A Bundle of Mannies

by Lorelei M. Hart

  It was time.

  Showered, with a towel wrapped around my waist, I stood in front of the mirror shaving. Also running over my arguments for no more delays in formalizing our relationship. I’d prefer we marry right away, but if he wanted a little time, that was fine. That damn house was not something that should be putting such a halt to our life together.

  “Graysen,” I told my reflection, wrinkling my nose to get that fuzzy spot under it, “I think it’s time we—”

  “You think we what?” he asked, appearing behind me. His cheeks were pale, shadows under his eyes.

  “I— Are you all right?” We’d had a couple of late hours together. “Didn’t you get any sleep?”

  He shifted, his gaze no longer meeting my reflection’s. “I didn’t feel too well, so I, umm...I took a test.”

  I tried to think what that might mean. “What kind of test? Something online?”

  His hand rose from his side, holding a stick. No, not a stick.

  “That’s a pregnancy test,” I told him, being a genius as always.

  He sucked in a breath, puffing out his cheeks, and released it slowly. “It’s a positive pregnancy test.”

  Everything spun around me, and I grabbed the sink. I was far more shocked than I should have been, considering we’d been having unprotected sex. Every night. Regaining control, I studied his face, trying to tell what this meant to him. Was he happy?

  “I want you to know you don’t have to be involved if you don’t want to,” he was saying. “You’re not trapped or anything.”

  Trapped?

  “Just to get things straight, I would never be trapped. I love my son, I love your nephew, and I already love our child. No matter what you want to do, I will support our child through college and pay for its wedding. I don’t want you to feel trapped.” I gave up the mirror convo and turned to press a hand reverently to his middle. “I want you to feel loved.”

  He sagged, and I put my arms around him, holding him up.

  “I love my nephew and Eric and this baby, too,” he said, voice breaking halfway through. “And I love you.”

  I cradled him close to me, stroking his hair. “Then let’s get married and make this family a done deal. That’s what it’s time for. For us.”

  I kissed him, he kissed me back, then we headed to the kitchen for a quick cup of coffee for me and something less caffeinated for him before the boys got up. We talked about what kind of a wedding we wanted and whether to do it now and said all the things every couple does when planning their future, and then I asked for his trust.

  “Omega, as your husband-to-be and your alpha, I want you to let me handle your house. Once it’s done, you can rent it out or sell it and put the money away, whatever you want, but I think I’m a little better at navigating the cesspool that is this insurance claim. And if I am not, my attorney is. He’s on retainer anyway and doesn’t work nearly hard enough for his money.”

  He turned his mug in his hands, twisting it back and forth. I was asking a lot and I knew it, but before he could reply, the phone rang.

  Graysen reached for it on the counter behind him. He said hello and listened for a bit then set his jaw and said, “You’ll have to speak to my alpha about this, or his representative. I’m done.” He pressed the phone into my hand and said, “They want to tear it down and give me the value of the land and a minimal amount for the house itself. They’re all yours.”

  And he left me with my first job as his alpha.

  One I intended to do very well. “Good morning,” I said. “To whom do I have the dubious pleasure of speaking?”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Graysen

  Twelve weeks. The doctor made us wait until I was twelve weeks pregnant for an appointment. They said it was because that was the new recommended schedule, but part of me saw that as the it will be okay now mark. I’d known too many omegas who had suffered a loss, and, for whatever reason, my mind clung to that twelve-week mark after they decided that was my time to come in.

  Hormones were making me just a wee bit irrational about pretty much all things.

  “Ready to go?” Kylos walked into our bedroom where I stood shirtless, looking at my slightly bulging belly. There was a human in there. A human we made. “I will take that as a no.” He came up behind me and set his hands on mine, now settled on my lower abdomen.

  “There’s a baby in there. Our child is in there.” I leaned back into him, our eyes meeting in the mirror.

  “Pretty amazing isn’t it?”

  Amazing didn’t begin to describe it.

  “We should go. I heard if you are late, they ‘squeeze you in as permitted.’” My air quotes were punctuated with an eye roll. “And with boys at school”—Eric a new one focused on the arts and Seth in preschool— “I don’t want us stuck there all day.”

  “Your chariot awaits.”

  “Let me grab my shirt.” I’d flung it across the floor for no reason whatsoever other than it didn’t scent like Kylos. Pregnancy was weird. “Or maybe I could just wear yours.”

  “Sure. I’ll grab you one.” He stepped toward his closet and I stopped him with a hand on his forearm.

  “I meant the one you are wearing.” My cheeks burned at the confession, and, much to my surprise, he took the shirt off and handed it to me without a question.

  “You look good in my shirt.” He raised and lowered his eyebrows playfully.

  “Good because when I get even the littlest bit fatter, I am raiding your closet.” His shoulders weren’t much broader than mine, the silly plan a stopgap at best, but he puffed out his chest at the suggestion I don his clothing, and suddenly the idea felt genius.

  We drove the short distance to the doctor’s and arrived a full twenty minutes early as suggested for new patients. It took us exactly three minutes to fill out the additional paperwork that was not completed online and to copy my insurance card and then they were a half hour late calling us back into the room where the doctor would meet us.

