Epilogue
Wess
Nightshade Bear Territory
Six weeks isn’t very long to prepare for twins when the holidays are unfolding and you’re attacked a few times.
Add in Mori traveling between home and Dern’s house to prepare to help someone who tried to blow him up and things get odd and chaotic.
Still with a lot of work and a little help from our family we were ready on that cold morning in early January when the sun had barely peeked above the horizon and Preston’s water broke while he was standing in front of the fridge, informing Mori and me that there was nothing to eat.
The fridge was full. Only nothing sounded good to my mate.
The twins let us know they were on their way by flooding the hardwood in front of the fridge.
That was enough for Preston to settle for more peanut butter fudge because he was going to need the energy to deliver two babies into the world.
We’d skipped finding out what our babies might be.
Barry took over Preston’s care after the attack, worried that the stress would have an effect on his grandchildren’s health in the future.
While he took care not to tell us the information we were avoiding, he checked in on the twins almost every day, and they had developed into healthy little polar bears.
They shifted to their bears and headed south exactly four days before the great January kitchen flood.
While Preston had his little snack Mori rushed off to get their parents.
Preston and I had a plan for the birth of our babies.
We’d talked it in circles for hours and at the heart of it my mate mostly wanted to be left alone unless it became a medical emergency.
So, that was my job. It was just another extension of my lifelong goal to keep him relaxed and happy.
Nothing about delivering twins was relaxing, especially with his carrier worrying that he might need an ultrasound because of his own experiences.
So while Mori was gone, Preston shifted and headed into the bedroom.
We had toyed with the idea of the back porch but in the end decided that if I froze a neighbor or two everyone would get their thongs stuck up their butt cracks about it.
I stayed with Andy until Mori arrived back with their parents and I explained the situation to them.
I’d be going in. They’d be staying out here with the baby.
Mori was on snack duty because snacks would most likely be needed until things moved further along.
Barry and Xenos looked skeptical but didn’t argue.
I hadn’t expected them to need to spend two days in the living room while my mate labored but that’s what fate had in store for us.
With each passing second the tension built and dripped down the back of my neck.
I was about to recommend medical intervention and then as if by magic everything began to move.
With the first roar the others rushed into the room as if Sharon Claudis had busted her way in through the wall.
Preston didn’t roar at them or chase them off.
So I let them stay. Lero had dropped by and was watching Baby Andy in the living room.
I hoped the little guy wasn’t afraid. He’d seen enough crazy stuff to last him a lifetime.
A few hours later, we were alone in the bedroom again with clean bedding and two little white and brown bears with little horns on their heads.
They were two of the most beautiful bear cubs to ever exist. A little girl and a little boy.
Baby Andy lay snuggled in with them, having nearly lost his mind that there were actually two babies for him to be a big brother too.
It took a bit to settle him down but once he shifted he drifted off to sleep, exhausted from all the chaotic excitement of the last few days.
We’d talked names in circles before they were born, choosing multiples for all possibilities.
In the end, they were Baby Amora (after Mori) and Baby Doyle after Xenos before he was a shaman.
When naming Baby Andy, Preston had steered clear of naming his baby after anyone but being home had changed his mind, I think.
Wherever we go – there we are. The blood that made up our DNA thrums through us and it’s our job to figure out what we use it for.
Preston and Mori’s sire had a brother too who nearly murdered his own newborn and succeeded in murdering his chosen mate that had been hoisted upon him by pack law.
Barry had run for the hills and now here we were.
Blood was no excuse for cruelty and neither were names.
The world and fate could do whatever it wanted but at the end of the day we all had to make our own choices.
While discussing the names for our future children, Preston’s own name came up, and he and Colton had a long conversation about how it made him feel.
Colton loved that his brother who died young lived on every time someone said Preston’s name.
It was a reminder that he hadn’t been forgotten and that’s all any of us can hope for once we’re on the other side of the door.
I cuddled with Preston (still in bear form) and the cubs until my stomach growled.
I’d focused so much on keeping my mate fed and comfortable during his labor that I’d mostly forgotten to feed myself.
Barry and Xenos had gone home to their small children and to rest. Mori and Lero whispered in the living room.
“Mori, I think it is time to ask for help,” Lero whispered. “I… I’ve been trying to tell you for days now but…. It wasn’t a good time. I didn’t want to take anything away from Preston and Wess. They needed you and everyone and….”
“Just spit it out, Lero. I’m pretty sure it’s nothing that I haven’t heard before, cousin,” Mori said.
“I’m pregnant and yeah, it’s the one y’all call the invisible guy,” Lero said and I slipped into the kitchen.
Nope. Not getting involved today. No way.
No how. I was having a sandwich and maybe a cup of tea with extra milk and sugar and then was conking out with my family.
If Lero had really gotten knocked up by this invisible guy that he had been walking around with, it’d work out.
According to my knowing, that guy was his true-mate after all.
I wasn’t sure how invisible sperm did their job but that wasn’t for me to worry about.
I ate and climbed back into bed behind my mate.
I nuzzled my face into his thick fur and kissed his head.
Our little family was just fine. Despite the odds we had a merry little Yuletide and would for years to come.
“We should really send Rune’s fat mouth a thank you card,” my bear rambled while I dozed off into some much-needed sleep.