Chapter Seventeen
Lewis
With the baby on the way, I convinced Wilder that we needed to be under the same roof every night. In case he needed anything. Or wanted anything. And also, because my bear would not let me sleep if he was not tucked into bed right next to us.
“I can move in with you,” I said one afternoon when visiting him in his shop, “if you like.”
Wilder, who had been hemming and hawing about moving at all because it sounded like a lot of work and his pregnant body didn’t want to do it, frowned.
“That doesn’t make any sense. You have to be there to take care of the chickens and the garden, and what if something attacks the hives? All those living things.”
He wasn’t wrong.
“I understand, but I can make it work so that you can be where you want to be and not have to go through the inconvenience of a move. Not that I’d let you lift anything heavier than one of your remedies, but it’s still…”
He huffed. “And my apartment is very small. Barely big enough for one person. Even if we were able to fit you in, where would we put the baby?”
Okay, if I’d learned anything during the early months of this pregnancy, it was that my mate reserved the right to change his mind—even if he didn’t know he was doing it.
My home was the logical choice for our family.
There were several bedrooms, a big yard for the child and any others that might come along, and it was far preferable for me to be near all the living things on the property.
Also, we could shift and run and never leave my acreage if we chose.
We had even been working on a lot of Wilder’s remedies in the big farmhouse kitchen. Overall perfect.
So, why was I arguing?
Habit. Before the pregnancy, Wilder and I had never disagreed about anything I could think of, but since, he had been moody.
I couldn’t blame him. Even though nausea had faded early on, he still had a body going through big changes and flooding him with hormones.
And an alpha who was so anxious to please him and make everything exactly the way he wanted them that I was probably on his last nerve.
“Omega, am I driving you crazy?”
He’d been tense with our discussion, but when I said that, he slumped, jaw dropping. “No, Lewis, how could you even ask. I love you and you try so hard to take care of us all the time, no omega could ever have a better alpha.”
“Or a more annoying one?”
“I—” A customer came in and he turned his attention to helping them find a salve for their skin condition before returning to where I sat on a stool behind the counter.
It was a slow day, quiet in town, or we wouldn’t have been able to even have this conversation here.
“Now, I have never once called you annoying.”
“Omega”—I took his hand—“I’m even annoying myself. The fact you haven’t called me on it shows great control on your part, but you can always feel free to tell me when I am being overprotective.”
A small smile tilted his lips. “Well, you did ask me if I wanted my water refilled eight times last night.”
“You need to hydra… Eight times really?”
“Might have been nine. I’m drinking all the time, really, I swear. I do know how to take care of myself. I’ve made it this far in life.”
“You’re right. And I promise to do better. To let you ask me if you want something instead of hovering all the time.”
His smile blossomed, reaching his eyes. “And I promise first, to let you know if I do need water or anything, but also not to be so prickly. I am driving myself crazy.”
“We are a fine pair, aren’t we?” I held out my arms and he came into them. “Now, quick, before another customer shows up, where would you rather live?”
“I want our cub to grow up with nature and the freedom to run. So, your house.”
“Done. And as of tomorrow, I will go to the county seat and make it our house. And I won’t take no for an answer. Our cub will have parents who share everything.”
“Only if you let me add you to the shop ownership.”
“Deal.” I gave him a smacking kiss and lifted him into the air. “When are you moving in?”
Things got lighter after that. We came up with a plan to get him moved without his doing a lot of lifting and making himself much more tired.
On Monday, when his shop was closed, I filled the back of my truck with everything from his apartment and drove it over to the house.
Fortunately, I wasn’t far from town, so he didn’t have a long drive to the shop, but that was something else we had to deal with next.
On the third night in our new home, we were having dinner when I brought up the next elephant whose trunk was twirling in the room. “Have you considered hiring a shop assistant?”
He held his fork suspended, noodles twirled around the tines. “Hiring? Oh yeah. But not yet.”
“When?”
He ate the bite and tilted his head. “I don’t know. Maybe before the baby comes?”
Reminding myself not to hover or push, I was also the alpha in the room, and my job was to make sure my family was well cared for. “Omega, you have shadows under your eyes. There are jobs only you can do, maybe with my help like preparing the remedies, but an assistant could sell them.”
“But people need advice. They won’t be able to do that.”
“Very true. Maybe you should post what hours you will be available for consultation, and if you like, we can even set up something on a website for that service. That is, if you like the idea?”
He got up and walked around the table toward me, and I gulped. I’d been trying not to be pushy while also being helpful. But Wilder dropped onto my lap and hugged me around the neck. “Alpha, you are the smartest person in the world, did you know that?”
“No, but it’s nice that you like the idea.”
Next, I needed to get someone to set up a website for him. And one for me. But for now, I had a lapful of cuddly omega who wanted kisses, and that was my priority.