Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
H arper
“Byron?” I suggest, lying out on the make-shift bed between my alphas, my hand resting on my stomach, their hands resting there too.
It’s the middle of the night but we haven’t slept yet. We’ve been talking for hours. Besides, I’m too excited about the future to sleep even if I wanted to.
“For a boy or a girl?” Wyatt says in the darkness.
“A boy,” I giggle.
“No,” Daxton says.
“You can’t just veto my choices like that,” I whine.
“He can, Harper,” Owen says. “Byron: Buy one, get one free. The kid would be bullied mercilessly.”
“Hmmm, you may have a point.”
Daxton kisses my stomach and strokes his fingers over his patch of belly. “I do. Besides, I like Philip for a boy.”
“Philip?” Owen scoffs. “He’s not going to be born a middle-aged man.”
“My grandpa was Philip,” Daxton says sulkily.
“Exactly.”
“Maybe that could be a middle name,” I suggest. Then a thought bubbles into my mind and I frown. “Do you think this baby is going to be bullied mercilessly regardless of their name?”
“This kid is going to be the best-looking and smartest kid in school. No way anyone would even think about bullying them.”
“Even when their classmates find out their parents were step-brother and sister?”
“Kids don’t understand that shit,” Owen says. “Besides, blended families are becoming more and more common.”
“Not blended in this way,” I point out. I sigh. “Maybe we’re going to have to leave Rockview. People know us here. They know our families, our history and our background. Maybe we’d be better off starting somewhere afresh.”
“Weren’t you worried about our jobs?” Owen teases, rising up on his elbow. “Now you’re encouraging us to quit our jobs and move away.”
I sigh. “You’re going to get fired when they find out about all of this,” I pat my stomach, “they’re going to fire you.”
“I don’t think they will,” Wyatt says.
“But my mom said–”
“Harper. I love you. I love your mom,” Daxton says, “but in some ways you are very alike. You like to over-dramatize situations. Wyatt is one of the best heart surgeons in this country, heck probably in the world. And I’m not just saying that because he’s my packmate. You only have to take a look at his stats to know it’s true. The hospital won’t want to lose him.”
“And most of the pediatric department would quit in protest if they tried to fire Owen,” Wyatt says.
“Of course, they might fire Daxton,” Owen says, and I can tell from his tone he is teasing me. “He is an asshole. He works too hard – showing up all the other doctors. And he is the only one of us who is technically your step-brother.”
“Shithead,” Daxton says.
“But,” Owen continues, “maybe that will be a good thing. He can be a stay-at-home dad, leaving you to continue your career as a curator.”
“Hmmm,” I say, chewing my lip.
“What?” Daxton asks, sounding hurt. “I’d make a great stay-at-home dad. Owen isn’t the only one who is good with kids.”
“You’re going to be a great dad,” I say, taking his hand in mine. “You all are. I’m just … I want to keep working – I’m hoping Sylvie might let me work part time. But I want to be around for the baby too – and any other babies that might come along,” I can’t help grinning at that idea, “and also there are other things I want to explore, that I want to try doing.”
“But how about New York?” Daxton says. “I thought you were moving there because the jobs here in Rockview, the galleries were no good.”
“Daxton,” I say, “I was moving to get away from you three. I knew being around you when I couldn’t be with you would be too darn heartbreaking.”
Owen squeezes my hand.
“I think we should stay in Rockview,” he says, “sure there’ll be a storm to weather, but it’s remarkable how quickly new news becomes old news. They’ll talk about our little scandal for a while, then before you know it, they’ll be onto something new.”
“I do love this city,” I say.
“And I would miss the ocean if we moved. I want to teach our kids to surf,” Daxton says.
We’re all quiet for a moment, imagining that future.
“Harper?” Wyatt says eventually. “What other things do you want to explore?”
“Huh?” I say, pulling myself away from that vision of Daxton balancing our kid on a surfboard, laughing and playing with them in the waves.
“You said there were other things you wanted to explore – beyond working in a gallery and bringing up our kids?”
“Oh,” I say, my cheeks heating again. I chew on the inside of it. It’s going to sound stupid. Laurent certainly thought it was stupid. But these men aren’t Laurent. I think I could tell these men I wanted to take lessons on how to become a clown or had decided a career as a trapeze artist was for me, and they would support me 100%. “I’ve been drawing again. Drawing and painting.”
“Good,” Daxton says. “It’s about time.”
I remember the sketches of mine I found in his shoe box. “You knew about the drawings.”
“I always thought you had bucket loads of talent, Harper. I could never understand why you weren’t pursuing it.”
“I mean, I did try out in Paris. Laurent said I was wasting my time.”
“Laurent needs a smack around the face,” Owen says.
“He definitely needs a brain transplant,” Daxton agrees. “The man has no fucking taste. If he did, he wouldn’t have let you go.”
“You nearly let me go,” I point out.
“No,” Owen said. “We would have kept fighting for you. You do realize we chased you through the airport?”
“You did?”
“We got stopped by security,” Wyatt explains. “Owen very nearly got tased.”
“Owen!” I screech.
Obviously not wanting to be outdone by his packmate, Daxton mumbles, “I also … erm … I did leave you a long … erm … pretty emotional voicemail.”
“I didn’t get it.”
“Your machine deleted it when I tried to answer your call.”
Owen laughs. “Daxton, you’re an idiot.”
“And an asshole,” he says.
“No, you’re not,” I say, snuggling up to him. “You’re perfect just the way you are.”
“How about Clive? For a boy’s name,” Wyatt says. The rest of us burst into laughter. “What? Clive is a good solid name.”
“Yeah,” Owen says, “for a cat.”