58. Luke's Party 1
1585 Words
I wake up in the ballroom. I get up and run to Alden.
"Good nap baby?"
"Yes. I didn't know I was tired."
"That'll happen sometimes. We have to take Luke back up to say goodbye to them before we leave. I promised him."
"Ok."
Then Tobias and Victor come in and sit by me. Tobias smiles, "That was enough visiting them until next time."
Alden laughs. "Understand that. Did you give them the phones?"
He rubs his eyes. "Yes."
Victor chuckles. "I don't think he wanted to. I had to explain them."
"Parents can be annoying."
I shake my head so fast.
"We'll see what you think after a couple of weeks, baby."
Luke sits at our table. "Thank you."
"You're welcome. I know you like animals. I figured you would like to see them. I got you a present to go with it that you can keep." I grab a present and run it back. "You can open it."
He opens it and smiles. "It's the not elephant. And that bird."
"We tried to find a figure of every animal we have up there, so you can remember seeing them. I think we got them."
"Thank you both." He hugs Alden and cries on his shoulder.
I rub his back and motion for Marcus's.
"You're alright little man." Alden rubs his back. "Did you like the animals?"
Luke rubs his eyes and nods.
"That's what matters. Now you can remember them until you can come visit yourself and see them again."
"I can come visit?"
"Of course you can, Luke." I rub his back some more. "You're always welcome. I'm sure your dad will bring you sometime."
Marcus walks over and Alden rubs Luke's back. "He's alright. Got caught up in emotions."
Victor stands up. "You can open my present. It won't be emotional. It'll be awesome." He comes back with 3. "I only did 3. I couldn't think of 8 and your aunt is crazy. Learn that now."
Luke opens them and sits with Victor and his dad. Victor has to explain 1.
"It's a kids' tablet. I put games, drawing, music, all kinds of apps on it. Then it has a reading app. It's got 600 books on it."
"Wow."
"The games are what's fun. And I put a bunch on it for him. He can play them whenever he wants."
"Look at this game. I'm a duck swimming."
"That shark is going to eat you. Swim faster."
"AAHH!" Then he takes off.
Marcus and Victor laugh. "Each game is different and some are more fun than others. But you'll have fun searching them."
"Thank you, Victor."
"You're welcome, Luke."
"Do you want to open ours or do you want to play with that awhile?"
"OPEN MORE."
"Relax." Marcus pulls the tablet away from him.
Alden laughs. "I'll grab you a couple. I think your dad wants to play a game."
Alden brings a few and Luke opens the first. "So many colors."
Alden grabs 1 and colors in the book. "We didn't know if you would have crayons and color books here. Figured we'd give it a shot. Everyone likes to color."
"It's a million colors, dad. And see the books. I can color the pictures."
"These are nice. Make sure you take care of them."
"As you use the crayons, they wear down and get smaller. Send me a message when they get too small, and we'll send a new pack."
"Thank you." He grabs Alden and hugs him.
"Next. Nice big box."
Luke rips it open and shakes. "IT'S A HUGE ANIMAL."
"Yes, it's a big figure. It's a 3-foot tall dinosaur. It makes noise and stuff." Alden gets it out of the box and puts it on the floor. He pushes a button on a controller and it makes a big rawr noise.
Luke takes the controller and Elek comes over and sits. "Bryan said to keep Kennian away for a couple of days. I guess they started construction on the village, tower, airport, road, go-cart track, pool, and 2 wings. Also, the packages and cars are being delivered soon. The place is a total disaster. And there are 2 helicopters in the front yard. Nobody can figure out where to put and 2 more are being delivered tomorrow."
Alden nods. "We'll figure out something to do. Maybe search for an empty planet for Tobias."
"Why are you keeping Kennian away?" Marcus has an eyebrow up.
"My daddy is cheap. And it turns out, the money was only declared ours after his death. He's not dead, so it's his money, and we need to upgrade everything quickly before he finds out we're spending it."
Marcus laughs.
