Chapter Twenty

Holden

As Nelson gathered our little ones and placed them in the travel carrier he had woven specifically for them, I stood back in admiration. Over the last few weeks, he'd adapted to being a parent of turtle shifters with complete ease. My mate had no issues with digging up grubs or visiting the community garden with our little ones, to get them food to eat. From the instant our babies had hatched from their shells, Nelson was obsessed with making sure they had everything they needed. Sure, it meant less time for only the two of us, but we didn't need any more fertilized eggs to make an appearance until our first three were old enough to have some independence.

Once our babies had lost their egg sacs, we exposed them to water to get them used to swimming. At first, we put a platform in their nursery container and added an inch of water. They curiously walked down the ramp until they'd reached the edge of the water then dove right in. No hesitation from any of them. When they grew a little bigger, we did the same with the trough. Only, with more water and a bigger platform. Since that space was big enough, I joined them in my shifted form. The first time since I was a hatchling that I'd swum with other turtles.

But it was time to take our young ones to the pond, to let them experience a new and more natural environment. A place and time where they could get to know me and what it meant to be a turtle.

Nelson closed our children in the case and put on his hat. "You're going to make sure they return, right? You're not going to let them stay in the pond?"

"I promise they will all return with us for dinner." With a kiss, I hoped to reassure my mate once again that our children wouldn't leave him once they visited the pond. He feared no longer being needed, and of all of us leaving him alone in the hut, never to return. It had taken me several days simply to convince him to let his little boys go for an afternoon swim.

He released a heavy breath before taking my hand in his. "Okay, let's go."

Though he walked slower than usual, Nelson never suggested returning to the house. And when we reached the pond, he sat on our favorite log to watch me swim. Carefully, he picked each of our children out of their spot in the carrier and set them onto the ground.

Still worried Nelson might change his mind, I gave him a quick kiss and squeezed his hand before I shifted to my turtle form. Our children clicked and squeaked when I joined them, anxious to visit the pond where I once lived.

Two of them followed me down the bank toward the edge of the pond, but the other remained closer to Nelson, more reluctant to leave him.

"Come on, little one," I clicked at him. "Your daddy will wait right there for all of us to return. He's not going anywhere." That I was sure of. Not until we were all safely back in front of him.

The little one twisted his neck back to look at Nelson then pushed his way across the dirt to join his brothers.

Once in the water, we practiced floating for a bit then gliding across the surface of the water. I showed them the best spot to wait for bugs to drop into the water and let them snack on a couple ants that had demonstrated the location perfectly.

Then we began to dive. A lesson I couldn't teach them properly in the trough.

Our eldest found it tough to get his body to submerge, unable to coordinate his front and back legs to overcome his buoyancy. But our youngest, who'd wanted to stay behind with Nelson, excelled at the process. He kept diving to the bottom and surfacing to click at his brother who hadn't yet made it down.

"Keep trying," I squeaked to the oldest. "You can do it." I knew he could.

Eventually he did. I decided to take them to my favorite spot to find shrimp and snails to eat. I didn't want to spoil their dinner or keep them underwater for too long and worry Nelson, so we surfaced after a quick taste of the new cuisine and found a rock to sunbathe on.

When we returned to Nelson, he smiled with tears in his eyes. "Did you all have fun?"

Our little ones squeaked and clicked, sharing their favorite spot in the pond, as I shifted back to my human form.

I helped Nelson put our children back in their carrier before we all headed back to our hut. With my arm around my mate, I pulled him into my side. "Thank you for letting us go there today."

He gave me a sad smile. "It hurts that there are things you get to do with our boys I will never be able to do. But I'm glad I was at least there to watch. I just worry about them going down to the pond on their own, and me not knowing where they are."

I rubbed his back. "I will teach them the rules of the pond as my pops taught me." I didn't know if they would always obey the rules, but I would do my best to keep Nelson from worrying about them too much.

That night, with our little ones nestled in their nursery, and Nelson and I cuddling on a sleeping pod, we all slept soundly, exhausted from our first family outing.