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I fetched her a drink then placed it in front of her. “Want to talk? I’ll listen.”
“I’m not at my best right now,” she said in a soft voice. “I’ll be fine again soon.” She patted my hand. “Stop worrying.”
“I can’t help it,” I said. “I don’t know what you’re thinking.”
“You don’t have to read minds.”
“I miss things.” I joined her at the table. “It’s easier with the pack because the wolf helps me understand them, but everyone else? Gets tricky. I can’t tell what’s wrong, only that something’s different.”
She looked at me, conflicted emotions crossing her face. I thought she might speak, but then Nathan arrived home, shedding his jacket before greeting her with a kiss on the cheek.
“I’m wrecked,” he said, stifling a yawn. “Any dinner going?”
“I’ll finish it up now,” Perdita said. “How did it go?”
He poured himself a glass of water. “Lots of damage to the main building, but it didn’t spread, and there were no injuries, thankfully.” He drained the glass in one go. “Looks like it started in the boiler room, maybe something overheated or a wire sparked. Hard to tell just yet, but the place was a safety hazard. Tammie was always trying to get something done about it.”
“She must be devastated,” Perdita murmured. “Poor Tammie.”
“Yeah, it’ll take some reconstruction and a lot of clean-up to be reusable again. The drama club won’t be able to rehearse there for a good long while.”
“That means the Christmas concert will probably get cancelled as well,” I said. “That was supposed to raise funds for repairs. Now what are they going to do?”
“It’s not just that,” Perdita said. “The self-defence classes, the adult night classes, and the counselling groups will all be affected.” Her voice rose in panic. “There’s no other creche. What are working parents supposed to do?”
Nathan rubbed the back of his head, looking confused. “I’m sure there’s another creche or playschool around.”
“There’s not!” A tear rolled down her cheek. “What if the community centre never gets repaired? They’re already relying on charity events for upkeep. There’s nowhere else for people to go.”
My heart was racing. Perdita’s fear and panic kept leeching outward and infecting me, but I didn’t understand it at all. “Are you okay?”
“No! There’s always something going wrong. Always people getting hurt, or accidents happening, or fires starting or, or…” She sucked in a deep, raspy sounding inhalation.
“Perdita, seriously, what the hell?” Nathan said in a bemused voice. “The fire doesn’t affect you at all, and as for—”
“So if it doesn’t affect us, it’s okay, is that it? This is my home. It matters to me what happens to it! And the community centre does affect me. If there’s no creche then I’ll be stuck here all day with a bunch of werewolves who hate each other and think the best form of discipline is a smack across the ears!”
Oh. Oh. I gaped at Perdita, her words a violent punch to the gut as they sunk in.
Nathan blinked, looking even more confused. “What?”
She turned in her chair, a terrifying ferocity behind her teary eyes. “I’m pregnant, you idiot!”
The gormless look on his face turned to a massive grin. “Are you serious?” He started laughing. “Is this for real?”
She started laughing then, too, the tension emptying out of her. “Yes.”
“I can’t…” He slid across the floor to kneel at her feet. “Look at you throwing a tantrum,” he teased, kissing her hand.
“Get lost,” she said with a snort of laughter.
I looked from one of them to the other, feeling as though I were in some kind of dream.
“But you’re happy?” Nathan pressed his hand against her stomach. “Are you okay with this? Are you sure this is what you want?”
She nodded. “I think so, I mean, yes. We’ve talked about trying again, but the timing is awful. I found out after Dominic… you know. It seemed shitty to bring it up when everyone was mourning, but I couldn’t hold it in anymore. Are you happy?”
“Of course I’m happy,” he scoffed. He kissed her full on the mouth. “I love you. I’m always happy. Everything else is gravy.” He looked over at me with a grin. “A baby, Dorian. You’re going to be a big brother.”
I lost it, pressed my face into my arms on the table and completely lost it.
“Jesus,” Perdita said, sniffing loudly. “He’s so emotional lately.”
Nathan laughed heartily as they both pulled me into a hug. We were already a family, but when they included me in their joy, I knew they really did mean to keep me for good.
