Chapter 8

Annie looked into my eyes for a long moment then said, “That’s ... well that’s a lot to take in. Did you ever suspect that Lynn was your daughter?”

I shook my head, “I had trusted my sister when she told me that it had been her boyfriend that had gotten her pregnant. I always felt a connection to her that seemed stronger than that of an Uncle to a niece. I did sometimes imagine what it would be like to be her Dad.”

“In what way?” Annie asked.

“What do you ... oh! I never imagined what it would have been like to have fathered her through May. Partially because I’d already had sex with May. But I wondered what it would have been like to have had her with my girlfriend or wife,” I admitted.

“Did you ever picture what that girlfriend or wife would look like? Was it your ex-girlfriend?” Annie didn’t look like she wanted the answer to the last part of that question.

I was never able to picture what my wife could look like.” I paused, “Until I met you.”

She smiled right before she kissed me, “Wonderful answer.”

When we went back to the others Annie’s Mom calmly said, “Now Leo, why don’t you tell us about yourself.”

Her dad said, “I’d like to know your intentions for my Daughter. We may not share the same blood but I still love her like my own.”

“Mom! Dad! Stop please,” Annie begged. But there was something in her tone and facial features that told me there was a part of her that appreciated that her parents cared so much.

Her parents looked at one another then her mom said, “Okay we’ll let you two love birds go for now. I believe you have a lot to catch up on.” She hugged me then Annie and whispered something in her daughter’s ear. Annie smiled and blushed.

We spent a month in California with Annie’s parents and my mother. My aunt Willa had to go back to Wyoming two days after I was reunited with Annie. Even though we just met, it was hard to say goodbye. However, we made promises to see each other again soon. I would have gone back home sooner, but Charles had to close his building for a while. Annie and I tried to sneak off from time to time to be alone together, but her dad would always find us. He was determined to make sure I didn’t have sex with his daughter until after we were married.

Finally, the day before I was to head back home with Annie, her mother took us into a different room away from the others.

“Annie is my only living child, and I hope that you will always take care of her and love her. Just because you two are bonded doesn’t mean you can just think of yourselves, you still need to work at the relationship, just like any other marriage. Do you think you can handle that?” Cassie told us. We both agreed. However, to me, she said, “Good. Because if you break her heart, I’ll make sure to break something of yours.” She looked down between my legs.

“MOTHER!!!” Annie shouted.

Cassie shrugged that off, “I really hope you’re attached to your car. Because it is a beautiful machine and I’d hate to see any harm come to it.”

Annie scowled at her mother, “Not funny mother. I hope that threat wasn’t all you brought us here for.”

“Not exactly but it was fun. I would like to talk about some of the wedding plans. Do you have any ideas where or when you’d like to get married? Or who you’re inviting. Or have you even looked for outfits?” Cassie questioned us.

Cassie’s decision to talk about wedding plans worked in getting Annie over her anger at her mother, which either she wasn’t very angry if at all, or she loved the new topic even more than she was angry.

Annie turned to me and told me to go first.

“Well, we thought hard about this. It depends on whether the guests are able to make it, but we’d like to get married at my house; we have a very big and wondrous backyard with a beautiful garden. We’d like to make sure all the people important to us can be at the wedding. People like you and Harold. We’d be inviting family and our closest of friends. So it’s not going to be a huge gathering. I was going to look for a suit as soon as we got home. I have no idea about her dress. And I’m Looking forward to keeping that a mystery until I see her walking down the aisle. “ I answered.

Annie looked really excited, “I’ve already found the outfit I want to wear.” She looked at me then went to her mother and whispered. When she pulled away both women were blushing. They looked so much alike at that moment.

“I’m not sure what your father would think of that. But I’m sure some there would like that. Especially the groom,” Cassie smiled.

“The way you said that made it seem like she said she wanted to get married in the nude,” I said before I could stop myself.

“Oh, he guessed it. That’s no fun,” said Annie.

“Annie guess what I found while you and Leo were on your date yesterday?” Cassie asked.

Annie looked nervous, “What was it?”

Now Cassie was really excited, “Some old family photo albums.” She grabbed our hands. “Come on, let’s go look through them.”

“Oh no. I thought I hid those so well,” Annie exclaimed.

