Chapter 24
“ Y ou okay?” Bryce poked his head into the bathroom, where I was trying to wrestle my hair into submission with my blow-dryer brush combo.
“Just nervous. A lot of people to meet.”
He let out a sigh, offering me a commiserating smile. “I feel that.”
“Oh yeah, I guess everyone is new for you too. Did your dad decline the invite?”
“Never replied to it.” Bryce shrugged. “If he doesn’t want to be part of my life, I can’t force him.”
“I invited my brother, but he won’t be back in town. I skipped inviting my mom.”
“A fair choice, considering the danger she put you in last time you saw her.”
I nodded, but I couldn’t help the pang in my chest at having to do these little milestones without her.
“The others assured me no one is allowed upstairs so if either of us need to escape, we’re just a stair climb away,” Bryce said.
I patted my belly. “Easier for you than me.”
“You just say the word and I’ll carry you straight upstairs.”
“Might take a couple of you to accomplish that.”
I was only on my feet for another couple of seconds before Bryce scooped me up bridal style simply to prove me wrong. “I can handle it.”
“In fairness, this is standing still, not carrying me upstairs, but I’ll believe you. Hopefully your alpha strength won’t be required.”
He carefully set me back down and stole a kiss while he was stooped. “Everyone should be arriving in a few minutes. Would you like an escort downstairs?”
“My gallant prince.” I giggled, hooking my arm through his.
“Fitting, considering you’re obviously a princess.” He fished a rather large velvet box out of the inside pocket of his suit jacket. “I think I picked the perfect gift.”
I took it from him, wondering what on earth took up this much space. I flipped the box open, a gorgeous band of sparkling flowers greeting me. “Is that a tiara ?”
“I think it technically counts as a circlet, but yes. I know it’s kind of silly, but?—”
“I love it!”
“Oh, good.” He let out a relieved breath.
“This had better not be real diamonds.”
“Um…”
“ Bryce !”
“You deserve diamonds,” he defended. “Besides, your smile is going to sparkle so much more than those stones.”
“Quit being so sweet. You’re gonna make me cry.”
“Happy tears are allowed.” He plucked the circlet from the container and set it atop my head, pulling a couple delicate curls from each side to loop over the ends so it blended with the style.
“It’s so pretty. Thank you.” I pulled him down for a kiss, soaking up the rich flavor of him until a throat cleared in the doorway and we broke apart, seeing Luke standing there.
“Micah’s family just arrived,” he told us. “You don’t have to rush down, but they are here to see you.”
“We’re coming,” I promised. I touched up my lipstick and let the two of them usher me downstairs.
A huge throng of people stood in our entryway. Micah’s mother and her pack of alphas, all of Micah’s siblings, a couple of which came with their own packs. Micah waved to us as we descended and the crowd turned, smiles lighting up all of their faces. I soaked up the hints of family resemblance, the same curl patterns, the same smiles, to pick out who was sibling and who was partner.
“Everyone, this is Ava. Ava, this is everyone.”
I was immediately swallowed up by the throng. Blessedly, Jesse had insisted on name tags, and Micah’s family all sported them. It was a good thing too, because their names of the nearly twenty people almost immediately fell out of my head just from hearing them. Hopefully I would get more familiar with them so that I didn’t need name tags, but for now I was grateful to have them.
They swallowed me up in a cluster of hugs, everyone jostling to greet me. The entire family was gorgeous, practically a pack of models, with skin tones ranging from pale white to dark umber, and hair from pin straight to the tightest coils. Micah fell toward the middle with warm light brown skin and bleached curls.
Once I could breathe, Micah tugged one of the women toward me. “Most important introduction for practical purposes, this is my sister Janessa. She’s the obstetrician.”
She had a halo of tight waves and hot pink lips. “It’s so nice to meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you, too.” I accepted her hug, tropical sweetness similar to coconut and pineapple wafted off her. Micah hadn’t told me which of his family was which designation, but unless that was an exquisite dupe perfume, Janessa was an omega like me.
“You’ve met my mom, Mary,” Micah continued. “These are my dads: Jerome, Marcus, Terry, Emilio, and Archie. And the sibling squad: Tina, Erica and Elias—twins—and Alex.”
I couldn’t help but notice that the initials matched who looked to be the most likely biological father for each of the siblings.
“Should we get you off your feet?” Janessa asked.
“Never gonna say no to a good sit.”
I let her steal me away from the rest of Micah’s family.
“You absolutely don’t have to agree to me being your obstetrician,” she said. “I can bully some of the other doctors at my practice to squeeze you in if you would prefer not seeing someone who’s family.”
“Might be weird for my future sister-in-law to see my cooch, but I think adequate medical care trumps awkwardness.”
Janessa laughed. “I’ll get you caught up on your appointments at least. Gotta make sure my brother’s mate is healthy.”
“I appreciate that.”
Jesse’s family was next to arrive. He brought them straight to me rather than having me get up to my feet. “Sweetness, this is my mom, Marisol, and two of my aunties, Isabella and Camila. Everyone, this is Ava.”
Marisol bent down to kiss each of my cheeks. “Hello, mija. My Jesse has told us all about you. Welcome to the family, dear.”
