A Bundle of Mannies

by Lorelei M. Hart

  “But I...we should probably talk about that.” He was right. We needed a much longer conversation. Too bad I wasn’t patient.

  “Maybe, but really I don’t like you feeling like an employee.”

  “I don’t.” He wrapped his arms around me. “I feel like family.”

  “And you are.” I leaned in, kissing him soundly. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too, Dunk.” And there it was again—Dunk.

  “What is up with that?” I pulled back just enough to meet his eyes.

  “It means Daddy Uncle.” My breath caught at his explanation. “Hannah’s idea. I overheard them.”

  “Did you cry? ’Cause I’m about to.” Tears were already forming. I wasn’t their dad, they had already had two amazing fathers and I’d never lessen that for them, but Daddy Uncle, that was something I could manage—something I could cherish.

  “You are doing so well for them—for all of us.” He kissed my cheek as he wiped a tear from my opposite one with his thumb. “I know you worry you aren’t enough but you are—more than. Please know that.”

  “I’m the Dunk I am because of you.” I’d never have managed without him. Never. “You taught me so—”

  And that was when Cuddles decided to pipe in—loudly.

  Meow meow meow.

  “You should go take care of the little fur ball. I read online about a microchip they can check for. Is it wrong I hope they don’t find one?”

  “Not wrong. I kind of do, too. As much as a pain as you are, little one, it’s good to have you.”

  I didn’t know what I’d do if our new addition already had a family. It would crush their hearts. Thankfully, I worried about that for nothing and I came home with a freshly microchipped kitten, a booklet on how to train cats as if that were even possible, and a bill for over five hundred dollars. Worth every penny.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Beck

  The truth was, I was relieved to have some time to myself as Carter left to the vet’s and the kids were asleep because inside I was panicking about something I had no control over.

  That morning, I’d gotten a text from my pharmacy telling me to call about an issue. I called the number, and my whole world turned upside down in seconds as I listened to the pharmacist tell me that my suppressants had been recalled by the pharmaceutical company—something about hundreds and thousands of omegas turning up pregnant while on the drug—the same drug that I was on. Without telling Carter, I had the new prescription delivered to the house that morning but paused with the pill in my mouth and called the pharmacist again with worry.

  He said I was safe and even if I was pregnant, it wouldn’t hurt the babe.

  We already were up to our eyeballs with the three kids along with renovations, and we just had to pick up a stray cat on our way home because not enough to worry about.

  And now there was a chance I might be pregnant.

  Was it wrong of me to be happy about that?

  I pushed one load of wet laundry into the dryer and sighed while looking at the three clean loads still on the couch that I had to fold. While I did, I turned on the app on the TV that played soft music and tried to calm the hell down.

  Carter wouldn’t be upset about it. He wanted more children, I knew that much, but so soon?

  I folded tiny little underwear and swimsuits and chuckled at the little unicorns on Chelsea’s cute little one-piece.

  “Are they still asleep?” Carter said, plopping Cuddles down and sitting next to me. He made nothing of picking up a towel and started to fold right next to me. This was what mating was about. It wasn’t in the grand gestures or the dramatic moments. It was the man I love sitting next to me while listening to cheesy 80’s music and folding towels. I lived for these moments now.

  “Can we talk about the employment thing?” he asked, cringing.

  “Yeah, we need to. Let’s just be honest about it, love.”

  One side of his mouth rose in a smile. “I like when you call me that.”

  I nodded. “Good. So talk.”

  He picked up a bunch of washcloths strung together by one string and had tangled in the dryer. “I actually already took some steps. I ordered you one of each of my credit cards and I stopped by the bank on my way home and got a form for you to be put on my bank account. But if that’s not okay…”

  “You left Cuddles in the car in this heat?” Leave it to me to bring up the details.

  “What? No, I took her in the bank. It was awkward. But is that okay? Everything that is mine is yours. Do you maybe want to call Manny and explain?”

  I nodded. “That will be a weird conversation. Are you sure about this?”

  He furrowed his eyebrows and finally got the washcloths untangled. “I’m sure. Are you not sure about us?”

  “I’ve never trusted something more, Carter.”

  He leaned over the pile and kissed me. “That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day. And I’m putting the house into both our names as well.”

  Goodness, what did I do to deserve this man?

  “Thank you, Carter,” I whispered and a tear fell. “I have something to get off my chest.”

  “Spill your guts, mate.” He picked up a little pair of yellow panties with a day of the week stamped on it. “Who knew they made these so small for tiny little booties.”

  I swallowed against the nervousness. “I got a call from Bill this morning.”

  He nodded. “The pharmacist?”

  “Yes. My suppressants were recalled. They may not have had any effect.”

  Carter dropped what he was folding and looked at me. “It’s too soon to know though, right?”

  I nodded. “And he said I can keep taking the new ones they delivered and it won’t have any effect if…”

  “You mean you can keep taking them and it won’t have any side effects if you’re carrying my babe.”

  “Yes.”

  He stayed so quiet after that, I thought, despite his words, he might be upset or even angry. I’d never felt such great fear.