  “If it is always like this, I am going to run out of leave soon.” Not that I had a ton, being more part-time this year than in years past thanks to budget cuts, but I had a contract at least until March when they decided to cut the position for the next school year again only to reinstate it in August after the town protested. Not a fun cycle.

  “You don’t have to work there.”

  We’d been over that multiple times since I discovered I was pregnant and, while I didn’t hate the idea of being home for the boys full-time and being there for our wee one, I wasn’t ready yet to make that commitment. And my illustrating and other artwork still didn’t bring in enough to make me feel like I was pulling my weight. So, like a mature omega, I rolled my eyes and sighed.

  “What I meant was, Eric’s school is looking for a teacher one day a week to teach art. They are contemplating turning the school into an arts school as opposed to just a performing arts school and would like to pilot it out.” Kylos sat on the board, so I had a feeling he was instrumental in that decision.

  “Nepotism much?” I winked. “I am not sure what I want to do when the baby comes, or tomorrow for that matter, but as of right now, I want to stay where I am.”

  It was definitely something to think about, though.

  “Knock knock” a male voice said through the door as he opened it. So much for knocking. “I’m Doctor Bob.” He held out his hand, and we shook it, introducing ourselves in turn.

  “This is just an intake visit, really. We snagged your vitals on your way in, and everything looks great. You will leave with a lab slip and an appointment for next month.” He then went into a question-answer period where we went over everything I’d already put in the forms.

  “And now for the fun part.” He clapped his hands once. “Let’s listen to your little one’s heartbeat.” He instructed me to lie down and pull up my shirt and down my pants, squirted a tiny bit of cold gel on my belly, and picked up a wand I hadn’t noticed from the counter.

&n
bsp; “We may not hear anything today. It depends, so don’t worry if we don’t.”

  As if that were a possibility. Much to my relief, my growing concern was squashed the second he pressed the wand into my lower abdomen.

  “Well look at that. First try.” He held his other hand up for a high-five, which I returned. Weird.

  “One fifty-five. I like it.” He gave a curt nod and wiped the gel from my belly. “So, I’ll see you in a month.” And just like that, he was gone.

  “Umm, that was—”

  “Beautiful.”

  I looked up to see Kylos hadn’t noticed any of the peculiarities of our doctor, his sole focus on the sweet baby we had made together.

  I needed to be more like Kylos.

  “The most beautiful sound I have ever heard,” I agreed, yanking him down for a quick kiss. “How about we not word it like that to Eric,” I teased as I righted myself. “Speaking of which, it is time to get our boys.”

  “Our boys. I love the sound of it. We may need to change to our kids soon.” He took my hand, helping me up from the exam table.

  “You think we’re having a girl?” I’d been subconsciously calling her a girl, so maybe...just maybe, we were right?

  “I think so. Not that I have a preference other than it be healthy.”

  A knock interrupted us before I could respond in agreement. “Everything all right in there?”

  We rushed out, picking up the lab slip and making our next appointment along the way.

  “A little like cattle,” I mused as we stepped inside the elevator to the parking garage.

  “Just a little bit.” He agreed. “We can find another.”

  “Naw, Dr. Bob gives high-fives. Where else are you going to find that?”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Kylos

  With Eric’s tenth birthday behind us, it felt as if the last time I’d gone through an omega’s pregnancy was a century rather than a decade ago. My new book was close to finished, quite a change from my previous one, and I expected some interesting reactions. In the foreword, I explained that even an “expert” should be constantly learning and that our children and loved ones could be the catalyst for change for anyone.

  I was much more relaxed and, if anything, much more in demand for speaking engagements. But as Graysen grew bigger and closer to his due date, I’d decided to slow down and not take anything farther away than a two-hour drive. And that only because Graysen insisted that having me underfoot all the time was making him nervous.

  But I’d missed so much when Eric was on the way to being born. Working, going to school...trying to get ahead and be an alpha a family could be proud of. I wish I’d learned the lessons then I had now. That yes, it was important to work hard, and make sure your kids and spouse had what they needed, but that it could be done as a team. How had Sven felt about the way I’d behaved? I’d defined roles and forced us into them, not deliberately, but it was no different in the end. I’d avoided thinking of his name for such a long time, maybe out of guilt as much as anything else. I opened a drawer in my dresser and pulled out a framed picture of him holding Erik, who was only a tiny baby at the time. My insistence on looking forward and only thinking of the good times had pushed him too far out of the way.

  “Sven, I don’t know if you can hear me,” I said, speaking to my late husband, “but you have a son who takes after you in all the best ways. You took on the role I assumed you should, and it may have cost you more than was fair to ask. You were talented, too, just like Erik. I promise to do my very best to nurture him and support his dreams. Not mine for him...his own.” I carried the photo down the hallway and set it on Erik’s dresser. We were becoming a family, but that didn’t negate the omega who gave him life, who cared for him for the first four years of his life and me for even longer. He had a place in our life, too.

  Closing the door to the kids’ room, I felt as if I was finally closing the door to the past but in a healthy way, one that acknowledged the good and bad in myself and others, and truly freeing myself to embrace the future.

