Epilogue
Mark
Fourteen Years Later
“Mr. Kendrick-Taylor, the senator’s office is on line three,” my assistant announces over the intercom, and I frown. What is important enough that a text or voice memo wouldn’t have sufficed?
I pick up the receiver. “Shelby? What’s wrong? Is everyone okay?”
“Yes, sorry. Nothing like that,” she says quickly. “I’m just juggling a lot of last-minute changes, and it was easier to call you while I sort the rest out.”
This only deepens my confusion. “What changes? I thought we were all driving back to New York tonight?” God, please do not let the president be calling a special session.
The kids have been counting down the hours until they can get home and put up the tree at the penthouse.
We’ve all settled into DC well enough, but it’s not where our roots are.
“Yes and no. Everyone is leaving tonight, except Ron and I will take the girls to Jack and Mateo’s. Tony will drive you and Ava separately.”
I pause. “Why?”
She sucks in a breath. “You’re in for a bit of a surprise, big guy. Are you sitting down?”
Now I really don’t like where this is going. “Spit it out, Shelby, before you give me a stroke.”
“Ava is going into heat.”
Some powerful emotion fills my stomach. Not sure if it’s excitement or dread, though. “Shut up. She hasn’t had a heat in over seven years. We’re done.”
“Apparently not. She’s running a fever, her scent is exploding, and she’s being an even bigger pain in my ass than usual. She flat-out refuses to even consider having her heat at the brownstone nest. All her babies were conceived in New York. Hence all the juggling.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. That sounds exactly like my mate.
Shit.
Another baby. I mean, I adore my trio of little vipers, but I’m pushing fifty. Starting all over?
“I can call Suzanne,” Shelby offers gently. “I know she’s said suppressants aren’t safe for Ava anymore, but there have been so many advances in birth control.”
“No,” I say immediately. “Nothing like that. I won’t risk her health just because I’m having a minor midlife crisis about diapers, midnight feedings, and being eligible for retirement when this kid is still in high school. It’s exciting. Just… terrifying.”
She chuckles. “Hey, maybe you’ll finally get a boy.”
I snort. “At this point, I don’t even know what I would do with one. My lot in life is to be surrounded by redheaded girls that bully me.”
“Especially since Amelia presented as an alpha.”
“Yeah, no joke,” I say, shaking my head. “All right. When and where do I need to be?”
“Here at the office in an hour. Tony is picking up the girls and heading this way as well.”
I blink. “He’s going to allow someone else to drive the girls somewhere? That sounds made up.”
“You laugh, but he’s being a bigger pain than Ava about it,” she says dryly. “I explained that either someone other than him drives Ava while she’s vulnerable and in heat, or Ron drives the girls. Those are the options.”
“I mean, I can drive us back to New York.”
She laughs. “You are wildly out of practice. I suspect you’re going to be a little busy in the back seat to be of much use behind the wheel.”
Oh. Right.
My cock stirs at the reminder, as if my body just remembered all the fun that comes with a heat.
“Okay, I’ll see you in an hour. Give my omega my love.”
When I arrive at Ava’s office in the Hart Senate building, it’s far emptier than usual.
Shelby must have let the rest of the staff go home early, either for the holiday break or because of Ava’s heat.
Regardless, it’s blissfully quiet in a place that is normally organized chaos.
One junior aide remains, and she’s busy packing up her laptop bag.
I recognize her as the omega that Ava had recruited straight from Georgetown.
The first omega congressional staff member for the first omega congresswoman.
What Ava has accomplished in the last decade or so has been nothing less than extraordinary.
“Hello, Mr. Kendrick-Taylor,” she says with a smile. “Mrs. McGregory and the senator are in her office with your girls.”
“Thank you, Dakota. Happy holidays and safe travels if you’re leaving the city.”
She shakes her head. “No, I’m a local, so not very far to go at all. Same to you, though it sounds like you’re going to have a happy holiday indeed,” she says with a laugh.
I open the door to Shelby’s chief of staff office and I find the chaos that was missing.
