“Wow,” I whispered as I took in the expanse of his baby bump.
His lips turned up at the edges, and he smiled like he was ecstatic to see me. I brought a hand to my heart and let out a relieved sigh.
“Hey,” he said as he reached out and motioned me forward.
“Hey,” I replied, hurrying over and taking his hand. “I’m sorry I’m late. I just got your message, and—”
“It’s okay.” He squeezed my hand and grinned up at me. “Look.”
Keifer pointed to the screen where a picture was forming from the sonogram.
“Good to see you, Greer,” Maddie said with a smile. She pressed a button and the screen zoomed in. “You’re just in time to see your baby.”
I leaned in close to get a glimpse, not sure exactly what I was looking at, but then the angle flipped and an outline of a curled up little human came into view. Our baby.
Keifer gasped and brought my hand to his mouth. I took the seat beside the bed and scooted forward so I was as close to him as possible. I watched him while he watched the screen. His eyes widened and a smile spread across his face, so large and bright it was infectious. My wolf rose up from the depths of despair it had slunk to, whining and pawing at my chest, wanting me even closer to my mate. I’d missed Keifer so much it had hurt.
“Beautiful,” I whispered.
Keifer nodded, his attention still on the screen. I guess he thought I was talking about our unborn baby.
“Thank you for coming,” he said as he turned back to me, tears swimming in his eyes. “I wasn’t sure if you—”
“Of course. I was giving you the space you asked for, but I was ready to go to you anytime you asked—”
“And I was waiting for you to come and get me.”
“We were both waiting, huh?”
Keifer chuckled, and I smiled. I wanted to explain more about what I’d been doing for the past eleven weeks, but Maddie cleared her throat. I’d all but forgotten she was here.
“Would you like to know the sex?” she asked.
“Yes,” both Keifer and I said in unison. We smiled at each other again.
“Okay then, let’s see what we can see.” Maddie moved the wand over Keifer’s stomach, and I watched as his engorged belly barely budged when she pushed hard against it. It was incredible how huge he’d become. The skin was stretched taut and I wanted so badly to run my hands over it. And my tongue.
“Oh, here we go.” She pointed to the screen and then zoomed in.
“Well, that looks like…” I squinted at the screen, trying to make out any identifying features.
Maddie laughed and shook her head. “It’s a girl.”
I gasped and squeezed Keifer’s hand so hard he winced.
“We’re having a girl!” I looked from the screen to Keifer and back again, unable to stop a delighted grin. He smiled back, and a satisfied gleam entered his eyes.
After Maddie packed up the sonogram machine and went to schedule our next appointment, I helped Keifer to sit up on the edge of the bed then handed him paper towels to wipe the gel off his belly.
“This stuff is disgusting.” He scrunched up his nose as he dumped handfuls of paper into the trash by the bed.
“I don’t know, I like the way it makes that belly look…”
“It really popped out, huh?”
“Definitely. It, um, looks like a tight fit in there.” My voice wavered, my initial confidence at seeing him slipping away. It was one thing for Keifer to act happy to see me while we were looking at the baby girl we’d made together, but that didn’t mean he’d want anything to do with me outside of co-parenting. Maybe our arrangement would end up the same as his and Jason’s. My wolf snarled, making it known he wasn’t happy with the idea. I know Jason was fine with letting Keifer remain as a friend, but I couldn’t. Keifer was my mate, and as such he belonged with me.
“Oh yeah, it’s uncomfortable.” His voice was so nonchalant I thought for sure he wanted to keep it casual between us. I handed him another piece of paper towel while my heart sank. But after he threw out the last of the paper and tugged his sweater down over his belly, Keifer met my eyes and smiled sweetly.
“How have you been?” he asked.
I swallowed. This was my chance. I wasn’t going to mess it up.
“Take me to lunch and I’ll tell you all about it.”
Keifer tilted his head to the side. “Take you to lunch? That’s not your usual stubborn alpha attitude.”
