Neither of them argues, though their concern lingers.
Nix watches as they head out, their footsteps fading down the hall, leaving him alone with the girls. The room is still, bathed in the soft glow of the setting sun, and Nix lets the quiet wash over him, holding it close.
There’s a soft tap on the door frame. “Hey, need a hand?” Finn asks, making his way over to the window seat, shifting the notebook and its love letter out of the way.
Nix shrugs and tilts his head, offering a rueful smile. “I think I’m good. I just…”
“Needed a bit of time with our girls.” Finn smiles back and runs a soft finger down Nix’s nose and along his lower lip. His gaze lingers there, and his cheeks grow distinctly pink.
What are you thinking about, Dr. Merritt?Nix asks along their mental link. Whatever has Finn blushing is something Nix wants to know about.
Shaking himself out of his Nix-mouth-induced-daze, he looks away, and his eyes catch on the notebook. “Oh, hey. Leo said you’re writing something for Mari and Rosie? May I?” He pulls out the deep blue pen from thepackage at Nix’s nod.
It’s short, and he draws a tiny blue dog with floppy ears with a speech bubble that sayswoof. “There.” He runs his finger over all the other words their mates have written before leaning in to kiss Nix’s cheek and pressing a fingertip to two tiny hands. “I’ll see you at dinner?” He looks back when he gets to the door, and even though he doesn’t say so, Nix knows his mate would rather stay.
Finn gives a last wave and disappears down the hall.
Rosie finishes her bottle first, her tiny fists curling contentedly against her chest. Nix gently burps her, then shifts to offer Mari her second bottle. True to form, Mari barely starts it and never finishes—but it’s still always on her terms.
The girls are surprisingly content, lying peacefully in the low light while Nix listens to the sounds of his family drifting through the house. Laughter, teasing voices, and the occasional clatter of dishes. They’ll save him some food, he knows. He has plenty of time to put his daughters to bed and still make his date at nine.
As he shifts, his eyes catch on the notebook, peeking out from under the edge of a pillow embroidered withYou Are Lovedin a cheerful rainbow swirl. Nix picks it up, thumbing through the pages slowly, his smile growing with each line.
The notes and doodles he’d filled out earlier—reminders of love, little snapshots of moments that mattered—felt as much for him as for the girls. A quiet promise, written in ink, that they are loved.
It’s the last page that stops him in his tracks. He reads:
“Dear little stars, you are loved. You are safe.” Of course, Luca had written about the most basic of needs—simple, pure, and straight to the point.
Gideon had written about his love for their pack and how important it is to love yourself most of all. “Family is the heart of everything. Remember, no matter how messy things get, we’re always here. Believe in yourself.”He’d included a drawing of a grumpy little cat, one that he says reminds him of his Kitten, but that Nix knows is really himself.
Leo shared that their girls will always feel his encouragement and strength, whether they win or lose, and to always take up space. “Theworld is big, but we’ll teach you to be bigger. We are your safe place to land.”
Grayson had written about finding beauty, even in the hardest times.“May you find beauty in everything, even the cracks. That’s where the light comes in.”At the bottom of the page, he’d drawn a stunning stained glass window, every color of the rainbow swirled together in breathtaking harmony. Nix runs his fingers over it, watching as it glows faintly—Grayson’s magic still alive in the lines, like Gerard’s ever-winking eye.
Jamie’s message was from his heart, as always—honest and raw, like his best songs. “You are loved more than words can say. But I’ll try to say it every day, anyway.”He, too, had drawn a heart with their names inside.
Finn had drawn his cute little barking puppy alongside the words,“May your curious minds always find wonder, and may you grow up knowing that you are loved beyond measure.”Nothing could be more Dr. Merritt than that.
Finally, Rowan’s words hit with the wild sincerity of his Wolf’s heart:“Be fierce. Be wild. But if you ever need to cry, I’m here for that, too.”There’s a smudge (a tear maybe), and the last word almost looks like “top” instead of “too.” And Nix remembers how his cocky mate had escaped as soon as he’d closed the cover.
Nix wipes his cheeks and chooses a bright yellow pen from the pile; it’s one of the only colors that isn’t represented, aside from orange, and he has to save that for another day. “Well, my little beans. It’s not what I started out writing today, and I guess you could say that about my whole life, yeah? It’s not what I started out thinking it was going to be.”
Both girls are paying rapt attention, and even though Nix knows they don’t understand what he’s saying at all, he continues anyway. “But it’s better. So much better.”
He speaks the words as he begins to write them: “From the moment I knew you were coming, I wanted everything for you. Everything I didn’t have. Safety. Love. A pack that will never let you fall. Now that you’re here, I see how much more you’ve given me instead. You’ve made me braver than I ever thought I could be. I promise to be someone you can count on, no matter what. Love, Daddy.”
Nix sets the pen down, his heart full as he looks at his girls. Rosie stretches her tiny fingers toward him, and Mari gives a soft coothat makes him smile. It’s not what he’d planned to write today, but somehow, it’s exactly what he needed to say.
He gathers the gel pens and slips them back into their sleeve, leaving the notebook open for the ink to dry. He tucks a pillow around Rosie so he can get Mari into her sleep sack and settled at the front of the crib before he does the same for Rosie.
The girls liked to sleep together, still not used to being apart after spending so long side by side. Nix watches them for a moment, their tiny hands close but not quite touching, and it hits him again, sharp and sudden, just how much he loves them.
He fetches a roll of tape from the desk drawer in his space and takes it back to the nursery. Gently, he pulls the letter from the notebook, careful not to tear any of the words or the hastily drawn art.
He smooths the edges of the plain notebook paper, made into art through loving words and doodles, his eyes catching the familiar phrases and drawings from his pack. Gerard the Giraffe’s saucy wink and the shimmering light of Grayson’s rainbow-stained-glass drawing seem to glow softly in the dim light of the nursery.
Nix finds the perfect spot on the wall above the crib, where the plain walls seem to be waiting for something special. Grayson will eventually fill them with something enchanting, but for now, maybe this was exactly what it needed.
