Chapter 44 Walker
Walker
Ican’t remember the last time I laughed while this exhausted. But it slips out of me anyway, low and helpless, as Eli reaches for the handle.
“Brace yourself,” I mutter. “There’s no telling what they’ve been doing behind the scenes.”
Eli snorts. “How bad can it—”
He swings the door open and my mother trudges through, her heels clicking and her dress wafting in the wind that pours in behind her.
“Hello!” she chirps, stepping inside like she owns the place. Which, to be fair, she tends to do anywhere she goes. A large basket hangs from her arm, filled to the brim with fruit, bottles, and God knows what else. “Where is she? Where is that poor, exhausted Omega?”
My father steps in behind her at a much more reasonable pace, shutting the door with a quiet click. “We brought protein waters in case she isn’t holding down solid food yet,” he says, holding up a bag like that explains everything.
Mom turns her full attention on me and her eyes narrow. “Well? Are you going to show me where she is?”
I gesture vaguely toward the hallway. “Bedroom.”
She doesn’t wait.
Mom’s never been particularly good at waiting.
She breezes right past us, already talking.
“A five-day heat. My goodness, the poor thing. You should have called me the instant she was done, Walker. I had to hear it from Eli’s parents!
They said they got a text from him, letting them know that Lia’s heat broke.
Why didn’t we get a text like that? I could have been here sooner. ”
“You would have camped on the porch,” I point out, following behind her.
“And?” she shoots back over her shoulder. “I would have brought soup.”
Eli coughs beside me, clearly trying not to laugh.
We step into the bedroom, and everything shifts because Lia is upright and alert. She’s propped up in the nest Knox rebuilt while Eli was cleaning her up, and he’s got one arm curled protectively around her. The arm she marked.
She leans into him while wearing his flannel shirt like it’s the most natural thing in the world, and a thought races through my mind.
She’s ours.
My mother stops short of the door frame the instant she sees her. She looks back at me with a knowing look, and I know she’s remembering Lia from our conversation weeks ago in the kitchen back at the vineyard.
That feels like such a lifetime ago.
My mother’s little “I told you so” smirk doesn’t go unnoticed, however.
“Oh,” she breathes. And just like that, all the chaos drains out of my mother.
Like she’s finally at peace because she was proven right when she called me out in that kitchen.
“There you are, sweetheart,” she says, her voice going all warm and gentle as she crosses the room. “Look at you. You must be exhausted.”
Lia blinks at her, clearly still piecing things together.
“Hi, Mrs. Boone,” she murmurs. “Good to see you again.”
My mother sets the basket down immediately and moves to her side, not hesitating for even a second before brushing Lia’s hair back from her face. “I talked with Eli’s mother. She says your heat broke here only recently. I bet you did so well. How are you feeling?”
Lia’s eyes go a little wide, like she wasn’t expecting that. Like she doesn’t quite know what to do with the doting and the caring.
That tight feeling hits my chest again because I know why. Every single time something like this happens, we’re proving to her that she’s—
“You’re safe now,” my mother continues, completely unfazed as her thumb smooths along Lia’s temple. “You’ve got them, and you’ve got us. We’ll make sure you’re taken care of, all right? Five days, yes?”
“Yeah,” Lia croaks out.
“That’s no joke. You need rest, fluids, and heavy solid food once you can stand it,” Mom says as she looks over at me.
There’s a pride in her eyes I’ve never seen before. It makes me smile.
My father hums in agreement with her statement as he sets the bag down beside the bed. “Electrolytes and calories,” he repeats, like it’s the most important contribution in the world. “Your body needs a lot of both right now. Make sure you at least drink if you find you can’t eat.”
“It’s important,” my mother says. “Can we get you anyth—”
When her gaze falls to Lia’s neck, she freezes.
Her eyes dart over to me, and I just let her put the pieces together for herself.
My mother’s always been that way. She’s always been part of the gossip mill in town.
It doesn’t shock me one bit that she’s already ingratiated herself with Eli’s parents.
Her gaze flits over to Eli. Then, Knox.
“Oh my goodness,” she gasps.
I let a grin spread across my face as she stands and claps her hands together.
“Oh, my goodness! Mating marks!” she squeals before she sees my neck. She gasps and points. “She marked you!?”
Dad’s smile is proud. “And you marked her.”
“Oh, my word,” Mom says as she cups her own cheeks in shock. “Grandchildren really are in my future!”
Lia startles a bit and Knox tightens his arm around her instinctively. I can’t help the smile that crosses my face, though. For all of the meddling my parents do, they’ve always been good people.
And Lia deserves to be surrounded by good people.
“I knew it,” my mother says as she swats at my father’s chest. “I told you, didn’t I? I told you that Walker wouldn’t just hole up with some Omega for a heat with no reason at all. Didn’t I say that?”
