Chapter 3

The following characters appear in this chapter:

Deirdre Kavanagh

Maddy’s last daughter, 7.5 pounds, black hair, very cute but noisy

Botum Sweeney (Princess)

Jorani and Craig’s first Daughter, 6.4 pounds, short black hair, very cute

Daeva Sweeney (Angel)

Jorani and Craig’s second Daughter, 6.4 pounds, short black hair, very cute

Maly Sweeney (Blossom)

Jorani and Craig’s third Daughter, 6.4 pounds, short black hair, very cute

While all of the above had been going on with Jorani and Mother since we had returned from the meeting with the President, the rest of the Family and those working for us at Dragon Security had been dealing with the fallout from that meeting.

On our several trips back to Tibet, we had returned with the remainder of the small disks and several large pieces of Amethyst. Mother had also contributed several large pieces of Amethyst from her Tribute. The spell to obstruct observation of what we were doing by security cameras had been cast on all of them. The small disks were carried by everyone in the Family and all of our senior employees. The larger pieces of Amethyst were kept in our houses and all of the Dragon Security business locations including those in other cities. The wards around all of our business locations, our houses, and our employees’ houses were checked weekly and sometimes daily to ensure that they were at full strength.

We had good reasons for all of these precautions. We and our employees had kept up our contacts with those in the Magic community in all of the locations where we do business. This is how we learned about the interest in us shown by the FBI and the CIA almost as soon as they had arrived in Atlanta and Miami. We also learned about those working for the Chinese, the Russians, the Iranians, and those from ISIS, when they arrived some time later. There were also operators (spies) from France, England, Germany, and separately from the European Union.

At times, there were so many spying on us that they had to take a number to get a location to do their spying. When any of our employees or those from the Family went out on business, those trailing them looked like a parade. Naturally, none of them could guess or even know that we went anywhere when we simply transferred there. It frustrated them all greatly, that they would see us go out so seldom, and that their drones and spy cameras could observe nothing at our businesses and houses.

Direct visual observation wasn’t any better. It was a simple matter for us to create glamours in the wards surrounding all of our business locations and our houses. Glamours that revealed nothing of what was actually going on behind them. All of us found it strange that all of those sent to observe us and report on our activities had included no one with a strong Talent or Magic. The two Magic users, that the FBI had sent originally, had only stayed in Atlanta for a short time before returning to whatever they normally did.

By the time Jorani and I returned from our trip to Tibet in May, most of those spying on us had been in place for at least a couple of weeks and those from the U.S. government for nearly a month. There was a Family meeting shortly after we returned.

“What are we going to do about all of the people spying on us?” Dallas asked shortly after the meeting started. “You know they aren’t happy about not getting any information about what we are doing, and they will do something about it,” she added.

“How long will they wait?” Jorani asked.

“We don’t know, but you can expect them to do something before too long. The real question is who will start it and will the others join them?” Doreen told us.

“The answer to that will depend on what they try to do and just how strongly we respond to what they attempt to do. It will probably require a strong Dragon response. Just how strong, we will need to see. It will need to be strong enough to persuade the others NOT to try anything similar,” Mother told us. Things remained quiet for the next couple of weeks.

On the 12th of June, Dad transferred Mom to the same hospital that my Sisters and I had been born in to have her final daughter. We all visited her the next day. She had named my new Sister Deirdre. She was a tiny little thing wrapped in a pink blanket. You could see her face and some black hair but most of her was covered by the blanket. However, we had no trouble hearing her, as she was quite loud when hungry or wet.

Two days later in the middle of the night, Jorani woke me.

“Craig ... Craig, wake up. I need to go to the hospital my water broke,” she told me shaking my shoulder. I instantly snapped awake.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Yes, for a while,” she replied.

“I’ll get dressed and then help you change clothes,” I told her. After pulling on some clothes, I helped her change into some dry clothing before alerting Dad that we were going to the hospital. After grabbing her suitcase and taking her hand, I cast the transfer spell to send both of us to the Women’s Pavilion at the local hospital.

“My wife is having triplets!” I shouted at the nurse behind the counter where we appeared.

“What is your wife’s name?” the nurse asked on recovering from our sudden appearance.

“Jorani Sweeney,” I told her. “Dr. Graham is her doctor,” I added.

“Yes, we have her listed. I’ll take her back to delivery in a wheelchair. You need to go to registration and have her admitted,” she told me while pulling out a wheelchair for Jorani. Once she was seated, the nurse left with her for the delivery area while I stood there looking around a bit confused.

“Follow the yellow line to admittance,” another nurse told me. At the admittance section, I found only one person on duty, as it was still the middle of the night.

