Chapter Nineteen
Lewis
When Wilder moved in, we’d planned to set up a nursery right away, but somehow everything else got in the way.
Of course, the bees kept me busy, and the end of the gardening season and then there were trees to prune.
Wilder hired a young single omega dad who really needed the job, to be his assistant, and training him took a while.
The website for his business rolled into this process as Wilder was urged by the builder to create a catalogue and an informative guide to his products.
That helped the assistant as well as anyone who wanted to make an online purchase.
He loved doing it, but it meant instead of just having regular shop hours, he had all of that to do in the evenings.
And of course, my website required a similar commitment.
Overall, we were busy, and the baby was growing and soon would be right here in our arms. They’d have to be in our arms because they would have nowhere else to sleep. Lying in bed late one night, I rolled over to face my omega and pressed a kiss to his stomach.
“Wilder, what do think about a babymoon?”
“Really?” He struggled to sit up, while I propped pillows behind his back. “Can we do that? Aren’t we too busy?”
“In a very short time, we will have another responsibility, and we’re going to have to figure out how to balance everything in our lives. I thought maybe, in that vein, we could combine a babymoon with nursery shopping.”
He flung his arms around me. “Yes. Yes. Yes. When do we go?”
“If Robyn can manage the shop, this weekend?” It was late enough in the year that the bees didn’t need me, and I could have someone come by to feed the chickens. “Is that good for you?” It would also force him to trust Robyn on his own for a couple of days, something he’d been struggling with.
“I’m in.”
The place I had in mind was a few hours away by car, or truck in my case, and we left early Saturday morning arriving in time to have brunch at a nice restaurant before checking into our hotel.
Wilder was very excited when we left, but by the time we arrived in our hotel room, he’d begun to droop and sank down onto the edge of the bed without even checking out the place.
“Tired, omega?” I set our bags down and came to sit beside him. “Want to take a little break?”
“No. We have to do all the shopping and then you made plans and I’ll be fine in a minute.”
“I didn’t make that many plans. We want to browse the baby shops and have a nice dinner and then, if we still feel like it, maybe a movie. This isn’t work; it’s supposed to be fun and relaxing for us.” I flopped back and sighed. “And right now, I’m interested in a nap.”
“Really?” He bent over and studied my face. “You don’t want to go go go?”
“Nope. If we don’t find what we want for the nursery or never even get to look, we’ll buy online. We’re not the only websites, you know.”
“So we can rest?”
“Omega, if we want, we can stay in the room the entire day, order room service, and sleep the clock around.”
“No wonder I love you so much.” He kissed me and wriggled up to lie with his head on the pillows. “Maybe just a short nap.”
The short nap lasted until early evening when we decided we’d rested enough to go out for a movie where we’d have popcorn and hot dogs for dinner. Oliver Creek had a lot of things, but a movie theater was not one of them. Not yet, at least.
And as soon as we were seated and the movie began, I looked over to see Wilder’s eyes starting to close.
Movie nap. My omega needed a whole lot more rest. My preference to avoid healers had not held up once he got pregnant, and Quinn turned out to be a really great guy who knew his stuff.
Maybe we needed to speak with him about how tired Wilder had become.
If I couldn’t be pushy—he could. It was his job.
My last thought before I also watched the movie from behind closed eyes.
By the next morning, we were both much more rested and excited to go look at nursery furniture. Wilder had mentioned color and design ideas he had, and I hoped he’d be happy with the surprise I had waiting for him when we got home.
There was a whole block of baby stores along the street near our hotel, and we wandered from one to the next before picking out a set that was all golden wood and white trim and embellished with bees.
I told him not to do it for me, but he said he wasn’t.
He loved every bit of it and the matching sheets and all the cute bits and pieces down to a comb and brush.
He napped on the drive home, which was lucky because the contractor was just pulling out of our driveway and gave me a wave as we passed. I parked and patted Wilder’s shoulder. “We’re home. Why don’t you come inside and nap in the bed or on the sofa so you don’t get a crick in your neck.”
“Mmm.”
I went around and helped him out of the car, and when we got into the house, he sniffed. “Is that paint?” Of course, I’d ordered the baby-safe, VOC free paint, but it still had a mild odor. “Lewis…what did you do?”
Quick on the uptake, he waddled up the stairs and down the hallway right to the nursery. Flinging the door open, he walked into the middle of the room and looked around. “It’s perfect. You’re perfect. I love you.”
And that was why I’d done it. “I’ll unload the truck later.” I brought the truck so we could bring the furniture back with us. “And we’re all ready.”
Yep, not perfect, but a pretty good alpha overall.