  As I entered the living room, I encountered Graysen returning from dropping Erik and Seth off at his parents’ home for the afternoon. We’d been building in that area, and while they would never win grandparents of the year, they could handle the occasional trip to the park or movie date with both boys.

  “How did it go?” I asked, watching him toss his keys in the bowl by the door and hang his jacket on a hook there. “Everyone seem all right?” Okay, maybe I wasn’t 100 percent confident.

  “Fine. They heard from my brother. He wants money as usual.”

  I shook my head. “Did they send it?”

  “No.”

  “Really?”

  “They replied that they would use the money for their grandchildren from now on, that he should consider a job in prison if he wants cigarettes and stuff.” He grinned. “It’s a step.”

  Despite their disgust and being “done” with Seth’s bio dad, his parents had continued to send money, apparently until now. Of course, that could change anytime. “It’s a good step. We don’t need money, but it’s nice they feel that way.”

  I sat on the couch and held out my arms. “Come here, omega, and let me rub your back.”

  He slumped down with a sigh. “Would you think me a terrible omega if I told you I’d rather lie back here and have you fuck me into next week?”

  My dick took note and went on full alert. “Yep, terrible. Let’s get you undressed.” I eyed his swollen belly and stood. “Give me your hands, and we’ll go to the bedroom.”

  He pouted. “I’m too fat for the couch?”

  “Omega, you know what happened last time?” We’d both rolled off.

  “Yeah…”

  “Unless you want our little one to make an early appearance, the bed is the best option.” While we spoke, I’d gripped his hands and pulled him to his feet then started down the hallway with him. “Besides, I want more room to play.”

  He brightened. “Well, when you put it that way.” His stomach preceded us into our bedroom with its extra roomy king-plus bed. Graysen held his arms over his head, and I tugged off his shirt then made quick work of the rest of his clothes before helping him to lie against the pillows. We kissed then, but not for too terribly long. Our lovemaking was still several times a week, but my omega tired more quickly, so I’d learned to be efficient. It was, however, even more amazing to kneel before him and plunge into his body, our joining, if anything, better every time.

  I loved to come together in the daytime, especially, when I could watch his expressions and admire the body that nurtured our child. At night, he was not allowing me to turn on a light. And our daytimes were rare, so this was extra amazing.

  As I retreated and then drove in again, Graysen’s eyes fluttered half closed, his participation less energetic than before he was so round at the middle, but no less enthusiastic. His body no less welcoming. I went balls deep and paused, holding steady long enough to grasp his cock, something he moaned he hadn’t seen lately, but I could see it just fine. I began to move again, squeezing and releasing, bringing him along with my drives into him and easing on the retreats until finally he cried out and came, pouring creamy cum into the space between our bodies. The sight sent me right after him, pumping hot jets into my omega, my love, the one who gave me faith in the possibilities for happiness.

  When we’d regained somewhat normal breathing, I went to the bathroom and cleaned up then returned with a warm wet cloth to do the same for him. As I lay next to my omega and pulled him into my arms, he murmured, “I’m glad Mom and Dad have reformed. Do you think they’d like to take the kids to Orlando...if we paid for everything?”

  I chuckled because that vacation was one Graysen wanted to take even more than the boys. He’d never let someone else take them.

  “I’d settle for a nap, though,” he went on, yawning. “Don’t let go of me, okay?”

  “Never, omega mine. Not. Ever.”
r />   Chapter Twenty-Four

  Graysen

  “You look awful.”

  I slapped Kylos on the chest, not even giving a fuck. And the worst part was, he was right. I did look awful. Even with being on leave, the position not surprisingly cut for the next school year, I looked exhausted on a good day. Babies took a lot out of an omega. Add the night before to the mix and I looked like a zombie movie extra. Not that I would change a thing. Except maybe our little one’s perch on my bladder. That…that I would change.

  “You made me this way, you love me this way, and you sure as shit pretend my big fat belly is sexy as fuck.” Hormones had officially taken over my mouth, spouting off like a drunken sailor or at least the way the saying suggested they did.

  “Oh, love, you are so sexy.” He took my hand and placed it on his stirring cock. “This is a perpetual state. I just meant that you need to sleep. You were up all night. I worry.”

  Crap. He’d noticed.

  “Sorry I woke you. I thought I was being quieter. Just excited about Eric’s big day,” I lied. I’d been up all night because I started getting some contractions. Not a ton, and certainly not anything I needed to head to triage for—not then, anyway. Now? Now was an entirely different story. But Eric had his community theater debut, and we’d set up a surprise for him I refused to miss simply because I was in labor.

  First-time omegas were often in labor for over twenty-four hours, and I had only been there for about six with regular contractions. It would be fine. Probably.

  “Promise me tonight you will get some sleep.” He leaned over and kissed my cheek, the compassion on his face causing me a little guilt for hiding this from him. He’d understand. The kids came first. Always. That was one thing we both agreed on. Our little girl was perfectly safe where she was, and if she decided to speed up her arrival, 911 was but a phone call away.