“I don’t know what to do. My mother wrote me and said I should come and live with her. She is in another pack and has room for us.”
“I see. That’s generous of her, I suppose.”
“Kind of.” She settled the baby girl on her lap and lifted the toddler to her other knee, cuddling them both. “I mean, at least I wouldn’t be taking charity.”
“Charity! Since when is what we have here charity. You have two tiny children and still manage to do your share to help out a lot. Don’t let people use buzz words to make you feel less than. You should be thinking of what your dreams are. Not simply where to find a roof. You have a roof here, and we love seeing youevery day. In fact, I wanted to talk to you about an idea I’ve been working on.”
“You do?” She tilted her head. “What is it? How I can I be more helpful?”
“We have been getting more moms in here, and when they are starting to go out on job interviews or have appointments, they need child care.”
“Oh, I’ll babysit anytime.”
“I was thinking of something a little more formal. We have that conference room at the end of the first-floor hallway. It’s never used at all, and it might make for a good daycare center. Would you find that useful?”
“Oh my gosh.” She bounced both little ones, eliciting a coo and a squeal. “One of the reasons besides the guilt trip that I considered Mom’s offer, was that I hate asking the other ladies to watch the two of them. They’re so active, especially since little Delilah has begun to crawl.”
“And we don’t even have a nice playroom for the children. There’s so much to do. Of course, you’d have to take some classes at the community college, but we definitely could find other moms to help out with the few that aren’t available online. I really want your ideas though. While you are taking the classes, we can get the room all ready. You sure you want to do this? I know people have been trying to make decisions for you, and we don’t want to do that too.”
Her eyes sparkled, and she kissed the top of her baby’s downy head. “I cannot imagine a better thing to do. Getting more of an education has been a dream of mine, and I love working with children. To tell you the truth, Mom is a little controlling, and even though I love her, I really don’t want to live with her.”
She left, heading for the conference room to figure out what needed to be done, humming under her breath and with a springin her step. I had the best job in the whole world. Helping people rocked.
“Ready to go to the club, mate?” Carver stood in my doorway. “The guys are waiting outside.”
“I sure am.” My mates were taking me dancing then home to our big bed for snuggling and whatever came after. Yeah…my life was the best.
Epilogue
Aries
One year later…
Something was up with our mate.
I noticed it the moment I walked in the door. She was on the couch watching a movie with Diesel on one side and Carver on the other.
Her eyes met mine.
“What’s going on, female?”
Her knee bounced. Whatever it was, by now, she had to know we would get through this together.
“I have something to tell all three of you, and I wanted to wait until we were having dinner or something special, but our schedules have been crazy lately with the new club plans coming together and—”
“Whoa.” I said and sat down in front of her, grabbing her knees. “Slow down, love. Tell us.”
She let out the longest sigh to date. Her brilliant, bright eyes filled with tears. “I took three tests. I’m pregnant.”
If I’d been standing, I would’ve fallen. My gaze darted to her belly and then back to her eyes.
Carver clapped his hand over his mouth. Diesel put his hand over her stomach.
“Josie, I’m gonna burst I’m so damned happy. We’re gonna have a baby!”
“We didn’t plan this. We talked about it but…”
I shook her knees as my pack brothers hugged her to death. “So? None of what has happened to us was planned, and it turned out incredibly. We have to celebrate!”
