Summer had come to Pax. Full summer, with its long days baked by the hot sun in a cloudless sky, and nights more often than not plagued with humid warmth of their own. The only good thing about the heat of the summer that everyone agreed on was the lack of mutant activity when the weather was so hot. The farmers were working hard to keep their fields irrigated and their animals hydrated, and everyone avoided working in the midday sun. But work at the mill was ongoing, even during the hottest part of the day.

Old Man Green was walking independently with a stick these days, thanks to help from Nate with strengthening his leg, but he still could not do much more than keep an eye on the shoot at the bottom of the stones and shout out when the flour was beginning to burn. Nate and Millie had taken to working in shifts, trying to get the backlog of corn and wheat milled for everyone who requested it, and more often than not, all three members of the miller's household fell into bed at dusk, exhausted from their busy day. They had even missed the excitement of the traveling fair that had passed through Pax, too busy and too tired to spare even an hour to visit it, though their family and friends had promised treats from the entertainment to make up for their absence from it. But it seemed as though the entertainment had left a treat of their own for the Mullen mill to discover.

As the humid night began to cool finally into the blessed sweetness of the morning before the sun began to bake them all once again, a thin wail broke the silence of the house beside the mill itself. A newborn's cry, thin and loud, piercing in a way only a baby's voice could be, demanding something, anything.

In bed beside Nate, Millie stirred, groaning as she instinctively responded to a sound hardwired into her very being. "Whass'at?"

Working at the mill was hard work, but it was honest work, and Nate was happy to do it. As exhausting as it was, he fell into bed each night feeling accomplished, like he was really doing something worthwhile. It wasn't just because of Millie and her father either; the entire village depended on the mill, without which they wouldn't have flour - a basic staple in their diet. It was hard work but satisfying work, and for the first time in a long time, Nate could say he was genuinely happy.

Morning came early in the Mullen household. It was strange to think of it that way. Even after all months of marriage, he still thought of it as belonging to the Greens. He had only ended up here by chance and fallen hopelessly in love with Old Man Green's granddaughter, who'd quickly taken the Mullen name in marriage. It was just a name, and whether the townsfolk referred to it as the Mullen Mill or the Green Mill made little difference to him. He deferred to Old Man Green in all things, and as much as he might not want to admit it, he'd become as much an integral part of the working of the mill as Millie and her father.

Nate stirred slightly at Millie's question, hoping to get a little more shuteye before another day started. Some part of his brain registered something else - some wail of a cry that grated oddly on his nerves, though his sleepy brain thought it was just some strange dream echoing in his head.

From downstairs came the sound of Harry groaning far louder than he usually did when waking up, jolting Millie out of her half-asleep state. "Oh god ..." She rolled away from Nate, putting her feet to the floor to reach automatically for her robe. "All right, Grandpa, I'm coming," she called gently, still blinking to clear her vision as she yawned her way out of the room. She could still hear that wailing cry, and it seemed to grow louder as she got downstairs, but surely it wasn't coming from in here, was it'

As she reached the bottom of the stairs, her grandfather exclaimed a little too loudly once again. "Who the hells brought a baby home?"

Millie stopped dead in the middle of the main room, her sleepy brain suddenly very much awake. "Oh no ..." She spun about, all but running to the front door, throwing it open to look at the porch. "Uh ....Nate" Nate!"

Nate usually had a bad habit of being the first one out of bed in the morning, and it was a good thing, too, as his grandfather-in-law often needed help getting himself moving and getting breakfast going. Nate didn't mind really. He'd spent the better part of his life taking care of his brothers, so caring for an old man and his daughter wasn't much different, and it made him feel useful. But as the summer wore on, with its heat and hard work, even Nate was moving a little slower than usual on those hot summer days.

"Coming!" he called, as he rolled out of bed and pulled on a shirt and a pair of pants, his hair still mussed from bed and his feet bare. Even though he was feeling a little weary, it was a good kind of weariness - the kind that came from hard work and clean living. "Sorry, I'm late," he said as he shuffled down the stairs. "I'll get the coffee going!"

"You're not late."

