The Omega's Secret Baby (Oceanport Omegas Book 1)

by Ann-Katrin Byrde

  We hadn’t talked about the incident involving Jake and my mother since the day it had happened, but it seemed like it was still on Eli’s mind. Why else would he get so upset? “You don’t know that nothing is going to help until we try. I’m not going to let them talk to Jake like that again. I promise. You just have to give me a chance to make it work.”

  “And what if it never works?” Eli burst out. “Will you still be happy then? If you can’t fulfill your family’s expectations? If they never accept Jake? Or the baby I’m carrying right now?”

  “That’s not—”

  “Don’t tell me it’s not going to happen, because there’s a very real possibility that it will. And I honestly don’t know what you’ll do then. That’s the problem here.”

  “I’ll—”

  “No,” Eli cut me off. He looked like he was about to cry and the sight tore at my heartstrings. “Don’t tell me now. Please. Think about it.” He took a deep breath. “Do you know I got a letter in the mail this morning?”

  “A letter?” That was a sudden change of topic.

  “Yeah.” He sniffed. “A reply to the college application I sent out. They accepted me.” He said it with a smile, even though his voice sounded sad. “I’m not going to go, because I have to put my kids first. That’s what it means to be a good omega. To be a good parent. I have my priorities. And you really need to think about yours.”

  His news left me speechless. I so wanted him to go. He was smart, he’d worked hard, and he deserved it.

  But life didn’t always work like that, did it?

  Eli stepped up to me and placed a kiss on my lips, then he withdrew again far too quickly, before I could close my arms around him. “Please think about it all,” he said.

  And then he walked away from me.

  I returned home with a heavy heart. Think, he’d said. I had thought about it all. I was going to marry the man I loved and then we were going to raise our children together and live happily ever after. That was the general plan.

  Maybe Eli was right, and it wasn’t detailed enough. I had no idea how my family fit into my plans. I wanted to keep all doors open for my kids, but Eli seemed to think that plan was doomed from the start.

  I rubbed my face, walking up the stairs, until I heard my mother’s shrieking voice behind me. “Matthew Joseph Lowell!” she shouted.

  Full name? Great, somebody else who wasn’t happy with me today. Trying hard not to sigh, I turned around to her. “Mother?” At least she had started talking regularly again.

  “You come down here right this second and tell me what that… that thing in the newspaper was about!”

  So she’d read the paper. Lovely. She’d never done that while Father was alive. And it wasn’t that I wanted to hide my engagement from her, but this wasn’t necessarily the way I’d planned for to find out about it. “Elias Stevens and I got engaged,” I told her as calmly as I could.

  “You can’t get engaged! You haven’t even met all the ladies I wanted to introduce you to yet! You’re being foolish and you don’t know what you’re missing out on!” She gestured wildly with her arms to underline just how preposterous she thought all of this was.

  “No, it’s fine, Mother. I’ve made my decision, and you need to accept it.” Please just accept it. I couldn’t take all this fighting anymore. My family had never been super harmonious, but these last few months had been rough.

  “You expect me to accept this?” She scoffed. “You’re my son, and I’m not going to watch you ruin your life.”

  “I can make my own decisions.”

  She laughed, as if the very idea was ridiculous. Of course it was, to her. She’d been running the show my whole life.

  And suddenly I wondered whether that was the kind of parent I was going to be—just for trying to get my kids into this business. I wanted to do what was best for them… but my mother had often used the same line of reasoning with me.

  You won’t find a better bride than Danielle.

  You have to major in business if you want to be successful in life.

  You won’t be happy if you don’t marry.

  “You know what, Mother?” I said. “Elias is pregnant with another child from me. You’re going to have another grandchild.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “Another bastard?”

  “Not if we get married,” I said, just to test her.

  She bristled. “You can’t marry that omega!”

  “And I can’t make you happy, either, can I?” I sighed, because as much as I didn’t want to admit it to myself, I knew that Eli was right. My family would never welcome him or our children, no matter what I did.

  “You could try,” my mother insisted. “And to think that your father and I had such high hopes for you!”

  Hopes or expectations? I knew all about the expectations that I tried to live up to.

  And what for?

  To please my parents?

  To fulfill my duty as the alpha of this family?

  Frederica was right. I was far too obsessed with those things.

  I shook my head to myself. It was time to think beyond what it meant to be a good alpha. What I needed to be now was a good parent. And a good fiancé.

  38

  Elias

  I wasn’t sure what to expect when Matt called me during my lunch break the next day. Honestly, I was a bit apprehensive to answer the call, but he sounded happy.

  “Are you at the shelter right now?” he asked.

  “I am, why?”

  “Because I’m in the parking lot. Come out and meet me, please.”

  “Okay,” I said slowly. What was that about?

  When I got to the parking lot, I spotted Matt, wearing a heavy-looking rucksack on his back and carrying a basket in his hand.

  “Care to have lunch with me?” he asked, lifting the basket up.

  “You packed a picnic? I only have half an hour.”

