I had barely woken up when I heard a knock on the door.  Confused, because it was at Ren’s height level but he wouldn’t need to knock, I called out to come in, and then understood what was going on.

Ren was following Remington, who was very carefully trying to carry a tray with breakfast on it.  Remington was trying his best not to let the tray tip over, but thankfully Ren was carrying the juice and glasses, so those wouldn’t fall over, but Remington was doing a pretty good job with the rest of the tray.  He got it over to me, looking triumphant as Ren took it from him, waited until I got settled in a seated position, and then sat the tray on my lap.

“This looks delicious!  Thank you!”  I blushed a bit, feeling very spoiled for getting to have breakfast in bed, brought to me courtesy of my husband and son.  Not a sentence I’d have imagined a few years ago, but it made me so happy today.

“Happy birthday, Baba!”  Remington climbed into the bed with me, settled down comfortably on one side, and reached for a fork.  I hadn’t noticed until then that there were three forks and the plate was large enough it had enough food for more than one person.  Well, that was perfect, we could all have a, uh, picnic in our bed.

Ren poured us juice, too, though he set them on my side table instead of handing them to people, so Remington could just ask when he needed some rather than attempting to juggle a glass of juice while in the bed.  We ate our delicious breakfast – Remington told me proudly that he’d helped – and I got to snuggle with my little unicorn and my fairy in bed, just eating the food they’d made me with love, and appreciating being with them.

Remington wanted to take the dirty dishes downstairs himself, so Ren set him up with the tray and dishes – minus the glasses still – and let him head out the door.  I had managed to get to my feet before I found myself pushed unceremoniously back onto the bed and a very willing participant to a rather quick make-out session.  Ren kissed up the side of my neck, his lips touching the scars Brian had left me, before he kissed me deeply into the bed.  I happily grabbed at his shirt, kissing him back, and unaware of how long we were doing this until a sweet, concerned little voice came from the open doorway.

“Daddy, are you smothering Baba?”

Ren paused and glanced up at Remington, who had already returned to get the glasses.  “No, Remi-bear.  This is a form of snuggling that you do only with someone you’re, uh, married to.”  Well, not necessarily married, but Remington understood the concept of marriage being different than friendship, so this made sense to him and he nodded in understanding.  As he came over to my side of the bed to retrieve the glasses, he gave me a very happy smile.

“Grandpa is talking to my little brother or sister!  He says he hopes they’ll get here before your next birthday!”

For a second I was baffled by what this meant, then I realized he must mean Dad was downstairs talking to our fairy plant.  That was very sweet, but also meant it was probably later than I realized if people were starting to arrive already.

Ren apparently was thinking along the same lines.  “I guess that means it’s about time to get up.”  He kissed my forehead as he pulled me to my feet.  “Take your time, babe.  Don’t worry, the party won’t start without you.”  He gave me a wink as he said that and then he and Remington headed out with the juice and glasses.  Ren paused in the door to blow me a kiss, and then shut it behind him.

Alone in our room, I got dressed and then sat down on the bed and took a long moment to just look around me.  I started at the dreamcatcher from Beatrice and the plant Adair had given me, the one that helped muffle dreams.  Those gifts had helped give me back my sleep, in a way, and my sanity.

Then my eyes went to the window, slowly going over the array of plants there.  The coral begonia Ren had given me three years ago.  It was fading now – even reinforced with fairy magic, it was quite old for a begonia and it was reaching the end of its life.  Ren was trying to keep it going, but had already taken one of the flowers to make seeds he could grow, so we could continue to have the begonia’s “children,” so to speak.  One of those was sitting next to the original plant, slowly sprouting on its own, and while I was sad the original plant was dying, I was glad we would still have a reminder of it, and not just with the flower Ren had preserved and was sitting on his dresser.  We would still have another begonia, one that came from the magical one, and we would still have the memories either way.

Next to the coral begonias was Ren’s blue begonia, which was still thriving.  He was still making baby begonias because he wanted to give some to his family, which I thought was sweet, so our window was actually filled with a lot of little begonia plants at the moment.