Amelia, our oldest is in a chair as far as humanly possible away from her two younger sisters, playing on her phone.
She’s always been our bossiest and most stubborn, but her recent presentation as an alpha has thrown it into overdrive.
Olivia, our middle daughter and easily the wildest of the three, is busy holding something above Charlotte’s head.
“Hello, baby vipers. Let’s maybe tone it down several notches,” I say gently, setting my bag down on a table near the door. I ruffle Amelia’s hair and she wiggles away while making a face, which only makes me grin. “Olivia, give your sister back her toy. Where’s Mom?”
“She’s in her office with Aunt Shelby. Amelia told Mom that she stinks, so she sent all three of us out here to wait for Uncle Ron,” Olivia informs me eagerly, never one to miss an opportunity to rat out her big sister.
I cut a look at my oldest, who at least has the self-awareness to look sheepish. “I didn’t mean it like that. It caught me by surprise. I never smelled mom’s scent like that before, and my nose is so much more sensitive now.”
“Commenting on people’s scent is rude in general, and you know that. Doing so when an omega is going into heat would be like a boy calling you disgusting for being an alpha,” I chide.
“I know. I told her I was sorry. I don’t think she was too mad. More that those two were getting on her nerves,” she says, pointing at her sisters.
“Were not!”
“Were too!”
Thankfully, Ron picks that moment to open the door. His practiced dad—and now grandpa—eye quickly takes assessment of the situation. “Oy! Can it. Let’s go tell your mom bye and hit the road. If you guys can keep from fighting for thirty whole minutes, we’ll stop for ice cream on the way.”
We all head into Ava’s office. It’s a large, vaulted room, with a partial wall in the center that has cutout openings to a smaller space Ava uses as a makeshift nest when she needs it.
The American flag and the New York state flag bracket either side of a large portrait of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt.
Ava liked to say that Eleanor should almost be considered the first female president with as much as she helped FDR, so she deserves just as much recognition.
My mate is sitting at her large desk underneath, and her scent is intoxicating even at a distance.
I stay back by the doorway, not wanting to respond too much to it in front of our children.
She catches my eye and gives me a bashful small smile, and I can feel her anxiety through the bond.
I silently shake my head and send love and happiness her way.
I see her shoulders relax, and she opens her arms. “Give me a hug goodbye, girls. I’ll see you in a few days,” she says. “Well, Amelia, you don’t have to,” she adds quickly, and I can tell that her feelings are hurt a little by Amelia’s offhand comment.
I glance at my oldest to see how she’ll respond, but she steps forward and hugs her mother. “I am sorry, Mom. My nose is just sensitive,” she whispers.
“It’s all right, baby, I understand. I bet it is intense when you’ve never smelled it before. It’ll be gone when I see you next, okay?” Ava presses a kiss to her forehead and releases her, before pulling the other two into hugs.
They say their goodbyes to me before Ron and Shelby usher them out the door. I can hear Amelia and Olivia already starting to argue as they head out. So much for ice cream.
I turn back to face my mate and crook a finger at her. “Come here, you.”
“Nah, you come here. Or does my perfume not lure you in anymore?” she responds, jutting out her chin with a fake pout.
“Must not be too far into your heat yet if you’re still being a brat.
” I grin and close the distance between us.
I pull her out of her chair and into my arms, burying my nose against her throat and scenting her.
I hadn’t ever thought I’d get to smell this particular flavor of Ava again, and I intend to savor it and commit it to memory this time.
“You sure you want to try and get back to New York? You feel very hot, and your perfume is pretty strong,” I ask against her skin. “The brownstone is closer.” Not to mention that the sooner I get inside of her, the happier my cock will be.
“All my babies were conceived at home in New York. I’m not changing that now. You can get me off as many times as possible in the car, but don’t you dare knot me until we are at home in my nest.” Her words are demanding, but her voice has a needy omega whine pitch to it.
“Don’t know why you’re being bossy. Like you don’t turn into a greedy little submissive when you’re in heat,” I growl, nipping lightly at her throat.
