A Bundle of Mannies

by Lorelei M. Hart

  “My hubster here says you are interested in my dad’s house.” He leaned in and hugged me, whispering into my ear, “Thank you.”

  “I need to ask Edwin,” I reminded him. I might’ve taken the loser way of solving the problem not going to him first, but I wasn’t going to decide on a new home without him.

  “Knock knock,” and in walked Edwin—or more accurately—in waddled Edwin. “Why did you send me a picture of a house, Freddie?”

  “Surprise?” I bit my bottom lip, waiting for his response, hoping he saw it as the offer it was.

  “For us?” he asked, tears forming in his eyes. “For our family?”

  “For our family. It even has an in-law apartment for your grandfather. I know he says he is fine living on his own, but this gives him a place if we can ever get him to change his mind.”

  He’d been doing better. Not great, but better. Edwin said it was because of the better medical care we’d been able to arrange, but I saw it for what it was—he was rallying over the news of his new grandbaby. I’d never seen someone’s face light up the way his did the day we told him Edwin was expecting.

  “You are the most amazing man I’ve ever met. And by some feat of magic I get to keep you.” He wrapped his arms around me, tears of joy dampening my neck.

  And just like that, I found a place for Edwin and I to live. All that was left was telling the rest of the family—including Iliana, and moving in. Things were falling into place. How did I get so lucky?

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Edwin

  Moving was much harder on my alpha than on me. Mostly because as a beached whale, I sat in the recliner—a chair I would not be able to get out of without help—and told people where to put things. They were all his things, his and the twins’ because I had almost nothing, and what little I did have got left behind at the other place. It was entirely unsuitable for our lovely new home anyway.

  The fresh paint and flooring that had been done when the place was put on the market, the refurbished kitchen and the beautified bathrooms made for the nicest place I’d ever lived, and as each item came in, it became more and more a home.

  “Like it?” Rich paused by my chair as he carried a box of dishes toward the kitchen. “So many good memories here.”

  “I can feel it.” Reaching out, I patted his hand. “Thank you so much. Because of your kindness, our baby will be coming home to well, to a home.”

  “Hey, keep it moving!” Freddie came up behind him, carrying a milk crate piled with pots and pans. “Don’t be slowing down the line, dear.”

  Rich snorted but smiled at me. “I think my dad would be happy to have your family grow up here, too.” Then he bustled off with his burden, followed by his husband. Everyone from the bus seemed to be here, unloading the semi with the band’s name emblazoned across it. They’d loaned it to us for the move even though it was not even half full. The guys were our family after all the time spent together. Even the kids, even Lady Sarah whose sixth birthday was coming up next week and whose party we would all be attending, were helping, although their assistance did strain the definition. But they were so glad to help!

  This was going to be our first night in our new home, and tomorrow we were going to visit a local doctor who was going to be my doc—if we liked her and she liked us—and then going nursery furniture shopping. I’d been having Braxton Hicks contractions all week, and I couldn’t lie and say I wasn’t happy to be staying in one place as my due date approached. A couple of hours and four, maybe five trips to the bathroom later, the truck was empty, the boxes were all or mostly in the rooms where they were going to go, and dinnertime was at hand.

  “Are you sure you don’t mind my going to get the food?” Judson asked. “I hate to leave you but we don’t have anything but canned soup and beans in the house.”

  “Of course not,” I told him, now perched on a much less comfortable straight-backed wooden chair—one I was capable of exiting unassisted. “Just be sure to get the stuff for the cashew/grape chicken salad. I will make it tomorrow.” It was one of a very few things I could make besides ramen.

  “I got your list.” He waved his phone at me. “I saw the market on the way here, and it’s pretty close. I’ll get enough stuff for a few days and maybe a rotisserie chicken or frozen pizza for dinner.”

  “Sounds perfect.” I held my cheek up, but he cupped my face and turned it toward him for a better kiss. “We’ll get the kids in bed early and break in the new bed.” He scooped up his keys on the way to the door. “Bowie, Jagger, let’s get going.”

