As the car drove out of the yard, I stated, my voice amplified so everyone could hear me, "Okay, we need to reorganize a bit, given the circumstances. Let's keep Mariella's babies downstairs with two girls to look after them. Since there's no daycare, we'll need to entertain the kids more. I am now putting a new order in place, specifying what is needed and where. Five adults will care for the children. We have Salvatores 2, 5, and 8 with us, along with Wulfe, Adam, Lepard, Demon, myself, May, Emmylee, Lily, and Vivian, plus Mariella's two girls. This leaves ten people, with two girls already downstairs with the babies. Five will care for all the children, and the remaining five will handle cooking and chores, focusing only on what's essential. They can also work or go to shops to put up closed signs for now. I can do my flower work from here, as I have plenty of material. You all need to hash out who is working and who can take days off until we have some idea about daycare, as we are all needed more or less. Let's use our freezers; they are full of food, much of it semi-ready and only needing warming, cooking, seasoning, or liquid added."
I had been steadily acquiring more flowers, including some larger ones, after striking a deal with three of the five delivery guys. They agreed that if there was ever a situation where they had to dump flowers or deliveries were stopped, I could acquire them. This arrangement ensured my flower room was usually overflowing. The men typically went through my orders and removed anything harmful to me, so I wouldn't be affected by any strange plants. Wulfe had also created several spells to identify such flowers.
Now, he announced, "I'm going to make more protection potion, meaning we'll have a steady supply. It has a shelf life of over a year, so it's good to make in large batches. I will be busy for the time being."
I nodded as he walked away.
Adam, Lepard, and Demon offered, "We'll take care of the food. We'll cook downstairs, trying to make large batches until our kitchen is clean. At the same time, we'll do the chores we can, like washing all the bedding from Mariella's side. As the Salvatores conduct their testing, we'll see if more forceful cleaning is needed then."
"Fine, you do that," I replied. "I will also focus on my flower work and crystal orders, wirewrapping as I have time. I will be contacting daycare soon too, to see where we stand."
I was racking my brain, trying to recall the configuration of the children's arrangements. Were Mariella's three in the same group, or were they in three different ones? If they were in different groups, then there would be several carriers. This would mean the daycare might be responsible for more cases. However, if they were all in one group, there might only be one carrier.
While human children had received a vaccine for this germ, it was only 50% effective on supernaturals originally. We had attempted to create our own, but according to Number Four, Number One, who had seen cases in the hospital, reported that this strain had evolved slightly over time, further reducing the vaccine's efficacy.
Consequently, the hospital's infection control indicated that the current vaccine had lost its effectiveness on humans as well, working only 80% of the time on them and a mere 40% on supernaturals.
Furthermore, funding had been slashed for companies developing vaccines. Since the CDC desired all vaccines to be as inexpensive as possible, they lacked the time and resources to optimize them, as this could potentially lead to side effects. The CDC was keen to avoid any vaccine-related side effects, as they were of utmost importance nowadays. Thus, the situation was far from simple.
Given that this illness was airborne and contagious, many children would need to be kept in a state of home isolation, ensuring they showed no symptoms and tested negative on rapid tests. However, this only applied to humans; we did not yet have a rapid test for supernaturals.
Additionally, I had a significant amount of paperwork to complete. Men could handle the nutritional choices, but I was uncertain if the children's camping trip would be canceled due to this.
I asked Number Five, "My love, what about the kids' riding camp? Will it be canceled?"
"No, honey," he replied. "The test results should be back by then, and I assume they'll be clear, so the children can go on their trip. It will do them good. Now, did you have those orders for the camp, regarding their diets? I need them so we can fill their lunchboxes for the trip."
I leafed through my pile of papers and sent the correct ones to Number Five using my teleportation crystal, allowing him to decide on the foods and other arrangements. I, meanwhile, had some financial calculations to make, and the newest one made me furrow my brow as I tried to understand it.
Following the accident, the trucking company was compelled to pay hefty fines. However, as a gesture of goodwill and in a desperate attempt to salvage some of their reputation, they established savings accounts with stocks for our children. Since we had also sustained injuries, our babies received these accounts as well.
Recently, I received bank notifications detailing the status of these accounts. From what I could decipher, some of the stocks had paid dividends. I needed to decide whether to receive these dividends as cash, deposit them into the savings account, or reinvest them. While the information provided offered numerous options and explanations, I found myself completely bewildered by it all.
Approaching Damon number 8, I asked, "Damon, are you free? I need your opinion on something. It's about money, and I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. It's really not my forte."
"Of course, baby," he replied. "I'll be right there. I'll bring some washed clothes with me."
He soon emerged from the elevator, carrying several loads of laundry, which he placed in a nearby room before coming over to me.
I explained, "Well, these are the accounts the trucking company set up. Some dividends have been paid, and I need to decide what to do with them."
He took the papers, remained silent for a moment, then pulled out his datapad.
After tapping on it for a while, he said, "Sign this. It gives me and the other Salvatores, not Number One, the ability to manage these. I understand this, and it would take forever if I tried to teach you even the basics, as it has its own set of rules."
I took the stylus and electronically signed the authorization, granting him and the others the power to manage the children's finances. It was fine by me; one less burden to carry among the many I already had.
