29. Hunter
TWENTY-NINE
HUNTER
“Considering Stan has lost his wife, and his relationship with you is shaky at best, he's living a pretty good life out here.”
I turned onto the property that belonged to the pack. Small cabins were scattered around the extensive piece of land, and it was where we did our full-moon runs, pack members could vacation in the cabins, Lottie was born here, and blood had been spilled.
Now it was where Stan had been banished.
But unlike if my banishment hadn’t been repealed, Odell’s uncle was free from the pressures of modern life. His medical needs were taken care of, and despite his missing fingers and walking with a cane, he’d created a small garden and spent his days pottering outside, reading, or watching TV.
He’d never completely restore the relationship he had with Odell, and Louisa had filed for divorce. I’d only seen him a couple of times, but he seemed okay other than being burdened with guilt about what he’d done to my mate.
“Uncle must like it here,” Odell observed.
As he got out of the car, the breeze picked up. He’d started wearing paternity shirts, and the wind accentuated his tiny bump. Now that he was pregnant, he didn’t come with me on retrievals. We both agreed on that. He was in our company head office during the day and still helped out at the club in the evenings, though late nights were out of the question.
Mixed emotions stirred in me when I thought about becoming a father.
I adored my mate and was overjoyed at him carrying our child. But I thought back to Papa whose life had been cut short and wondered whether it was irresponsible bringing a child into the world when my life was fraught with danger.
“I can hear you thinking, Hunter,” he sing-songed.
“No, you can’t,” I replied in the same tone.
“Parenting 101 states that dads and mums and anyone who assumes the role of a parent will always question themselves and carry guilt about whether they will do or are doing a good job.”
“How come you have this all figured out?”
“I don’t, far from it. But this baby inside me says I’m doing okay and so will you.”
Stan gave us a hesitant wave from his porch, his eyes on Odell. After greeting him, I removed a box from the car and placed it near the door.
The guards had taken Stan back to the old apartment in the days after we captured Stefan. He’d gathered his clothes and little else. Louisa and Odell had returned just before our wedding, keeping paperwork and a few mementos. But there was a file folder of Stan’s he had forgotten, so it’d been placed in a box and stored in our garage.
We’d never gotten around to giving it to him until now. Not that he appeared to have missed it.
“Thanks. They’re the letters from my former company, the insurance people and lawyers. Ugh.” He shook his head as if he didn’t want to be reminded of the past. “Look at you. You’re blossoming.”
Odell outstretched his hand, but as their fingers touched, he pulled back. They were still cautious around one another. They reminded me of boxers “circling out,” involving fancy footwork and keeping a distance before trying to pound the other guy’s face.
“I have orange juice if you’d like some.”
I waited for Odell. This was his decision, and we’d only planned a short visit.
“Sure.”
Neither my mate nor his uncle had spoken of what happened with Draven and Stefan other than muttered apologies. It didn’t matter to the pack, as we’d found out what we needed from Stefan himself and filled in a few blanks.
But for Odell’s sake, he needed to hear from Stan about his actions that led to Draven dragging my mate to City Hall. But if it was going to happen, they should be alone. I’d offered to go and chat to the guards, but Odell, who'd just recovered from morning sickness, asked me to stay, saying he wasn’t ready.
Pregnancy hormones had Odell, my Dellie, crying when we watched rom-coms, howling at dog food and baby diaper advertisements, and weeping when reading and rereading his favorite authors. I figured when he and Stan did have a heart-to-heart, I should be nearby.
So I wasn’t expecting my mate to bring up the subject. Not today.
“Uncle, what you did hurts me so bad,” Odell blurted out. “And I need to understand why. Maybe after the baby comes. Being pregnant, my emotions see-saw from one minute to another.”
“My darling Odell. There is no excuse for what I did.” His eyes glazed over. “I’m so sorry.” A tear escaped and trickled over his cheek.
Now my mate offered Stan his hand, and the older man took it, squeezing it gently.
“You made mistakes, but I met both Draven and Stefan and they were terrifying. I can see how they were able to bend your will.”
Stan nodded. “Stefan, yes, and the other one, I...” Another tear spilled over his cheek, followed by a third. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.” His thin shoulders shook, and he sobbed.
Neither my mate nor Stan said anything else, and Odell rested his head on his uncle’s and closed his eyes. Two people in pain, one looking for answers, the other unable to provide a satisfactory explanation.
My mate blinked and gave me a look, giving me the impression I had to talk about something else.
I pulled out the baby's sonogram and pointed out the baby’s head, spine, and limbs. Stan wiped away his tears and kissed the thermal paper.
“If you are as fine a person as your dad, you’ll have a good life.”
That brought on a flood of tears from my mate, and Stan cried more. I also sniffed.
He did a bad thing. So bad, but he seems like a kind man . My wolf couldn’t match the person with what he’d done.