“Nice to meet you.” I smiled up at her and Jesse helped me to my feet so I could hug each of them. “Thank you so much for coming.”
“Of course. We couldn’t miss out on meeting the mother of our first grandbaby. How much longer to go?”
“About six weeks.”
I watched the families interact while keeping up conversation with a few women who had settled around me.
“They’re all treating you well?” Camila asked.
“Better than I ever imagined being treated.”
Isabella patted my hand. “Jesse didn’t tell us much about your previous situation, but we’re all very glad you’re in a better one now.”
“Me too,” I said, my breath hitching. “I’m just grateful they all seem to be so on board with the baby.”
Marisol clucked her tongue. “As they should be. Any child of your partner is your child too. They deserve the love of a parent whether or not you share blood.”
The baby took the opportunity to kick me in the ribs. Light burst in all of their eyes.
“Would you like to feel the kicks?”
“Yes, please.” Numerous hands lay across my belly, the baby practically doing an Irish jig on my organs to the delight of everyone experiencing it from the outside.
“Someone’s active,” Janessa said with a laugh. “Do they have regular active periods?”
“Not so much at regular times of day, but always when there’s a lot of noise. If I’m outside, or my alphas get chatty, or we watch TV, Baby is always awake for those.”
My alphas’ bosses were next to arrive. Luke brought whom I assumed to be Callie over, and Janessa vacated her seat so Callie could sit down, pulling up another chair for herself.
“Hey there, bump bestie.” Callie grinned. “I would offer a hug, but I’m not sure how we would both manage.”
Callie introduced herself to Jesse’s family as a friend of Luke and Micah’s. I wasn’t sure if their families knew what they did for work, but if Callie wasn’t blowing that whistle, I wasn’t going to either.
“Your party decor is so cute,” said Callie. “Props for doing a different palette than blue and pink. The orange and green reminds me of an autumn bouquet.”
“Thanks.” I smiled at her. “It’s the nursery decor colors.”
“Can we see the nursery?” Marisol asked.
“Yeah, of course.” I waved Jesse over. “Can you take them to see the nursery, please?”
“On it.” He stole a quick kiss before announcing, “Nursery tour happening if anyone wants to come.”
Half of the guests departed to follow him.
Callie stretched out in her seat, stroking her hand over her rounded belly. “Do you know what you’re having yet?”
“Not yet. I want to be surprised. You?”
“Baby girls.”
“How many have you got stashed in there?”
Callie laughed. “Two. Starting strong with twins.”
“I’ll get something cute for both of them when they make an appearance,” I promised. “Since I missed your baby shower.”
“I won’t say no to presents, but there’s absolutely no need. We have so much baby stuff already it’s bordering on ridiculous.”
“How much longer for you?”
“Depends on how cooperative they feel like being. Lots of twins are born early for betas, so I’m hoping they’ll stick around more since I’m an omega. They definitely don’t do full-term very often. Feels like I’m ready to pop already.”
I didn’t make a peep about how she looked like it too. It hadn’t quite occurred to me how much bigger a bump with two babies would be than with one, but knowing we were in the same month made the differences obvious.
“I hope we can hang out a bit,” said Callie. “I know we’ll have a while where neither of us will probably leave the house much, but if you want some girl time, I hope you’ll call.”
“Yeah, I’d love that. I’m pretty sure out of everyone I’ve met, you’re most likely to understand all the bullshit I’ve gone through.”
Callie nodded. “I’ve heard a bit, but not much for details. I almost was you, to be honest.”
“Oh?”
“My fiancé cheated on me too, but I think the difference is I got out before I got pregnant, and you weren’t quite as lucky on timing.”
“Understatement of the century.” I glanced around our mostly full living room, seeing how the guests had clustered together to speak.
“My four are up in the nursery, I assume to make sure their decorating is up to par,” Callie said, an amused smirk on her lips.
“It’s cute that they’re so excited.”
“It really is. I’ve barely had to do anything myself.”
“Do you have names picked out?” I asked.
“We have a short list. We know which alphas are the fathers of these two so I let them submit their favorites and I’ll pick from those once I get to make sure the faces match the names.”
“That’s a good way to do it. I haven’t picked out any favorites yet.”
“There’s still time. Maybe inspiration will strike when you meet them.”
“I hope so.”
“Can I get the two of you a plate?” Bryce asked, popping up from wherever he had been.
“Yes, please,” I replied.
“Absolutely, thank you,” Callie said.
Bryce disappeared into the kitchen where the catering Micah’s mother had ordered had been set up. He returned with two plates of fruit, veggies, and dip alongside some mini chicken sandwiches, both balanced on one arm, and two flutes of sparkling apple juice in the other hand.
Once Callie and I were both stocked up, he pulled the lever on the squishy recliner they had ordered for me, letting me settle back and raise my feet.
“I need to get one of these,” Callie said, stroking the smooth leather.
“I can send you the order information,” Bryce offered. “They ship quickly.”
“Hell yes.” She grinned. “Going to lounge my ass off.”
The doorbell rang and we turned toward it.
“I thought everyone was here?” I asked.
Bryce shrugged. “I’ll see who it is.”
I watched him wander over to the front door and swing it wide before he froze.
“Dad? What are you doing here?”