by Sky Winters
“Ah, Tate. I guess I’m on the hook then. Lucy, this is my partner, Tate. Tate, this is my Lucy.”
“She’s my Lucy for the moment. Scat,” Tate told him, turning toward Lucy, and holding out his arms. “Make an old man look good, would ya?”
“I’ll do my best,” Lucy laughed.
Ryan disappeared into the crowd as Lucy whirled about the floor with Tate, who was a surprisingly good dancer for a man in his sixties. When the song finished, she found herself looking around for Ryan, eventually realizing he was standing on stage.
“Listen up everyone. We’ve got a treat for you tonight. One of Shiloh County’s finest is going to sing for you.”
There was a mixture of boos, clapping and laughter from the crowd as the singer handed Ryan the mic and moved away.
“As some of you may know, I’ve recently met the most wonderful woman in the world and we’ve wasted no time at all in starting a family. So, good news, there’ll be more Wilson’s in the neighborhood soon. You’re welcome.”
There was more laughter and several people turned toward Lucy and smiled. She returned their amusement, but couldn’t figure out what Ryan was doing up on the stage. When the music started, she recognized it immediately. It was a song that had been playing in the background on their first date. Ryan had asked the name of it and he’s commented on how it was really nice.
“When I met Lucy, she hated me on sight, but somehow, I managed to win her over and I thank my lucky stars every day for that she came to her senses. Lucy, this is for you.”
There was some more laughter that faded away as Ryan began to sing the worst rendition of “You and Me” by Lifehouse that she and likely anyone else had ever heard, but in one way, it was the most beautiful thing she’d ever heard. When he finished, she had expected him to come off the stage, but instead he waved her up with him while everyone clapped and motioned for her to go up.
“Lucy, come up here and let me show you off to all these people who said I couldn’t get a date to this Valentine’s party,” he joked.
“Go on up,” Tate told her.
Reluctantly, Lucy went up to the stage and climbed the steps to stand beside him. Everyone applauded again and she waved to them, not sure what it was she was supposed to be doing.
“Isn’t she stunning?” Ryan said.
A bright light landed on her and she was suddenly unable to see much of anything. When it dimmed a moment later, she turned to see that Ryan was down on one knee, holding up a diamond ring. Her eyes widened as she realized what he had brought her here for.
“Lucy Jameson, I know I’m the last guy you ever thought you’d marry, but I hope that you’ve reconsidered by now and will not embarrass me in front of the entire police force. Will you marry me?”
Lucy was smiling from ear to ear, tears rolling down her face before she could even get the words out.
“Yes!” she said, sending up a whole room full of cheers.
Ryan slipped the ring on her finger and stood up awkwardly. Someone yelled, “Well, kiss her you dumbass!” and Ryan took them up on it, kissing her and then helping her down off the stage.
They spent the rest of the dance being congratulated and dancing to all the slow songs, plus a few of the fast ones then went home and made love so slowly she thought she might cry again.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Ryan
The weeks passed quickly as Lucy’s belly grew larger. Before they knew it, the day had come and she was in labor. Ryan wasn’t sure which of them was more nervous. The doctor said they were expecting four babies based on the ultrasound, but as was the case with a lot of shifter pups, it was hard to tell from the multiple heartbeats and determining sex was next to impossible with arms and feet blocking the view.
When the labor pains started, Lucy seemed unnaturally calm and collected, as opposed to him, who kept pacing and asking how far apart they were. She indulged him, even though he was bound to be just as annoying as he thought he was.
“Ryan, we’re going to be fine. The mid-wife is already on the way and the nursery is all set up for them.”
Ryan looked around at the half decorated house. It had taken them a little longer to find what they wanted and they’d barely managed to get both of their places moved in here before her due date arrived. She’s still not gone into labor for two more days, but today she was definitely on her way to delivering their new family. At least he had managed to get the nursery put together, along with their bedroom, at least the furniture.