  “When will we know for sure?”

  I shrugged. “Bill said in four weeks he can give me an early pregnancy test that they sell at the pharmacy. In the meantime, we just wait. Are you upset?”

  “I’m shocked and taken aback, but I’ve actually never been so happy in my life at the prospect of something that might never happen. I almost wish we knew right now so I could celebrate, so we would celebrate together.”

  “Be serious. You’re not angry?”

  He pushed aside the dwindling pile and took me into his arms. “I told you I wanted more kids with you. Yeah, it’s a little soon but I want this with you. I want to see you swollen with my child inside you and hold your hand while you’re giving birth. I want this life with you, Carter.”

  With hands cupping my face, he pulled me down and kissed the life out of me until I forgot about the laundry and every other thing in the world but him.

  He broke us apart gently and put his hands on my stomach. “I hope my babe is inside you, omega mine.”

  I nodded with tears flowing down my face. “I hope so, too.”

  “I was kind of mean to Frank today, by the way. I told him over the phone that if our house wasn’t done in two weeks that I wouldn’t give him the final payment.”

  I gasped. “What did he say?”

  “He said it would be done come hell or high water.”

  My alpha laid down the law and it made me all kinds of want him.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Carter

  Turned out, Frank’s understanding of the phrase hell or highwater and my own were very different, and two weeks later I found myself at the house looking for him so he could show me the few things that were left. It was good for me though. And I had other issues!

  I’d spent hours every day going through the files and noting the errors. Whoever broke in didn’t change one grade. No, that was too easy. They changed all of them. Every fucking grade from the firs
t class I taught.

  Every. Fucking. Grade.

  Which meant I not only needed to record them, I needed to put them into spreadsheets and try to figure out the pattern. There was a pattern. I could feel it. But then again, I was a book guy not a math guy.

  “Frank!” I called out when I didn’t immediately see him. His van was in the drive, but none of the plethora of worker I had expected, given that it was well past time for the place to be done.

  I stepped into the kitchen and my jaw dropped. I hadn’t been able to enter the room the past four times I’d been at the site because—I never got a really good answer for it, but it was always something and Frank was always so nice so I never pushed.

  “Like it?” Frank’s voice came from the pantry doorway, a light in his hand.

  “It is—wow, it is amazing.” It far exceeded all of my expectations. He’d expanded it out and the number of feet sounded like not much, but standing there, the room was completely transformed.

  “When the plumbing had its issues, I was able to get the plumbers insurance to pay for the cabinets that were destroyed, which meant that I cut that off your bottom line. I know this has been a shitstorm.” He set the light fixture in the garbage can carefully, probably to avoid it shattering. “That was the last thing I needed to do in here.”

  “Everything is done?” I stood there in disbelief. It was beginning to feel like it would never be done.

  “Not everything. The cleaning crew is coming in the morning to get everything ready. But pretty much, yes. Want the tour?”

  “Absolutely.” He took me from room to room. I’d not yet seen any of them to completion but rather in various states thereof. What a difference having the light fixtures up and the knobs in place and the floor tiles laid.

  “And now the part everyone hates,” Frank chuckled as we completed the tour back at the kitchen. “The money part.”

  “How off is it?”

  He slid a folder in front of me.

  “There were some setbacks so things are not as good as I wanted,” he began, dread filling me. “But like I said, we were able to get the cabinets when the pipes had their issues. That also covered the floors. And I was able to get the windows at a huge discount because someone special ordered them and didn’t like the color when they arrived. And—it’s all in here. Basically, this is the bottom line.” He handed me an envelope. “Open it.”

  I slowly untucked the flap and reached inside expecting to find an invoice and instead finding a check for forty-three dollars and seventy-two cents. “I don’t understand.” We’d paid 50 percent up front. By my estimations, even with all of his fishy sounding math, we still owed many, many thousands.

  “So here’s the thing, one of my regular crew was friends with Joey and when he saw what this job was and who it was for, he called in every favor he had, and most of the work was donated except the plumbing and you see how that worked out.” He then went on to explain that they all donated a day a week, but that increased time because some days they only had two guys.

  Joey had a way of touching lives, but to hear that he touched them so deeply they did this was just—just—

  “Who?” My eyes were watered to the point that blinking back tears was only seconds away from no longer working.

  “See that’s the thing, he didn’t want you to know.”

  “I can’t accept that—this—how—” words were coming out, but they only made half a sense. It was so much. So so much. And to think all that time I’d thought I’d gotten one of those contractors, the ones you see on commercials for lawyering up.

  “His omega and Joey’s alpha were both—they met similar ends and he wants to give back to those kids.” And suddenly it began to make sense. Joey had told me the bonds with other spouses in similar situations ran deep. I’d just not understood how incredibly deep he’d meant. “Please accept this.”

  I took the check back, the check not even the tip of the iceberg for all that they had done for Joey’s children.

  “And that is why you were being so evasive.” I wiped the tears from my cheeks, not even pretending to hide the emotional swell this was.