As Old Man Green - or Harry, as he was trying to get Nate to call him - appeared in the doorway of his own room in nothing but his long-johns, Millie came back in from the porch. Thankfully, the wailing had died away, but the source was definitely theirs to contend with for a while. She was holding a baby; not more than a few days old, wrapped in a thin blanket.

"Someone left us something while we were sleeping," she said a little helplessly.

Nate busied himself putting the coffee on the stove, which would help them all wake up, turning only when he heard Millie's voice from behind him. He looked over to find her holding a small bundle and for a moment, he wasn't quite sure what it was. "What's that?" he asked, his brain not quite making the connection between the wail that had woken them and the bundle in his wife's arms.

Millie stared at him, at a loss for words. Her grandfather, however, had exactly the right reaction. "Bloody hell," Harry declared, his stick thumping against the boards as he made his way over to them. "Who left you out there?"

The baby, apparently tired from screaming, was falling asleep in Millie's arms, but she had a horrible feeling that wasn't going to last. "What do we do?" she asked, hoping someone else in the room had a better idea than putting it back in the basket and hoping it was a bad dream.

"Left who out where?" Nate asked, coming over to see what the commotion was all about and what exactly had been left on their doorstep. His grandfather-in-law's response to the bundle confused him momentarily, until finally he realized what - or who - it must be. "A baby?" he asked, incredulously. "But I thought they weren't abandoning boys anymore," he said, a little confused.

"I-I don't think this is the valley," Millie stammered, gently raising the baby a little higher in her arms. She didn't resist as Harry reached over and twitched the blanket aside briefly.

"Definitely not the valley," the old man nodded. "Congratulations, you have a daughter. I'll go and look at the basket."

As he stumped away, Millie swallowed, looking down at the baby girl in her arms. "Why would anyone abandon their baby on our doorstep?"

"A daughter," Nate echoed, clearly more than a little dumbfounded. Was he still dreaming" This couldn't be real. And how did the old man know it was a daughter" Nate peeked over Millie's shoulder to take a look at the baby, who seemed content enough for the moment. This wasn't exactly how he'd imagined becoming a father, if he'd ever imagined it at all. "I don't understand."

Millie looked up at him, her expression a little trapped. "I don't, either," she admitted. "Why us?" In her arms, the baby girl stirred and burped loudly, opening big blue eyes to stare in her unfocused way up at Nate, tiny fingers curling in and out of her blanket. "Isn't she beautiful, though?"

Millie giggled, glancing up at him with a smile. "It's a good nickname, though," she pointed out. She was probably being a little too thorough, but she'd never washed a baby before. "What was your mom's name" Maybe that would suit her."

"My mom's name?" Nate echoed with a frown. Now there was a question. "I ....I don't remember. She was just Mama," he said, looking almost like he was on the brink of tears at the realization that he couldn't remember. "Eli would know," he volunteered, not wanting to think on it too hard. "What was your mother's name?" he countered.

"My mama was Annie," Millie told him with a gentle smile, leaning close to kiss his cheek. She jumped as a flailing fist sent a splash of water up to soak her nightdress, laughing as she looked down at the cheeky girl in the sink. "That was on purpose, wasn't it' You want some love too?" Leaning down, she smooched a loud kiss against the baby girl's cheek, sending the infant into an eruption of giggles.

"That's a pretty name," he said, smiling as he got his cheek kissed, just because, and chuckling when they both got splashed for it. "How can she be so happy?" he asked, curiously, wondering again why anyone would want to abandon such a precious and helpless little creature. "Have you got a towel?" he asked, not wanting to let go of the wriggling girl until she was wrapped safely in a towel.

"Oh! Yes, over here ..." Shaking the water off her hands, Millie turned to pick up the towel, glancing at her grandfather, who was setting out the essentials from the box. "She doesn't know what?s happened to her," she told Nate, holding out the towel to receive the wriggling bundle safely from the water. "All she knows is that she's warm and safe, and people are paying her attention."

"Should we call her Annie, after your mother?" he asked, waiting for Millie to wrap her in a towel, so he could hand her over, a little worried he'd drop her. "We should talk to Brona," he said, lowering his voice, as if it was a secret. "She'll know what to do." Old Man Green had suggested as much, but Nate felt funny mentioning it, or maybe he just didn't want to admit that he had no idea how to take care of a baby.

