My Savior(32)

Around the table, everyone was smiling at the tiny human, and Amelia realized that maybe the mates truly had been brought here for a reason. Meryn's attitude and fresh perspective were needed to keep them from becoming too overwhelmed. It gave her hope because there was no way Fate would bring her all this way after giving her dreams of her mate for over thirty years just to take him away.

"Tuna sounds good to me, too," Amelia agreed feeling as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

"Actually, me too, Ryuu. Sorry." Rheia blushed.

Ryuu pinched the bridge of his nose. "Anyone else?" Everyone else shook their heads. Ryuu frowned at Rheia then at Meryn, but when his gaze turned to her, he looked confused. "I know why the two of them have odd cravings, but you're not with child."

Amelia shrugged. "I'll try anything once. I live in the moment. Life is too short not to eat meatloaf with tuna."

Ryuu shook his head. "Two, there's two."

Beth nodded her head. "I know Ryuu, it'll be okay," she said in a soothing manner.

Ryuu straightened his back. "Ladies if you will but give me a moment to serve the rest of the table, I will return with your additional side dish."

Meryn grinned evilly. "But it's not going on the side; I'm putting it on top."

Ryuu sighed and continued to serve the table. "Yes denka, of course."

Gavriel leaned back in his chair. "Amelia, may I ask, how old are you?"

"Thirty-six, why?"

"Just curious. Ryuu and Beth are right, you and Meryn both have a very optimistic and simple view of the world," Gavriel explained.

"Dammit! You're older than me. Except for Penny, I'm still the youngest. Even Jaxon and Noah are older." Meryn growled.

Aiden kissed his mate's neck causing her to laugh. "Meryn, you know, as a human you are treated according to how humans age, not paranormals."

"Exactly," Amelia agreed. "To a paranormal, age is just a number, unless you have brothers."

"Amen," Rheia said.

"Or fathers," Beth agreed.

"Yeah, unless you have testosterone-driven male relatives, ages don't really mean anything, just like expiration dates on food," Amelia added.

Everyone stared at her except Meryn who just nodded and ate a huge bite of her peas and mashed potatoes.

"What?" Amelia asked, looking around.

Keelan sat forward. "Do you mean that ages and expiration dates are the same because they are both numbers?"

"No, I meant that they are both pointless numbers. Ages are a pointless unit of measure for races that can live thousands of years and expiration dates are pointless because they are just for show."

Meryn nodded again. "True."

Aiden turned to her, looking horrified. "No, baby, they are not just for show."

Meryn scrunched up her face and turned to Amelia. "Really?" Amelia shrugged.

Aiden nodded vigorously. "Yes!"

Meryn thought about it for a moment. "What about pickles? Pickles don't expire, do they, Ryuu?"

"Not the ones packaged by NASA for deep space exploration, denka. Did you want the tuna plain or mixed with mayonnaise as if it were going on a sandwich?" he asked as he finished serving Aiden before refilling his wine glass. Keelan snickered.

Meryn looked at her and Rheia. "With mayonnaise?" Amelia and Rheia nodded.

Ryuu gave a half bow. "I will be back in a moment with your tuna."

Meryn turned to Rheia. "What about medicines? Do they really go bad?"

Rheia nodded. "Yes, sometimes they lose potency, and sometimes they develop dangerous side effects."

"Ryuu!" Aiden bellowed.

"I'll check everything," Ryuu replied from the kitchen.

Aiden picked up his wine glass again.

The rest of dinner went by at a leisurely pace as everyone discussed the events of their day. When the meal was over, Meryn stretched. "Come along, Pond, it's time for movie night."

"Why did you call her Pond?" Colton asked.

Rheia patted his arm. "It's a Doctor Who thing."

"I haven't caught up to Penny yet."

Rheia laughed. "You will. You're her favorite Doctor Who watching partner after Meryn."

Keelan quickly agreed to movie night. "Great idea, Meryn. I think we should watch something fun, uplifting, and lighthearted." He winked at Amelia. She felt her heart melt a bit. Keelan was trying so hard to help his friend.

"Cool, how about Bedazzled?" Meryn suggested.

"I've never heard of that one; what's it about?" Keelan leaned forward.

"A guy sells his soul to the devil for seven wishes," Meryn replied.

Keelan stared at her his eyes wide. "How is that happy and uplifting?"