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“I was wondering if you were coming,” I joked as I closed the door behind them.
“Duh,” Tori sassed. “I brought some of my homemade guacamole and extra tortilla chips.” She headed for the backyard like she owned the place. My sister never hesitated to fit right in.
Before I could walk away, Micah stopped me. I could tell he wanted to get something out of the way and I groaned.
“I take it you heard from Mom?” Even though I told my mom that she could email me she took to contacting Micah instead, knowing that he’d give the information to the rest of us. Maybe she didn’t trust I’d care enough and that was a fair assessment.
“The divorce is official today,” he announced. “They’re finally free.”
The fact that our parent pack was so unhappy was a shock to all three of us. Apparently, my motherwaspretty good at shielding us from the worst of it.
“Good for them.” Over the last few months of pure happiness, I couldn’t find it in me to hold onto that bitterness anymore. I really did want them to have a chance to live their lives in peace.
“Yeah, apparently, he didn’t even fight them for alimony so he has to pay it to both of them. It’ll be enough to get them by and they had savings which he had to share. At the end of the day, they’ve got a few years before they’ll truly have to worry about finding jobs.”
“Did they decide between the beach or the mountains?” I mused. The last update they were figuring out their next destination, a place to start fresh.
“They didn’t want to choose so they’re spending half the year in the mountains and then half at the beach. They send their best and, of course, a slew of apologies and promises.” He waved his hand between us as if he could clear the air of the heaviness this conversation brought.
“Hopefully, they take the time to figure it out,” I said. “For now, Drake is making some amazing steak tacos and that cheese dip I messaged everyone I knew about. The pool sounds amazing, that’s where I’m heading now.”
“Perfect,” Micah said, giving me a quick hug before following me out back.
“I’m going for a swim before dinner,” I announced, walking towards the pool. Ezra, Atlas, and Dean all followed me out. Now that I was weeks away they were all like my shadows.
Giving them a halfhearted glare, I pulled off the swimsuit cover I was wearing and tossed it on a lounge chair.
“Let’s make sure you’ve got enough sunblock on,” Ezra said as he picked up the bottle, squeezing some on his hand. The smell of coffee and cinnamon had me leaning up and kissing him softly.
Ezra took his time lathering on enough sunblock to keep me safe for days. He made sure every inch of exposed skin was covered, taking extra time on my belly as if it would protect the baby inside.
They were a bunch of saps when it came to this sweet baby.
“We’ve got to make sure you’re safe in there, huh?” he told the baby. We decided to wait to find out if our baby was a boy or girl until they were here. I wanted to meet them before we found a name.
“Okay, okay,” I finally protested, fixing my sun hat back in place before walking to the pool stairs.
The water was cool and it felt amazing thanks to the hot sun that was beaming down on us.
Now that my stomach was big enough for me to be truly uncomfortable it was nice to get into the water. It helped ease the weight that I carried around.
“I swear I could live in the water for the next several weeks,” I groaned.
“You can even give birth in water,” Bear pointed out.
“Not in my pool!” Valerie protested followed by her raspy laughter that I’d grown to love.
We already decided to use a birthing center when the time came. Knowing how uncomfortable hospitals made Ezra and Bear, I had no intentions of using one if we didn’t have to. My OB had agreed to follow us to the center we found, now we just had to wait.
Collin and Bear swam my way, being careful not to splash me. The alpha scooped me up, our laughter filling the yard. Everything felt so light these days. My laughter came easily and so did theirs. Bear was in therapy and was healing as well. We’d come so far since I arrived in town.
Collin didn’t bother to put me down until Drake was calling out that lunch was finished. I spent a few more lingering moments in the cool water before forcing myself to leave. My back ached almost immediately when I was out of the water. Even sleep had been elusive some days. Partially do to being uncomfortable and partially because they couldn’t seem to keep their hands off of me.
They made me feel like pregnancy was the most beautiful and sexiest I’d ever been and I embraced the feeling, making sure to enjoy every moment I could. Especially because the months ahead would be a test for our pack. Having a baby would change our lives.
“This is amazing,” I groaned as I bit into the first taco. Drake took that as a sign to make me another full plate. I swear they were forever trying to feed me, which wasn’t something I’d complain about. I was starving lately.
By the time I cleared both plates, I was groaning in pain. My stomach was too full and my eyes were starting to droop.