Wrapping the little wriggler up securely, Millie took charge of the baby girl once again. "Can you spread that blanket out on the floor for me" I don't feel safe with her up here."

Harry looked up in approval. "Looks like you two have everything under control," he complimented them. "There's a diaper there, and a dress, and if you wash the bottle and the teat out, you can feed her some milk. I'm going to get dressed and head out to the Dugans'."

Nate had a look of mild panic on his face at the implication that his grandfather-in-law - the only one there who knew anything at all about babies - was about to leave them alone. The look on his face as he jerked a glance toward the Old Man said it all without having to say a word: You're going to leave us here all alone"

Old Man Green met his panic with absolutely ruthless calm, smiled, and thumped his way toward his bedroom to put his clothes on.

Millie looked up at Nate worriedly. "Ever think he's trying to teach us something?"

"All the time," Nate replied, frowning worriedly. "He hasn't even had breakfast yet." None of them had, but the baby's needs seemed to outweigh theirs, and at least, the coffee was ready. "You don't think he arranged this, do you?" he asked, just a little suspiciously, though he didn't think even Old Man Green was quite that devious.

"Grandpa wouldn't do that," Millie shook her head emphatically. "But he's not above making us deal with it on our own. New parents have to do this all the time, we're no different. We just ....didn't get a few months to get used to the idea." She looked down at the baby girl in her arms, still trying to dry every crevice. "She's gonna be hungry soon."

Nate furrowed his brows as he spread the blanket out on the floor, not quite sure what to do, but remembering what it was like to have to nurse a baby lamb whose mother had rejected it. "I'll wash a bottle and boil some milk," he volunteered, letting his instincts kick in. So long as they followed their instincts, he thought they might be able to do this.

"I'm glad you know what you're doing," Millie murmured, finally laying the baby down on the blanket spread out on the floor. "Now you stay there, you hear?" There was a gurgle as her fingertip bounced off the little button nose. "I got no idea how to put this on her," Millie said as she examined the diaper. "I guess a triangle and then pin it in place?"

"That makes sense," Nate said, as he looked to the baby gurgling and cooing on the blanket, before leaving Millie there to tend to the blanket while he sorted out the bottle and milk. "You never said what you thought about Annie," he said, reminding her that he'd suggested it for a name, mostly due to a lack of other ideas.

"I don't know what I think," she admitted, sticking her tongue back out at the baby while trying to work out how to make a fairly decent diaper for the small person. "It's a nice name, but I don't think it suits her. What about Rose" Or Lily' Or Ella?"

Nate made a face as he put some milk on to boil and considered her suggestions. "I like Ella," he said, immediately rejecting the other two as sounding a little too pretentious. He wasn't sure if it really mattered what they thought anyway; surely, the little girl must have been given a name of her own, and who were they to name someone else's child"

"So do I," Millie smiled, concentrating as she edged the diaper underneath the baby carefully. "It's like that fairytale from the beforetimes - you know, Simmerbrella" About the mouse that becomes a princess with a magic pumpkin" I loved that story when I was little."

"You still do," Old Man Green said as he headed back through to the front door, fully dressed and ready to go. "I'll grab breakfast at the Dugans'. You two just look to her and yourselves."

Nate's brows furrowed further at the mention of a fairytale he hardly remembered. "The one where the horse becomes a prince and has to find the princess before she turns into a shoe?" he asked, as he started scrubbing the bottle and nipple in the sink to get them clean. He looked up as Millie's grandfather rejoined them briefly before taking his leave.

"That's the one," Millie nodded, only just looking up in time see her grandfather leaving through the front door. "All the magic and the romance ....I was a very silly little girl. But I got my romance in the end." The smile she gave Nate was bright and sincere, truly affectionate, before she returned her attention to folding and pinning the diaper securely onto the newly named Ella.

Nate smiled, flushing a little at the knowledge that she was talking about him, but then he felt the same way. He hadn't paid much attention to fairytales as a child, or if he had, he'd forgotten, but he certainly seemed to have found his true love. "I don't think it's silly, Millie," he said, rinsing and drying the bottle before filling it will the warmed milk.

