Page 15 of Rutger

“Thank you again. I had no idea.” She looked around for Rutger and was surprised when he winked at her. “I wonder if he knows already. It would be like him to keep that a secret from me.”

“I doubt that he would know yet. He will in several weeks, but not just yet. You conceived the child just this morning.” She felt giddy with the news. And she couldn’t wait to tell Rutger about their child. “You’ll be a wonderful mother, my dear. You and Lord Rutger will be the best of parents. You’ll see.”

She couldn’t wait to tell him. So on their way home, she mentioned children again. He said that he was happy whenever she wanted to have them, and she told him what the faerie queen had told her. Rutger picked her up and swung her around in his arms, then settled down.

“I’ll need to be more careful of you from now on.” She smiled and told him that she loved him. “And I love you so very much. We’re going to be parents.”

“We won’t tell anyone just yet.” He agreed with her about that. “Good. It’ll be our little secret for a while, and we’ll hold it to our hearts. A baby, Rutger. Can you believe it?”

“Yes. For as much sex as we’ve been having, I’m not surprised either.” She giggled, and he swung her around again. “My little momma Katlynne Smith. I’m so happy.”

~*~

Rutger held Katlynne’s hand while the queen told them what had happened to Gloom. He’d been mistaken for a lightning bug and caught in a jar by a child. While the child did no harm to Gloom physically, he did have him starve in the jar that was at his bedside.

“The little boy thought that he’d gotten the king of bugs because he was so large. He didn’t see him as a faerie because he didn’t believe in them, but as a treasure for himself at the end of summer.” Katlynne cried, and he comforted her. “Had he only put some water in the jar with him, that would have been all it would have taken; he would have lived for a while longer, and maybe he would have let him go. But alas, he was caught out with the other faeries, and several of them were caught.”

“He had a family. Will they be taken care of?” She told Katlynne that they were already at the castle keep and would remain there until they wished to leave. “He was so proud of his wife. He told me that she made curtains out of scraps of yarn for the others. He said that he had the prettiest house because of her ability to make things out of nothing.”

“Yes, they did have a lovely home. Their children have all grown now, but they’ll be given special treatment until they wish to move on. Gloom was well liked by the other faeries.” The queen had been nice to bring them the news of Katlynne’s faerie. She did it personally, and that was what had made it so special. She could have sent another in her stead, but coming herself meant so much more to them.”

“I’ll have to keep our children from catching fireflies. I never thought of one of them being caught that would be a faerie. You said others were caught. Were they killed as well? I hate to think how long he must have suffered without any water or food.”

“There were two other deaths that night. One of them was a special faerie that did the accounts for them. The other, no less special, worked in the faerie gardens that are all over the realm. They will be missed as much as Gloom will be.” Rutger said he was sorry. “So am I. I usually lose one or two in the summer months; they’re very good at getting away from children, but to have three in one night is more than we can stand. There will be a special service for them tomorrow in the castle. If you’d like to come, I’ll be more than happy to allow you access to my home.”

“I’d like that.” Rutger agreed that he would as well. “Do we need to bring anything? I don’t know what it would be, but I’m more than willing to bring something for the family.”

“If you have any scraps of yarn or material, it would go a long way in helping them get back on their feet. I know that she makes things to sell to the other faeries, and this will help her to give herself something to do.” She said she’d pick some up for them when she was in town later. “Not too much. You’ll overwhelm her, and that wouldn’t be good either. Just a few colors of yarn will be wonderful for her. Remember, they’re very tiny. Sometimes I forget that as well when I’m finding things for them to do.”

“I’m betting that we could start saving things like that for all the faeries. I’m used to picking up scraps when I’m walking around town. I’ll get the others to do it as well. We could put it someplace that they’d be able to come and get what they wanted when they need something.” The queen thought that was a wonderful idea and smiled at them both. “I would imagine that there are a great many things that they’d like that are scraps that you don’t think about.”