Maybe Odell would never reconcile the two sides of his uncle.
“Are you happy, Uncle?”
He thought for a moment. “I’m content.” He heaved himself up. “But I have a gift for the baby. I made it myself, so please forgive the imperfections.”
He brought out something carved in wood, saying it was a crib mobile to entertain the baby. He pointed out the objects: a bear, a cat, a bird, a bunny, and a wolf. “And a wolf,” he repeated a couple of times.
Oh, he’d definitely witnessed something during the full-moon run, even though the guards were supposed to have taken him off the property. Or maybe a pack member staying in one of the other cabins had accidentally shown him his wolf.
“Thank you, Uncle.” Odell kissed the top of his head, and he clung to my mate.
One of the guards approached and cleared his throat. He nodded at me before speaking to Stan. “Should we cancel the fishing?”
My mate smiled through his tears. “We’re going shopping for all things baby, so go fish, Uncle. You always enjoyed it when I was a kid.”
After promising to keep him updated on the pregnancy and saying we’d be back soon, we watched as Stan got in the guard’s car, loaded with fishing gear.
“The man who brought me up and who took me fishing isn’t the same person who handed me over to Draven.” My mate leaned over and kissed me, the saltiness from his tears coating his lips. “I know Draven scared the crap out of him, but I can’t reconcile him giving me away.”
Me neither. Maybe there wasn't an answer that would satisfy Odell and that was why he was putting off having an in-depth conversation.
“Where do we start?”
We’d arrived at the Dads, Moms, and Baby Store. My mate had a long list, and Flint often recounted his and Tony’s shopping trips. I was ready and had brought a dolly in with me to load our purchases. Dad was meeting us, but he was running late.
“Are onesies for kids who are one or under?” I studied the sign in the baby store while Odell ran through the list on his tablet with the sales assistant. “And are there twosies and threesies?”
The sales assistant giggled. “Those names are so cute, but kids aged two and older don’t usually need onesies.”
I had a lot to learn, and I picked up a headband with a stuffed animal dangling off it. After putting it on, I tossed my head from side to side. Maybe it was for punching practice. I pictured our baby wearing boxing gloves, trying to whack the stuffed animal.
“Hunter!” I froze. That was his “What are you doing?” voice.
“Dad.”
He grabbed my chin. “I love you, but you are this baby’s father too. Don’t leave the decisions to Odell. Step up!”
Damn. Had I been doing my “younger brother gets away with stuff” routine?
“What do you think about this dangling thing, darling? I think we should get one.” I was taking charge and being an equal partner to my mate.
Odell flicked the soft toy. “Do you know what it’s for? ”
Oh, this was a trick question, but I had to figure it out. Babies didn’t box, so that wasn’t a thing. But they liked toys, and if this was on my head, my hands were busy doing something else.
“It’s when I’m doing one thing but need to keep the baby occupied.” I was so proud of myself.
“And what’s the thing you’re doing?”
So many questions and I hadn’t studied. Yes, we’d watched videos and read books, but that was for the pregnancy itself.
“You can do it, Hunter,” Dad and my mate chirped.
Damn, they were jerking me around. “I’ve got it.” I swung my head, and Odell, Dad, and the sales assistant ducked. Whoops! “It’s when you’re changing their diaper.”
Everyone clapped, and I bowed. I loved bowing.
“We’ll take it.”
But Dad was right. I wasn’t stepping up when it came to baby prep. I’d been with my mate when he was sick, made… ummm, ordered chicken soup from Uncle Arnie, massaged his feet, and held him while he slept. But he was the one choosing the nursery colors and how many onesies we needed.
I peered over Odell’s shoulder, making a mental note of some of the items on his list. The big-ticket items we’d choose together, but dragging the dolly behind me, I picked up diapers. One then two packets. A quick glance at Dad who was rotating his finger, and I grabbed more and more still. The baby was only going to be yea big. How many did they need? A lot, apparently.
Muslin cloths. Check.
I couldn’t decide on the baby monitors so took three to show Odell.
Pacifiers. I grabbed one of each color and scuttled back to my mate.
I hadn’t made much of a dent in the list.
“We need the crib, stroller, and a car seat,” Odell read from his list.
I’d spent hours reading up on car seats, and I pulled up what I'd written with the top three choices, listing the pros and cons.
“Did you do this?” Dad tapped my phone.
“Yeah. While Odell was sleeping, I researched.”
“I’m impressed.”
My mate took my arm. “You should be. He put a lot of effort into it.”
After choosing the car seat, we wandered over to the strollers. There were so many colors and sizes and basket thingies, and I hadn’t looked into them, as car safety had been my priority.
“Why don’t we go to a café and have tea and cake and I’ll look up each model, summarize what I find, and we can go from there.”
“I always vote for cake.” My mate gave me a smooch, and he whispered, “And you talking about research is hot!”