“No, but I’m trying to change, like you wanted. Please, can we talk?”
For long, excruciating seconds, Keifer did nothing but look at me, but then he nodded. “Alright. Snapper’s?”
“I’ll settle for nothing less.”
As the waiter showed us to our usual table, I noticed the restaurant was unusually quiet. It made sense—the harsh north Pacific spray was coming in hard and fast off the water, adding an extra chill in the air. Despite the exceptional heating inside Snapper’s, the dining room was half-empty and the usual clatter of cutlery on fine crockery was muted. Our chairs scraped on the floor as the waiter pulled them out for us, and the sound seemed to echo.
Or maybe it was just me and my fear of this moment. I felt like there was a spotlight on me and I was standing center stage. I absolutely did not want to forget my lines. Of course, the moment the waiter left us with the menus, I fumbled.
“I’ve missed you a lot,” I said quickly.
Keifer looked up from his menu and raised his eyebrows. I grimaced and looked away, sure I’d already blown it by putting my emotions out there like that.
“Was there a reason you didn’t contact me?” he asked. I looked back in surprise. I hadn’t expected such a direct and kind question, but I was certainly going to take advantage of it.
I cleared my throat and offered my hand by placing it on the table, palm up. He didn’t budge, continuing to keep his menu up to his chest like a shield. I didn’t expect him to take my hand, but Keifer was a physical person; he loved it when I reached out to him, and I needed to make it clear I was in this with him by showing him. But how did I tell him?
Keifer waited patiently while I found the words. Once I had them, they came out strong and clear. “I needed to sort my shit out.”
He laughed, and as usual, the sound of it sent a thrill through me. He lowered his menu then took my hand. His scent drifted over to me at that moment, and fuck, he smelled so good.
“And did you sort your shit out?”
I nodded and laced my fingers through his, and that’s when I noticed he still wore my ring. My wolf kind of did a little happy dance, and I found it hard not to get up and join him. “I sorted out a lot of it, yeah. I’m getting help and still working through plenty of things, and I guess I will be for a long time. But I’m ready to share it with you instead of trying to do it all by myself or bottling it up, if you’ll let me.”
“I’ll let you,” Keifer said quickly. A smile tugged on the edges of his lips.
“Damn, I missed that smile.”
With that, it broke across his face. He laughed once more, this time a little self-consciously, glancing down at the table in embarrassment before looking up again. “So you completely want this?”
“I completely want this. I want you. And I want you and Stacia to move in with me.”
Keifer let out a soft sigh and pulled his hand away. “We already talked about this. I don’t want to move in with you unless you’re prepared to claim me—”
“Please, Keifer. I don’t want to make you do something you’re not ready for, but—”
“Which means you don’t want me to ask you to do something you’re not ready for.” Agitation flared in Keifer’s blue eyes, and I realized things had rapidly taken a wrong turn and could quickly spiral out of control again.
“I’m working on it. I promise you. It’s just… I can’t keep going on like this. I miss you. I love you. I want to be with you every moment of every day, and I want us to raise a family toge
ther, on the homestead. That way, Stacia and the baby can live close to their relations, their packmates. We could be one big family in a place where you belonged.”
Keifer chewed his bottom lip, obviously sorting things out in his mind. “But your apartment is so small.”
If that was Keifer’s argument, then it wasn’t really one at all. “Forget the apartment for the moment. Do you want to live on the homestead with me?”
He bit his lip again, his gaze never leaving mine. I’d laid my heart on the table, and it was up to Keifer to decide whether to pick it up. I prayed he would.
“I want to, more than anything,” he whispered.
I grinned, feeling victorious, but then he raised a hand.
“Just one condition.”
“Anything.”
“You keep getting help to deal with your trauma so one day you’ll be ready to claim me.”
I nodded.
“Then yes. Yes, I’ll move to the homestead with you.”