“I need to have my wife admitted,” I told her.

“Is she having a baby?” the clerk asked with a smile.

“Yes, how did you know?” I asked.

“We don’t have a lot of patients admitted this time of night, and there weren’t any police with you, and I didn’t hear any ambulances arriving. We also have a lot of pregnant ladies admitted at night,” she told me with a smile. After taking Jorani’s name and other information, she had another question.

“Do you have insurance?” she asked looking at me, as Jorani and I are still both young people.

“We have an account here,” I told her to a surprised look from her.

“An account?” she asked somewhat puzzled.

“It’s listed under Kavanagh,” I told her. She appeared to be surprised on hearing this.

“There is a Kavanagh who was admitted two day ago,” she said looking at her computer screen.

“Yes, my Mother, Madailein Kavanagh. She had my sister,” I told her.

“But your name is Sweeney,” she protested.

“Yes, that’s my Father’s name. Mother never changed her last name. Both of my older Sisters use Kavanagh as their last names and not their Husbands’ last names,” I told her. This thoroughly confused the clerk until she read all of her computer screen.

“Oh!” she suddenly said. “Your Mother is that Madailein Kavanagh,” followed in a surprised voice, as she looked at me strangely. Following getting Jorani admitted, I returned to the Women’s Pavilion.

“Just have a seat outside of delivery,” the nurse there told me pointing down the hall. I had been pacing in there for a short time when a nurse appeared.

“Mr. Sweeney?” she asked. I nodded.

“You can see your wife for a time. She isn’t quite ready yet. Dr Graham is on her way here,” she added.

“Are you all right?” I asked when we arrived at the area where Jorani was lying on a delivery bed in a hospital gown.

“Yes, these three are anxious to get out,” she told me and took a deep breath as another contraction ran through her. I sat next to her for a time and held her hand, as the contractions got closer and closer together. After a time, Dr. Graham came in and looked at Jorani for a time before turning to me.

“You should leave now. She is very close to delivering the first baby, and we will be quite busy,” she told me. As I was leaving, I heard Dr. Graham tell Jorani to push as she took her hand.

I paced back and forth in the waiting room for what seemed like forever but was probably more like 50 minutes or so. Finally, a nurse appeared.

“Mr. Sweeney, your wife has delivered three healthy daughters. Someone will take you to see her in a half-hour or so,” the nurse told me. I was relieved and sat down, but it seemed like a lot longer than a half-hour before a nurse came to get me. She led me down a couple of hallways to a room near the end of one. Jorani was in the room in bed. She looked worn out and was asleep. I tiptoed in and sat near her, not wanting to wake her.

After a time, I heard several babies crying, the door opened, and two nurses wheeled in a crib with three screaming infants in it. They were all wrapped in pink blankets. The noise awakened Jorani.

“Your Daughters are very hungry,” one of the nurses told us. Jorani sat up but looked stricken on seeing and hearing the three of them.

“How can I feed three babies with only two breasts?” she asked in a very upset voice. Her breasts had increased very noticeably in size while she was pregnant, and I hoped that they would remain that size. Still, how could she feed three screaming babies at the same time? This was also the point when my Mom entered the room carrying my new Sister who was asleep.

“Don’t worry Jorani, I only have one baby but two breasts. I can feed one of your Daughters as well as my own. WE Dragon Queens need to stick together,” she told her with a smile. There was a large comfortable chair in the corner of the room, and Mom sat there.

The nurses handed Jorani two of her Daughters after providing some pillows to rest them on, and they were soon both nursing at her breasts. Our third Daughter was given to Mom along with some pillows, and she nursed her as well as my Sister who had been awakened by the noise. My Mom still has very large breasts I noticed.

“We will be leaving the crib here, and the infants will be remaining with your wife and also your Mother’s baby will remain with her. Dr. Graham will be here in a while to speak to all of you,” one of the nurses told us before leaving. They had opened the partition between Jorani’s room and Mother’s room before leaving. All of the babies had finished nursing and were asleep before Dr. Graham arrived.

“The hospital’s administration is still very worried about having Dragons staying here, even though other Magic users regularly have their babies here. I have arranged for a nurse to stay here with both of you. She is a Witch as well as a nurse and knows what to do for the children of Magic-using Parents,” she told us. The nurse arrived a short time later. She would be here the entire time that Jorani and Mom were in the hospital. Mom stayed in the hospital an extra two days so she could help with feeding our Daughters.

Later that day when I returned to the hospital, Dad was there with Mom. Jorani looked a lot better.

“How are you feeling?” I asked her after giving her a kiss.

“Better but still sore and very tired,” she told me. “How can such small babies want so much to drink?” she asked in a tired voice.