Chapter 42
FLETCHER
December was upon us, which meant Christmas was right around the corner. Which meant shopping trips and stopping to refuel for lunch at a restaurant that wasn’t Bixby’s. Sometimes, you just needed to get away for a while.
After sharing a delicious meal together, the three of us waited in the booth for our bill, but our server had other plans. She came sashaying over, scratchpad in hand, her pen poised and ready to write.
“How are we feeling?” she asked, a bright smile on her face. “Do we want dessert? We’ve got some pretty great pies—blueberry, cherry, apple? Ice cream? Anything sounding good?”
I looked over at Adam, who was watching Sky with an amused smile on his face. When I followed his gaze, I noticed Sky nibbling on his lip, rubbing his belly. In the last month or so, he’d really begun to show, the bump there more pronounced.
“Sky?” I prompted gently. “Do you want dessert?”
“Um… Yes?” But he didn’t order, just side-eyed the waitress like she might judge him for whatever delicacy he might choose. “It’s just…weird.”
“Hey, hun, I’ve been there. I have three kids myself, and I promise you, the cravings can get weird,” our waitress assured him. “Pregnancy is a funny thing. It makes absolutely no sense. Whatever you order, I promise, it will not be the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen—or ordered myself.”
Sky’s cheeks flushed pink, but he nodded. He looked to me and Adam for guidance.
“Go on,” Adam said with a smile. “Whatever you’d like. If you need some time to order, Fletcher and I could order first?”
“Please,” Sky murmured.
“Alright then. I think I’d like the blueberry pie, and could I get that a la mode?”
“Of course, hon!” She wrote that down, then turned to me. “And you, sir?”
“Cherry for me, please. Sky?”
He fiddled with his napkin, twisting it in his hands. “Do you have, like, sundaes?”
“We can whip you up something, sure. Chocolate sauce, caramel sauce? Whipped cream?”
“Sounds great,” he said, but paused. “And…could you add pickles?”
I couldn’t hide my smile, but she didn’t miss a beat, scribbling it down. “I will personally make sure you get that order, hon. The baby wants what it wants.” She winked at him. “I’ll be right back with your treats.”
Not even five minutes later, she brought our desserts—two large wedges of pie and a bowl of ice cream with the fixings and dill pickles chopped up on top.
“Enjoy,” she said with a smile before she hurried off to the next table.
Adam and I peered over at Sky’s concoction. It was definitely something I wasn’t sure I’d want to try, but Sky immediately grabbed his spoon and took a bite. His expression was thoughtful as he chewed, then swallowed. Then he hummed happily.
“Good?” I teased him.
“Yeah,” he agreed with a soft laugh.
“Must be an Omega thing,” Adam said playfully.
Sky stuck his tongue out. “Don’t knock it till you try it, Alpha.”
Adam met his gaze easily, then snatched up his spoon. “Challenge accepted.”
Sky, delighted, pushed the sundae over to Adam so that he could scoop up a spoonful. Adam took a bite and immediately made a face.
“Alright. That is…not particularly good, I’ll admit,” he said with a chuckle, then slid the bowl over to me. “Fletch, you’re up.”
I looked down at the pickles floating in chocolate sauce, then up at my mate. I made a face. “Why do I have to try it? I’m not pregnant.”
I’d always heard of weird pregnancy cravings and often wondered what mine would be like when I used to daydream about starting a family with Adam. But those times had come and gone, regretfully.
At my Alpha’s raised eyebrow, I huffed out a breath. “Fine, fine.” I took a bite, almost gagged, and immediately spit it out in a napkin. Ugh, nasty. “Nope. It’s all yours, Sky. Enjoy.”
Sky laughed and greedily took the bowl back. “Delicious.”
As I watched him eat the strange concoction with the happiness of a child, my heart began to ache. I wasn’t jealous, but… This was everything I had ever wanted. To have a baby with Adam. To carry our child and start a family.
Now, to see Sky living my dream? It hurt.
Feeling overwhelmed all of a sudden, I excused myself and sought the restroom. I’d no sooner locked myself in the stall when the tears fell, hot and silent, down my cheeks.