  “That’s enough,” he said, glancing at the forest bordering the shelter. “C’mon. I got takeout from your favorite burger joint.”

  “Andrew’s?” I asked, saliva gathering in my mouth. Andrew’s had the best burgers ever.

  “Not like there’s another burger joint in town,” Matt said with a smile. “So will you join me?” He held his free hand out to me.

  “Can’t say no when you’re being this romantic.” I chuckled, and let him lead me a short way into the woods. As it turned out, he’d packed a blanket in his rucksack, and now he spread it out on a patch of grass for us to sit. “You really thought this through,” I noted.

  “Yeah.” He sat. “Not the only thing I’ve thought about either.”

  He handed me a burger and I sat with him. And I couldn’t resist holding the burger up to my nose and breathing in the smell. Oh God so good.

  “Do I need to get jealous of that burger?” Matt joked.

  “Sorry, still ravenous.” I tore the wrapping off my food and took a large bite. “I’m going to get so fat.”

  “You look perfect.” Matt kissed the side of my forehead. “Really, you’ve never looked better.”

  “I’m going to get bigger.”

  “I’m looking forward to it.” He kissed my lips and I let out a little sigh. Why couldn’t things always be this easy? But he’d said he’d thought about things so maybe…

  “Was there something you needed to tell me?” I asked. “Is that why you came?” I just hoped he wasn’t trying to prepare me for some bad news with the good food.

  “Actually, I have something for you.” He reached for his Rucksack again.

  “Did you hide more burgers in there?”

  “Not more burgers, I’m afraid. But I thought you might like this too.” He spread a bunch of thick books out on the blanket in front of me. On closer inspection, they were all medical books.

  “What…”

  “I called up the college and asked them what books you were going to need.”

  “The college?” What was he talking about? “B
ut I’m not going. I told you that.” And yet I couldn’t stop myself from reaching for one of the books and paging through it. Ah, the smell of new books.

  So much knowledge between these pages. Knowledge that could help me realize my dream, if only… I sighed.

  “I want you to go,” Matt said, face serious.

  “I won’t have time when the baby comes.” I put the book down again.

  “Yeah, you will.”

  “I thought I’d told you I don’t want a full-time nanny.”

  “And we’re not going to hire one.” He grabbed my hands. “I’ll do it.”

  I blinked. “You’ll what?” Was I dreaming all of this?

  “I’ll take care of the baby while you’re studying.”

  “But you have your job.” I was tempted to touch his forehead and see if he was running a fever or something. Where was this coming from?

  His lips curled up in a grin so wide it rivaled the Cheshire Cat’s. “I quit.”

  “You what?” My eyes must have been as wide as saucers. Matt quitting his job?

  He shrugged. “You were right, my family sucks. I’ve thought about my priorities. I’ve missed so much with Jake, I don’t want to miss a second of this little one.” He inched closer to me and gently put a hand on my belly. “I don’t want to be like my parents,” he said, catching my eyes. “I don’t want the kids to remember me as this dude who spent the whole day in his office and never had time for anything.”

  “But you’re an alpha. How is staying home with the kids going to make you happy?”

  “I’m more than just an alpha, the same way you’re more than just an omega. Don’t you think it’s time we broke the stereotypes?”

  I huffed. “You know I’ve tried that before.” Everything I always wanted seemed to be right in front of me, suddenly, but I was still afraid to reach out and take it.

  “So you’ll try again.” Matt rested his forehead on mine. “We’ll try together. And we’ll make it. I know it.”

  “And our kids can be whatever they want?”

  “Whatever they want. Everyone deserves a chance to follow their dreams. And that includes you.” Matt chuckled, and then he kissed me. I kissed him back and thanked my lucky stars for whatever had made him change his mind.

  I was going to go back to college! I was marrying Matt! Without marrying his family!

  It all seemed too good to be true, even knowing that it was. Closing my eyes, I tried to carve this moment into my memories. Whenever Matt and I were facing hard times in the future, I wanted to remember how I’d felt this day. To remember that we could make it through anything.

  And then, because I was still pregnant and starving, I broke the kiss to get another bite of my burger.

  “You sure I shouldn’t be jealous of that thing?” Matt asked, laughing.

  “All this excitement has made me hungry!”

  “Everything makes you hungry these days.”

  “True.” I took another bite and licked my fingers. Yum, ketchup. “It’s hard work making a baby.”

  “Yeah?” Matt shot me a filthy grin. “I seem to remember you enjoying it quite a bit.”

  “Well, yeah, the beginning is fun,” I admitted. “Then comes the hard part. And then the even harder part.”

  “What’s the even harder part?”

  “The birth.” I sighed. “Jake took me hours.”

  Matt wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “But this time I’ll be there with you.”

  “Yeah.” I leaned into him and reached up to hold his hand. “Will we be married by then?”

  “Up to you,” he said. “It doesn’t matter to me whether we get married before or after the birth, but I am making you mine.” He dipped his head to kiss my neck, making a shudder go down my spine.

  I put the burger aside and kissed his head. “I’m yours already.”

  Now and forever.