With a little wrangling, Millie managed to get the little dress her grandfather had found onto Ella, lifting the little girl up off the floor and into her arms as she rose to her feet. "There now, you're all ready for the day," she informed the baby, not entirely sure why she was pointing this out. Ella was beginning to fuss, however, threatening to let rip with that awful cry once again. "Uh ....does that mean she's hungry?"

"No, it's not okay. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that," Nate said, not accepting her easy dismissal of what he'd done, though he had apologized. He scratched his head, a frown on his face, looking further perplexed as he picked at his eggs.

"I shouldn't have assumed," Millie said quietly. Truth be told, she'd wanted to hold Ella a little more herself, but she hadn't expressed that out loud. There was silence for a short while, but she had to say something about what had happened. "You've never raised your voice to me before."

"I know. I'm sorry," he said quietly, ashamed of himself. Some snippet of memory kept poking at him again, but he wasn't quite sure if he was ready to share it. If not now, then when" He picked up a piece of toasted bread and dunked it in his eggs, but didn't take a bite. His mood had turned, but he was still trying to sort out why.

"W-why did you?" The question was asked, but in a way that suggested that she wasn't expecting, or even asking, for an answer. Millie had an amazing ability to take the blame for everything that happened onto herself without even speaking, and even now, when she wanted to understand why her husband had shown her a previously unknown side to his nature, she couldn't quite bring herself to demand that knowledge from him.

"I don't know if I can explain," he told her, sadly. Nate was the light-hearted one of the three Mullen brothers. It simply wasn't like him to brood and sulk and snap at those he loved. He seemed to be struggling with something, some memory buried deep inside, something he hadn't thought of in a very long time, and suddenly there were silent tears streaming down his face he didn't even bother trying to hide.

Yet of all the Mullen brothers, he had the sweetest wife. Millie didn't need him to speak to know when he was hurting, and to see him in tears was too much to bear. She abandoned what was left of her breakfast to round the table, gathering him into her arms as she kissed his hair. "Shhh, love," she whispered to him. "Whatever it is, I don't blame you for it. I just want to understand."

Breakfast forgotten, at least for the moment, Nate took refuge in his wife's arms as the memory of something that had happened a long time ago took its toll. "I haven't thought of her in so long," he said, his voice muffled by her shoulder, shaky with emotion.

Tucking herself close to him, she stroked his hair as he cried against her shoulder, alarmed by such violent emotion from her husband. Nate had always been more prone to show his emotions, but this was something Millie had never seen from him before. She kissed his hair, hoping she could help him. "About who, love?" she asked softly. "Talk to me, let me help."

"My-my sister," he stammered, unable for the moment to say anything more than that simple explanation. He had never mentioned a sister before, and neither had Eli or Cody. They had lost her so long ago, Nate had almost forgotten her, but there was something about the orphaned child that had nudged at that memory and opened a long-forgotten wound deep inside him.

Gently stroking his cheek, Millie let him cry himself out, wiping his tears away before kissing him tenderly. "Nothing you tell me is going to change the way I feel about you," she reminded him in her soft way. "So talk to me. You never said you had a sister. Tell me about her."

It took a while before he could speak, before he could form words again without sputtering and hiccuping. He only hoped her grandfather didn't interrupt to find him blubbering like a baby while his breakfast got cold. "She-she was little. A little younger than me. I remember holding her, like I was holding Ella, only ....Something happened to her. I think she got sick. I can't remember. And then she wasn't there anymore and Mama said she was with the angels and I wanted to go with her, but Mama said it wasn't my time yet."

"Oh, sweetheart ..." Millie wrapped her arms about him once again, hugging him close. "I'm so sorry you lost her." She didn't offer any excuse or reasoning for the death of his sister; they lived in a harsh world, and often there was no reason for the death of a child. "At least you got to hold her. And we have Ella now. We can make sure that she lives a good life."

He nodded his head, unsure why that memory had decided to return to him just then, why it had felt so powerful. He'd dreamed of her sometimes and had only thought she was a dream, but now he realized she was no dream, but a memory buried deep inside. "You don't think they'll take her away from us?" he asked, afraid to get attached again to someone only to lose them.

