Page 33 of Wrong Number, Right Gray Wolf

“I can’t wait to meet my wolf, Papa.” She leaned her head on my shoulder. “And we can all shift together.”

“That’ll be fun, though your little sister or brother won’t meet their beast for ages.”

“Will they be a wolf or a fox?”

I shrugged, saying we’d have to wait and see.

“Maybe they’ll be a wolfy fox or a foxy wolf.” She giggled.

“There’s your dad.” He couldn't have hunted, as he wasn’t gone long.

“I couldn’t wait to get back to my family and spend the first night in our new home.” He kissed us both.

Dinner was us sitting around the coffee table eating Chinese food. Posy was trying to master using chopsticks, and rice and bits of chicken were flying across the room. I offered to get her a fork and spoon, but she said no. She was going to do it even if that meant she'd still be eating at midnight, so Clyde and I helped her out. He picked up rice in his chopsticks and I got some red pepper, and we took turns feeding her.

“Maybe we can do this at every meal?” She looked from her dad to me and laughed.

After such a long day, we were all ready for bed after dinner. Clyde read our daughter a story while I lay on the bed beside her. And when we said good night, I asked if she wanted to leave the nightlight on, but she was happy to look at the shadows created by the moon shining into the room.

“You know where we are if you wake up in the middle of the night. Come in or call out and we’ll be here.”

She took my hand. “I know. You and Daddy will always be here for me.”

16

CLYDE

Moving was not for the weak. All of the furniture and main items were unpacked and where they needed to be, but there were still a few stray boxes we needed to work on. The plan had been to do one a day until they were done, and we kept that up at first. But lately, life had been hectic.

Stephen was well into the second trimester, which was great. I’d felt so helpless with him being so exhausted and nauseous all the time. Now that we had crossed that hump, he was doing so much better. He told Posy it was because of the pillow she got him. He was such a natural father.

He was so stinking cute right now with his little baby bump. If you didn’t look at him from the right angle you would miss it, but that wouldn’t be the case for long. This pregnancy was racing by.

My new favorite thing was to talk to the baby. I would read them stories, tell them about my day, and sing to them. It had to be annoying to always have me focused on his belly, but Stephen humored me and never once made me feel bad about it.

I never got that part of fatherhood with Posy, and I suspected this was my subconscious trying to make up for that.

Posy was loving the new house, her bedroom, and her special windows. She hadn’t quite gotten over the turret thing, but who could? They were pretty fabulous.

Her favorite part of the house, though, was the backyard. For all of us, really. Stephen was still at the stage of pregnancy where he could shift, and we’d hang out there in our animal forms and play with Posy. We ate, ran around, and read there. Some days we used it more than the inside. It really was the best.

I hadn’t understood how much stress not having a decent place to run had caused my wolf. He was loving life. It was going to be so much better here when Posy first shifted, too.

The hardest part about the move was adjusting to not having Miss Caitlin next door. We weren’t far away, and we talked to her on the phone a lot and went to visit her. But more than once, Posy mentioned that she wished Miss Caitlin lived next to us. One thing we made sure of was keeping “Miss Caitlin nights” where she got to sleep over, and that was helping with the adjustment.

Stephen’s birthday was coming up. He hadn’t mentioned it, but with all the paperwork we’d filled out for the house and all that went with it, I had it engraved in my memory.

I wanted to surprise him with something, but I wasn’t sure what. We didn’t need any household items, between combining our belongings and buying things for the new house. Practical items were not on his radar, and really, who wanted something practical for their birthday?

Posy suggested we should have a surprise special dinner at home, and so that was what we planned. Posy, of course, had a different vision for what a surprise dinner would entail. She wanted to add balloons and streamers, games, presents, cake, and something with umbrellas. I really should’ve probably dug deeper into that. Once she went so far as to mention a parade, but I was pretty sure that was a joke… probably.

“Do you think Papa really wants something that big, Posy?”

“No. He probably wants to be home with us and cake.”

“Agreed.”

“But that doesn’t mean Miss Caitlin can’t come. She’s family.” I knew she let it go too easily. But she was right about inviting Miss Caitlin. She was family.