72. How many pregnancy tests does one omega need?
72
HOW MANY PREGNANCY TESTS DOES ONE OMEGA NEED?
Ryder
“What are you going to do now?” I asked Daire and instantly heard how shitty I came across. “I didn’t mean it like that. I meant like are you going to focus on videos or are you two going to open up a new business?”
Daire and Micah finally sold their business for gobs and gobs of money after the first sale fell through. I was happy for them, but it also tugged on some insecurities I had.
Was my business going well? Yeah. It was fine. I was able to pay all my bills, reinvest in the business, pay a decent wage, and not worry if I would have enough money from one week to the next. None of those had been possible when I started. Shit, most of that wasn’t possible even a year ago.
But things were different now. I didn’t have just me to think about. I had Ivor and the baby. And as much as Ivor wanted to continue working when the baby was born, I wanted him not to need to work. And right now, we weren’t as comfortably off as I desired.
“I think so. I love it and people seem to enjoy them.” He gave a half shrug. “I’m not opposed to buying another building on the street if one opens up. I like being a landlord and while I have made a shit ton of mistakes, I’ve gotten pretty decent at it. I would never want to own twenty buildings or anything, but maybe two?” It sounded more like he was figuring this all out as he spoke and I allowed him to continue, but my focus wasn’t on his words—it was on my business.
Were there things I could do to bring it to the next level? Probably. No, not probably. There were, but they all cost money and held a certain level of risk. I had the money, but I also had a baby on the way.
“So that’s the long winded answer.” Daire chuckled. “Want to come with me? I ordered a pizza.”
“Yeah, okay.” Ivor was finishing off some work at the office, and my office was closed. A stroll to the pizza place would be an outing at least. Daire and I had done this walk many times. “I didn’t realize you were on your way out or I wouldn’t have stopped and chatted your ear off.” Or I would have, but while walking with him.
“Naw, it's all good. I needed to start processing that shit. I’m still having a difficult time believing it's all real.” He pushed open the door. “I only ordered a small pizza, but I can order another and we can eat together.”
“That sounds great.”
We had a nice lunch and by the time we got back home it was almost time for Ivor to be picked up from work, which was great. It meant I didn’t have a ton of time to concentrate on the whole why am I not more successful thing.
“Hey, omega mine.” I greeted him as he came out of the building. “How are you?”
Ivor pointed to his belly. “Someone thought it was a good time to play trampoline on my kidney.”
“So you want to see the doctor?” I didn’t know a ton about kidneys, but that sounded painful.
“Nope. I already talked to the nurse and she gave me some advice and told me what to look for.” He took my hand. “And baby stopped after that. I think she didn’t want to get in trouble,” he teased. “How was your day?”
I told him about my lunch as we meandered our way back to the car.
“Pizza sounds good.” He got into his seat. “Maybe we can order tonight?”
“We absolutely can, but I also bought you one.” Ivor loved cold pizza lately and had ordered some to stick in the fridge for the morning more than once.
“Olives?” he asked hopefully.
“Yeah, olives.” I kissed his cheek and then shut his door for him, walking around and climbing into the driver’s seat.
The entire ride home, I just kept waiting for an opening to discuss an idea I had brewing about work, but none came. When we finally got home and into our apartment, I just spit it out.
“I want to expand my business.”
He just blinked, his eyes wide.
“Not a ton, but some.”
“You haven’t thought this through, have you?” he said, and he wasn’t wrong. Not really. “I thought things were going well the way they were.”
He patted the seat on the couch beside him and I went and joined him.
“They are. And I thought…”
“You saw Daire and Micah strike it rich and somehow that reflects badly on your business? Is that what you think?”
“Yeah.” I let out a sigh. “I guess… I don’t know… I want to be what you and our growing family needs financially and I’m holding steady, but my business isn’t setting the world on fire.”
“Fire burns.” He leaned into my side. “Maybe put this on hold?”
“Yeah, okay. You’re right. We should. I just… I want to be everything you deserve.”
“Oh sweet alpha, don’t worry about that. You are.”
Micah
“Hello, Patch.” I knelt down to give scritches to my fur baby. “You look like you’ve been waiting for me.” That earned me some doggie kisses on my cheek. “Where’s Dad?”
I righted myself, surprised to see Archer not coming out to greet me.
“Is he with Elune?” I asked, and Patch being Patch just wagged his tail in response.
I’d been out getting an oil change, nothing too exciting. It was still weird to me, not having a job. Was it great that we sold the business and made buckets of money? Absolutely. Did it feel magnificent coming out better than I did when things went awry with my ex? Also yes. But now I felt almost like I was without a purpose. Sure I loved spending the day with my family, but that sense of accomplishment that came with working, it was gone. I needed to figure out what I wanted to do next.
“Hey honey, I’m…” I stopped dead in my tracks as the sound of Archer puking ripped through the air.
I rushed to the bathroom, passing a sleeping Elune in her crib to find my mate on the floor, his hands pressed against the toilet seat. Poor guy.
“You okay?” I asked, squatting down beside him.
“I think so. Can you go to the drug store?” He never looked up, his face still facing the porcelain throne.
“Sure. What do you need? Ginger Ale?” I could get that at the convenient store, I realized. “Or Pepto?”
“More like a pregnancy test.” Before I could even grasp what he said, he began to puke again.
I waited until he was cleaned up and lying down before heading out. He swore he was fine and didn’t need to lay down, but given our daughter was sleeping there was zero reason for him not to.
A baby. My mate and I might be having another baby. I loved the idea of growing our family. Beyond loved it and with me not working, maybe it was the perfect time. I could help Archer through the first trimester when he was exhausted and nauseous.
But part of me worried it was too soon. How long were omegas supposed to wait between births? Two years stuck in my head but was that a thing about siblings or was it about the health of the omega?
I ran into the pharmacy and grabbed one of each test, not wanting to stop and read the boxes to figure out the best one. I also grabbed some ginger ale, crackers, and ginger mints. The man at the register looked at all of the tests and just rang them up without comment. I appreciated it. There was no way I didn’t look like an in over his head first time dad with my purchase.
Patch was waiting for me as I came in the door. “Sorry, buddy. I need to take care of Dad first.”
I set the bags on the counter and walked into the bedroom to find my mate sound asleep and slid in beside him. He snuggled into me, still mostly asleep. I wrapped my arm around him, listening to his breathing until my eyes closed.
“Micah,” Archer’s voice pulled me from my slumber. “Micah, I took them all.”
I sat up straight, instantly awake. “And?”
“We’re going to have another baby.” He threw his arms around me. “We’re going to be dads again.”
We were going to be dads again!