Still, he was as nervous as a cat. Today he was going to be a father, several times over. What were they going to do with so many children? It all seemed so overwhelming. He almost jumped out of his skin when the doorbell rang.
Lucy laughed.
“Is the big bad Alpha scared?”
“Petrified,” he replied.
“Me too,” she told him, but she didn’t seem like it.
He went to answer the door, finding the mid-wife and her assistants there. He breathed a sigh of relief. Somewhere in the back of his mind had been a fear that they were going to not make it and he was going to be stuck delivering the babies himself. He already felt traumatized just thinking about it.
“I am so glad to see you,” he gasped. “Please come in.”
“Most new fathers are happy when we arrive before the babies,” she replied.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Point my crew to the kitchen and show me the birthing room.”
“The kitchen is over there, but it’s not even all the way unpacked yet.”
“That’s fine. We brought our own equipment. We just need to sterilize some things.”
The assistants headed toward the kitchen while he showed her to the nursery, where they had set up a birthing bed per her previous instructions. It made it handy to put the babies in bassinets and tend to them while more were born.
Ryan was even more grateful she had arrived when things seemed to speed up. They were barely ready to go when the mid-wife told him to stand by Lucy and hold her hand while she delivered. As the contractions begin to hit her, she squeezed his hand harder and harder, grunting through the pain.
“Okay, here we go. Breath through the pain, Lucy and when I tell you to push, push and keep pushing until I tell you to stop.”
Things suddenly went from speeding up to what felt like slow motion to him and just as soon as he thought this was going to be endless, the mid-announced that she could see the first baby’s head.
“Okay, go ahead and push, Lucy. Just like they showed you in our classes.”
Lucy grunted and he felt her body tighten as she continued to clamp down so hard on his hand that it felt like she might actually break it.
“Almost there, Lucy. Take a breath and then push again.”
Lucy did what she said and suddenly the mid-wife was holding a baby in her arms. She smiled and then looked suddenly concerned.
“What? What’s wrong?’ Ryan demanded.
The mid-wife ignored him, addressing one of the assistants instead.
“Clip the cord and record the time. Boy 1, 6:36 p.m. Hurry, another one is coming now!”
It was like that, one after another.
“Boy 2, 6:38 p.m. Push, Lucy. Boy 3, 6:41 p.m. Push, Lucy. Boy 4, 6:45 p.m.”
Ryan smiled, looking at the assistants holding their boys. He wanted to hold one too, but Lucy looked exhausted and he didn’t want to let go of her hand through this. He was glad that it was over and she could rest now, but the mid-wife gasped.
“We’re not done people. We’ve got one more coming out.”
“What? There were only supposed to be four!” Ryan blurted.
“You want me to just leave this last one in?’ the mid-wife laughed, already positioning herself to deliver the last baby. “Okay, Lucy. We’re not done. Let’s get this one out too. Push for me.”
Ryan could feel Lucy’s hand shake as she pushed out the last baby and the doctor held it up for an assistant to
take from her.
“Girl 1. 6:49 p.m.”
“Girl? Did you say girl?” Lucy managed to ask in an exhausted voice.
“Yes, she did,” Ryan said with a huge grin. “We got a bonus baby!”
Lucy smiled and closed her eyes.
“Alright Dad. Go help my assistants with those babies while I finish taking care of Lucy here.”
“You sure there aren’t any left in there, right?” he said.
“Positive.”
Ryan nodded and went over to where the assistants had put the babies, all in one crib, after they had washed them off in the small tub they’d brought in with them. Once they were all cleaned and dressed, all in matching onesies that read “Raised by Wolves,” a gift from his Mom, the assistants helped him carry them all back over to Lucy and place the boys on her chest while Ryan held his daughter
“Say cheese,” one of them said, snapping a few photos of them with their new babies.
It wasn’t until later that Ryan realized his eyes were full of tears.
