by R. E. Butler
"Callie, sweetheart, a police station is no place for you. Even in a small town, there's stuff you don't need to be exposed to. And considering that the police force is non-existent, you'd be alone in the station when we were on patrol." He pointed out. "We can't allow that. The town hasn't learned about us yet, and you said the further along you get in your pregnancy, the less you'll be able to draw on your strengths. We'd worry too much."
She folded her arms, "So you'd rather me just be stuck here all day alone? I'll go cuckoo-bananas."
Ethan took a step towards her and she stopped him dead with a hard look. He swallowed a growl and said, "Sweetheart, please. Try to look at it from our point of view. Do you think we could do our jobs if we thought you were sitting alone in the police station?"
"But we could use the money."
They both adamantly shook their heads. "We're fine. We will be fine even once the barn is done, too. Don't you think by the time we get married and then finish the house that you'll be too far along to even give a job a thought? You're busy aren't you?"
She chewed on her bottom lip. Ethan said, "Besides, I don't think we'd both go work for the police department anyway."
"Why not?"
"Well, Rhett could use a foreman. We've already talked to him about it, and if one of us goes to work for the force then you'll be covered medically and the other one can work on the farm."
"So one of you would just give up what you've been doing for the last six years because of me?" She looked angry again. Why?
"What are you talking about love?" Eryx didn't let her shoot down his need to comfort her with that icy glare. He folded her into his chest and hugged her tightly. "One of us gets a job with decent pay and benefits, the other works the farm with Rhett. As long as we're providing for you, then we're happy. We told you that we'd do anything to see you safe and happy and well taken care of. This is it for us."
"But you won't let me work." Her voice came out muffled against his shirt.
Ethan ducked his head down far enough to catch her eyes. "What kind of men would let their pregnant sweetheart work when they can provide for her? This is what we want, honey. Don't you want us to be happy, too?"
Eryx felt her tense and knew she was pissed again. "Don't do that." She ground out.
"Do what?" Ethan asked.
"Don't try to make me feel guilty. I can't not contribute to our family. This isn't the sixties; I'm not Donna Reed wearing an apron waiting for you at the front door.”
Ethan quipped, "I’m confused. I thought I was a caveman?"
She struggled in Eryx’s arms and he was certain she wanted to punch Ethan and he probably should let her to teach him a lesson. Instead, though, he said, “Ethan, stop teasing her.”
Ethan hung his head in mock shame, and Callie grudgingly accepted the gesture and relaxed. He kissed the top of her head and cuddled her instead of just restraining her and said gently, “Sweet kitten, please let us work and take care of you. There will be more than enough to do around the house and the property even after we’ve remodeled, that you’ll be glad to be home. And then once the cub comes, then it will be even better. And we want that. Truly.”
She lifted her eyes to his and looked confused. “You just want me to be a – housewife?”
“Not just a housewife, love,” Ethan said, “our wife, the mother of our cubs, and whatever else you want to be. We’ll give you the moon in the sky if you want it. Just don’t ask us to be okay with you working when you’re pregnant. We never will be.”
“Alright.” She said finally. As first fights went, it wasn’t a bad one. And at least now she knew how they felt about her working. Maybe it was a possessive thing for them, but they didn’t want her around any other males without them present.
The good news that followed the next day came from the fire chief, Don Pope. “Mayor called, said your girl’s pregnant. I just wanted to let you know that my sister is a midwife. She only delivers weres. And she has hospital privileges at Cranston Memorial for ultrasounds, deliveries, and the like, it’s about 25 minutes west of you; she lives in Bracks.”
He wasn’t really sure how he felt about the mayor waving their personal business around town like that, but he was very glad to have the news to tell Callie. Chief Pope had wanted to talk to them more about taking over the police station, and they agreed to come over for dinner that Sunday and meet his sister.
Saturday night, for the full moon, Callie didn’t shift. She couldn’t. Out behind their barn, she stripped and crouched down and that same small pain noise she’d made in January spilled from her mouth and this time she didn’t ignore it. He’d been worried sick about her, because she’d clutched her side like she was injured but she said it was just a muscle spasm. She let them fuss over her all night; sometimes she fought their pampering as if she couldn’t imagine them wanting to take care of her. Truly, he’d never enjoyed anything more.
That Sunday evening, they met Don Pope, his wife Gwen, and his sister Sarah. Gwen and Sarah were also were-bears. Don and Gwen had two children, both grown and in college. Gwen was a great cook and piled the table with trays and platters and they had a good meal and good conversation. Callie liked both Gwen and Sarah, and Sarah offered to do the ultrasound the following week when she passed her eight week mark. The chance to hear the heartbeat of his cub made his own heart race in anticipation.
The next week, they decided to meet with the mayor and once he discovered that Ethan was also an EMT, he offered them a very good deal: Eryx to run the department as interim chief until they could call a vote of the city council the following month, and Ethan to run the ambulance a few days a week. It would allow him to still be foreman on the farm and stay close to their wife, which is what they both wanted. They told him they’d get back to him the following week because they wanted to discuss it with Callie first and check with their father about coming on as a deputy when they got settled. Callie was on-board for both of them working, and seemed relieved that Ethan wouldn’t be gone full-time. Eryx was slightly jealous, but he also knew that she loved him and that wouldn’t change just because Ethan may get to spend more time with her during the week. And he’d rather have her looked after than be alone, even in their home.
