I can't believe that a year has passed already. Trinity's little babies, the four of them that we all thought were just going to be three, were now turning one. It was a little bit nostalgic for me. Trinity wasn't the only one that had quads around here.
Yes, mine and Dietrich's quads were not the same since they were magically conceived and born to two different parents at the same time, they were still quads nonetheless. They were meant to be that way and that was all that there was to it.
I was feeling sad though. Now that so much time had passed, my little babies weren't babies anymore. They were almost nine years old. They were going to be double digit aged before I knew it. And I wasn't ready for that. I wanted my little babies. I wanted to have the kids with me longer, but I couldn't stop time like that.
Soon, they were going to grow up and leave me and Dietrich all alone. Yes, they would still be around. And I am sure that even when they were a hundred years old and their lives were their own for so long, they would still come and tell their daddies hi from time to time.
I don't care how old my kids get, I will still want to see them. I will always have a hug for them or a place for them to call home. And I am aware of how much like a 'mom' that makes me sound. I have heard it before from other men in the pack. I don't care though. My kids don't have a 'mom' but they have two awesome dads that will give them all the love that they will ever need or want.
“What are you doing over here, Geliebte.” Dietrich called out to me as I watched the party happening in front of me. I don't know why, but I was observing it more than anything.
.....
“Just thinking.” I told him as he stood next to me and put his shoulder against mine.
“Thinking about the kids.” He always knew what I was thinking about. It wasn't because of his special powers, not really, it was just because he knew me too well.
“They're growing up too fast.” I could hear the melancholic tone in my voice. “Not just ours, but all of them. I mean, it's been a year already. Look at them, Zachary, Zander, Zayden and Zaley are all getting so big. They're walking already. Zaley and Zayden are starting to talk. Zachary and Zander aren't talking but they're doing so much other stuff already. They're just all growing too big too fast. Look at them all, Dietrich. Reagan and Rika, Talia, Alexandria and Alyssa, Luka and Levi, all of the other kids, time is passing and it's so sad. We may be immortal, but that doesn't stop the pain that we feel when time passes us by.”
“I know, my love, I know.” Dietrich was trying to comfort me, and he was succeeding. He was the only one that could usually comfort me. Well, him and the kids were what calmed me. If I were to be upset and the kids came to give me a hug I would feel like the weight of the world was lifted from my shoulders. They were quite literally my life.
“I know what you mean, Shawn.” Dietrich spoke softly as we watched the people around us. All of the kids, not just the four little birthday babies, were having a good time. That was something that Reece and Trinity always did for their parties. They made sure that even if the party was for a one year old, all the kids that were invited would have fun. They also threw some of the biggest parties in the history of the world. Well, at least in the history that I knew it to be. “I miss when the kids were little as well. They are getting older, which is sad, but that is also life.”
“Can we stop that flow of time? Just for a few decades?” I wasn't serious, but I joked about it just the same.
“No, we can't stop the flow of time, but we can have more children.” I jumped in shock and stepped away from Dietrich just then.
“You know that we can't, Dietrich. It was a one time thing. We can't have more.”
“I know, Shawn, I know. But we can adopt. We can use surrogates. There are options. I have offered them before, but it seems that you always forget about them.” He was chuckling now, like what he was saying was funny or something.
“W..well, I..I just didn't think that you would want to do that. You have offered, yeah, but a lot of people back out when they find out that they aren't going to have a kid of their own. Any child that we adopt won't be our blood, and I just don't know how you feel about it.” I was nervous. I thought about this. I had thought about it a lot. I just didn't know how seriously Dietrich had thought about it.
“Shawn, mein Liebe, I don't care whether or not a child is of my blood. What I care about is that you and I call them ours. We will love any child that we bring into our lives. And we will find a woman that we can trust eventually. And when we do, we will ask her to be the surrogate for our children. We have options, Geliebte. We can have more children. The only thing that is stopping us is you.”
“M..me?” I was at a loss here. I had wanted more kids for a long time now. I had wanted to expand the family and share the love for kids that I have. But I hadn't. I didn't know how Dietrich or the kids would react to it at all.
“Yes, Shawn, you. We can talk to the children later as well if you want, but I am sure that they would love to have some younger siblings. They are good kids, and they love us so much. I am sure that they will love any other kids that come to our home as well.”
“But, where will we find the children?” I asked this because I knew that we couldn't adopt a human child. That wouldn't be right. They would be living in a world that was not their own.
“There are so many supernatural children that have been orphaned, Shawn. I am sure that we can find one to adopt. But if we do adopt a human, then I am sure that the child will be happy with us. We will not let anything bad happen to them at all. Trust in the future, my love, we will have what we desire.”
There was just so much to process. Were we really deciding right here and now that we were going to be adopting a child, or even children? Were we making this decision so quickly? Was this too soon? Was this the right thing to do?
It felt like the right thing. It felt like we were doing what was best for our family. And that alone was making me so happy. I was starting to look forward to it all.
When we got home that night, we had a meeting with our four kids and asked them how they felt about us adopting. They all responded happily and seemed excited about the prospect of having more siblings.
Dietrich and I started looking into different options and routes after that. We searched for children that had been orphaned that were non humans. That was the best place for us to start. There were a lot more than I thought that there would be, and I had a hard time not telling Dietrich that we were going to be bringing them all home. Even I knew that would be too much for us.
Still, we were having a hard time choosing who to bring into our family. There was a seven year old, Fauna, who was a Fae. Another choice was eight year old Luther who was a bear that had lost his family last year. There was also two year old Bret that needed extra love since he had lost his mom and dad. And the last option was three week old Ember, a wolf baby that was found in the woods and no one had come to claim her.
“Well, Shawn, if we cannot pick between these four that we have narrowed it down to, then we will take them all. I mean, it isn't the hundreds that are out there, but we can bring all four of these children that are close to us and need homes now.”
“Dietrich...” My jaw dropped. He had just told me that we were going to be doubling the amount of children that we had. It would be hard, but I also knew that we could do it. “Are you sure?” I asked him in shock. You don't want to rethink that do you?”
“No, Geliebte, I don't want to rethink it. I can't pick between them either. So, we will adopt them all.”
“Thank you.” I threw my arms around him as I smiled. “Thank you.”
A couple of days later, we brought our new children home. Our house was instantly busier, louder, crazier, livelier and happier. It was perfect in my opinion.
