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I covered my face with both hands. Had I actually told his aunt about the cum scooping?
Yes. Yes, I had.
“I need to find a large body of water and throw myself in it,” I moaned.
“Oh, sweet girl,” the doctor said, and suddenly, I was enveloped in an unexpected hug. “You saved my great-niece’s life. You’re the true mate to my idiot nephew. If you are expecting and decide to go through with the pregnancy, you will befamily. Even if Gio never pulls his head out of his ass. Whatever happens next, I promise, you won’t be doing it alone.”
An hour later, I was carrying a bag full of prescriptions, including antibiotics “just in case there was anything nasty in the water with you,” a home pregnancy test kit, and all the tiny bottles of orange juice and champagne we could fit.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure Gio gets billed for every last one,” Dr. Marguerite had promised. She’d also reminded me that our conversations were totally confidential, even if she was his aunt, and made an appointment for me to come back in two weeks for another pregnancy test.
After we got home and had dinner, it was nine p.m., and I was half-asleep. Dad wanted to have “the talk” immediately, but Mom reminded him that the doctor had said I needed rest after my traumatic events. I was almost certain she hadn’t mentioned the pregnancy question to him.
The next morning, it was obvious she had. Dad’s face was pinched and slightly tinged with gray.
“So, you found out about my business,” I finally said at the breakfast table, when neither of them spoke. They stayed quiet. “I’m sorry I went behind your backs.”
“That’s the least of what you needed to apologize for, young lady—” Dad started, getting ready to bluster.
But Mom cut him off. “I’m sorry you had to, Soleil. I’m sorry we failed you as parents.”
“What?” I asked.
“What?” Dad parroted.
Mom sighed. “Peter, look at what she had to do to get our attention.” I opened my mouth to protest, but she held up a finger. “If we had listened to you, if we had given you a home where you knew the truth was more important than smiling and pretending—” Dad tried to say something, but she held up a very different finger in his direction. “You will shut up, Peter Fairweather, or regret it for the rest of your days. Our daughter could have died because you thought you knew what she needed. Thought she needed a man, an alpha, instead of her dream.”
She took a deep breath. “It ends now. Soleil, you need to call Tarquin to take his ring back. Peter, you need to sit down with me and figure out how we’re going to support our daughter if sheispregnant.”
“I want to keep the business,” I said quietly.
Dad shook his head. “Soleil, if you are…” He swallowed hard, looking like he’d smelled hot oysters. “You know, expecting. Then you can’t work as a betasitter. No one wants a pregnant woman watching their kids.”
“What an asshole thing to say,” I spat out, standing up. “And you’re wrong. One of our long-term jobs was filled by an omega who is pregnant. And another by an omega who has a child of her own, and they both got rave reviews from their clients. Not everyone is so pig-headed and regressive.” Dad’s jaw opened and shut, like some sort of marionette. I supposed I’d never talked back to him like that.
No, not talked back. Stood my ground. Stood up for myself and what I needed.
Mom was politely clapping from her seat. “Brava, Soleil.”
“Where did that come from?” Dad stood, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at both of us. “That’s not my sunshine.”
I didn’t even try to smile. “No. I’m not your sunshine anymore. I’ve changed. I’mmysunshine now. And I’m going to live my life how I want to.”
Which apparently, meant eating six macarons in the kitchen, crying on Mom’s shoulder, and then going to my room to sleep.
Mom knocked on the door a few hours later, saying a package had come for me. I opened it with her watching, and I wasn’t sure which one of us screamed louder. “Who would send you that?” she wondered aloud as I held up the iPhone to my window.
“I think it was Lorelei, Sylvia’s mom,” I said, watching the light catch the inlaid crystals—I was not going to allow myself to think they were diamonds—that covered the entire back of the case. They were yellow and white stones, the pattern a sun with rays shooting out to the sides. The home button was a much larger crystal. I swallowed hard. It had to be just a crystal, because it if wasn't...
“What kind of phone is that? It says iPhone, but a ‘King’s Button’? What king?” Mom muttered to herself, looking inside the box, while I powered on the phone. It was already charged, and my own home screen—a picture of Rain, Candy, and me eating funnel cakes at the State Fair—was almost entirely covered with texts and notifications.
“There’s a note in the box,” Mom told me.
“Read it?”
She unfolded it. “Dearest Soleil, there is no way I can begin to repay you for your heroic actions in saving my daughter. The least I can do is replace your phone. Please call on me if there is anything, large or small, that I can help you with.With deep gratitude,Lorelei Grantham.”
The phone in my hand buzzed, and I peeked at the screen. Sylvia was texting me. My pin number was the same as it had been, which seemed more than a little suspicious, until I realized Sylvia had to have sneaked it when she took my original phone.
