Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Landon
“Careful with that,” I say, trying to help my dad with a box. He gives me a stern look. My omega dad pushes me towards the couch. With my center being so big, it’s easy for him to push me down onto the cushions and there’s literally nothing I can do to get back up.
“You can take that into the spare room right there,” Jett says, directing my dads as they move all of my stuff into Jett’s home.
Except, it’s not really Jett’s home anymore. This is our home. The home we’re going to have our children in and raise our family.
It’s been about a month and a half since the day I was snowed in and trapped within Jett’s home. Although, I don’t know if trapped is truly the right word. I was snowed in but there was nowhere else I’d rather be.
Being snowed in together did a number on our hormones and instincts.
Since these eggs have been inside of me, all of that has mellowed out.
I’m at peace with everything that’s happened.
That concoction of hormones and pheromones have been replaced with something softer, something more steady.
Those things have been replaced with love and affection.
Neither of us has said those words yet but I can feel them in everything we do. Jett cooks for me and takes care of me. I praise him and worship him the way he deserves. We make each other happy, better than we were when we were alone.
I love him so much it hurts. It steals my breath and sours my stomach the longer I hold the words back. I’m waiting for the perfect moment. Call me a romantic but I want it to be special.
Sitting on the couch, staring at the fire, the same one we shared when we first met, I feel tears wet my eyes. I take off my glasses, wiping at my face, overwhelmed by the emotions building up inside my chest.
“Oh, sweetheart,” Jett says, putting down the box he was just carrying and kneeling at my feet beside the couch. “Hey, what’s going on?”
I look at my mate, overwhelmed all over again. He’s just so beautiful, so gentle, so kind.
“I’m okay,” I say, smiling through the tears. “I’m just really, really happy, Jett.”
“I’m happy too,” he says, wiping my tears away. He replaces those tears with soft kisses against my skin. “I’m so happy you’re here. I’m happy to know you.” He places a hand on my round stomach. “I’m happy our babies are safe and sound with you.”
I hiccup as I try to suck in a sharp breath. It gets stuck in my chest and hurts. “I want it to be special.”
“What do you want to be special?”
“The moment I tell you I love you.”
“Oh,” he breathes out, his gray eyes widening. Then he grins wider than I’ve ever seen. “That’s good to know. I want the moment to be special when I tell you the same thing. We’ll wait for just the right moment, okay?”
I nod my head. “Okay. That sounds good.”
I’m surprised when he grabs my face between his palms and brings his mouth to mine. I close my eyes and sink into the kiss. I’m completely swept away.
That is, until my dads come back into the room. One of them whistles and the other snickers.
When we pull back, Jett’s cheeks are pink. “Sorry,” he says with a wink. Then he stands up, getting back to work with moving things.
That’s when it hits me.
“Wait a damn minute! That was the moment! That wasn’t special at all!”
Jett looks over his shoulder, his eyes shining. “Every moment with you is special, Landon.”
“Oh my gods, these two are worse than us!”
Eventually, all of our things are brought into the house. Jett does what he always does; makes us some food. This time, he’s made homemade kettle corn which is deliciously sweet and salty. We sit around the fire, talking about this new chapter of life that we’re embarking on.
I lean against Jett’s shoulder, listening as he tells my dads a story.
Apparently, one time when he was younger, he and some of his siblings decided they were going to do a full circus performance.
They decorated their backyard and made signs, directing people to the backyard.
Not a single person showed up so they decided it was time to take matters into their own hands, advertisement wise.
What started as them performing out on the sidewalk, calling out to the cars about the circus ended with them mooning cars as they drove by.
Their parents came outside to see why so many people were honking only to see Jett with his pants around his ankles with his tushy hanging out for everyone to see.
That ended with them all grounded and a stern talking to about when it’s okay to be naked and in public isn’t one of those times.
Himari was ‘assigned’ the younger kids. It became her job to make sure they weren’t getting into trouble since there were so many kids and their parents didn’t have enough eyes to keep on them all.
Listening to the story, my heart clenches for my mate. I know he’s okay now, but it breaks my heart that he couldn’t have the same type of relationship I have with my dads. Being an only child, I was the only one they had to worry about.
What’s going to happen with this clutch inside of me? Can we handle four babies? Will some of them end up feeling like they got less attention? Fuck, can I handle all of this?