The window also had Ren’s vallariasi plant, one that I loved tapping when I went to water the plants, just to listen to the little musical notes.  Ren’s midnight plant from his dad was downstairs in his office, since it didn’t need sunlight, and I knew he enjoyed having a plant at his desk down there.

I let my eyes move on to my dresser.  Over my dresser was the picture of the bird in a storm that Ren had given me, the one he won a school contest with, and our first official date had been to go see it.  I still loved that picture, but I also liked the one next to it.  It was a new photo from Ren, one of our plant in the moonlight, backset with the deep purple of dark magic and a gentle glow from yellow fairy magic.  It was such a beautiful picture to me, but I also loved it because it represented both sides of Ren to me.  Someday, I hoped our little fairy baby would appreciate Ren’s magic, too, and how beautiful both kinds of fairy magic could be.

We also had Remington’s adoption certificate up on the wall, and a few pictures of us – some of the three of us, one of us with the fairy plant, and a couple from our wedding day, too.  Family moments together, reminders of good times with our loved ones.

There were other little reminders on my dresser and Ren’s.  The orb with the coral begonia flower in it, the one I’d given to Ren on his birthday and had gotten him to come talk to me that night, the night we started dating.  Another orb with a blue begonia in it, and one on my dresser that was filled with white, swirling magic.  A couple of books on my dresser – one from the set my family had given me two years ago, where I’d pulled out the one on naiads after our last trip to Rosen Library, and the banshee book, a more recent and more accurate picture of a supernatural species and a start to a new series that would hopefully someday replace the old one.

Ren had been wearing the bracelet I gave him when he came in the room earlier, so it wasn’t on his dresser, but I saw the necklace he’d gotten from Sorrel there, and on each of our dressers, seashells Remington had carefully picked out from his first trip to Willen Cove and then presented to each of us.

The pictures Ren had taken of our first outing together, the first pictures together of us, were also framed up on the wall there.  I wasn’t smiling hugely in those and looked tense, but those pictures still reminded me of who I’d been and how far I’d come.

In fact, looking around our room, everywhere I saw reminders of how far I’d come.

It had been approximately three years ago that I’d run into Ren and my entire world had changed.  I’d been so terrified after meeting him that my life would irrevocably change, and it had – but only for the best.

I was no longer alone.  I was no longer afraid.  I had gone from struggling to survive to thriving in the best sense.  I had a family of my own, and a rather extensive and growing extended family, plus a whole network of friends and people who cared about me.  I had a job I enjoyed and was proud that I could support my family with, and I had earned the respect of my coworkers, who recognized I got the job because of my own efforts and not because of who my dad was.  But I also had a dad, and a dad who accepted me, loved me, and was proud of me, something I’d never even imagined.  And he gave me one of the sweetest gifts anyone could ever give me – letting me have my brother be officially my brother, a relationship that I knew benefited me and Miles far more than him.  He’d done that to make me happy, and I was.  I was very happy.

 My life had changed so much since I met Ren, but all for the better.  Even taking in the scary time where he’d been hurt by the witches or had turned dark fae, and on his end, when I’d been attacked by the dark soul and shot by my mom.  Those times had hurt, but we’d grown stronger together.  I touched my fingertips to my scars on my neck, were Ren had kissed me a few moments ago – all my scars were like that now.  Remnants of survival, remnants of a past me, but they didn’t affect me anymore.  Ren and Dad’s words had helped me quit hiding so much and being afraid of what people thought when they saw my scars.  Honestly, I rarely even thought about them anymore, where they used to drive my choice of clothes every single day.

I didn’t know what the future held, but I could guess there would be more change.  However, I was no longer afraid to face it.  I had Ren with me, and our families and friends, and I was confident we could face anything.  After all, we’d already faced so much – a dark soul, a plot to take over the city, constructs, Keepers, the Hunter weapon source, traveling to the past to save an entire race, even Hunters and humans who hated supernaturals.  We’d continue to survive – no, thrive.  I wouldn’t settle for just surviving anymore.  I would make sure my family – and me along with them – thrived.

“Riven!”  I heard someone call from downstairs.  “Come on down!  We want to celebrate your birthday!”

I smiled, warmth and love filling me, and went downstairs to join my family.