I almost howled for joy as I quickly jumped to my feet. I rounded the table then pulled Keifer into my arms, not giving him a chance to say anything before I kissed him soundly on the mouth. The restaurant broke out into applause, and I slowly released Keifer, albeit reluctantly. I helped him sit down again, just as the waiter came to take our orders.
“You order. I’ve got to make a phone call.” I pulled out my phone and dialed Jaxon’s number. “I need to get Jaxon onto something.”
Keifer frowned, almost scowling.
“I’m sorry, but I promise it’s worth it. Just hang on— Jaxon, hey, can you do that thing for me?” I watched Keifer’s face as Jaxon replied in the affirmative. “Thanks, son. I’ll see you soon.”
I hung up the phone and smiled. Keifer raised his eyebrows.
“You going to tell me what that phone call was about?”
“Later. Let’s have lunch first.”
18
Keifer
“Greer!” Stacia tried to run at full speed when she spotted him standing outside her school. I had a tight grip around her hand, but she yanked me forward so hard I almost fell.
“Stacia, walk calmly. Safety first.”
“It’s Greer!”
“Yes, I know.” I understood her enthusiasm. Being around Greer again felt like having a piece of myself back. I’d missed him more than I’d realized, and when he’d turned up for the sonogram appointment, I couldn’t believe it. I also couldn’t believe he still wanted me after all the things I said to him. I’d apologized of course, over lunch, but he’d simply smiled and said he deserved it, that it had made him think about his decisions and about the way he’d been living his life. I was just glad he’d made the decision to take a chance on me. Fated mate or not, he didn’t have to be with me if he found it too painful, but he wanted me because he loved me.
I grinned, feeling a little giddy as I remembered the way he’d smiled at me over our meal. It had lit a spark in my heart and made me truly happy for the first time in months.
Stacia dragged on my hand the final few feet as we got to my car. “Hi, Greer,” she said as she wrapped her arms around his leg.
“Hey, princess. Nice to see you.” Greer bent down and gave her a big bear hug, growling and rocking her side to side affectionately. Stacia closed her eyes and giggled as he did so.
“Greer has a surprise for us, sweetie.”
“What is it?” she asked as Greer let her go and I opened the backdoor of our car for her. She scooted in, and Greer helped her into her car seat.
“I just told your dad, it isn’t a surprise if I tell you what it is,” Greer said with a chuckle.
“But you can tell me. I won’t tell Daddy.”
“But then you’ll miss out on the surprise.”
Stacia sighed in resignation. “Yeah, okay.”
Once she was buckled up, Greer and I got into the front seat. He glanced at me, and I nodded.
“First there’s a surprise just for you,” he said to Stacia as he reached into the glove compartment.
Stacia gasped and sat upright in her seat, straining forward to try and see what he was getting out of there.
“Remember what I was doing this morning, Stacia?” I asked.
“Hmm… Hospital. For the baby,” she replied.
“Well, we got to see it, and…”
Greer passed the photo from the sonogram to Stacia who quickly took it and held it up to her face.
“You’re going to have a little sister,” Greer announced.
Stacia squealed so loudly it pierced my ear. Greer twitched and I could only imagine how painful it must have been with his extra sensitive hearing.
“A sister!”
Greer and I laughed as Stacia planted a thousand kisses on the photograph, until he nudged me and motioned to the road.
“We better get going if we’re going to make it in time for the second surprise.”
“So, where to?” I asked as I pulled out of the parking lot.
“Turn on Pack Lane. Head north.” Greer grinned like he was very pleased with himself.
I just shook my head. “Predictable.”
We headed up to the homestead, and as we were approaching Wolf Lodge, I hit the indicator to go right, toward his apartment. Greer coughed and I looked at him to find him pointing to the left. I frowned.
“Jaxon’s house? Jason’s?”