Dad nods. “You did, sweetheart.”
Mom points at me. “See? I told you I said that.” She clasps her hands together and turns her attention to Eli. “Oh, Eli. I can’t wait to meet your daughter. Do you think she’ll like me? Do you think she’ll think of me as a grandmother? I mean, I know that might take time, but—”
Eli, to his credit, handles that better than I expect. “I think Amber will love you, Mrs. Boone.”
“Well, of course she would,” my mother says immediately. “I’m delightful.”
Knox snorts, which causes Lia to giggle. And that sound?
Oh, that sound.
It makes my heart slam against my sternum.
“Well,” my father says, clapping his hands once and rubbing them together. “Enough standing around. Our Omega-in-law needs rest.”
“Yes,” my mother agrees, already moving again. “Which means all of you,” she points at me and Eli before motioning to the bed, “should be in that nest with her.”
I blink. “What?”
“You heard me,” she says. “She just came out of heat. She needs her Alphas close. Constant contact, steady reassurance, scent reinforcement. Honestly, Walker, I thought I taught you better than this.”
I snicker. “You did.”
She waves her hand dismissively at me. “Then why are you standing over there? You two get in this nest with her.”
“Yeah, you guys,” Knox says with a playful smile. “Get over here already.”
I look over at Eli and he shrugs.
I sure as hell don’t need to be told twice.
The second I settle beside Lia, she turns into me instinctively, her hand finding my chest like it belongs there.
I wrap an arm around her, pulling her close as Eli settles where Knox once was.
Knox moves toward the things my parents brought for Lia, picking through everything until he finds her favorite.
Fruit-punch-flavored protein water.
“There we go,” my mother says as she crosses her arms over her chest. “Much better.”
I figure my parents are going to see themselves out of Eli’s place, but I should have known better than that. Instead, the two of them begin moving around the room, tidying up the mess that’s still on the floor.
Soon, Eli’s home is filled with the sounds of laundry running, food being stored away in the kitchen, and my mother’s incessant heels clicking across the floor.
I barely register it, though.
Lia shifts, and before I know it her tongue is back at the crook of my neck. It swipes along the mark she left behind on me, and I meld around her. I hold her close while she nuzzles her nose against it, testing whether or not it’s going to start bleeding again.
“I’ve gotcha,” I murmur.
“And I’ve got you,” she whispers as she kisses my mating mark.
Eventually, she moves to tend to Eli, and then to Knox. My chest is filled with all of our connections, swimming around in the holes in my personality that I thought I’d never be able to fill.
I’ve always been stiff and stoic. I’ve always been business oriented with my attention turned toward the future. I’ve never once denied my true nature, only leaned into it.
Lia fills all of those spongy areas of my soul I’ve been ignoring.
She yawns just as she’s done tending to Eli, and I reach for her.
“Easy, beautiful,” I say as I lean her back down into the bed. “You still need to recuperate.”
She hums and presses closer against me in a way that lets me know she’s content.
I scoop her close, holding her in a way that hopefully shows her I’m just as content.
Eli shifts as he reaches for something. “I should call my parents. Let them know Amber can come home tonight.”
But before he can even unlock his phone, my mother swoops back in and snatches it right out of his hand.
Eli flinches a bit. “What the—”
“No, you will not,” my mother says as she points down at him. “We’ll handle that. You should be tending to your Omega properly.”
I chuckle. “Yeah, Eli. God. Don’t you know anything?”
He shoots me a look, but there’s no heat in it. Not really.
And of course, my father’s there to back my mother up, as always. “We’ll coordinate everything with our new granddaughter. This first heat is prime bonding time between the four of you. Soak in as much of it as you can.”
“So lay back and let us do the dirty work,” Mom says as she tucks Eli’s cell phone into her purse.
Before she scoops someone’s boxers off the floor, pinching them in between her fingers. “I’ll get this in the washer. I’ve got at least another load of laundry that needs to be done before we head out.”
“Of course,” Dad says with a nod of his head. “We’ll make sure it’s all taken care of.”
And as Mom marches out of the room with determination in her stride, Dad turns back toward us.
“Well,” he says with a shrug, “you have your marching orders, gentlemen. Let us know if you need anything. Lia?”
“Yeah?” she croaks out.
My dad smiles fondly. “Welcome to the family, sweetheart.”
As Dad leaves the room, he closes the door behind him. As the four of us settle back into the nest, for once in my life I don’t feel the weight of responsibility drilling down onto my shoulders. I don’t feel the expectations and legacy of the vineyard pressing down onto my back.
I just feel this. Lia. My Omega, in my arms, purring softly while Knox and Eli bracket around the two of us.
It’s more peace than I’ve ever known in my entire life.
I can’t wait until all of us live together.