  “I suck at lying.” He rubbed his chin. “My wife says that’s why we stayed married so long. I never dared do anything wrong because I’d get caught.”

  “So the insurance thing?” It didn’t sound right when he’d said it and in this new light, I had a feeling it was because it wasn’t right. Wouldn’t I have known if a claim had been made on my behalf after all?

  “No, that was true except it was more he paid us off to avoid going through the insurance because he has another claim right now and he feared rate increases.”

  “Maybe plumbing is not his calling,” I half chuckled. “Is it all fixed?” Because more water problems after the beauty that was now our home was not something I wanted to deal with.

  “Passed inspection by two people.” He held up two fingers.

  “I can’t—thank you, Frank.” I threw my arms around the man. “This means—everything.”

  “From what Ivan says, Joey would’ve done the same.” He spoke low. He really did suck at deception. I raked my mind for mentions of Ivan and came up blank.

  “Ivan,” I repeated more to myself than as the question Frank took it as. I wanted to remember it in case I ran into it again in any of Joey’s paperwork.

  “See, I can never lie—just forget about it.” He gave a wink. I’d never give Frank a secret but sure was glad he readily shared his friends.

  “I can do that. Move in day after tomorrow?”

  “Day after tomorrow.”

  I bolted out of there, needing to share the amazing news.

  Chapter Thirty

  Beck

  “I wanna go to the present store.” Jase tugged on my pant leg. I’d been feeling less than well—nothing serious, but off for the entire day and the tugging, which was normal for him, was somehow amplified and I almost lost my balance.

  “Jase, we are going to get milk at the grocer.” I scooped him up, more to get him to stop yanking at me than anything else. It shouldn’t be flustering me so much. “And maybe we can find you a present there.” They had crayons at grocery stores, right?

  “No. I wanna go to the present store,” he reiterated, his jaw firm.

  “The book store?” The kids had a ton of books, exactly how it should be, so that was my first guess.

  “The present store.”

  “The toy store?”

  “No, the present store.”

  “He means the store where you can buy anything there for one gold coin.” Hannah finally saved me. Sort of. I still needed to figure out her clues but at least she had some.

  “Gold coin?” My mind went straight to Jack’s House and the tokens there. That was not going to happen. I just wanted a nap and as soon as Carter got home from his time with Frank, I planned to take one. Or possibly go to bed ten hours early.

  “Yeah. Let me show you.” She ran out of the room and came barreling back in less than a minute later with a little cube bank that looked like her brick blocks. He opened the top and pulled out a gold coin, handing it to me. “Here.” It was a dollar coin. Things finally came together. It shouldn’t have been that hard.

  “Oh, the dollar store.” That I could do.

  “The present store,” Jase informed me.

  “They have the best presents,” Hannah explained, my lack of knowledge clearly amusing to her.

  “Yes, we can go to the present store and then get milk.” If Chelsea didn’t have her milk, she was less than pleasant to be around. Having never liked milk, I didn’t get it, but if milk she wanted milk she got. “Let’s get shoes on and use the potty so we can leave.”

  We got ready and drove the short distance to the dollar store. It might be a reasonable place to find things, but they had single child carts making it very much not the easiest to navigate. By the time we wove through the store, we had a cartful of color books, puzzles, play dough, and sticker
s. I wasn’t sure which I would regret, the play dough or the stickers, but as I lay them out on the checkout belt, they screamed regret at me.

  “Look!” Chelsea called out and I followed her finger. It was a unicorn impulse item. Of course it was. “Preddy.”

  I conceded, the idea of spending one more dollar to avoid a meltdown both horrific parenting and the best idea ever. I just wanted a nap. I reached over and grabbed the squishy unicorn that smelled like ice cream. I’d need to keep a watchful eye on her when she had it to avoid it going in her belly. As I snagged it, I knocked a few things off their racks. Great.

  One by one I put the items back, a small sewing kit, batteries, and a bag of candy—all the typical impulse items I’d expect to see there, and then I caught it out of the corner of my eye—a pregnancy test. When did pregnancy tests become impulse items?

  I grabbed four. Their plan to get me to fill the conveyor belt with unplanned items worked. Although to be fair, the twenty-nine dollars in items were all unplanned. Heck, the entire trip was. I just needed milk. But this was good. We were reaching the time we’d know, and as each day passed, I wanted more and more for us to find out it was a yes.

  I forgot all about the milk, shuffling the kids home so I could take the test. Gratefully they went down for their naps on the promise of play dough and stickers if they went right to sleep.

  The test directions said the best results were first thing in the morning. I couldn’t wait that long. Sure, if test one was negative, I could try in the morning, but my ability to wait was nonexistent.

  I took the test and left it on the back of the toilet just as my phone went off much to my relief. I needed the distraction. Who could stand there three minutes not watching the stupid strip? No one. That’s who.

  On my way home. Need anything?

  Carter was on his way home. Life was good.

  Milk?

  Got it. Love you.

  And I you.

  Our short interchange only took a minute and a half, but being the patient person I was, I leaned over to peek at the test—just a peek.

  Two blue lines filled my vision. Two. I was pregnant.