Greer dragged his finger and thumb across his mouth to zip his lip, and I let out a half-annoyed groan, though I had to admit I was downright excited to find out what this surprise was. I followed his directions, and soon enough I was pulling into a small lane right behind Jaxon’s house. Maybe he’d organized a picnic. But in the snow?
“Turn in here,” he pointed to a driveway, and I took the sharp left to find a huge, beautiful two-story ranch style home with the most elaborate details I’d ever seen on a wooden house. The slanted roof was heavy with snow, and small icicles hung from the eaves. The lights shone from every window, illuminating the snow on the ground.
“Wow,” Stacia said. “Pretty house.”
“What would you say if I told you it was your house?” Greer asked her. I scowled at him, annoyed that he’d plant such an idea in her head. But then it clicked.
“My house!” Stacia cried.
“Our house?”
“Our house,” Greer said as he laughed. I parked close to the door then turned to look at Greer.
“What do you mean?” I asked, barely managing a whisper.
“Let me show you. Come on in.”
I sat completely frozen in my seat while he unbuckled his belt before helping Stacia out of hers, and then the two of them hurried up to the big maple front door. I gaped through the car window, and then I saw that the elaborate design in the wood was actually our initials. GP&KT. I couldn’t breathe. I slumped onto the steering wheel and just stared as Greer and Stacia waved me over. Stacia bounced up and down excitedly.
“Daddy,” she yelled, breaking me out of my trance. I took a deep breath and shook my head as I climbed out of the car. I looked up at the grand facade of the house, taking in the size of it. It was beautiful. It looked like something out of a dream or one of Stacia’s fairytale books.
“Greer, this is too much.”
He just smiled and wrapped an arm around me as I joined them on the porch.
“This is so beautiful, but how can this be our house? I only just agreed to move to the homestead.”
“Come on.” He knocked on the door and a second later, it opened to reveal Jaxon. He was beaming.
“Surprised?” He slapped my back as I walked in.
“Beyond surprised,” I whispered, looking up at the high ceilings and beautiful exposed beams. Suddenly, I could hear chatter and laughter from deep in the house. I looked at Greer and he held me tightly around the shoulders as he directed me toward the sounds. Stacia took my hand and squeezed it. I figured she was just as overwhelmed as I was.
Down a wide hallway, the house opened up into
a huge living and dining area with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the woods. And even better, it was already furnished, covered in Christmas decorations, and full of our friends and family.
“Christmas!” Stacia shouted excitedly and everyone turned to look at us.
“Surprise!” they yelled, then they all broke into a group laugh.
“Surprise is right.” I looked at Greer. “How did you do this? It’s perfect. It’s like my dream house. I cannot believe this is where you want us to move.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “I can’t take the credit. It was almost ready for my nephew Nash to move into, for when he comes back from military service. But he’s getting a different place at his mom’s. It just so happened this one is perfect for us. You could say it was fate.”
“Fate does seem to be on our side, huh?”
I grinned as Jason and Trevor came over to us, Trevor carrying Silas on his hip. I could only guess they’d closed their respective businesses down early to be here.
“Daddy, I’m going to have a sister,” Stacia declared. Jason cheered loud enough to grab everyone’s attention.
“They’re having a girl,” he announced, and everybody clapped.
I blushed and looked around nervously, waving off the attention, but Jaxon raised a glass my way and gave me a wink.
“To the happy couple, and their healthy baby girl,” Jaxon said in a toast. Everyone raised a glass, and Greer pressed his cheek against mine. “The next full moon is in three weeks. We’ll meet here for a baby shower and give Keifer the pack attention he deserves.”
A howl went up through the crowd and I laughed, covering my face with my hands in embarrassment.
“Well now,” Greer interrupted, his voice booming through the room. “Is three weeks enough time for the pack to prepare for a small claiming ceremony too?”
My breath caught somewhere in my throat. I looked at him in disbelief. He was staring at Jaxon, but then his eyes flicked to mine and a sly smile spread across his face.
Silver Daddy Page 18