They talked about the many things that they could give to them, and it was Katlynne who suggested that they put the things in a basket for them to go through. She said that Gloom had told her that they use the tops off of soda pops too. They made great seats for their chairs. Before Queen Danielle left, she had a basket of items that they’d had in their junk drawer and was excited about getting more things gathered up. He looked at Katlynne when she sighed heavily.

“He was such a good friend to me. He made me laugh all the time.” Rutger said that he’d made him laugh as well. “We’ll really do that for them, gather things up. He was forever looking for toothpicks. I bought him a box of them that he was using for remodeling of his home.”

“I wonder what he used them for?” She said she didn’t know, but he was pleased with the amount that she’d given him. “I bet they use them on their walls. Like wooden paneling. I can almost see that.”

The two of them wandered around the house picking up things that they’d had no use for but hadn’t made it to the trash can as yet. While they didn’t have any pop lids, they did have a bunch of aluminum foil that they thought would make a great tool for them to work with. Rutger even had some coins that he didn’t use anymore that he thought they could use. It was fun and took their mind off the death of Gloom.

By the time they were headed up to bed, they’d found a container full of little things they could use. Or at least they hoped they could use. Rutger was going to talk to the other little people that came around to see what it was they could use. He knew too that sugar cubes would go a long way in helping them with energy, but not too much; he had been cautioned. Too much would make them sick.

When they were both in bed, he held Katlynne while she cried again. It was a great loss for the two of them. Gloom had been a good friend and companion. Now that he was gone, they didn’t know what was going to happen with her faerie, and it saddened her that she was going to maybe have to start fresh.

“Do you suppose that I’ll have another faerie? I mean, I do have the horde to keep me safe. I never thought of them calling themselves that when they were the fighting kind of faeries. However, I guess it suits them.” He’d not known that a group of warrior-type faeries was called a horde either. He knew that a pip was what they were called when they were used in a home. And a pip, like a horde, could be as many as ten thousand or more faeries. It was something to think about. “I would like one that has no wife or children. I don’t want someone that is with me to be hurt and might leave behind a family.”

“I understand your thinking. I’m going to have to get more information on my own faerie too. I know a little about her but nothing personal. I want to change that.” Katlynne snuggled in his arms, and he held her. “I love you so much, my dear.”

“And I love you too. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. Besides the pool. You know how much I love that.” He swatted her on the ass, and they both laughed. “I do love you, Rutger. With all that I am.”

They made love slowly, gently. Never did he feel that she was rushing him when she begged for more. Rutger nipped at her throat on several occasions, but he didn’t bite her. He waited until she was ready before he fed from her. Giving her his wrist, he continued to make love to her until she fainted. He noticed the streak in her hair, the one that the other vampire women had started to form, even as he came deep inside of her.

He knew that she’d have fangs now. Would need to feed from him when she was ready. Rutger also knew that the sun would bother her now. Not that it would turn her into ash if she stayed out in it for very long, but that she’d be red and perhaps blister a bit. She’d have all the magic that he had and then some. Rutger was never so proud of someone as he was of his Katlynne in that moment. And he loved her just as much as she loved him.

Getting her to fall into a deeper sleep, he used a bit of his magic to help her along. He didn’t want her to have bad dreams tonight. Not on this night when they found out they were having a child. A little girl. She’d need her rest more than ever now that she was carrying his child.

Just as the sun was coming up, she woke. He told her how he’d been watching her sleep, and she smiled at him. Getting ready for work, wearing her lightest clothing so she’d not be too hot, Rutger drove her to work and kissed her with passion when she was ready to get out of the car. She asked him what that was for.

“I want you to know that I will be thinking of you all day. That when you come home, I’ll be there for you waiting.” She smiled at him again. “You are my heart and soul. The best thing that has ever happened to me and the light of my life. I will love you beyond time, and there will be no other that I love as much as I do you right now. I love you.”