Page 54 of Sandro

“Are you not hungry?”

I looked over at Rio, then around the rest of the table. They all had their food and were eating while Leo and I were sitting here waiting. “Ready to eat?” I asked Leo.

“Yes.” He got up and was off to the food without hesitation.

“Thank you,” I whispered to Rio. He gave me a steady look, and I knew he could most likely see the lines of stress on my face. “I’ll talk with you after the meal,” I said quietly before I got up to follow my beloved. I found him piling eggs on his plate as well as fruit. He added three different pastries before he grinned at me and then went back to the table. I quickly filled my own plate, adding an extra chocolate pastry for Leo, and rejoined the others at the table. Once back with the others, I settled in and found my beloved chatting away with Abel across the table. Perhaps we should just move over to the other side so they could sit next to one another.

“Have you heard from the newest addition, Rio?” Marcello asked.

“If by newest addition, you mean Dr. Higginson, no. At least not since he confirmed his arrival date.”

“There’s a confirmed date?” Marcello asked. He looked over at Master Vincent.

“Did I not tell you?” Master Vincent asked. “Apologies, it must have slipped my mind. Dr. Higginson is to arrive here the beginning of November. He was working out the turnover of his patients in his practice. There was an issue with one in particular, and with what he specializes in, he didn’t want to leave them without care.”

That was admirable but also frustrating. Although, technically, he didn’t work for our coven quite yet. But I was more than ready to get started with sessions, and hopefully, I would be able to be a better mate for Leo and father to our son.

“I know you were hoping to start discussing things with him sooner than that, Sandro,” Rio said. “I can try to assist you if needed.”

I sighed before nodding. It wasn’t as if Rio wouldn’t find out everything anyway. He’d already treated my physical injuries after Master Edison had healed me, and I had talked to him more than once since about the nightmares. What could it truly hurt?

“Have you picked out any names yet?” Abel asked. I realized he was talking more to Leo than me, but I could answer that question just as easily as Leo could.

“No. We probably should though,” Leo said before he looked over at me. “We’ve not done much of anything, really. We have only a few things. Should we go shopping?”

I chuckled. “We will sit down with the tablet after our meal and order everything we could possibly need.” I smiled at my beloved. The hope was that while we were busy shopping, even if it was online, I could convince Leo to order some more things for himself. Not that I minded him wearing my shirts. I had plenty, and he looked amazing in them, but I knew they weren’t necessarily his style, nor nearly as comfortable as his more casual clothing.

“I can relate to that,” Abel said. “We realized we didn’t have everything we needed until right before the twins were born. I can send you the sites that I order from regularly. Although you speak the language here. I guess you won’t have any issues with reading anything, huh?”

Leo shook his head. I left them to their conversation and turned back to Rio. “I am fairly open to discussing things,” I told him. “We’re not overly busy at the moment, which isn’t a bad thing.”

“No, it’s not.”

I had a thought, and although Abel was mated to Marcello, and I was a bit surprised he’d not already done so, perhaps we should look into getting a tutor for Abel. He had only been here with us for a few months, and he’d picked up a few words, but there was so much more that he didn’t know.

A baby started to fuss, and I remembered that Mazzi and Tulio weren’t here, so it had to be one of the twins. Abel looked like he was about to cry, but he quickly got up and went over to the other side of the room. I sat there, staring at Marcello, and was about to say something to him when he jumped and then glared at Master Vincent.

“Ahi! Perché mi hai preso a calci?”

I snorted, and Leo started coughing. I looked over at my beloved, making sure he was fine, but I realized he was trying to cover up laughing.

Marcello stood and quickly went over to take the baby from Abel. “I’ll take him.” Abel turned around.

“No. I have him.” Abel took the baby and left the dining room.

“Be back,” Leo said. He hurried over to the crib that was in the dining room for the babies and picked up Luci. He carefully cradled her to his chest and then left the dining room, following Abel out.

Marcello stood there, watching, probably just as confused as I was. “Is there a reason why you aren’t jumping to help your beloved before being kicked?” Master Vincent asked.

“I was going to help just before you kicked me. I was going to go to the kitchen to make the bottles,” Marcello said before he left, following Abel and Leo. Master Vincent sighed.

“Is everything all right, Master?” I asked.

“As much as it can be. Marcello is a bit concerned, perhaps too much. It will all work out though.” His focus moved to my right, and he smiled at Rio. “I appreciate that you were able to meet with Nikolai while you were away.”

“Of course, Master Vincent. I’m always happy to help if at all possible.”

I looked at Rio. He’d not mentioned that he’d met with Master Nikolai while gone. As far as I knew, he’d been meeting with the new psychologist, and then there was something he was looking into for Master Vincent. Rio smiled at me, and I looked back to Master Vincent. “Where are we moving to?” I asked quietly before I could think better of it.