Chapter 54

The girls had settled in to watch a bit of TV.

They all listened to the revelations of new arrests that had occurred that afternoon concerning Tom’s case. It was going down as one of the largest drug busts and money laundering cases in Queensland for quite some time.

They all chuckled when the announcer reiterated that Mr White had no intention of claiming the rewards and said they should go to his favourite charities if they were awarded to him.

Nena informed him that she was going to use the spare room in the house and he and Matilda could have the bus to themselves. This suited Tom just fine. He was glad that his new home on the coast had a room for Nena that wasn’t close to the master bedroom.

He did feel like a bad son when Nena whispered that she didn’t want to leave Mary alone as she was probably going to have some bad dreams. He contemplated using the fold-out couch on the veranda, but Mary agreed with Nena as to the sleeping arrangement.

After checking that his mum was healing, he took Matilda to bed.

Tom couldn’t believe just how good it felt to be snuggled up with Matilda.

“I really missed you, Matte,” Tom whispered into Matilda’s ear.

She wiggled back into him as he hugged her tighter as he played with her breasts. “Not as much as I missed you, Tom. Two years was an eternity. I had just about given up hope that you would come back and get me.”

“Thank you for rescuing me from my mother. She has always hated that I was born male. Franky’s mother is more supportive. She is tickled that he is married and has given birth, even if they were boys. Lee assured her that they are true Therians and also magical.”

“Sorry, sweety. I’m not sure why I picked that time to go back, but it just seemed the right time to do so. And really it was Lee who rescued you. I had asked her if you were happy and she had told me you were.”

“The cheeky buggar hadn’t told me that she’d already rescued you. I was going to go visit to make sure, but that became unnecessary as you know. I sure hope we don’t run into too many problems as it may be a while before I can go back.”

“I think there may be more restrictions on just when I can flaunt the time travel gig than Bus lets on. I also don’t think we will make a lot of trips while we are studying unless we really need a break. I suspect going to visit Monte will be my next off-world trip.”

“That’s okay, as long as I’m with you now that is all that’s important to me. Do you think Nena will be happy to stick with us?”

Tom brushed Matilda’s hair from her face as she shifted onto her back, so she could see his face. “To be honest, I have no idea. She is studying a different field to us, so it may pull us in different directions in a year or two. We will just have to wait and see.”

Tom let his hand roam south as he continued, “Lee didn’t seem too worried about Nena doing her own thing, so she may have a destiny that parts from ours. We have a very long time to decide what we want to do, so for now, I am just planning to concentrate on my studies and to make you happy.”

“I like the sound of that. How about you make me happy again,” Matilda said as she pulled Tom over to kiss him. She knew he had been deliberately stirring her up, and she planned to give him what he wanted.

Tom decided he knew just what would make his partner happy and proceeded to do it. He knew he couldn’t make up for the time they had been parted, but there was no harm in trying.

He kissed Matilda as he entered her soft heat to join their bodies. He projected his love and felt her shudder under him. He believed he had truly come home.

His home was wherever Matilda was.

When Tom and Matilda entered the house, just after seven-thirty, they found two busy women.

“Oh, Tom, can you send the bags on my bed down to the ute?” a very spry Mary asked. Tom muttered and then flicked his wrist. The four large, hard-sided ports disappeared from on top of his mother’s bed. He wondered how old they were as they looked familiar to him.

“Thank you, Son,” she beamed at him.

Nena yelled out, “Breakfast.”

She was soon joined by three hungry people who made short work of her efforts. She had decided to make her version of pancakes that looked a lot like large crêpes since Mary had plenty of homemade jam in her fridge and fresh whipped cream.

She had to chuckle when Tom and Mary both sprinkled sugar and dripped freshly squeezed lemon juice onto the pancakes and then rolled them up to eat them like torpedos. Of course, she and Matilda had to try. They both agreed they were messy but nice.

As they sat back to enjoy their cups of tea or coffee, Nena started, “So, Tom,” and grinned at him when he gave her a guarded expression. “Gran and I are going to drive to Mackay.”

Tom frowned at this idea. Mary patted his hand, “It makes sense, Son. If I’m injured, I can’t drive myself, can I?” Seeing she had his attention she continued, “Now, Nena has found a spell we can use that will make it look like I’m bruised up. It is very clever as the bruises will appear to fade as if I really had them, but not hurt.”

Tom nodded, “I like that part of the plan, but we are not booked into the caravan park until Monday afternoon, what do you want Matilda and me to do until we pick up Nena in Mackay and head back down the coast?”

Nena and Mary looked at each other and then back at Tom. Nena said, “We thought that if Matilda is supposed to come from Cairns, it might be a good idea if you took her up there so she can look around and be familiar with the place.”

“Lee said to be careful going up there with Matilda, as she didn’t know a lot about her life before she disappeared,” Tom counted.