Four boys and one girl. Ryan brings her another onesie for the lone girl, one that says “Tiny Feminist.”
He tells her that he admires her gumption and wants a daughter just like her. Story ends.
A set of onesies that say, “Raised by Wolves.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Lucy
Exactly one year after the birth of their children, Lucy and Ryan finally stood in front of their friends and family and said their vows. They were surrounded by bridesmaids holding each of their children, but only one groomsman, Ryan’s now retired partner, Tate.
It had been a strange journey from the moment she had met Ryan Wilson, but Lucy felt like she was exactly where she was supposed to be. Ryan had recently transferred to a different division, a small precinct on the edge of the county known as “The Tomb” because it was so dead there. Lucy had questioned his request to be transferred there, fearing it would be too boring for him, but he told her they had dealt with what he’d joined the force to do.
She wasn’t about to complain about him being safer and home more to help with the kids, especially since she now had time to start her own graphic design business, setting up an office at home and working on building up her clients while the children were napping in the day, sleeping at night or being tended by Ryan. It wasn’t the high-profile corporate work she’d once thought she might enjoy, but she was becoming a self-made woman and she couldn’t help but believe that was better than serving some office overlords with no vision.
A small face appeared outside her door, attached to the upper body of Rebecca, the surprise daughter she never knew she could love so much.
“Hey, Mommy. Do you want a drink or something?” a falsetto voice asked.
Rebecca cooed happily as the rest of her body appeared being flown about the door way by her father and horrible ventriloquist.
“Aren’t you missing some puppets?’ Lucy asked with a smile.
“Oh. God. You’re right. I don’t know what I’ve done with the rest of them.”
Lucy laughed as he walked into the room and sat down in a chair across from her, bouncing Rebecca on his knee. She wrinkled her brow and read Rebecca’s t-shirt with a puzzled face.
“Tiny feminist?”
“A gift from Mom. She dropped them off earlier but didn’t want to bother you because you were working.”
“Are the boy all wearing tiny feminist t-shirt too then?”
“Of course not. They are wearing t-shirts that say, “Keep your paws off my sister.”
“Lovely,” Lucy scoffed.
“I approve,” he said, moving Rebecca to one side to reveal his own shirt that said, “Sometimes, I wear fur.”
“You know you can’t wear that in public, right?”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know. People won’t understand the joke and they’ll spit on you or something.”
He laughed and stood up, flying a giggling Rebecca around like an airplane again. Just as quickly as she had started laughing, she stopped and puked all over his chest.
Without missing a beat, Lucy said, “See, I told you people would spit on you or something. Spit up, I guess.”
“Gross,” he grumbled.
Lucy laughed as he fled the room, holding a crying Rebecca out like she was toxic.
Finishing up the proposal she had been working on, she left her office and closed the door behind her, putting work aside to go help Ryan. She found him in the nursery, still covered in puke, but trying to settle Rebecca down before she woke the boys, who all seemed to be napping without their sister.
“Here, let me take care of Princess Pukearella here while you go clean yourself up,” she told him.
“I didn’t mean to disrupt you.”
“You are the best disruption I’ve ever met,” she told him, “now go get cleaned up. You stink.”
“Charming. Just charming,” he laughed.
It was hard to say when Lucy Jameson Wilson gave up all of her ideals to spend her life with an Alpha male and five tiny creatures that left her feeling frazzled and bewildered, but she knew that she wouldn’t trade this life she had accidentally found for anything that she thought she had wanted before Ryan had come along. In its own weird way, this was heaven.
“There, you’re all clean now my beautiful girl,” she said, reaching into the cabinet above the changing table and retrieving a clean t-shirt.
She grabbed the first one she saw in the section set aside for Rebecca and put it on her, smiling as she lifted her up. Ryan came in through the door behind her and laughed.
“That’s debatable after what she just did,” he said, looking at the pink “Daddy’s Girl” shirt.