  “Do we have to go?” Bowie hollered down the hallway. “We’re just getting our room the way we want it.”

  “Nope,” Judson called back. “I guess I can be trusted to make cereal decisions for you. Byeee.”

  They beat him to the door.

  “Omega?” he said, hand on the knob.

  “Yes?”

  “We’ll be at the cheek-kissing stage never. I’ll always want your lips.”

  The lips in question tilted up. But they did not tell him about the contraction that had been going on while offering that cheek. I’d been panting a little. “Love you, too, alpha.” I gave him a little wave, glad I’d be meeting the doctor tomorrow because this baby was pressing low and heavy, and I had a feeling things were going to happen sooner rather than later.

  I heard them zoom off down the street and stood once again to nature’s call. As I waddled back in, the doorbell rang. Thinking one of the guys might have forgotten something, I hollered, “Be right there,” and headed off to answer it. Whoever it was deserved more thank you’s anyway. What an amazing group of friends we had.

  “Hey, I—”

  “I’m here for my kids.” She shouldered her way past me, no mean feat in my current condition. “I’m Iliana.”

  I knew who she was. I’d seen pictures, although she hadn’t looked this rode hard and put away wet in any of them. And I also knew she did not have any physical custody at this point due to a variety of circumstances, and even if she managed to reestablish visitation, she wouldn’t have the right to come to our door and demand them.

  “Won’t you please come in,” I muttered under my breath, hand plastered across my contracting middle. “I’m the only one home right now but I’ll text Judson and let him know you’re here.”

  Hopefully he’d drop the kids off at their grandparents before returning.

  “Yeah, you do that.” She prowled around as if she was a building inspector. “I thought he’d have a much nicer place with his new job. What does he do with all the money anyway? Can you believe he expects me to pay child support?”

  I moved back to my chair and grabbed my phone, texting off a few lines. “That’s between the two of you. Would you like something to drink?” I was not feeling all that well.

  She came right up to me and got in my face. “So you’re the trashy prostitute he’s exposing my kids to, huh? My lawyer says I will not only get them back, thanks to you, but a fat settlement so I can get them help to recover from whatever they might have been exposed to.”

  “What?” I knew she was insulting me and making threats, but it was hard to hear over the humming in my ears. “I think you should leave.”

  “You can’t tell me what to do. I want my kids and then I’ll leave.” What had my alpha ever seen in her? She was pale and shaking and probably looked about how I felt.

  “I-I.” I tilted sideways on the seat, suddenly slippery with… “My water has broken and something is wrong. I know you hate me, but would you call 9-1-1 anyway?”

  And then it all went dark.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Judson

  “Three hundred twenty-three dollars and twelve cents,” the cashier said as she totaled our order. How had I managed to spend that much on a quick shopping trip? Sure, I had a case of toilet paper, a case of paper towels, and every cleaning supply known to man, but there was so little food in the cart that the total had me glad I’d been so we
ll paid the past few months.

  I inserted my card and waited for the beeps, thanking the cashier as she handed me my receipt. The boys helped me load the car and we were ready to go home in only an hour and a half flat. Not too shabby for a shopping trip the equivalent of my entire monthly salary of my first job.

  “Come on, boys, let’s get home to Edwin.” I pushed the empty cart in to the carousel.

  They climbed into their boosters, still three inches too short to be without them much to their chagrin, and buckled up. We were on the road quickly and on our way back to Edwin. I had hated leaving him there alone in our new home, but there was no part of him that looked up to a shopping trip—or watching the boys, which was why I had them in tow.

  “Dad, I have a question about Edwin,” Jagger said about halfway home. He had always been my car talker, and I appreciated it. If I needed to know something that was bothering him, all I had to do was go for a drive and out it would pour. Although this time it didn’t sound like something that was upsetting him, for which I was grateful.