That Thursday night, they met Sarah at the hospital. Because she was a midwife that handled only were-animals, she had privileges within the hospital but they preferred her to bring her clients in after-hours for routine physicals. The exam room was small and they stood at the head of the examination table on either side of her and each held a hand.
Eryx had no idea what it would be like to see Sarah examining his half naked wife in stirrups and it made him feel strangely possessive. Even if Sarah was a woman and they were Callie’s mates, he didn’t really care for someone so close to what was his. A glance at Ethan over Callie’s head told him that he didn’t much care for it either. All these new feelings for them were hard to deal with sometimes.
Sarah pulled out a small device attached to a computer on a rolling tray. It was a wand ultrasound. Callie grimaced and squeezed his hand and when he looked at her in concern she chuckled and said, “It’s not as big as you, it’s just uncomfortably plastic.”
Sarah grinned at Callie, “Lucky girl,” to which Callie just snorted. Then Sarah said, “Next one at five months will be regular on the belly. This is best for so early.”
He and Ethan watched the screen and murmured soothing things to their sweetheart. Finally Sarah tilted the screen towards them further and said, “There you go. Hope you have a big enough house.”
Was that – two? Callie broke the stunned silence. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
Sarah laughed, made an adjustment with the wand that made Callie grunt slightly, and then zoomed in. “Nope, two babies. Identical, too. But you kind of expected that, didn’t you?”
Callie groused, “I might have if I’d planned this in the first place.”
They all laughed and he and Ethan kissed and half hugged her as
much as the table would allow and Sarah continued to click around the screen and take measurements and then she printed out three pictures. “Right over eight weeks. Target 40 weeks delivery would be September 28th, however with twins they almost always go around 35 weeks, so you’re looking at August 20th, sometime around there.” She released Callie’s legs from the stirrups and handed her some paper towels to clean up with. “I’m going to sit out in the nurse’s station and make some notes in the file for you, come out to chat with me when you’re cleaned up.”
Ethan took the towels and cleaned the lubricant from Callie’s body with gentle strokes and Callie sighed and closed her eyes. Eryx leaned over and kissed her forehead, “Are you okay, love?”
Her eyes were bright and shiny with unshed tears when she opened them. She smiled and a tear slid down the side of her face. “I’m very good. I’m just surprised and, well, it’s a good surprise. A really good one.”
It truly was.
Chapter 20
**Callie**
When the family arrived the first week of March, the kids were so happy to see them and it was really wonderful to see the kids and the rest of the family, too. Even though she’d worried about everyone resenting her for having to move a few states away from their home, she couldn’t miss the happiness that seemed to be coming off of every single male. Like a great weight had been lifted from all their shoulders. She knew what that weight was, because she’d felt it when she left the pack. They had their freedom now. They could live and love how they wanted and there were no female lions to stand in their way.
The boys were homeschooled for the rest of the school year because it was too late for them to enroll in the small school. Grant and Aaron brought the boys over to the barn and they did their studies in the main house while Lisa and Callie shifted between working on wedding details and helping them with their work. Lisa loved having the kids around. Since her family had abandoned her, she didn’t even know her own nieces and nephews and she was so thrilled to have the boys to dote on. And they were in heaven. Two females to love on them. Whenever Ethan or Eryx were with them, Callie kept the attention to a minimum and the little ones figured out pretty quickly that it made them uncomfortable to see her paying so much attention to the kids. The further along in her pregnancy she got, the more possessive they got, but that was okay with her.
Morning sickness was blissfully absent, but she was hit with food cravings and aversions that would drive a normal man to drink. One day she’d enjoy eating something and the next day, just the smell of it would have her running for the bathroom. It took the boys a while to figure out that she wasn’t ill exactly, and they were very accommodating about her weird cravings and helping her in the bathroom if she needed it. She didn't like throwing up in front of others, but after a while she got over that feeling when she spent a good bit of time on her knees trying not to throw up on her hair.
Eryx began his job as Sheriff the second week of March and Ethan took two shifts as the only EMT driver in town. He only answered two calls, though, and one of them was because an elderly woman couldn’t get her bottle of aspirin open. James was deputized right away and he took the night shift while Eryx took the day shift. Aaron planned to take the deputy exam for the county as well. Grant was going to work on Rhett’s farm and bring the boys along until they were in school in the fall, and was planning to do his real estate on the side, but not until the market picked up.
They found a minister, thanks to Sarah, a female were-bear from their parents’ den, who was willing to marry them the way they wanted. The ceremony had to include both of them as her husbands, even though the certificate would say that only one of them was her legal husband. It didn’t matter to her which was on the marriage certificate. She was a little too consumed with the twin babies in her belly to think about minor things like whose name was where on a piece of paper that meant nothing to her except she got to take their last name.