"Who would do that?" she asked him gently. "Her only family left her with us, asked us to raise her. It even says on the note ....they asked our neighbors, our friends, the people we live among, and they decided that we were the best people to leave her with. No one in Pax will take her away from us, and there's no one else who wants her." She curled her hand to the back of his neck, holding his gaze with a fierce glint in her eye. "She's ours now. Our daughter. I might not know how to be a mother, but I'm going to learn. Because no one is taking her away from us."

He nodded his head and wiped the tears from his face. "I know I'm being an idiot," he said. What was the matter with him, getting so attached to a child that had only just been left on their doorstep" But then, he had always been the soft-hearted one, the one who brought all the strays home, much to Eli's irritation, the one who'd always put his brothers' needs and desires above that of his own. "We'll learn together, Millie," he told her, a soft smile on his face.

"You're not being an idiot," she promised him, glad to see him smile once more. "Your heart is the best part of you, and I love you for the way you're not afraid to feel anything. You will be a wonderful father, I just know it." Resting her brow against his, she smiled, breathing him in slowly. "You need to eat, though. I'm pretty sure we're gonna have visitors soon."

"Will you forgive me?" he asked, his heart still heavy with guilt, even though she seemed to have forgiven him. He needed to know he had her forgiveness and that she wouldn't hold it against him. He had never shouted at her before and he never wanted to do it again. She meant more to him than life itself, and he'd rather hurt himself than hurt her.

"There's nothing to forgive," she told him softly, opening her eyes to kiss him once more. "Now I understand why. But, you know, we're going to have to share her. I want to hold her too." Her smile was understanding, even as she teased him gently, brushing her hand through his hair.

"I know," he admitted, looking a little sheepish, an almost shy smile on his face. Strangely, he almost felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his heart, though he wasn't sure why. He hadn't thought of his baby sister in a very long time. Maybe it was good to let go of some of that grief. It was time to set it aside and open his heart to this new life that had come into their lives. "She's beautiful, isn't she?" he asked, sniffling as he seemed to regain his composure.

"She is," Millie agreed, rising to resume her own seat and finish eating. She paused, leaning over to gently tug the blanket a little more over Ella as the baby girl slept, sucking on her tiny fingers. "I can't help hoping Brona comes back with Grandpa, though. I'd like her to take a look at Ella, just to make sure she's healthy."

"I understand," Nate said quietly, a small worried frown on his face, though there was no reason to think there was anything wrong with little Ella. She seemed perfectly healthy, especially if her cries for attention were anything to go by. "You should eat your breakfast," he told her, knowing he should do the same.

"I will if you will," she told him, taking up her toast once again. The food had gone cold, but neither of them were wasteful. When there was food on your plate, you ate it, regardless of how it tasted.

Nate nodded, brooking no argument as Cody got dragged up the stairs. He and Brona had not yet been blessed with a child, but they seemed to be in no hurry. "Diaper?" Nate echoed, blinking in surprise, though he supposed he'd have to do it sooner or later. "Won't you wake her?"

"She's a baby," Brona reminded him. "As soon as the package in her diaper gets uncomfortable, she'll wake up, and she'll start screaming. It's best to get ahead of it whenever you can." She nodded to one of the parcels on the table. "We brought you a load of diaper cloths and pads, and there's a pot of ointment in there to use on her backside."

"Uh ....okay," Nate mumbled, glancing at the parcel, unsure where to begin exactly. He'd never changed a diaper before that he could recall; even Aedan was too old for diaper changes. "Where do I start?" he asked, uncertainly.

"Warm water, clean cloths, bowl," Brona told him. "You'll probably want to change her on the floor for now, but when you get more practiced at it, you'll be doing it on tables and beds, whatever's convenient."

"Okay, we laid a blanket on the floor. Will that do?" he asked, as he went to the sink to fetch the other items. He turned on the water and tested the temperature before filling a bowl and grabbing a couple of clean cloths from a neatly-folded pile in the linen cupboard.

"That's perfect," Brona assured him, glad she'd noticed the growing stink. Trying to talk Nate through his first diaper change to the tune of his new daughter's screams would have been a little too much. "You want to have a clean diaper ready to go, with the pad inside it, and the pin to hand, too, before you get started. After you've done this a few times, it comes naturally, believe me."

