Chapter Twenty-One

Nelson

Back in the outer-world, I'd always heard the adage: "Kids grow up too fast." I'd never paid much attention to it, never planning to have children of my own. Yet, since the hatching of my three little ones, I related to the saying more every day.

Though they had yet to shift, my boys had grown to half the size of their father's turtle form. Every day, it became routine to take them with me to the community garden, where I would gather the ingredients I needed to make the evening's dinner. On the way home, I stopped by the pond, where Holden would meet us and take the boys for an afternoon swim.

Sometimes I stayed, especially in the beginning. But most of the time, I returned home on my own to prepare dinner.

We hadn't named our boys yet, Holden telling me the tradition was to wait to have a naming ceremony after their first shift. So, while they kept me busy, no longer satisfied with remaining in their nursery during the day, I waited to see their human form just as I had for them to hatch. And though I did have names picked out for each of them, Holden refused to hear them as he believed I would change my mind once I saw them in their shifted human form.

For the evening meal, I prepared a salad of romaine, carrot tops, parsley, dandelion leaves, and clover for the boys, and a bean salad with vinaigrette dressing for Holden and me. No meat in the Enchanted Forest had been something to get used to. There were bugs and crustaceans available, but I passed on those.

I had just placed the food on the table when the door opened.

I turned around, expecting to see Holden with the carrier, but a little boy who seemed to be around three years of age with light-brown skin and a mop of brown, curly hair came rushing inside. I didn't see the other kids in the Enchanted Forest as often as I used to before I'd laid my eggs, but I was sure the boy in front of me wasn't any of them. Had a young outer-worlder gotten hold of a card and somehow wished his way to the Enchanted Forest?

The boy stood in the foyer and smiled at me. "Hi, Daddy."

I gasped and my heart skipped a beat as the identity of this child hit me. "Um, hi." I shuffled closer to get a better look at him, made him turn around and lift his arms. Was he really one of my boys? "You shifted."

He nodded with exaggerated movements. "Poppa said to surprise you."

I placed my hand on my chest. "Well, I am surprised." In many ways. I hadn't expected my young boys to be the size of preschoolers and already be talking. I mean, I talked to them all the time, and they responded with their clicks and squeaks, but I hadn't expected them to resemble the boy in front of me. Though I did see the same nose and eyes as Holden.

"Where is your poppa?"

He shrugged and looked back at the door. "Coming," he squeaked out.

All along, I thought I would be prepared to see my boys in their human form, but instead, I stood and stared at him. Had his brothers shifted, too, or was he the first? And which of my boys was he? I couldn't tell.

"Well, come and sit down." I gave him a long hug then helped him up onto a chair. We didn't really have enough room at the table for all five of us, but I would make it work. I got my boy a plate full of salad and placed it in front of him. "Eat up. I am sure you need it after your first shift."

He shook his head. "Poppa let us eat lots of snails and shrimp today."

Strange. Usually, Holden didn't let them spoil their dinner. Had he known they were ready to shift?

A few minutes later, Holden walked in with another of our sons in his arms and the other wrapped around his leg both shifted to their human forms as well. "It was an eventful afternoon at the pond."

"Looks like it." I wanted to be happy they'd finally shifted, yet a wave of sadness washed over me at not being there for their first time.

When I reached for our boy around Holden's leg, he climbed up into my arms. "Daddy." He squeezed me tight, and tears welled in the corners of my eyes. Each new milestone in their lives filled me with intense joy and a looming fear. All three of my boys were so precious to me, but I had no idea how to raise them to be happy turtle shifters with no other turtle shifter parents around to help me. Holden and I were on our own.

After we set them up at the table with food in front of them, my mate and I leaned back against the counter.

I nudged him in his side. "You let them eat more than usual. Did you know they were going to shift today?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "No. I knew it would be soon, so I've been letting them eat a little more in preparation, but I would have asked you to stay if I'd known."

"Where they...okay?" I had no idea if it hurt the first time or if it was possible for them to get stuck in the middle of a shift.

He released a heavy breath and jerked his head to the side. "They really caught me by surprise. I shifted as soon as I got out of the water. And they did the same, as if they had already done it several times. Though I think the younger two got scared when it happened. That's why I sent our eldest up ahead. He had no issues and was anxious to show you he had shifted."

"Okay, good." I breathed out my relief before I faced Holden and placed my hands on his shoulders. "Can we please have the naming ceremony now? I'm tired of referring to our children by the order they hatched. Plus, I'm positive the names I picked for them work no matter what form they take."

"Sure." With a smile, he placed his hands on my hips and leaned forward to kiss the corner of my mouth.

The contact sent tingles down my neck and under my tongue and made me crave an intense practice session with him. But we had three little boys to think about, young ones who couldn't be confined to a nursery container while their parents fooled around. Finding alone time had become a little trickier.

"We just need one witness for the ceremony." Holden brushed his thumb along my cheek. "Who would you like it to be?"

Several names passed through my head, but I had no idea how to choose and found it hard to concentrate under his intense gaze that I was used to before one of our practice sessions.

At that moment, someone knocked on our door. I went to pass Holden to answer it, but my mate got there first, opening the door only wide enough for his body. Though he blocked me seeing the person outside, I still heard who it was.

The wizard.

"I felt a disturbance in the magic and thought an outer-worlder had arrived and wanted to return already. But Chauncey says no one has appeared today. So, I thought I'd check here next."

Holden opened the door to the wizard and the minotaur behind him. "Our boys shifted for the first time today. And you're right on time to be witnesses for their naming ceremony."

Their appearance made me happy. I didn't have to wait any longer to officially name our children. Plus, I didn't have to choose one person out of the many who were important to me in the Enchanted Forest.

The naming of our children wasn't as extravagant as our mating ceremony. Holden and I stood together behind each of our boys and with our hand on their head, I called out the name I had picked. Our eldest son, I named Ashwin after a character on my favorite show back in the outer-world. Ellis, the name for our middle son, came from my grandfather who'd passed before I reached middle school. And our youngest was named Oswald after a friend from my childhood who had moved away. All connections to the outer-world while living a new life in the Enchanted Forest.

That night, as the five of us tried to fit together on the sleeping pod, I realized we'd have to expand our hut or move as Walter and Lonnie had in preparation for their expanding families. Yet, there was something so content about all of us in one space. When I had wished my way to the Enchanted Forest, I was simply looking for someone to love me. And while I had found that love during my time in the new world, my love for others in the Enchanted Forest had grown even more. And I couldn't imagine living anywhere else.