The minister, Pastor Giselle Uriah, had a similar problem finding someone to marry her sister and the king of their bear den, because thirty years ago humans were twitchy about weres. Humans still were, of course, but things were better than they used to be. As it turned out, were-bears were mostly just big people. The fire chief was a huge man with big meaty paws and a shock of dark hair that looked like a mane. And Gwen and Sarah were tall and broad, not fat but not lean either. Just big and curvy. And Giselle was no different. Callie liked her right away. She made a draft of the vows for them and they tweaked them just slightly, and Callie gave Ethan and Eryx a little argument about the “obey” part and had a good time teasing them about it. Love, honor and listen-to-sometimes, seemed much more fitting from her perspective.
Although they made progress on the barn, it seemed considerably slow going to her, so she mostly just hovered in the house with Lisa while she did a lot of work on the wedding for her. Among her many talents, she had a knack for organizing things whereas Callie didn't at all. Callie could organize some things, like a spice shelf, but not something intricate like a wedding.
It was towards the end of March and they were going to try on wedding dresses at the only decent place, which was in a town just south of Ashland called Hoffsman. Ethan and Eryx wanted to come. Not so much for seeing the dress, she didn't think, but because they didn’t really like her being away from them. They still hadn’t gotten her a car of her own, but she hadn’t asked either. She had a half dozen people willing to drive her at the drop of a hat so maybe she was just being selfish and spoiled, but hey, if they were willing, then she could let them indulge her.
Callie stood on a platform in front of the full length mirror and chewed on her bottom lip. The woman who was helping her try on the dresses fluffed the skirt and smiled up at her from the floor. The carpeted platform was circular and several feet off the ground in front of a bevy of mirrors to show every angle.
It was a nice dress. She wanted something strapless because they preferred that look on her. She wasn’t one of those women that wanted to spend a fortune on a dress she was going to wear once, but she wanted one nice enough that if they had a daughter some day that she’d want to wear it, too. She shook her head and said, “Let’s see the other one, then, and I’ll make a decision.” She’d had ten dresses on already. Lisa was having fun doing something girly. She’d spent way too much time with just Rhett. Stupid human women shunning her just because she married a were.
The final dress was perfect. A sweetheart neckline led to a gathered waist that was embellished with beads and seed pearls. The short train was the perfect length for the old Methodist church that Pastor Giselle had reserved for them. And what was even better was that although the dress fit well, it would give with her belly if she puffed out at all between now and the wedding, which was slated for May 1.
She chose a plain, long veil with scalloped edges that would attach with a crystal clip at the back of her head. For her shoes she chose simple low heeled white satin sandals.
Now that her dress was picked out, it was Lisa's turn, and Callie sank down into the wine red velvet love seat in front of the stage and slipped off her shoes. When Lisa came out with her first dress on, she looked down at her from the small stage, "Are you sure about the colors?"
Callie laughed. "Definitely. Unless you'd rather try to find a color to fit my eyes, and I'm not sure how nice anyone would look in greenish-brown."
The attendant brought out dresses in the style Lisa had asked for. Tea length, which was past the knees, strapless but not daring. What's the fun in that? She told the boys she wanted silver and black as colors, because their eyes were shades of gray, and they wanted her to put her eye color in there. When she said no, they suggested amber because of the color of her wolf's eyes and she liked that even less than hazel. So they'd finally made her compromise with dark green because it was her favorite color.
After three dresses, Lisa chose a cute dress in holly green with a sash at the waist and some rhinestone accents. She began to try on sh
oes when Callie's cell phone buzzed. She expected it to be one of the boys checking up on her, so she answered without looking at the screen, “Wedding Central.”
“Callie?”
“Oh, hey Cades. What’s up?”
“I thought you were going to call me when you got settled in Indiana?”
Oops. “I’m sorry, Cades. We’ve been super busy since we got here. I did intend to call you.”
“Okay. Well, we haven’t gotten a wedding invitation, and I was just wondering if you’d set a date yet. You said spring, but it’s already almost spring.” Shit. She hadn’t even included them in the invitation mailing. Just showed where her pregnancy brain was right now.
“Well, we’re set for May 1, at a small chapel in town. Are you and Jason interested in coming?”
She sounded offended. “Of course. You’re my best friend, Callie, not to mention that you’re Jason’s cousin. We’d all like to come.”
Her mouth went totally dry. All of them. Like the pack? “We who?”
“Um, me and Jason, Michael, Linus and Karly, and Bo.”
She frowned. “If all the upper ranks are here, who’s going to handle pack business?”
“Peter will. Jason already talked to him about it. And Linus’ mom is going to come up to watch the baby for them. And it’s just for a couple nights. We could come to your rehearsal dinner. Is there a decent hotel around?”
Everything in her world narrowed to what Cades was saying. She hadn’t expected them to come. She’d thought Cades offered reflexively because they were friends, and she suddenly felt badly that she didn’t consider Cades her best friend anymore. Did that make her a bad person? Felt like it. As aware as she was that Peter, Tina, Jason and Michael were part of her family, they were distant cousins. And in all honesty, although they provided the support she needed with the pack, it wasn't as if they were all one big happy family. They were, but Callie was just the orphaned girl that needed a place to live for a few years.