by R. E. Butler
“She thinks she found the house?”
“Yes,” Jackson said with a nod.
“Hey, that’s amazing. You’re going to go get her and bring her here?” Henry asked.
“Yes. If we have to break her out, we will,” Holden said, his eyes set with steely determination.
“Good luck,” Henry said, extending his hand to shake theirs. “I don’t remember her very much from when we lived in King since the females kept to themselves, but if she’s changed like Jilly did, then she’ll be a welcome addition to the pride.”
“Hopefully we’ll see you soon,” Jackson said.
Henry said goodbye and detoured down the hall to Ehrin’s workshop. “Hey sweetheart.”
She smiled at him and set the iron she was using on the board. She joined him at the door and kissed him. “You’re the sexiest cop in town.”
His cat always preened at her compliments. “You’re the most beautiful seamstress.”
“Aw,” she said, wrinkling her nose with a smile. “I wish you didn’t have to go to work today.”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
“Can I bring you lunch at the station?”
“Sure. How about one o’clock?”
“Sounds good. Be safe.”
“You know it.”
She walked him to the front door, holding lightly to his bicep and talking about her plans for the morning. He opened the door and saw four large boxes on the porch.
“When did these get here?” he asked, stepping out and looking at the address labels. “Oh, they’re for you.”
“Me?” she asked, checking the labels. “They’re from my mom.”
“Do you want to open them out here or in the house?”
She hummed. “I guess in the house.”
Henry lifted one box that was fairly heavy and carried it inside. She followed with another and set it on the kitchen table next to the one he’d carried in. While he brought the other two boxes in, she took a knife and opened the heaviest. When he set the last one on the table, he looked at her and, to his surprise, she was crying.
“What is it?” he asked, putting an arm around her.
“It’s my grandma’s sewing machine.”
Inside the box was an old machine that had been wrapped in two quilts.
“No wonder it was so heavy,” he said. “Was there a note?”
“I don’t think so.”
He hefted the machine out of the box and set it on the table. She took the quilts out and folded them gently, placing her hand on the top one that was entirely white with an intricate embroidered pattern. “My grandma made these. I think it was the quilt she made for her mating day, to put on the bed in the home she shared with my grandpa.”
“It’s sweet of her to send it to you.”
The three other boxes contained clothes, shoes, and knickknacks from Ehrin’s room, as well as her sewing supplies. The third had an envelope with a letter. Ehrin read it out loud.
“Dearest daughter, by the time you read this, I’ll have moved away from the nest and joined my sister’s in Arkansas. The nest is falling apart without the leaders, and I believe it’ll be disbanded soon, as many families are choosing to leave. Without your father, the home is so full of old memories that I have no desire to remain. I’ve packed your things in these boxes. I’m keeping my cell phone number, so if you’d ever like to call me, you know how to get in touch. Good luck with your mating and your business. You deserve all the happiness in the world. Love, Mom.”
Ehrin folded the letter and put it back in the envelope. “Wow. She didn’t have to do this, but I’m grateful.”
“She clearly realized how badly she messed up.”
“Yeah. I’m not ready to talk to her, though. I don’t know if I ever will be.”
He kissed the top of her head. “Whatever you decide is what’s right for you. Time may make you feel differently, but you’re allowed to feel however you feel. Dom and I won’t judge you.”
“I know.” She turned and hugged him, resting her cheek on his chest. “Are you going to be late for work?”
He glanced at the clock on the stove. “A couple minutes, but it’ll be okay. The sheriff is my cousin.”
She chuckled. “I’m glad you were here when the boxes came. I needed you to be here.”
“Me, too.”
He carried the heavy sewing machine into her workshop. She followed with the box of supplies, and then they each carried a box of her personal things up to the bedroom. He stacked them in the corner since she said she didn’t want to mess with unpacking them until later.
