Epilogue
Ewan
“Let’s go, Stanford. Your daddy’s outside waiting for us.”
He grabbed his toy dragon and ran across the living room to me. It was hard to believe our little one was already three. When people teased us saying not to blink because they grew so fast, they weren’t wrong.
“Where’s Daddy?” he said using his dragon voice.
“He is waiting for us at the goats.”
That had Stanford jumping up and down. He and the goats were besties. They’d been best buddies from the beginning. At first, they loved him and always called my mate over when he was carrying our newborn. As Standford grew, the feelings became mutual. It was adorable.
Despite his uncles often being here in their animal form, our son always started with the goats. Micah used to tease that my mate was part goat shifter and just didn’t know it yet. He rationalized that no one would pick a goat over his gorgeous self, so that was the only possible reason.
The real reason was because they loved Graham and they could sense that Standford was important to him.
In so many ways, Stanford was a mini-me of my mate.
We didn’t know if he was to be an alpha or omega yet and wouldn’t until his first shift, but I had a feeling he was going to be an alpha like his daddy.
I hadn’t even shut the door when Stanford was already off the porch and racing across the enclosure Graham and my cousins had just finished building. The old one had been fine, but we were thinking of expanding our garden, and moving the goats over would make it easier to expand our current beds.
“Daddy!” he said, using his dragon voice. “I’m flying over to you.”
I loved his imagination. I couldn’t remember a time he didn’t crave being read to, and all of those stories gave him such a creative energy.
Graham turned around and pretended to be scared. “No! Not the dragon. Hurry, goats, protect me!”
And if somebody didn’t know our goats and how they would do anything to hang out with Stanford, it might look like they were obeying my mate and coming to his defense, forming a barrier between the two of them.
“All right, guys, hold up. I gotta let them in.” Graham went to step around them only to stop when he saw our son already taking care of business on his own.
Ten seconds later, Stanford was up and over that fence, not once dropping his dragon. The first time he did it, both Graham and I had been nervous wrecks, not wanting him to fall and get hurt. And now we just went with it.
I, on the other hand, went to the gate. I could climb the fence but much preferred walking in. And besides, I had a secret to share at dinner. This morning I ran to town and took a pregnancy test. Standford was going to be a big brother.
“How’s it going?” I kissed Graham’s cheek.
“I’m just about finished here. And then I was going to check on the new plantings, just to make sure that the weeds are being kept at bay.”
From a project he hadn’t originally been super excited about to what our garden was now was night and day.
We expanded it each year, and we were at the point where not only did we have all of the vegetables that we needed for the year, but we were able to can veggies for others.
We talked a few times about possibly setting up at the local market, but with so much family nearby, that was usually where it ended up.
It wasn’t a one-sided exchange, though my mate never asked for anything.
Around here, we all pitched in doing what we were best at.
I had a cousin who plied us with fresh baked bread often, another who could fix any car or tractor, and a few that were really handy around the house.
In a lot of ways, having my family next door, even if they weren’t all full-time, had this place feeling like a herd.
And while I enjoyed that for me, I loved that as an environment for raising our son.
Giggles poured out of Stanford as the goats followed him and his dragon as he ran the “goat obstacle course,” which had no obstacles whatsoever and was more weaving back and forth.
“What are you up to? Going to shift for a while?”
“Yeah. My cousins and I are going to hang out together with Sue Ellen and crew.”
Sue Ellen and her family were coming to join us. Ever since we reconnected at the diner, we’d kept in touch, and since the birth of our son, she and her family had been regular visitors. It reminded me of back when I was little and my grandfather’s entire neighborhood was one big family.
There was a rumor that the house on the other side of our property was going to be for sale soon. If it was, she and her mate were thinking about moving in. We all hoped that happened.
“All right, well, get to it.” Graham smacked my ass playfully. “And after I check on things in the garden, I’ll make sure to get the lasagnas in the oven for family dinner.”
That was one of my favorite things we did here.
Every Friday night, everyone was welcome to come to family dinner.
Tonight it was lasagna. Some nights chili.
And it wasn’t always us who provided the meal.
This time I made it. My mate would heat it up, but it was good to go.
I always left the chili to him. My entire family agreed he was a chili master.
Sue Ellen, her teenagers, and her mate were pulling in just as I reached my cousins.
I couldn’t imagine what the neighbors thought about our animal situation.
Some days we had one animal out there, others a bunch.
Did they think we kept the cows in the barn?
Maybe. Or maybe they didn’t notice at all.
But it would be difficult not to notice today.
By my count, there were going to be at least twenty of us.
After the obligatory hugs and how-are-yous, we all shifted and went out to graze in an overgrown part of the property.
Yes, it was wonderful to be with friends and family, obviously, but today was more than that, because we were also accomplishing clearing a new area where we were considering adding another cabin.
One of my cousins that I hadn’t seen in years was moving back from the city, and it would be a perfect spot for him to settle in.
I couldn’t imagine living in the city on purpose.
My beast liked to be chomping on grass too much for that.
We spent a couple of hours mostly eating, with a little bit of play infused in, before heading back to the main house for dinner.
Stanford was the only young child in the family at this point.
He loved being the center of everyone’s attention, going from person to person to make sure they saw and met his new dragon.
His status as the baby was going to disappear soon, and I wanted him to soak up every second of the attention.
My family was great, and they wouldn’t ignore him for the baby, but when you got all the attention, any change was a lot.
“This is pretty awesome.” Graham came around behind me and hugged me, resting his chin on my shoulder. “Thank you for sharing your family with me.”
I turned to him. “It’s not my family. It’s ours.” From the very beginning it was really important to me that he understood that. He wasn’t a plus-one, he was one of us.
“Thank you for making me a part of our family.” He kissed me back, the kiss lingering long enough that Micah thought whistling was the proper reaction.
There had been a time when either or both of us would have been embarrassed by that.
This time, my mate’s arm left my back, and I knew without looking he was waving them away as he deepened the kiss.
When our mouths separated, I put his hand on my belly and whispered, “Our family will have one more soon.”
“You’re pregnant?” He hugged me tight and twirled me around.
“I am.”
Within seconds, we were surrounded by all the people important in our lives, hugging us, congratulating us, and making sure we knew how excited they were for our news.
Who would have thought when I was taken to auction that it would have resulted in me living this amazing life filled with love, family, and the alpha who stole my heart.