30. Sinclair

We spent another six days in New Orleans. We did two lengthy interviews with the police, detailing everything that had happened concerning Charlie's death, Tony's attempt at blackmail, and Isla's kidnapping of Jayne.

Matt was completely forthcoming as well, giving the police everything they needed. The list of charges against Isla-aka-Eileen continued to grow. The police assured him that for his help, the photograph would be kept as private as possible.

Once that was behind us and Jayne was fully recovered, we did some touristy things with Birdie. More beignets, more red beans and rice, time in the French Quarter, souvenir shopping, riding the streetcar, taking in some jazz. We even brought Birdie along with us to visit the Santa's Workshop and say hello to the employees.

It was all great fun. Almost enough fun to make me forget Jayne and Jack Jr.'s lives had been in danger.

Almost.

I didn't say anything to Jayne. She'd been through enough, and I knew that she knew about my concerns. Just like she knew I wasn't going to stop being concerned.

I couldn't. I wasn't built that way. Protecting her and my son was everything. Always would be.

We took Birdie to the airport on our last afternoon in New Orleans, then that night went out for dinner with Matt at Urbano again.

We had another great meal, no surprise there. It was a little bittersweet, because we were leaving the next morning, but a big part of me was happy about that. Jayne and Jack Jr. would be safer in the North Pole than anywhere else.

The next day, we said goodbye to Matt and Slim and headed west. We had a long drive ahead of us, but there was plenty of great scenery to take in along the way.

We weren't driving straight through, either. The plan now was to stop in Las Vegas for a week to spend time with my parents and my aunt Zinnia and to let my mom throw Jayne a little surprise baby shower. A surprise for Jayne. Obviously, I knew about it.

I'd already told my mom we had limited space for things on the RV, so I couldn't imagine what kind of gifts Jayne would be getting, but I didn't want to take away my mom's joy. This was her first grandchild, after all. We'd figure it out. Maybe we could send the overflow to the North Pole through the Santa's Bag.

The idea that Jack Jr. wouldn't be spoiled was silly. He would be. By both sides of his family. It would be up to Jayne and me to keep him as grounded as possible.

Was that possible? Not only would he be born with a silver spoon in his mouth but with a crown on his head.

We had our parenting work cut out for us. But I had peace about it all. Jayne had grown up the same way, not spoiled, but the child of wealth and a supernatural lineage second to none. She'd turned out just fine.

I glanced over at her. She was reading a parenting book, a new tin of pralines open and resting on her knees, Spider smushed into the seat with her. Sugar was up in the crow's nest, or had been the last time I'd checked on her.

"Hey," I said softly.

Jayne looked over. "Hey, yourself."

"How are you?"

She closed the book. "A little overwhelmed. Everyone has different ideas about how a kid should be raised."

"I bet they do. I don't think we need a book, though. Both of us have pretty great sets of parents. Our instincts ought to be decent, don't you think?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah. I hope so."

"I have faith in us."

Spider tried to roll over and almost slipped into the crack between the seat and the door. Jayne grabbed him, moved the pralines onto the console, and pulled him onto her lap. He curled around her bump, making himself fit. "You silly thing. You would have fallen down if I hadn't saved you."

He stretched one paw into the air and rested it on her belly. "Mama save Spider, but Spider saved Mama."

She grabbed his paw and gave it a little shake. "I think Daddy saved Mama, but Spider definitely helped. Didn't you, baby?"

"Spider helped. Lots."

Jayne laughed and looked at me. "Looking forward to seeing your folks?"

"I am." I was looking forward to a lot of things. Meeting my son. Experiencing life with the most amazing woman by my side. More cat nonsense.

Our next big adventure probably wouldn't be as crazy as hunting down a murderer, but I was okay with that. Parenting would be enough of an adventure for a while.

Jayne held out the tin of pralines. I took one. I liked the sweet treats a lot, but I was holding back to leave more for her. "What are you going to do when you run out of these?"

"I'm sure the royal confectioners can make pralines."

"I'm sure they can."

"Maybe we can find something just as good in Las Vegas."

"As it happens, my dad was just telling me about this new twenty-four-layer chocolate cake at the?—"

"Twenty-four layers?" Jayne's eyes went wide. "That sounds amazing. That sounds?—"

"Like something you need to try?"

She laughed. "Um, yeah."

"Good, because I already asked my dad to make reservations for us to go to that restaurant."

"You're so good to me."

"It comes easy." That was the truth. I loved nothing more than making my wife happy. After all, she did the same for me.

She snorted. "I'm kind of predictable, huh?"

"Only in the best possible way." As far as I was concerned, predictability was just fine. Some people might think that a boring way to live your life, but not me. A little boring sounded like a vacation after what we'd just been through.

Although was there seriously any chance my life could be boring with Jayne in it? I didn't see how.

And when our half-necromancer, half-winter-elf son was born, there was no telling what would happen. What powers he'd have. What his personality would be like. Which one of us he'd take after. Life with Jack Jr. was going to be all kinds of interesting.

I smiled and took a bite of the praline, letting the sweet, sugary goodness melt on my tongue. I was a hundred percent okay with interesting.

In fact, I was looking forward to it.