Henry headed into the station, dropping the muffins off to Mrs. Grandy, who clapped like a little kid getting a treat, before stopping in to see Eryx.
“Sorry I’m late,” Henry said, explaining the situation.
“No worries. It’s nice that her mom sent her belongings here.”
“Yeah. I’m not sure she’ll want to see her mom anytime soon, though, but that’s actually fine with me. I keep my mouth shut about what I think of her mom and the nest, but in reality I think Ehrin’s mom was a real piece of work and doesn’t deserve to be in her life.”
“Agreed. Sometimes it just takes time to mend rifts, but like with Callie and her friend Cades from the pack, even time didn’t fix things between them. It’s been a few years, and Cades keeps in touch, but Callie has a hard time forgetting how badly the situation in the pack had gotten and what Cades said about our family.”
“I’m glad Callie came to King.”
“Me, too,” Eryx said. “Without her, we may never have known about the females’ curse. It’s funny how life works out sometimes.”
“For sure. I’m going to head out on patrol.”
“Be safe.”
“You got it.”
Henry grabbed what he needed to patrol, waving to Mrs. Grandy who was eating a muffin with a deliriously happy smile on her face, and jogged to the cruiser. He sat behind the wheel and turned on the engine. As it roared to life, he thought about how much things had changed in the pride over the years. It had all started with Callie, a wolf shifter from a pack in Kentucky, who’d decided one day that she didn’t want to be in the pack anymore. If she hadn’t made that decision, then she wouldn’t have mated Ethan and Eryx, and they wouldn’t have left King for Ashland. Aaron and Grant wouldn’t have met Sam without following Callie and her mates, Alek and Jericho wouldn’t have mated Lachlyn, Melody wouldn’t have mated Micah and Tristan, Rue wouldn’t have mated John and James, Scarlett wouldn’t have mated Ray and Wesley, Cristabel wouldn’t have mated Hunter, Dylan, and Chase, Jilly wouldn’t have broken the curse and mated Wyked and Fate, and Henry and Dom wouldn’t have become brothers and mated Ehrin.
There was an interesting ripple of life-altering changes that had come through the pride, starting with a she-wolf who wanted something better for herself than the status quo. Because of Callie, Dom and Henry had Ehrin, and having her in his arms every night was worth any and every hardship that had come their way.
He decided to thank Callie personally for making the choice to change her life. Without her, Ehrin wouldn’t be his, and that was a future he didn’t want to contemplate.
* * *
Before she made lunch to take to Henry, Ehrin went upstairs to the bedroom and unpacked the boxes her mother had sent. When she opened the one box that contained mostly clothes, the scents of her home and nest hit her full force. There had been a certain way her home smelled, a mixture of her mother’s sandalwood soap and her father’s aftershave, and the deep woods that permeated the house. She hadn’t missed the scents until she was facing them. Lifting a shirt from the box, she buried her face in it and inhaled.
Lowering her hands, she sat back on her heels and looked at the clothes. She brushed the tears from her cheeks and shakily exhaled, wishing Dom and Henry weren’t working. She wouldn’t mind crying on their shoulders a bit, even if she wasn’t really sure why she was crying.
She
was pretty sure it was a combination of things – the loss of her father, her mother’s note, and the terror that had been brought to her new family only days earlier. It would be easy to dwell and feel sorry for herself, but the truth was she didn’t. She wasn’t the sort of female to sit around and wait to be comforted, although letting her sexy mates offer their comfort wasn’t a bad thing at all. She’d lost a lot since she’d been kicked out of the nest, but she’d gotten so much more than she’d ever had in return. Not only did Henry and Dom love her, but the pride had opened their arms and accepted her without reservation. Even before she’d left the nest, she hadn’t had that kind of love and acceptance in her life. Her parents had loved her in their own way, but it hadn’t been quite right; their love came with conditions, and that wasn’t the way it was supposed to be.
