Chapter 259


    Lanie


    Ste’s nightmare hadn’t been anything specific. A monster under the bed. Xander had thought quickly and took a spritz bottle of


    my body spray from the dresser and quickly dispersed it as “anti-monster spray” That had been enough to settle her back to


    sleep...but not me.


    | wanted desperately to get back to my dream and the conversation with the Moon Goddess, but no matter how hard | tried, all |


    did was toss and turn. Finally, when the first hint of light showed through the blinds, | got out of bed and went to the kitchen for


    some hot tea.From N?velDrama.Org.


    The quiet house was a good solution to at least some of my tension. Unlike the mansion, this cottage in Stillwood that had been


    the perfect size for me and Ste-even me, Ste and Mason-was way too small for three enormous men, three growing pups, a


    mother-inw, and me.


    | wanted to tell myself that was part of my problem. Too much noise, too many of us cramped in too small a space. | knew that


    wasn''t it, though. Like the Moon Goddess had said, something wasing, and | wanted to be ready for it.


    | just couldn’t figure out what “it” was.


    The thought urred to me that the only reason I’d dreamed about her was because Mason had put the


    in my head. It wasn’t like I’d ever had the Moon Goddess show up in my dreams before then. She’d never


    communicated with me directly like that. Everything had always been a feeling, an intuition.


    Had what she''d told me even been real?


    Grimly, | poured myself some more hot water and soaked my tea bag. “I guess I''ll find out one way or another soon enough.”


    “Mommy?” Ste rubbed her sleepy eyes and ran across the kitchen and into my arms.


    “Good morning, baby. You''re up very early.”


    “I''m not a baby,” she said with a grouchy pout.


    |ughed and snuggled her. “No. | guess you''re not. You’re my big girl. Aren’t you still sleepy? | can tuck.


    you back in.”


    “No. Izzy and Allie are sleeping.” Ste said, “because they''re still babies. But I’m awake”


    “I see. Well, maybe you''d like a piece of carrot cake for breakfast? A secret treat for me and you, since we''re the early birds.”


    Ste giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. She nodded, and | kissed her again. | put her in her chair at the table and


    served us both pieces of Gabri’s carrot cake.


    “Ste, my little love. | hesitated, not sure how to start this conversation or where it would go. “Your bad


    dreamst night...what was it about?”


    a monster under the bed, Mommy. | promise. But Daddy made it go away, and | went sleep. And thedy said | was a...hmm.”


    “Awhat, Ste?”


    “She said | was..hmmm.” Ste concentrated on licking more icing.


    | was impatient, wanting answers, but | didn’t pressure her. | ate a bite of cake and tried to give her the time to answer. Maybe


    she didn’t really know how.


    “She said for me to hush, hush,” Ste said finally. She held her finger to her lips and blew out a breath. “Like shhh, shh. Quiet.”


    “She told you not to tell anyone what she said?”


    Ste tilted her head, thinking about this. “She said me to shhh, shhh.”


    To keep a secret?”


    Ste nodded. She ate a bite of cake and pushed the te toward me. “More?”


    “One piece of cake is plenty for a little girl,” | said absentmindedly. | was trying to figure out if she’d seen the Moon Goddess in


    her dreamst night, too, and if so, what did that mean? It was too much. | looked at her. “Little love, you know how proud


    Mommy is, and Daddy, and Papa, and Abba, too.


    be...”


    “And Grandma?”


    “Grandma, too. You’re growing up so big and smart and strong. But Ste, listen to Mommy. You have to


    Quiet. Shh, shh, hush, hush, thedy in her dream had said, How could | exin it any better than that?


    “Mommy, your face is squishing.” Ste demonstrated with her own wrinkled forehead and pursed lips. “Don’t worry. I''ll be hush


    hush if someone elsees. I''ll only tell you and my daddies and Grandma thinks from my head. Okay?”


    | blinked back tears. “You mean you won''t talk to anyone but any of us? Only to me and your daddies, and


    Grandma.”


    “And to Izzy and Allie,” she added and got a worried look. “I can talk to them?”


    “Yes. But nobody else.”


    “| know that, Mommy.” Ste said with a grin that erased her prior worried look. “I’m special, and we can’t


    tell anyone else. It''s a secret”


    “That’s right. The silverdy told you that?”


    “Yes. She said I''m sun less tree owl”


    “Sunless tree owl?” | had no idea what that meant. Then it hit me. Not sunless tree owl.


    Celestial


    The Moon Goddess had visited my daughter in her dreams and told her she was celestial


    Too bad | didn’t know what that meant.