  I half expected the jealousy to come when it became official and Edwin moved in with us. The boys had had me all to themselves since long before their mother ever left. This was entirely new territory for them, and it had to be a little bit scary at best.

  “What do you want to know?” I asked as I slowed the car slightly to buy us a bit more time.

  “So, you and he, are you getting married?” The kid didn’t beat around the bush. I’d planned to ask them if it was all right if I officially asked Edwin even if we had both pretty much already said that was what we wanted; but it looked like they were asking first.

  “I hope to one day soon, yes.” Had we had more time between the tour and moving, I’d have wanted to do it already. But everything was happening so quickly that I didn’t want to add to the stress. And as wonderful and wanted as a wedding would be, even the simplest weddings held a certain amount of stress, and the last thing my very pregnant omega needed was any additional stress.

  “So then he will be our stepfather?” Relief filled me as I heard the information-seeking tone and not anything at all negative. They were just curious, and had I been more aware, I’d have answered all of these questions for them already. No, we would have—together.

  “That’s right. And we can work on a name for you to call him then if you would like.”

  “We like Daddy Ed,” Bowie spoke definitively. The little buggers already had this conversation between themselves. Twins. I loved how close they were in moments like these—less so when it involved tricking teachers or other shenanigans.

  “Oh, so it has already been decided?” I teased as I turned the last corner before we got home. Home. I loved the sound of that.

  “Kind of. But that wasn’t our question.”

  “What is your question?”

  “Can the baby be our brother or sister?” I pulled up at the stop sign and stayed there. I had a block and a half left before car-free talk was over, and I needed to soak in every second, especially when the topics were this big. “We know he had the baby in him before he was our manny, and now that he will be our Daddy Ed, we want the baby to be our brother, too.”

  “What if it is a girl?” We’d never peeked at the envelope even if I had wanted to. My logic had been for the nursery, and Edwin’s logic had been that we hadn’t even moved in yet. He won because there was no saying no to the man, not when he looked at me with those big eyes. No, they were my kryptonite, and I was happy for it.

  “Girls are no fun,” Jagger whined.

  “Lady Sarah is fun,” I countered.

  “Lady Sarah isn’t—yeah she’s okay. Maybe a sister would be fine, too. Do you think that would be okay? Us being their brothers?” A car pulled up behind me, and there was no dilly dallying anymore.

  “I am pretty sure that Edwin will cry.”

  “Happy cry?” Bowie asked.

  “The happiest.” Our house was officially in sight, and what a beautiful sight it was.

  “Good,” Jagger said and then quickly added, “Look, Dad, there’s someone at our house.”

  I recognized the car immediately from the text she sent when I asked her if she was still coming to see the boys’ spring play. She’d sent a picture of the stupid custom-painted car with an apology saying she didn’t have the gas money, having just purchased new rims. The audacity of her to use her stupid-ass car as an excuse not to see her boys.

  Although if it wasn’t that, it would be something else.

  “Stay in the car, boys, while I see who it is.” I pulled into the driveway and turned off the car, glad for the cool weather so they could stay there and couldn’t hear the yelling I had a feeling was about to happen.

  I jogged up to the front door, which was ajar, and swung it open to see her sitting at the foot of the stairs.

  “I didn’t mean to.”

  My gut clenched.

  “I just came to get the boys.” What the fuck. She’d been ignoring them actively for so freaking long, and then she came to get them? The woman was delusional if she thought that was going to happen.

  “Where the fuck is my mate!” I seethed.

  “I just—when I saw the article by that tutor chick, I thought…” She sobbed, but I couldn’t find a single speck of sympathy for her.

  “Article?”

  “Rock From the Inside,” She wept again as she listed the filthiest gossip rag in the industry. I didn’t have time for that. I needed to know where my omega was.

  “Where. Is. He?”

  “The ambulance came.”