I’m worried about everything but at the same time, there’s this peaceful knowledge inside of me. We can handle this. We won’t make the same mistakes as those who came before us. Instead of repeating patterns, we’ll learn from them.
As we talk, my dads insist on helping Jett decorate.
The lights are still hung up, but they claimed we needed to christen the house with all the trimmings for Christmas.
He finds a box in one of his closets, pulling it out.
I sit back, my hands resting on my belly as they move around the living room, hanging up more lights and decorations.
Snow blows outside, though it’s nothing like the day Jett and I were snowed in, making it feel like a proper winter wonderland.
Jett steps up to the back of the couch, holding something over my head.
“What’s that?”
Jett’s eyes practically sparkle. “Mistletoe. You know what that means.”
Instead of answering, I tilt my head back and pucker up my lips. Jett grins as he dips down and steals a soft kiss. My chest feels like it could burst with how much affection is stuffed inside of me.
I love this man. I love this man. I love this man.
I remember a long time ago, Jett told me that he never had much for trees or stockings.
Sure, he had some lights and some tinsel, just the basics.
Now, my dads walk over to the fireplace and hang up six stockings.
Four of them have no names but two of them read ‘Landon’ and ‘Jett’.
Jesus Christ, here comes the water works again.
“I hope you don’t mind,” my omega dad says sheepishly. “I thought it would be a cute housewarming gift.”
Jett looks over at me. He looks like he’s going into shock. Or maybe he can’t quite grasp how much my parents have truly accepted him into the pack before right now.
“Oh,” he says. “Thank you. They’re lovely.”
“Come here,” my omega dad says, holding out his arms. He’s much shorter than Jett but Jett curls himself down, allowing himself to be embraced by my father.
My heart cannot take much more of this. If these three keep this up, I’m going to be a blubbering mess for the rest of the night! I feel so incredibly lucky that this is my life. I have everything I could ever hope to have.
“Landon,” my alpha dad says slowly, looking between me and his mate. I’m brought back to the present, hoping I haven’t missed too much as I think about everything that’s happened, not just today but the last few months. “We have a question for you and there’s absolutely no pressure either way.”
“You’re freaking me out.” I look at my dads. “Is something wrong?”
He gives me a grin. “Have you thought about what you want to do with your house?”
I shrug. That’s not at all where I thought this was going. “I was probably going to get it all set up and put it on the market. If I’m lucky, someone nice who likes to keep to themselves will want to buy it.”
“What about someone you already know who might want to bother you often?” My omega dad asks tentatively.
“What do you mean? Do you know someone?”
Jett takes my hand, lacing our fingers together. He gives me a little squeeze. When I look over at him, he’s giving me a look I don’t understand. Finally, he grins and says, “I think they mean them.”
“Wait, what?” I look between my dads, my eyes watering again. “Fucking hormones,” I hiss out, wiping my face with my free hand and getting salt in my eye which only makes things worse. “Are you being serious right now?”
“Only if that’s okay. We’ve talked about it and we would love to be close. Raising four little ones all at once is going to take a village and we wanted to offer to be that village for you.”
I turn towards Jett. He looks unsure yet at the same time, he looks so incredibly happy. He gives me the tiniest nod to let me know we’re on the same page.
“Of course that’s okay,” I tell my dads. I try to get off the couch and hug them but I tip backwards, still not used to being so wide around the middle. Jett grabs my butt, helping to hoist me up off the couch.
I waddle around the table and by the time I get there, my dads have already stood up.
I pull them both into a tight, fierce hug.
I don’t think it’s possible to be any happier.
I have my mate, my babies, and now my family here to help with everything.
All of the worries that threatened to steal my joy are gone, replaced with the rightness of this moment.
Everything is going to fall into place. Jett and I don’t have to have it all figured out right this second. We can figure it out as we go as long as we do it together. We don’t have to do it alone either. We’ll have Himari. We’ll have my dads. We can do this.
“We won’t be able to move in right away but we can certainly move the essentials and make sure we’re here when the babies are born.”
“That sounds perfect. Thank you so much,” I say, crying again. Stupid hormones. I will never, ever tease my omega dad about being emotional ever again.
“We’ll have to throw you a welcome to the neighborhood party,” Jett says with a grin.
“Only if you promise to cook,” my dad says, pulling Jett into our awkward group hug as well. The scent of my pack surrounds me and I feel safe. More than that, I feel at home.