  “You don't mind that I'm going to move out, do you?” I asked my brother one evening early in June when the days were getting warmer and it was nice to sit on the front steps of the house.

  “I'll be fine,” Griff said. “I'm sure you'll still cart the kids over here when you need a babysitter.”

  I gave him a sheepish smile, because he was babysitting for me again that night. I called on him a lot these days. Something about my pregnancy seemed to give Matt a really high sex drive and we both knew we had to make use of that now before the baby was here—which we did. I could still feel some soreness in my ass from the night before. It was a good kind of soreness, though, reminding me of a night wonderfully spent in the embrace of my lover. Ever since I’d started showing, Matt liked to take things slow in the bedroom, placing kisses all over me, but especially my belly, before he went down to business. Some nights it was torture to wait that long, but I really couldn’t complain about how thorough he was being. He certainly never left me unsatisfied.

  But I wasn’t going to tell my brother all of that.

  “I can promise you you'll see enough of my kids,” I told him instead, trying to be casual. “Jake loves you, and I'm sure the new one will too. Besides, you'll finally have some time to work on your own love life.”

  Griff scoffed. “Like there's anything there to work on.”

  “Oh, don't be that way. What about your mysterious cupcake supplier?” I hadn't forgotten about that.

  Griff looked aside, but not before I could see his cheeks color. “I only taste-test for him.”

  I had to keep my laughter inside, because I didn't want to ridicule my brother, but his crush was so obvious. I couldn't wait to see where this was going. “Well, let me know if it ever turns into more.”

  Griff didn't say anything, but I didn't give him much time either, because Matt's car was pulling up in front of the house, and I had some news to share with him. Two pieces of news, actually.

  I ran up to my handsome alpha as he stepped out of the car and kissed him. Doing this in public still felt strange, but also amazing.

  “You seem in a good mood today,” Matt commented.

  “I am.” I grinned. “I just handed in my notice at work. You should have seen the look on that stupid Harold’s face.”

  Matt’s face lit up. “Really? That's great! I'm so happy for you!”

  “Thanks for making it possible.” I gave him another kiss.

  “Please, you deserve to go back to school.”

  “But I couldn't do it if you hadn't quit your job. And I know your job was important to you.”

  He shook his head. “It was just a job, and I'm actually much happier keeping contact to my mother and my sister to a minimum.”

  “How are they doing?” I asked, more out of courtesy than anything.

  He shrugged. “Alright, I guess. My sister still screams at me over the phone once a week, but she'll get over it. I really don't want to think about it too much.”

  “Well, I have the perfect thing to take your mind off your family.”

  “You are my family.”

  “I know.” I couldn't help but smile at his words. We weren't married yet, but I was definitely his--and very happy that way. “But that's not what I meant.” I took his hand and laid it on my belly. He looked at me curiously. “The baby's been kicking today. And I'm hoping...” Come on, baby. I wanted to share this moment with Matt, the way I hadn't gotten to with my first pregnancy. And then it happened. The baby kicked, and Matt's eyebrows shot up. I felt a grin break out on my face. “You felt it?”

  “I did! Wow! You really have a baby in there!”

  Laughter bubbled out of me, because he sounded so incredulous. “You didn't believe it before?”

  “No, I did! It's just... different feeling it.”

  “Good different?”

  “Amazing different.” Wrapping his arms around me, he pulled me in for a deep kiss that made my head spin in all the good ways. “I can't wait to meet this little one,” he said.

  I gave him a grin. “Oh, you will. And then you might regret your d
ecision to be a full-time dad when you sit atop a mountain of diapers.”

  He snorted. “I will never regret this decision.”

  I simply pressed my lips to his because I felt much the same way. I'd made a lot of stupid decisions in my life, but giving us another shot was definitely not one of them.

  39

  Matthew

  About three weeks before Eli’s due date, I took Jake on a trip to the big city to have some one-on-one time with him before the baby arrived. He was getting excited about being a big brother soon, but I wanted to make sure he knew how important he was to me and his daddy even with the new sibling on the way.

  We spent half a day at the museum. They had a special exhibit on dinosaurs there, and Jake got a real kick out of looking at the huge skeletons. I handed him my cell phone in camera mode and let him go wild taking pictures. It was cute to watch, really.

  Until the cell phone rang and put an abrupt end to our trip.

  “It’s Uncle Griff. He wants to talk to you,” Jake said, handing me the phone. “He sounds scary.”

  Scary? I held the phone to my ear. “What’s up, Griff?”

  “Eli’s in labor,” Griff screeched. “I’m taking him to the hospital. You gotta get here.”

  Oh for the love of… The one day I’d left town!

  “I’ll be there as fast as I can.” I ended the call, took Jake by the hand, and hurried out of the museum.

  “Where are we going?” Jake asked, rightfully confused. “I haven’t seen all the dinosaurs!”

  “I’m sorry, but we need to get to the hospital.”

  Jake tugged on my arm. “But you promised I could get something from the gift shop!”

  “We really don’t have the time. The baby is coming.”