“I’m going to lay her down. She’s half asleep already. Then we can go practice making another set of these,” Lucy told him.
“Okay, but just practice okay?” he said.
“Definitely just practice,” she laughed, settling Rebecca into her crib, and taking his hand to walk to the bedroom.
The doorbell rang just as they were about to go through the door.
“Ignore it. They’ll go away,”
“They’ll wake the kids.”
Ryan made his way to the door, Lucy somewhere behind him. The bell rang again and he pulled it open to find a rather sinister looking man with a scar down one cheek looking at him.
“I’m looking for Lucy Jameson.”
“I’m her husband. Who are you?”
“I’m just a messenger. I need to see her for a minute.”
Ryan looked him up and down uncertainly. Lucy shrank back, the past not so far back that she couldn’t remember what had happened to her before they were married. This guy looked like trouble and that was something they’d thought was in their past.
“Then you’ll have to tell me what it is you need first,” Ryan repeated.
The man was human. She was close enough to know he had no smell, but that endangered them more because he didn’t know what Ryan was, what they were. He was large and menacing and had no fear of them.
The man sighed and his tone softened a bit as he continued, “Listen, I’m not here to cause trouble or to hurt anyone. I have a package that I was instructed to give to no one but Lucy Jameson.”
“Who is it from?” Ryan persisted.
“If you’ll just get your wife, I’ll be happy to tell her that.”
It was a standoff. The man was not going to talk to Ryan and Ryan was not going to expose her to someone who didn’t exactly look like a boy scout. If this was going to end, she’d have to be the one to step in and do it.
“I’m Lucy Jameson. Well, I was. I’m married now.”
“To this fine gentleman, I take it,” the man replied, displaying an unexpected smile.
“Correct,” Ryan growled.
“What is it that I can do for you, Mr . . .?”
“Max is good enough. Just Max.”
“Okay. What can I do for you, Max?”
<
br /> “I know you don’t remember me. I haven’t seen you since you were a very little girl. I was a friend of your mother’s. We went to school together and she helped me a lot when my wife was sick.”
“Okay. What brings you here, Max? Did you come here just to reminisce?” Ryan quipped.
“Ryan,” Lucy said quietly in his direction before turning her attention back to Max. “Would you like to come in?”
“That would be good if it’s not an inconvenience. I recently had a bypass and even standing here takes a lot of my energy. Sitting down for a spell would be good. I won’t take long.”
Ryan shot Lucy a look of disapproval, but she ignored him, standing back and allowing the man to come in. He lumbered into the door and limped toward the chair she guided him to, sitting down with a thud.
“I’m a bit slow. Before the bypass, I had hip surgery. It’s my lucky year, apparently.”
“Sounds like it,” Lucy said, smiling at him.
She didn’t remember him and yet, there was something oddly familiar about him.
‘Well, anyway. Let me get down to business and get out of your hair.”
Ryan stood, on alert, despite the man seeming completely harmless aside from his imposing looks.
“Your mother. She put money back for you. Money she didn’t tell your father about. She put it with me. I know I look like some sort of mobster, but I’m really just a banker.”
“I don’t understand,” Lucy began to say.
“She made me promise that I would get the money to you once you were of a certain age. Twenty five, to be exact.”
“But I’m not twenty five.”
“Yes. I know, but I’m sick and the money, it’s in stocks – stocks in your name. I’m not doing so well and I’m afraid I may not make it until then. I could set them up to be delivered as requested, but I don’t trust people so much and I made a promise to your mother. I think she’d forgive me for showing up a little early.”
“I, um, I don’t know what to say,” Lucy replied, her brow furrowed. “I’m so sorry you are not well.”
“Thank you,” but I’ve had a full life. “I’ve made peace with it and I’m looking forward to a nice long sleep. Anyway, this is yours,” he said, grimacing as he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a thick brown envelope and handed it to her.