  “Out.” I held the door open. I needed to figure out where the closest hospital was, and she needed to not be in our home. “If you so much as hurt his pinky, I swear I will see you in court.” There was nothing I could get from her but that stupid car, but it was the best threat I could think of at the time.

  She ran out, and I followed, heading straight to the car, asking my phone to dial Rich as I did so. He’d know where the closest hospital was well before I could figure it out on my stupid phone.

  “Miss me already?” he answered the phone jovially as I climbed into mine, glad the kids had obeyed and were still buckled in their seats.

  “Closest hospital is where?”

  “Corner of Fifth and Jackson,” he spat immediately as if sensing my urgency. “Need me there?”

  “Yes.” I threw my phone on the passenger seat as I drove directly to the hospital.

  Please let him be okay. Please let our baby be okay.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Edwin

  Why didn’t he come? She called the ambulance for me, but I wasn’t sure Iliana had called Judson, and I was barely conscious when they loaded me in the ambulance and didn’t bring my phone. I didn’t even think of it until we were careening down the street toward the hospital with the sirens wailing. And it seemed highly unlikely that the driver would be willing to turn around and go back for it.

  The pains were strong, my water had broken, and I was having a baby today. Maybe tomorrow...I wasn’t sure what time it even was or how long it could take. Outside of the one great doctor’s visit in Los Angeles, I’d really had few of the routine experiences that most pregnant omegas usually did. We’d planned to fit them all in during the last month. Birthing classes for one.

  But it seemed the baby had an entirely different plan, so we were going to have to play it by ear, do it on the fly, use the lessons learned from pregnant sitcom omegas and moms... Panting and ice chips. “Excuse me,” I asked the ambulance attendant. “Is the hospital far?”

  He was checking my blood pressure again and didn’t seem that happy with what he saw but cleared the wrinkle of concern from his brow before he faced me again. “No, sir, not far at all. We’ll be there in just a few minutes, okay? How are you feeling?”

  “Scared?”

  “Is this your first?” He continued checking things as he spoke but wasn’t giving me a lot of information.

 
“It’s our third,” I told him because I couldn’t think of it any other way. “But the first I’m giving birth to.”

  Luckily he didn’t ask any more questions because the next contraction was the strongest so far and left me gasping.

  “Practice your breathing,” he told me. “That’s what it’s for.”

  “I haven’t learned,” I said, sucking in a breath. “We were supposed to start next week.”

  “Why did you wait so long?”

  “We’ve been on tour with Simon and Freddie and the guys and just got back.”

  “Sure, uh-huh, with...are you saying you were on Creature concert tour? Oh my God.” He tapped the window between the front and back, and the driver slid it open. “What’s wrong?”

  “Our patient back here? He knows Simon. And Freddie...and everyone in Creature. He was just on tour with them!”

  “Pregnant? Is he in the band?”

  “Are you backup guitar or something?” My attendant had gone from business as usual to groupie.

  “I’m...hang on...ouch.” I rode it out and finally came down the other side, letting my breath out in a whoosh. “My alpha is the sound guy, and I was the manny.”

  “But you really do know the guys...Simon and Freddie and the rest.”

  I was a dancer who spent a lot of time with music but not too much rock and roll. Honestly, I’d never heard much of Creature’s music before this tour, but after all the practicing that went on on the bus, and the playbacks after shows where they wanted to hear how they did, I knew their songs pretty well. I’d even begun to choreograph some moves to their tunes, although I had no idea when I might be in shape to try them out. “Yeah, I know them. Real nice guys.”

  They asked me a lot of questions in the few minutes it took to arrive at the hospital emergency ward, but as they rolled me off on the gurney, it wasn’t my alpha who met the ambulance but Freddie and Simon.

  “Where’s Judson,” I asked as they surged to my side. “How did you know to come?”

  “He’ll be here in a minute,” Simon told me. “We were at Freddie’s, which is right down the street so we came right over. Freddie will take the twins to his house as soon as they get here.”