22. Seymour

Chapter 22

Seymour

"What do you think? Do you think Daddy wants corn?" I held up the ear of corn for Albie, who didn't really pay much attention at all. At first he was enjoying his time in the cart and seeing all the colorful packages and produce, but a half-hour in and he was done

"Yeah, I think he wants corn." I picked a few ears and put them in the cart with the rest of the groceries. Now that Kai was very pregnant, I tried to pick up some of the chores he had been doing. We all did.

Everything had been reshuffled when I officially moved in, as far as who did what. We tried to keep everything equitable so no one had too much on their shoulders. But as his pregnancy progressed, Dante, Gideon, and I each took on one more little task at a time.

Kai was growing life, and that was enough—along with taking care of Albie. Not that we left the responsibility of Albie entirely on him. We didn't. We all pitched in equally. It was important for Albie to see that growing up—your designation didn't determine who you loved or how you cared for others.

"Let's see what else is on the list." I opened up the folded piece of paper I had taken off the fridge. It was old-fashioned, but it worked for me. "Oh, I almost forgot the baby carrots and yogurt," which, of course, were on the other side of the store from each other.

I grabbed the little carrots and made my way to the back corner where the yogurt lived. After grabbing a few, I gave the list one last check and got in line to pay and then brought the groceries home.

I had expected to find Kai still napping when I got back—he had been exhausted and was nearly asleep when I left. How wrong I'd been.

As I put Albie in his crib so I could grab the groceries from the car, the scent of cleanser tickled my nose, and it was strong. I got to the bedroom and saw why—Kai was scrubbing the baseboards. The baseboards! I didn't even realize there were baseboards in here, that was how little attention I paid to them. But there he was, scrubbing away.

"Why are you doing that?" I asked.

"It needed to get done." He didn't even look up from his work.

"No, it didn't." This was ridiculous. If it truly had to get done, he wasn't going to be the one on his hands and knees. That was for sure. "Come here. Let me help you up."

"I can get up on my own," he insisted. Less than fifteen seconds later, he conceded. "Maybe I can't."

I helped him up and hugged him tight. "Sweetie, if something needs to be done, let us do it. You've got three of us and only one of you."

"I know," he sighed, "and I would have, but Dante and Gideon were out, and you were out, and it just had to get done."

"Oh, sweetie." I kissed his cheek. "I think you're nesting."

"Nesting?" he asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Yes, nesting." I kissed his forehead. "Now wait here because I need to go get the groceries from the car before they get gross, and please, for the love of grass, do not get on the ground again. If you really want these cleaned, I will clean them."

He begrudgingly agreed, and I went to get the food and put it away.

When I came back to the bedroom, he hadn't gone back to the baseboards, which was a relief. That didn't mean he wasn't still hyper-focused on cleaning. Nope. That was still there, but at least this time it didn't require him being on the floor. Baby steps

In the short time I was gone, Kai had pulled all of our clothes onto the bed and was refolding them. I didn't even argue with him. He might not see what was going on, but I did. With human pregnancies, I didn't have a clue, but dragon pregnancies? Oh yeah, this was nesting.

I helped him refold everything and put it back where they came from. I was crossing my fingers that would be enough to settle him for a little while. It wasn't.

From there he went straight to asking me about the blankets from the night he gave birth to Albie. I pulled them out of the closet where we had stored them. He grabbed them from my arms and brought them directly to the washer.

That was how the day continued—he'd find something that "needed" to be cleaned or taken care of, and he'd do it.

It wasn't until he started actually making an actual nest that he understood what I had been telling him all along.

He gathered blankets and cushions—nothing too fancy or formal—and began building it in the corner of the room. It would probably need a futon mattress or at least an air mattress underneath, but it was cute. And best of all, he looked satisfied.

"I like it." He rested his hands on his large belly. "It works in this space."

I saw the moment it dawned on him that this wasn't room redecoration, that it was so much more. This was where our egg would be until it hatched.

His mouth formed a little "O" and I nodded.

"This is for when I lay my egg," he said, rubbing small circles with his hands on his belly.

"Yep."

"So, like a nest nest?" he asked, his eyes wide.

"Yeah, a nest nest."

"Where I will lay an egg like a chicken." He scrunched his nose up.

"More like a dragon."

He walked over to it, looking at it from all angles.

"At least the room's clean." He shrugged.

"It sure is."