Damon looked at the piles of papers and asked, "Why don't we go through some of these together? It will give me an idea of what's going on and save your nerves."
It felt as though I had no choice, especially as he sat down and picked up the first few papers. These were the compensation payments I had received from the trucking company, the driver, and the state, acknowledging that the road had not been adequately secured or maintained.
My initial plan was to invest some of the money in my company and set aside some for the children's schooling. However, with the additional compensation they received, which amounted to another 30 percent, bringing our total recovery to 40 percent of the original sum, the situation became much more manageable.
He muttered, "I see, hmm. You've received a good amount of money here. I'm not sure we need to spend it on our flower shop; it's doing well enough. We can deposit a bit more into your savings account to accrue interest. And, as you know, we've had some adjustments to our taxes due to the culvert situation, which is also helping."
He leafed through my bank account papers and my business account plans. I still had to pay taxes on my plot in the city where my business was located, even though it was pack's business. Nevertheless, I wasn't sure how my compensation would affect my benefits, so I figured I should check that too.
"I'll take care of it, or someone will. Don't stress so much," Number Eight muttered, seeming to pluck the thought right out of my mind.
It appeared financial problems were no longer mine to worry about. Fine, I had plenty more things to sort out. I had a few ideas, this and that, and I knew it wasn't yet time to address them, but my mind kept making plans for the future.
I took out the next pile of papers and began to look through them: orders for flowers, and then a list of orders for crystals, wire wrapping, and our online store. The girls usually handled most of this, but I could do it too. The next paper contained a few offers for our snakes.
We no longer sold them at a fixed price since their genetics were now clear; instead, it was offer-based, and we could accept or deny them. There were 15 offers for 12 snakes, and I would have to look into their files to see what Charles had logged regarding their starting and estimated prices.
For flowers, these were just large orders, and I would be busy crafting them. I would need to see if the girls had time to deal with the crystal orders, and I usually did the wire wrapping at night if I was free or late in the evening. It was all about time management, and since we were short-staffed, so to speak, I just had to prioritize a few things again.
I was still looking through those orders when Adam walked in and sat next to me. "Huh, snakes. I'll take care of these. Eight, what are these crystal orders?"
He grabbed the crystal orders and looked through them, saying, "The girls will get these done. It's fast and fun for them; it keeps them busy."
As he said this, I realized I had their backing; they were ready to do whatever they could. It was rare that I needed to assign them tasks, as they usually asked what was needed and then took the initiative. So, this was not new to me.
Number Eight said to me, "Remember, you need to rest too, so missy, don't even try planning to do wire wrapping all night long."
I rolled my eyes. This individual was very deep in my mind, constantly monitoring it. But fine, it was love, after all. I had learned that much.
The room I was in had a red theme, featuring natural, muted tones like brownish-reds and slight orangey hues, rather than anything overly bright or artificial. The rugs were durable and pleasant to walk on, though not fancy, as we had to consider the presence of many children of different ages when decorating and planning the room.
Curtains were kept short to prevent little ones from grabbing and pulling them down. We also avoided too many bookcases or anything that could topple over or encourage climbing, especially since Darien still liked to climb. Dash was running around as usual, while my twins, Seraphina and Sabrina, were the designated decorators, constantly trying to draw on walls or rip things off. Sadie, much like me, liked to command everyone and give orders. She could also become quite jealous when I spent too much time with the younger children, almost as if she had inherited Damon's possessiveness.
As I sat there, contemplating what was most important for me to handle, Wulfe's voice broke through my thoughts, saying, "You are not alone. Let's share the load, shall we? I know I'm making potions, but it won't take up all my time. What have you planned for food?"
I replied mentally, "I have a list for the rest of the week. If they can go on their trip this weekend, that's good. And I've also mapped out Monday through Wednesday."
This meant I had planned the main protein, fruit mix, carb, and sauces. Those who would be cooking would follow these plans. We usually had an interactive menu for the children, where pressing a button would trigger a sound identifying the meat and display pictures of the fruits and carbs. This way, they were learning to see what was for dinner, even if it wasn't always what they initially wanted, though they ate it just fine.
As mentioned, they were becoming increasingly active and independent, and were even learning to read and count, despite not yet being in school. It was a bit overwhelming for me because their actual age differed significantly from their developmental age. This meant they were capable of much more than their chronological age suggested, which was not uncommon in daycare settings.
They had provided me with several pamphlets and books on the matter. One book mentioned cases where supernatural parents had disregarded their children's actual chronological age and instead focused on their developmental age. This approach was perfectly legal and acceptable, and it occurred to me that it might be a clearer framework for us to follow.
Number eight arrived and, with a quick "thanks, Bébé," he snatched the leaflets and books. "We'll check on this," he added, flashing a smile, "as this is our thing, being daddies."
We had an agreement: they would handle the children's nutrition, development, and physical fitness, while I would be in charge of teaching them everyday matters, like basic food knowledge. This was no easy task, but certainly a doable one. The only thing that always unnerved me about these camps was the potential for germs the children might pick up.
However, according to Salvatores, this was part of the deal, and the daddies would surely take care of them. So, now it was a waiting game. I had to wait for my test results to come back clear, for the kitchen to be cleaned, and then, perhaps, we could send the children off to their camping trip. Maybe there would also be some unloading to do over the weekend.