Victor motions at Elek. "Tell them to build the plane garage huge, and keep the helicopters in it. Make sure it has a retractable roof. That should be good."
"He said no. The plane garage can't hold the helicopters. There's not enough room in the back lot. The runway is taking up damn near the whole thing."
Victor throws his hands up. "I don't f*****g know. Any other ideas?"
Tobias looks at him. "What about the side lot? The side the village isn't on."
Elek types again, "He's asking for authorization to turn that side into a huge garage. Big enough for 4 helicopters, 15 training cars?, 15 golf carts."
Alden gets his phone out, "I'll send the authorization. That sounds good. They'll have somewhere to work on the cars now. Forgot we needed that anyway."
We give Luke the rest of his presents. He opens each and plays with them. Then I hand him my letter and sit beside him. I hope it's not dumb.
I read the parts he can't. Then he smiles.
"It's so I can spend some time with you. Anything you pick. I get to see something you like and see you. You can also use it against your parents. Wait till they tell you they don't have time for something. You send me a message and I'll come take you. But I do need 24 hours notice. It takes me hours to get here."
He starts crying. I give him a big hug. "You are such a good boy." Marcus tries to pull him off me and I smack at him.
Alden shakes his head. "Baby, don't hit."
I give everyone a dirty look and hug Luke. "My nephew."
Victor checks his phone. "I'm never having kids. Their aunt is crazy."
Tobias pulls out his phone. "Bryan is bitching about the helicopters in the front yard to me now."
I shake my head. "Tell him to put them in Alden's office. That's where I tell everyone to put everything." They crack up laughing and Tobias shows me the picture on his phone. "Oh those won't fit."
Elek types into his phone. "I'll tell him to use the brains to build the garage. They built the office wing here in 4 days. I don't think it'll take that long for a garage."
"Shouldn't."
Elek laughs. "The garage will be done in 10 hours, and he is switching every building project to the brains."
Alden's phone starts going off. "Damn it."
Luke laughs.
I rub his back. "Feel ok now?"
"Yes, thank you for everything. I've never got presents before."
My eyes go red and I stand up. I glare at Marcus. Tobias jumps up and grabs me with red eyes. "Don't kill him. It's not what you think. Relax."
I shake and Marcus looks scared as hell.
"CHILD, DON'T BOOM YOUR POWER LIKE THAT. YOU BLEW OUT ALL THEIR DAMN WINDOWS."
"Damn it, Lily, she knocked my coffee on me from over here."
"Get a rag, Ken." They get to me. "What's wrong my baby?"
"Luke's never had presents, momma."
"That's a very odd thing to get so mad about, my princess." Daddy wipes his shirt off.
Luke smiles. "It's ok. It's not his fault. He didn't even know about me until a few years ago. I've been here ever since. And I love it here. I love my dad."
My dragon strength shuts off so fast, and I wrap him up in another hug. "I'm glad you're happy. I'm glad your daddy found you."
He smiles. "Me too."
I sit back down. "Sorry Marcus, I didn't understand that."
"It's alright. His birth mother never told me about him. Then she wasn't a great mom."
"Nadine's my mom."
I nod. "I can tell she loves you." He smiles.
Marcus continues, "His birth mom is the reason for the age regression. We're still learning about how he lived before he was here. Sometimes we get that mad too."
"I bet." I rub Luke's hair. He is so precious. "I'm sorry about everything that happened to you Luke. But I'm glad you have your real family now."
Victor smirks. "Which includes 1 really crazy aunt."
Luke laughs. "She's my favorite."
Momma grabs dad. "Come on. Let's go offer to pay to replace the windows."
"I didn't break them. I don't have to pay to fix them."
"She's your daughter, Ken. You still have to deal with what she breaks."
"That falls on her mate now, Lily. He shouldn't have found her if he didn't want to pay for things."
"We're paying for them. Deal with it."
They walk off. "That child is costing me so much money today."
I stare at Elek. "Add on a 5th helicopter."
They crack up laughing. Alden shakes his head. "4 is fine."
- Writer