Dumping out the contents of the box, she sorted through her clothes, finding the spring and summer outfits and putting them in the laundry basket in the closet. The few winter things went into a storage box under the bed, tucked next to Henry’s hoodies and Dom’s sweaters. The second box had handbags, belts, and shoes, which she put away before breaking the two boxes down and carrying them out to the trash.
It was a relief to take care of the boxes in the bedroom the way she’d put away the things from her old sewing room – patterns, fabric, sewing supplies, and her favorite pin cushion that looked like a porcupine. She thought she’d already put the past behind her, but she knew she’d never really dealt with it head on. Because of her parents’ actions, she’d had no choice but to come to terms with their behavior and her feelings toward them. In the end, her parents had tried to do the right thing, but it would’ve been better if they’d done the right thing from the beginning.
She vowed in that moment to be supportive of her future children. Whatever they could or couldn’t shift into, she’d make sure they knew that she loved them from head to toe. Their family had almost been ruined by the nest, but they’d come out on the other side of it stronger, and for that she was thankful.
“Hey,” Lachlyn said, looking up as Ehrin came into the kitchen. She was slicing an apple into pieces.
“Hey, how are you?” Ehrin asked.
“Good. I’m glad that you, Henry, and Dom are all okay.”
“Me, too. Thanks for cutting your vacation short.”
Lachlyn smiled. “No worries. I was already getting tired of not having enough hot water in the cabin. Have you been up there yet?”
She shook her head.
“It’s really lovely. The pride goes up to this little cabin in the woods. The guys used to take the kids and spend a week there. Now the mated groups go up there from time to time.”
“Must be nice to unplug for a while.” Ehrin pulled sandwich fixings from the fridge and set them on the counter.
“For sure. How’s the sewing business going?”
“Slow, but it’s moving along.”
“Could you help me with something?”
“Sure.”
Lachlyn washed her hands and put the knife in the dishwasher. “I need to make a tie-dyed shirt for spirit day on Friday, and I have no idea how to make one. One of the teachers said there was a way to make one with markers and rubbing alcohol, but I wanted to make one the regular way, and maybe make one for Brileigh so we could match.” Lachlyn was a librarian assistant at the school where Dom taught.
“Oh sure! I like making tie-dyed things. It’s really easy. I have dyes, so we just need the shirts.”
“Okay. I can pick up shirts from the craft store after school today.”
“Are you working tomorrow?” Ehrin asked.
“No.”
“Great, how about after the kids get off to school? It’s supposed to be beautiful tomorrow, so it’ll be a fun day to work outside.”
“Awesome, thank you so much!”
Ehrin smiled as Lachlyn put her apple slices into a baggie. Upstairs, she could hear Brileigh crying, followed by the sound of Jericho’s attempt to soothe her.
“Uh oh, I’m being summoned,” Lachlyn said with a chuckle.
“Have fun,” Ehrin said with a laugh.
After fixing a lunch for herself and Henry, she made an extra one for Dom. She packed the food for her and Henry into one cooler and Dom’s in another. Grabbing her keys, she walked outside and took a deep breath of the sweet, spring air. It was warm and lovely out, and she was looking forward to having lunch with her mate.
She stopped at the school first and messaged Dom that she had brought lunch for him, asking if she could bring it into the office and leave it. He messaged back that he’d meet her there, and she walked up to the building and was buzzed inside.
“Hi, I’m Dom Fallon’s fiancée, Ehrin,” she said as she approached the desk in the office. A young woman sat behind it, and Ehrin didn’t miss the strange look she was giving her. Ehrin cleared her throat. “He’s expecting me.”
“Have a seat,” the woman said stiffly.
“Is everything okay?” Ehrin asked.
“You’re just prettier than I expected.”
“Um, excuse me?”
She shook her head and said in a lower voice, “Sorry, that was a crappy thing to say. I had a crush on Dom for a while – I mean how could I not? He’s cute and nice. But he said he and his brother were a package deal, and I figured any woman who would take two guys as husbands had to be a freak. No offense.”