"The pin?" he asked. He hadn't been paying too much attention when Millie had been fastening the baby's diaper earlier as he'd been too busy making the bottle. "How old do you think she is?" he asked, practically echoing one of Millie's earlier questions. He brought the cloths and the bowl of water over and set them on the blanket.

Moving to kneel down next to him, Brona laid Ella down on the blanket. "Okay, undo the diaper, and clean up as much of the mess as you can before you take it out from under her," she told him, sitting back on her heels. She wasn't going to do it for him, not this time. "Looking at her, I'd say she can't be more than two or three weeks old. Old enough to have settled into a regular sleeping routine, but she can't hold her head up yet, and she doesn't seem to be focusing on anything in particular yet. The more time she spends with you guys, the quicker she'll recognize you."

"Two or three weeks?" he echoed, incredulously. He knew she was young, but he hadn't realized she was quite that young. Someone had been caring for her before they'd left her with them, and he couldn't help but wonder how hard it must have been to let her go. He did as he was told, not even flinching as he swabbed up the poopy mess. After all, he'd seen a lot worse cleaning out stables.

"Yeah, she's very young," Brona told him gently. "But that's a good thing, for both her and for the person who had to write that note. Neither of them had a chance to form a tight bond, and though they may miss each other in the beginning, it'll get easier. Ella has you and Millie, and Old Man Green. She'll bond with you easily, because you're the ones caring for her." Eying his progress, she pulled a laundry bag from the parcel on the table. "Okay, pull that out and dump it in here for the time being. You want to make sure she's clean and dry, and get that clean diaper under her before you put the ointment on."

"Okay," he said, taking direction. It was a lot to remember and a lot to manage all at once, but he was doing his best. She'd said he'd get better with practice, and all he could do was believe her. He swapped the dirty diaper out for the clean one, before reaching for the ointment, his face a mask of concentration.

As Brona watched, she talked him through the process of slathering ointment on the sensitive skin, and folding the clean diaper comfortably and securely about the wriggling little girl in front of him. "Congratulations, you have changed your first diaper," she praised him, patting his back. "Wash your hands, and I'll take a look at her before you start cuddling again."

Nate couldn't help but smile a little at Brona's praise. She had always been nice to him, even when they'd kidnapped her at gunpoint to help their dying brother, but it wasn't often he was given praise, and he soaked it up like a sponge. "First's time the hardest, right?" he asked, as they switched places and he went over to the sink to wash his hands clean. "She's healthy, ain't she, Bro?" he asked, a tinge of worry in his voice. He had few pretensions when it came to Brona. She'd seen him at his worst and his best.

"Seems like it to me," she called back to him, tickling Ella's tummy to distract the baby girl as she checked limb movement and the perfusion of her skin. "Now you know how to do it, you'll get faster at changes, too. Aren't you the cutest little thing" Let's get you over on your tummy, I want to see something."

As Ella gurgled, Brona turned her onto her front, watching the baby girl for a moment before lifting her up once again. "She's closer to three weeks than two," she told Nate, rising to her feet. "She'll be holding her own head up in a couple of weeks."

He nodded his head in relief, though that small worried frown was in danger of becoming a permanent fixture on that handsome face of his. "I don't understand why anyone would want to give her away," he mused aloud for the second time that morning. While he'd understood what the note had said, he still had a hard time understanding what it meant exactly. Would someone come back for her eventually and want to take her from them' He wasn't too attached just yet, but he was a little afraid of becoming attached and having her ripped from their lives. "I don't know nothing about taking care of a baby," he admitted worriedly, though that wasn't entirely true.

Brona sighed softly, letting Ella tug on the laces of her dress. "Life is hard for us, and we have a home and family, we have ways to grow our own food and hunt if we have to," she tried to explain. "For the fair people, it's harder. They're always on the move, they live off other people's kindnesses mostly. Settled people look down on them anyway; add to that being an unmarried mother" Who knows how old she is" She could be barely more than a child herself, and having a baby makes it that much harder for her to catch the eye of someone who might want to look after her. She obviously asked around, and I think she made the right choice. There's no one who can love Ella the way that you and Millie can. And it's basic stuff when it comes to looking after her. I'll come by every few days while you're settling into it."