The pictures started with Annie’s egg. I couldn’t help thinking it was the most beautiful egg I’d ever seen. It looked so much like our child’s egg. A few pictures later I saw her first baby picture.

“She actually had a tail? What happened to it?” I asked.

Since Annie had her face buried in her hands Cassie spoke up, “Not every female Hatchling has a tail. I didn’t. So the knowledge isn’t widely known. But we can shed our tails from time to time. If one of us doesn’t want it to grow back we have to continually treat that spot. And if we don’t it will grow back. I’m guessing that my daughter wanted to pass as close to human as possible in the city. Especially when she did her semi-nude modeling.”

“You knew about that?” Annie finally spoke up.

“You forget that Cathy is a close friend of mine and I was the one who introduced you to her and her husband,” Cassie said.

As we were getting ready to go to our separate rooms Annie asked me, “What did you think of the pictures of my tail?”

“I thought they were amazing. I wish I could have seen it,” I told her.

A half-smile crossed her lips, “Good because I’m going to have to let my tail grow back for the wedding. It’s kind of an important tradition.”

As it turned out the threat Cassie made to my car wasn’t needed. My car was as dead as a car could be. Luckily I didn’t pack much. I could take what I had with me on a plane. Harold insisted on paying for Annie’s and my plane ticket. And he told me not to worry about the car, that he’d take care of it. It was hard to say goodbye to my mother, but she said she’d see me soon. And that there was nothing in this or any other world that would stop her from making it to my wedding. She said she’d even bring my younger sister. I was really anxious to meet her. We weren’t able to contact her during our stay with Annie’s parents because she was busy studying for exams at college.

As we arrived at the airport back in our home state, we found that May and Lynn were waiting for us. I was surprised because I hadn’t called them. I wanted to surprise them. Annie and I both laughed as we saw that Lynn was dressed in a Chauffeur’s outfit with a sign in her hands that read, “Leo and future Mrs. Leo.”

May gave me a hug, and as soon as she pulled away she punched me on the arm, “Thanks for not telling me you were coming back by plane. Listen, can I talk to you privately for a bit? I promise I won’t hit you again.”

“Sure. When would you like to talk?” I said.

Lynn started to laugh as she was playing with Annie. We were distracted by the fun they were having.

“Actually, it can wait,” May said, but something seemed off as she said it.

We stayed up late into the night catching up that day. It wasn’t until it was close to midnight that the fact Annie had an egg with my child in it came up.

Lynn had fallen asleep in Annie’s lap ages ago, finally Annie said, “I need to get up.”

May picked Lynn up without waking her.

A few minutes later, May returned, “Where’s my future sister-in-law at?”

“She needed a soak in the bath. So it’s just us for a while. Is there anything you’d like to say?” I asked sleepily.

May hesitated. She started to say something a few times then stopped. Then finally, “How about we take a look at some of those pictures again that Annie took. I still can’t believe she did that kind of modeling while away.”

Annie worked to pay her way through college. Her parents had helped, but Annie wanted to do some things by herself. She did different kinds of modeling. And other odd jobs Some modeling was for family-friendly things like advertisements, magazines, and there was a comic book artist who used her image as inspiration for a new character, and then there were some semi-nude pictures with only a couple fully nudes. For now, we were looking through the pictures she did for the comic book artist.

Halfway through looking at that pile, the incubator started making strange sounds.

“What’s that strange sound? I think it’s coming from that box Annie brought with her. So what exactly is in that thing anyway,” May asked.

It was then that we heard Annie running through the hallway. She ran directly to the box, sat down in a robe, and opened the box.

“It’s my future. It’s my and Leo’s child. Would you like to see her?” Annie answered.

May looked shocked but nodded her head and took the egg when Annie offered. May held it as gently and lovingly as if she were holding her own child.

“So this must be what May looked like holding Lynn’s egg,” said Annie.

“What? How did you? Leo told you didn’t he? I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to keep that from you. Do you still want me as your maid of honor?” May said, looking back and forth between me and Annie.

“No worries. I’m perfectly fine that Leo has had sex with someone other than me. I’m even fine with the fact that he has a child with you. Heck, even I slept with a few guys before Leo. Although this will be my first child. Speaking of children I have something to tell you” said Annie.