay romance called Beautiful Thing—adaptation of the play by Jonathan Harvey—through which she gained some very dear gay friends and a postponed bout of puberty that caused an introverted and shy Blaine to finally grow into herself.Supporting Blaine in all matters regarding household, teenagers, cairn terrier Kendra, and pursuing her dreams, is her long-suffering husband for over twenty years.When not writing, reading, or at choir practice, Blaine has singing lessons and hopes to be in a band someday.Blaine can be found at:http://blainedarden.comhttp://twitter.com/BlaineDArdenhttp://www.facebook.com/BlaineDArdenemail: blaine@blainedarden.com [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]