Epilogue
Six months later…
Millie
The doorbell rang and I reluctantly set down my sandwich. I was starving, as was my constant state these days, but my midday snack was going to have to wait.
Hand over my growing belly, I made my way over to the front door, but Ethan stopped me before I got there.
“What are you doing?” He demanded, hands on his hips like a mother hen.
I was confused. “Answering the door?”
He shook his head, eyeing me speculatively. “I can get that. You go back and have something to eat. You look like you’re losing weight.”
Glancing down at myself, I snorted. Losing weight? Was he serious? I was as big as a house. Well, my belly was at least.
“The doctor said the more walking I do the better,” I pointed out for the hundredth time. “There’s no need to keep me cooped up like a veal calf, Ethan. Pregnancy is a perfectly normal event for both wolves and women,” I lectured.
Thankfully, I had a ware OBGYN now who answered every question I had in my head. Melanie was a goddamned saint who gave me her personal number in case I thought of any questions I needed to ask at three in the morning whenever I got up to pee, as I did all the freaking time now.
“Well, you need your rest. Twins are a strain on a woman’s system and require frequent naps and snacks so that a mother is properly nourished alongside the babies,” he lectured right back.
Damn Melanie for giving him that baby book! The man read it religiously before he went to bed each night and it was starting to really grate on my nerves. The doorbell sounded again and I unsuccessfully tried to maneuver around him.
“I’ll get it. You go sit down and rest your feet. It’s probably just Flint. He said he might stop by for dinner,” he told me offhandedly.
“Flint’s coming for dinner?” I asked, my whole face lighting up. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Ever since we’d informed the pack we were having a baby, they had each made time to visit more regularly.
Though, not regularly enough for my liking.
Unfortunately, work kept them traveling so much we hadn’t had a chance to broach the subject of them living here permanently.
As soon as things evened out a bit, Ethan promised we’d have a family meeting about our collective futures.
My mate frowned. “I didn’t want to get your hopes up in case he couldn’t make it.”
That was fair. Last time Flint said he was visiting for the weekend and then couldn’t make it, I cried for three hours straight.
Though I knew it was just the hormones, Ethan had been beside himself with worry, trying to calm me down.
It had taken an entire tub of my favorite ice cream, plus several desperate phone calls to Flint demanding he pick a very specific time to visit in the future, sworn to in text and voice calls, that I was able to stop sobbing.
The man probably thought I was crazy, though he’d never be foolish enough to say so out loud or Ethan would have his ass.
“Let’s go together,” I suggested, desperate to see who was at the door. “If I feel faint, I’ll let you carry me the last few steps.”
Ethan gave me a look that said he wasn’t pleased with my smart-ass response. I smiled back brightly at him because I didn’t give a shit.
Acquiescing like he always did since learning of my “delicate condition”, Ethan begrudgingly agreed and followed me to the door. When we saw who was standing outside through the window, I could have been knocked over by a feather.
“Did you know about this?” I demanded, angry heat flooding my cheeks as I searched the driveway for a car.
The honest shock on my mate’s face told me he was just as surprised as I was. “No.”
My brother was standing on the front stoop, suitcase in hand, visibly trembling, though it wasn’t cold out. I threw the door wide and ushered him inside. As soon as he stepped over the threshold, he dropped his tiny suitcase and began to quietly weep into his hands.
Tossing my arms around his frail shoulders, I made soothing sounds as I rubbed his back. “Bowman, where’s,” I was going to say Jenny, but quickly compromised by saying, “your mother?”
“She left,” he choked out, his entire body trembling with the effort. “She said she’s not coming back.”
What? This couldn’t be happening. My mother couldn’t be doing this to another child. What the fuck was wrong with her! Did she have no heart at all?
Glancing at the boy’s suitcase, the only other thing he’d come with, I glimpsed a white envelope taped to it. It was addressed to me. Yanking it free, I quickly opened the letter as Bowman hugged my middle like he was terrified I’d leave him too.
Millie,
Malcolm won’t let him stay, and I’m afraid he’ll kill him if I don’t send him away. He can never return to Alaska. Please take care of him, like I should have taken care of you.
I’m sorry,
Mom
Three lines. That’s all my brother and I were going to get. My stomach twisted at the woman’s cruelty. When Bowman’s tiny hand reached for mine, I remembered what Laurence had said to me about taking in orphaned boys back in Alaska.
“I try not to judge when people come to my doorstep asking for help. The only thing that matters at the end of the day is that the children are safe and cared for.”
If I was going to start helping orphaned wares, I was going to have to embrace that philosophy as well. Children rarely got what they deserved in this life. The least I could do was not add to my little brother’s burden and give him a stable family that would love him for exactly who he was.
Crouching low, I tilted the boy’s chin upward so his beautiful blue eyes, so like our mother’s, were level with mine.
“Welcome home, Bowman. I’m so glad you’re here. You’re just in time for a snack. Do you like ice cream?” I took a shot in the dark, thinking it was a fairly safe bet that he did.
The child smiled through his tears and asked, “Do you have chocolate?”
Amateur! I had ten different flavors in the freezer at the moment and several more on my list for grocery day.
“Of course. Is that your favorite?”
Bowman eagerly nodded and I scooped his hand into mine. “This is my husband, Ethan. He’s going to make us each a big bowl of chocolate ice cream. Aren’t you Ethan?”
As was my mate’s way, he didn’t pester me with questions about the note, or why Bowman had shown up alone. He simply followed my lead.
“Absolutely,” he agreed. “I’m going to make one for myself, as well.”
“Will there be enough for everyone?” Bowman nervously queried, afraid he’d be an unwelcome burden, as he’d clearly been in his own “home”.
I clucked my tongue and held out my other hand to Ethan. Together, we began walking back to the kitchen as a unit. “In this house, there’s always enough to go around.” Enough food. Enough care. And more than enough love.
Bowman looked like he was amazing by the concept. “Really?”
Ethan rubbed the boy’s head playfully. “Really. Now, how many scoops can a big boy like you eat?”
As Bowman considered the question, I looked over his head at the man whom I mated with and realized the hole in my chest, and in his, had been filled with the one thing that everyone, human or ware, craved most of all: love.
And that was enough.
The End