Chapter 2
Chapter Two
NICHOLAS
“What did Dad say?” Phillip asked as he walked his fussy new baby around the living room of the house by the beach that he and Jesse had purchased last year.
“He doesn’t suspect a thing,” I said with a wide smile.
I set aside my phone, then went over to the pack-and-play where two-year-old Chase was playing with an old-fashioned set of wooden blocks I’d brought over that morning as an early Christmas present.
“Grandad doesn’t suspect a thing,” I giggled at Chase, holding my arms out to him.
Chase made a sound and reached for me to pick him up.
“I’m not sure if this is the best idea for a Christmas present,” Phillip said as I lifted Chase into my arms with a swooping motion that caused him to laugh. “You know Dad hates surprises.”
“Oh, believe me, I know,” I said, booping Chase on the nose once I had him safely in my arms. “But he’ll like this one.”
“Dad? Being dragged around Barrington on a scavenger hunt?” Phillip said, arching one eyebrow at me. “Even if it is a walk through your past, you know he hates surprises.”
“Your dad doesn’t hate surprises as much as he says he does,” I said, moving to sit on the sofa with a giggling Chase.
It wasn’t that he was too heavy, but I wasn’t the young papa I’d once been.
If I could sit while playing with my grandbabies, then I would.
“Most of the best things that have happened in our lives have been surprises.”
“Yeah, like what?” Phillip asked, joining us on the sofa. It was time for baby Ruby to eat anyhow, so Phillip unbuttoned his paternity shirt and exposed his milk-swollen chest so she could latch on.
I watched with a deep and sentimental pang.
I’d nursed five of my own babies, years ago.
Back then, people still threw a fit when omegas nursed in public.
There had been endless campaigns, mostly from the churches, about omegas covering up and how indecent it was.
But then again, these were the same throwback nutjobs who had caused me to be expelled from Preston College when I’d gotten pregnant that first time.
Thank God we’d come so far since then. Whether he liked to talk about it or not, Sal had been a major part of some of those early efforts to give omegas more rights in public.
We’d both been powerless in our early twenties, when he’d graduated and I should have graduated, but at least we hadn’t been entirely without money.
His family was well-off enough to give us the seed money we needed for the original Bangers & Mash.
Once B&M started to take off, while the two of us were still young and filled with more energy than we’d known what to do with, we’d spent a lot of time lobbying politicians to support omega rights.
As B&M grew and became more profitable, we’d been able to donate more, start a few community action programs, and provide practical services that helped omegas excel.
A lot of that was down to Salizar. He was and always had been my hero, my love, my alpha.
Even now, he was volunteering as Santa at the Barrington Christmas Market when he really didn’t have to.
We had more money than we would ever need in a hundred lifetimes now, but he was still committed to helping the community and making as many lives better as he could.
“What’s that face for?” Phillip asked when I sighed.
Chase was squirming, and I let him down so he could crawl back over to his new blocks. Keeping an eye on him, I said, “I’m not sure I’ve been the omega your father needs these last few years.”
Phillip made a sound of disbelief and said, “Papa, that’s ridiculous. Dad loves you like crazy. The two of you are one of the happiest couples I’ve ever known.”
“Thanks for saying that, sweetheart,” I said, reaching across and patting Phillip’s knee. “But things change as you age. Your relationship with Jesse will change, too, mark my words. Especially when you hit omegapause.”
“Oh, God, Papa. Please tell me this isn’t about sex,” Phillip said with a look of doom on his face. “I do not want to think about my parents’ sex life.”
I laughed, but I didn’t deny it. Sal and I used to go at it like rabbits.
Even when I wasn’t in heat. Sex had always been an important part of our relationship, as it was for lots of relationships.
When a lot of our friends had confided in me that the bedroom aspect of their marriages had faded to the background as they aged, I’d felt bad.
Sal and I continued to have a great time, horizontally as well as vertically.
Until recently. Work had been overwhelming this past year and my omegapause wasn’t helping. That didn’t mean I loved my alpha any less. The moments we spent together just quietly feeling our bond and appreciating everything we’d made for ourselves was great. But I knew there could be more.
Which is where the scavenger hunt came into things. Not to mention the top-secret project I’d had our researchers working on for the last year.
“Your father and I are fine,” I reassured Phillip, patting his knee again, then standing. “My little surprise for him is going to relight a few fires that might have gotten a little dim in the last year, what with everything being so busy.”
“No!” Phillip groaned. “It is about sex. Eww, Papa.”
I laughed, then stepped over so I could kiss the top of my baby’s head. And then I kissed his baby, too. “You’ll understand one day,” I said, winking as I straightened. “And now, I have to go run a few more errands before I set this ball in motion tonight.”
“Just promise me you won’t have sex in the back of your car,” Phillip said as I crossed the room to get my wallet and keys. “You guys are in your fifties. You’ll probably throw out a hip or something.”
I laughed even louder. “Fifty is the new thirty, darling,” I said, picking up my keys. “By the time you get there, sixty will probably be the new thirty. Trust me, you definitely get a second wind after omegapause.”
Phillip made another gross noise, but I ignored him. He was my only omega son, and we’d always had a special bond. That bond meant a lot of teasing, but I knew Phillip also understood me in a way none of his siblings could.
Salizar and I had been blessed with a wide variety of children.
Phillip was our male omega, and Stephanie was our female omega.
Xavier, our youngest, was our only alpha, and we had two betas, Isaac, who had come between Stephanie and Phillip, and Rachel, who had come after Phillip and before Xavier.
It had annoyed me back in the day that people kept asking if we were going to keep trying until we had an alpha.
The notion that alphas were the favored children in any family was horribly antiquated.
I adored every one of my children to pieces.
As I got into my car, started it, and backed down Phillip’s driveway to start back into the heart of the city, I smiled thinking about them.
The radio popped on with cheerful Christmas music, and I immediately started singing along, my heart as light as a feather.
Everyone would be home for Christmas this year.
Stephanie and her husband, Mike, and their baby, Lucy, would be coming down from Peterborough.
Isaac and his fiancé, Kevin, were flying in from the West Coast. Rachel lived in Barrington anyhow, and now that he’d finished medical school and was doing his residency at Barrington Memorial Hospital, Xavier would be right there with us.
Sal and I really were blessed. We had a thriving business that was making international headlines, we had a loving and growing family, and once I took Sal around on the scavenger hunt I’d been planning, the two of us would—
My happy thoughts were cut off as an SUV ran the light that had turned red at the intersection I’d just driven into. One minute everything was festive and cheerful, and the next there were wheels screeching, an ear-splitting smash, and everything went black.