Ehrin blinked a few times in surprise and then laughed. “Well, you’re human, no offense, and having two sexy guys devoted to me is really awesome. I wouldn’t trade either of them for anything in the world.”
“I’ll just stick to humans,” she said. “I mean, one at a time.”
“Of course.”
Ehrin didn’t say that the human female was really missing out on something wonderful by being closed-minded. It was her loss.
“Hey, sweetheart,” Dom said, coming into the office. He escorted her into the hallway and gave her a peck on the cheek. “I’m so glad you stopped by. I was missing you pretty hard.”
“The girl at the front desk said she used to have a crush on you.”
He let out a low snarl. “Did she say anything threatening to you?”
“No, of course not. Did you tell her that you were going to share a mate with Henry?”
He nodded. “She kept asking me out. The night I met you, she came on to me again, and I had to be really harsh. I felt bad, but it was exhausting telling her no all the time.”
“That’s the price you pay for being really sexy.”
He snorted. “I don’t know about that.”
“Oh, I do,” she said. She touched his chin and smiled. “You’re wonderful. When I told her who I was, she said she thought I’d be a freak. I think that’s codeword for ugly.”
“It’s hard for humans to understand. I mean, some of them do, like Sam. She said she felt connected to Aaron and Grant right away. But it’s okay if humans don’t get it, because I only care about you.”
“I know. And I’m the lucky one to have two sexy, amazing males all to myself.”
After they playfully argued a bit about who was the luckier of the two, she told him about the packages her mom had sent. He hugged her tightly and made a soft, comforting purr in his chest.
“It’s okay. I’m fine now,” she said. “I just wanted to see you and bring you lunch.”
She held up the bag and his eyes went wide. “Really? That’s so cool. Thank you.”
“Maybe one of these afternoons, we can have lunch together when you’re on break.”
“I’d love that. You’re off to see Henry at the station?”
“Yep.”
“Tell him I said hi. And thanks again for thinking of me. I’m a lucky male.”
She gave him another kiss and they parted ways, him heading back to class and her driving to the station. She picked Henry up and drove to a nearby park, where they sat at a concrete picnic table, ate, and talked. He told her how he’d been called to help a
turned-over tractor, and she told him about unpacking the boxes her mom had sent.
“Are you okay?” Henry asked.
“Yeah, actually. I was sad at first, but it passed. I think I’d already kind of closed that door on my past, and when my things showed up, it pushed the door open a bit.”
“And now?”
“I feel good. I don’t have anything to be ashamed of. I’ve got two great mates, my business, the pride. There’s really only one thing I’m missing.”
“Oh?”
“A baby.”
He hummed with a smile. “A little Ehrin running around?”
“Or a little Henry or Dom.”
“If our children are lucky, they’ll have all of our traits together. Your beauty, Dom’s creativity, my badass-ness.”
She snorted a laugh and nearly spit her soda across the table. Wiping her chin with a napkin, she grinned at her mate. “You’re definitely full of badass-ness.”
“Damn skippy.”
“Until you say stuff like ‘damn skippy.’”
“Oh, right, right.” He looked thoughtful. “I guess I should say, ‘damn straight, woman.’”
“I like ‘skippy’ just fine.”
“We can name our first kid Skippy.”
“What? No.”
“Oh come on. Skippy Hendomrin Fallon.”
She gave him an incredulous look. “Where did that middle name come from?”
“What, Hendomrin? It’s a combination of all our names. But feel free to name our first baby after your most badass mate.”
“Stop calling yourself a badass.”
“For a kiss.”
She leaned over the table and kissed him, a giggle bubbling in her chest. “This has been a really good day, Henry. It started off weird, but it ended up wonderful.”
“I’m glad, sweetheart. You deserve all the good things in life, and I’m going to do my damnedest to make sure you get them.”