I loved Adam so much, and I loved Sky, but damn if it didn’t hurt to see Sky getting exactly what I’d always dreamed of. My happily-ever-after.
I knew I wasn’t being fair. This was Sky’s dream, too, and through Sky, we were finally going to get the family we’d always wanted, but damn it… It felt like my heart was cracking in two.
I wasn’t sure how long I sat on that cold toilet lid, weeping softly for everything I’d never get, but when someone entered the bathroom, I hastily wiped my face and blew my nose in a wad of toilet paper.
“Fletch?” Sky’s voice was quiet, uncertain, and it only made my chest hurt more. “You okay?”
I sucked in a deep breath and swallowed my emotions, then unlocked the stall I was in and came out. Sky stood near the sinks, his brow furrowed with worry and his lower lip pinched between his teeth. When he saw me—or rather the fact that I’d been crying—his face fell.
“Did I do something wrong?” he asked, his voice wavering, and I nearly sobbed all over again because I was hurting him and I didn’t mean to.
“No, sweetheart,” I murmured, going to him. I smoothed his hair back from his face with gentle hands. “You did nothing wrong. I’m just a little emotional today, that’s all.”
“Do you need a hug?” he asked. Normally I was the one to as him that, but this time? I really did need a hug.
When I nodded, Sky wrapped his arms around me, holding me tight. I embraced him back, settling my head on his shoulder. For several minutes, the two of us simply swayed back and forth in the middle of the men’s bathroom and hugged it out.
Then, softly, barely a whisper, Sky said, “Love you,” and my heart… It was the first time he’d ever said those words, and he sounded so honest, so raw.
I swallowed around the tightness in my throat and gave him a squeeze, then kissed his temple. “I love you too, baby. C’mon, let’s get back to Adam before he gets worried.”
By the time we got back to the table, however, Adam was concerned. “Is everything alright?”
“Just a little sad is all,” I said. “I’ll be okay.”
The reality was, Sky was the answer to our prayers. The little miracle growing inside of him was the baby that Adam and I so desperately desired, except now we’d have a family of four.
Still, as Sky’s pregnancy developed, I knew I was going to need a little help working through these old wounds.
I made a note on my phone to set up an appointment with my therapist so that I could move through these feelings with professional help.
I didn’t want to end up hurting myself—or worse, Sky—with my misplaced emotions.
Adam seemed to know exactly what was wrong. As soon as we got home, he turned his full attention to me. We sat on the couch together, and he pulled me into his lap, nuzzling and kissing the mark he’d made on my neck, once upon a time.
When Sky excused himself to the bathroom, Adam turned to me, his expression solemn. “Do you want to talk about it?”
I let out a soft sigh. “Not really, no. I’ll be okay. It’s just hitting me all at once, you know?”
“I know, kitten,” he murmured. “I had a feeling this would happen.”
“It’s hard.”
“It is hard. Even though it’s what we both want, it’s not going how we ever imagined it, but we’re still getting our dream.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “And Sky is perfect for us.”
Adam smiled. “That he is. Our pack of three will become a pack of four once the baby is born. Our family will be complete and our hearts will be whole. We’ll finally get our happily-ever-after—all of us.”
The way he said it, with such utter conviction, made the tension in my body loosen a little, made it easier to breathe. “You’re right,” I murmured.
“I’m always right,” Adam said knowingly, then glanced over the back of the couch to the hallway. “Sky, come out from there. I can feel your nervous energy, love.”
Sky squeaked and ducked his head as he came out from behind the corner. He looked stricken, his face flushing. “I-I’m sorry, I just… I wanted to make sure everything was okay.”
“Come here, Sky.” I held out my arms to him, and Sky sank into them. I pulled him to my chest, Adam and I shifting on the couch to make room for him, just as we’d made room for him in our lives.
“No one is upset,” I promised him. “Everything is okay. I just need to work through my feelings. Nothing is changing between us, so don’t worry.
Sometimes, we just need to hash things out in therapy, and that’s exactly what I’m gonna do.
I’ll call first thing in the morning and make an appointment.
Until then? I need cuddles from my mates to make me feel better. ”
Sky snuggled in, and Adam kissed my temple. “That can be arranged.”
I smiled and closed my eyes. Things were gonna be alright.