Ava shivers. “Yeah, well, I’m not fully in heat yet. But I mean it. It’s… important to me.”
“I know, sweet cereus. Only New York-bred baby vipers at our house. I won’t knot you until we’re home. No matter how many times you beg me to, because we both know you will.”
She swallows, and her eyes have a glassy look that tells me keeping that promise and making it to the penthouse is going to be difficult. My scent and proximity has ramped up her heat, and my alpha side is responding in kind.
Tony knocks at the door, and I breathe a sigh of relief. Just a few more hours and I can fuck her into the mattress. In the meantime, I think I’m going to indulge in my favorite snack until we get there.
Nine Months Later
I stare in awe at the tiny creature wrapped tightly like a burrito in the small bassinet beside Ava’s bed.
It doesn’t matter that this is my fourth time doing this, it always takes my breath away.
His lips make a small sucking motion, and I can’t help but grin.
Probably dreaming about mama. “I get it, I dream about her a lot too, buddy,” I whisper.
“He’s perfect,” Ava says quietly.
I glance over at her. “You’re supposed to be resting. You comfortable enough?”
She nods and sits up with a wince. “I’m fine. That was the easiest labor I’ve ever had. Wonder if that means he’s going to be an easy baby.”
“From your mouth to God’s ears. We’re too old for another spitfire.” I grab the pillows and adjust them behind her back.
“I almost feel bad keeping everything so quiet and peaceful in here and then subjecting him to the chaos at home,” she says with a laugh. “Can you hand him to me? I need to wake him up to nurse, it’s been a few hours.”
“That alone says he’s an easier baby then his sisters.
I don’t remember ever having to wake them up to feed them.
” I pick him up gently, smiling as he purses his lips in annoyance and cracks an eye open.
He lets out a soft, squeaky sigh, then settles against my chest, his warmth seeping through the thin hospital blanket.
“Yeah, yeah,” I murmur, rocking him softly, “we’re interrupting your beauty sleep. Better get used to it, your sisters will do it more than me.”
Ava huffs out a quiet laugh, reaching for him.
I place him carefully in her arms, cradling his head until he’s settled at her breast. I love watching how her entire posture softens the second he touches her.
No matter how exhausted she is, or what she’s gone through, she’s always soft and gentle with our babies.
He stirs, rooting instinctively, his tiny hands flexing against her skin.
She guides him with practiced ease until he latches on.
She runs a finger along the downy red hair along his scalp.
The room grows quieter somehow, like the whole world has agreed to pause for just this moment and let us enjoy the new life we’ve created.
I sit on the bed, just watching them. It’s perfect. She is perfect.
“You did good,” I say, hoping the reverence and gratitude I feel for her is coming through clearly over the bond.
She glances over at me, one eyebrow lifting. “Pretty sure I did more than good. This is one grade-A perfect baby.”
I grin. “He is. You did incredible. As always. Have you decided on a name yet?”
Since we were fairly confident that this was our last baby, Ava had wanted to be surprised by the gender, even though we’d all been sure it was another girl. We hadn’t even considered any boy names.
She sighs and looks back down at him. “I was thinking something like Grant. But I can’t decide on a middle name that isn’t too much next to Kendrick-Taylor.”
“What about Thomas? After my dad?”
“Grant Thomas Kendrick-Taylor,” she says, testing it out. “It’s a mouthful, but it flows nicely.” She grins. “Yeah, I think that works. What do you think, Grant?”
He makes a small sound of contentment.
“I think he approves.” I press a kiss on her forehead and then the top of his head, breathing in his soft baby scent. “Are you ready for me to call Jack and have him bring the girls over, or do you want some more blissful silence?”
“Guess he’s got to get used to it sometime.”
I head toward the door out into the hallway, since the cell signal inside the room is abysmal. Before I step out, I turn and look back at her, and my breath is taken away by the perfect picture she makes holding our child.
“Hey, sweet cereus,” I say softly. When she looks up at me, I smile. “I’m so fucking glad I insulted you on television. Best contempt of court I ever earned.”
Her laughter follows me out of the room.