"But how do you know that' How does anyone know that?" he asked, still confused. "You said she's three weeks old. Where's she been for three weeks" How do you hide something like that' Wasn't there anyone who loved her or cared for her?" he asked, his heart aching for the little girl who had been left in their care. It had yet to occur to him that whoever had left her there with that note did love her and care for her and that was precisely why she'd been left there. "We don't ....we don't even know her real name."

"Nate ....if you had a child, and you couldn't give her the kind of life she deserves, what would you do?" Brona asked him bluntly. "Would you struggle on, knowing that you couldn't improve things and that it was likely to get worse" Or would you find a way to make sure that she, at least, got out of the troubles that you were in?"

All in all, it had been a productive and satisfying morning, though Nate found himself wondering what Eli would say to it all. As for himself, he just couldn't get enough of the little girl who'd somehow found her way to their doorstep and into his heart. It seemed of the three Mullen brothers, it was the middle brother who'd become a father first. "What do you think Eli will say?" he asked, finally broaching the subject.

"Well, if Dale doesn't have a belly on her by now, he's going to be jealous," Brona predicted, blowing strands of hair out of her face. With the noon sun beating down on them, it was impossible to escape the heat, and she had been cooking for the entirety of the morning, too. "But he won't admit to it."

Old Man Green chuckled as he sipped his cider. "We should get word out to them soon so they ain't the last to know," he suggested.

"Brona and I can stop by and tell them," Cody volunteered, though that wasn't going to happen until the heat of mid-day relented a little.

"Wish they lived a little closer," Nate complained mildly, which made Cody chuckle.

"We get along better this way," he remarked with a grin.

"Be glad you don't live wedged up tight with a brother and sister who actually enjoy arguing with each other," Nemone added with a faint smirk. She was sprawled comfortably with her head in Mahon's lap, her bump uncovered in an attempt to cool down properly while Aedan drew on the moving surface of her skin with mud. "The sooner we get that little cottage livable, the better."

Brona snorted with laughter. "Like you don't enjoy our spirited discussions," she teased her sister-in-law cheerfully, glancing over to where Millie was dozing against Nate's shoulder. The heat really was taking it out of all of them.

"There's nothing wrong with a healthy discussion," Mahon interjected, taking Brona's side. He and Cody got along fine most of the time, but he was glad Eli wasn't living any closer than he was. Though there was no animosity between them, the two of them were known to frequently butt heads, mostly because both of them were used to be being in charge. He narrowed his eyes at Aedan's "artwork", wondering what the boy was thinking, but he supposed that was one way to keep cool. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I think I'm going for a swim."

The little boy perked up instantly at that idea. "Can I swim too, Papa?" he asked hopefully, abandoning his artwork to try and look perfectly angelic. "I can swimmed now, Cody teached me."

Nemone laughed at the way her menfolk were so ready to abandon her, easing up so that Mahon could escape without knocking her down.

"Shade falls on the near side of the mill," Old Man Green offered up with a chuckle. "You can swim without burning there."

"Yes, you can swimmed, too," the big man answered with a chuckle, adding, "So long as you stay close." Mahon leaned over to touch a kiss to Nem's cheek, smirking as he eyed their son's "artwork" again. "You care to join us?" he asked, unsure if she'd at least like to dangle her feet in the cool water.

"If there's somewhere to sit and paddle, I will," Nem agreed with a weary smile. In the valley, the summers never felt so oppressive as they did here, and she was wilting a little. Hopefully she wouldn't be pregnant for next summer, or she might never get used to it. "C'mon, Aedy, help me up." She offered her hands to her son, knowing that Mahon would heave her up from behind so the little boy could feel good about pulling her onto her feet. "Anyone else joining us?"

Mahon did just that, gently lifting his pregnant wife to her feet, while Aedan tugged at her hands. The heat did them all in during this time of the day, but Mahon knew it was hardest on Nemone who wasn't due to give birth for a month yet. Nate looked uncertain, torn between wanting to stay and watch over their new daughter and join the others in cooling off.

Millie roused at the movement, blinking as she watched the spectacle that was getting Nemone off the ground. She chuckled, glancing at Nate. "Go and swim," she told him. "Ella and I can doze here a while longer. Can't we?" She gently bopped the nose of the baby girl in Nate's lap, earning herself a sleepy gurgle.

"You sure?" he asked, uncertainly, not really wanting to leave her.

Cody was already getting up, a grin on his face. "Come on, Aedan! Last one in is a rotten egg!" he called back, tugging his shirt off and tossing it onto the blanket as he made a dash for the water.

Mahon laughed, perfectly happy to let Cody indulge his son so that he could take a leisurely stroll alongside Nem.

"Of course I'm sure," Millie assured Nate, reaching to take Ella from his arms. "Go and enjoy yourself - you've earned it. I'll swim later, when I'm not so likely to turn bright red under the sun." She laughed as Aedan pouted at Cody, being a good boy and taking off his shoes before he ran on little legs after his uncle, shouting at Cody that he was a cheater.

"Not a cheater!" Cody called back, turning a moment to face him. "You're a slow poke!" He turned back around, laughing as he darted onward.

Well behind them, Mahon was walking hand in hand with his wife, while Aedan ran to catch up with Cody. "You think they'll be okay?" he asked, meaning Nate and Millie.

Squeezing his hand, Nemone glanced back at the trees, where Millie was still trying to convince Nate to do something fun rather than worry. She smiled, shaking her head at the stubbornness of the Mullen boys. "I think they'll be fine," she mused thoughtfully. "It'll be hard work, but if they do take on an apprentice, Millie will be able to concentrate on the house and the baby. We should visit regularly for a while, though, just to help out."

Mahon had become rather fond of the Mullen clan, especially of Cody, but that was probably because the young man was married to his sister. "I suppose," he replied, thoughtfully, a smile emerging. "At least, until we have one of our own." Of course, they already had their hands full with Aedan, but there were plenty of people willing to help, and the boy wasn't nearly as much work as a newborn.

"Not long to go now, thank God," Nem sighed comically, rubbing her hand over her bump. "And Gia is coming down from the valley for the main event. It might be a bit crowded for a while, but we'll have lots of hands, especially if Ember follows through on the threat to visit every day, too." For Mahon and Nemone, it would be their first experience of caring for a newborn themselves; Brona and Uther were the ones who had cared for Aedan during those fractious months.

"You're not a little bit nervous?" he asked, knowing he was. Though he'd easily assumed the role of father, raising a small boy, what did he know about babies? He'd managed to avoid holding baby Ella, afraid he might hurt her in some way, but he was going to have to get over that fear sometime soon. Even little Finola had mostly avoided Mahon's clutches. For a man who boasted that he nothing much scared him, he certainly seemed to be afraid of tiny squalling humans.

"I think the best way to describe my feelings is ....gleefully terrified," Nem assured him calmly. So long as she was pregnant, she thought they had a handle on things. As soon as the bump became an independent being, however, she had a feeling that calm was going to unravel faster than all her attempts at knitting thus far. "I'm excited, but I can't help thinking I'm going to make a complete mess of it."

"You won't," Mahon assured her with a warm smile. Whatever he thought of his own parenting skills, he was confident Nemone would be a wonderful mother. And if she wasn't, well, there were plenty of people around them ready and willing to help teach them both how. "Maybe we should spend more time with Ethan and Ember, or Nate and Millie, so we can practice," he suggested, though he didn't really want to use Ella or Finola as guinea pigs.

She nodded, smiling as they reached the stream, where Aedan was triumphantly waving from his perch atop Cody's shoulders. "We should," she agreed with Mahon fondly. "Now put me down somewhere in the shade, and go and splash your son like you know you want to."

Mahon waved back at his son, a broad smile on his face. He was glad Cody and Brona were so fond of their boy and so willing to help. Not only were they younger and had more energy than the older couple, but it gave them a chance to relax now and then. "Yes, ma'am," he replied, touching a kiss to her cheek before settling her in the shade of a willow tree.

She chuckled, settling down with a low groan to slip off her shoes and slide her feet and ankles into the blessedly cold water of the stream. Over by the trees, Brona, Millie, and Old Man Green were settled comfortably, chatting as Ella dozed with them; Nate was on his way over to leap into the water.

Nemone smiled to herself. A year ago, she would never have been able to predict this, trapped as she had been in the valley amid the repressive regime of her aunt. But here she was, surrounded by family, expecting her second child. Despite the awful heat of the summer, life was good. Long may it remain so.