Chapter Forty-Four Calder
Chapter Forty-Four
Calder
Calder paced the emergency department’s spacious waiting area. He’d poured himself a cup of free coffee from the reception desk but hadn’t been able to drink it.
He was grateful that their local hospital was updated. Several of the older ones still had separate gender wings, but Bellwether General was modern, so they didn’t need to worry whether Ryde would receive the best possible care.
The boy had tripped on the steps at the theater after the movie ended and landed hard on his hands.
Worst-case scenario, it was a fractured wrist, so nothing too terrible, but Zinn was distraught that it happened at all.
Calder assured him that Assa and Wes would not blame him for an accident, but Zinn still felt like he’d let them down.
From his sixteen years as a parent, Calder understood that the occasional trip to the ER was part of life. Zinn would get comfortable with that soon enough.
Calder was disappointed, however, that they hadn’t been able to take Ryde to the pizzeria to meet his boys.
Calder and Zinn had had a great conversation with Jordie and Ked that morning.
Without going into too much detail, they’d talked about Zinn’s background and explained about Ryde.
Deciding to get everything out in the open, they also let his sons know that they would have a new brother in eight months.
As Calder expected, the teens were excited about the baby and thrilled that their father would have a partner, especially someone they already liked.
They asked whether Calder and Zinn would get married.
Zinn replied that he was committed to Calder and planned to move into their home, but that he wasn’t sure about getting married.
Calder had realized over the past month that the omega didn’t view marriage the way he did.
When he married Denni, he’d thought of it as a way to affirm their commitment, but Zinn associated the institution with control and subjugation.
He didn’t see the need for it when he could simply choose to be with Calder and call him his partner, his alpha. And Calder was fine with that.
Assa and Wes rushed through the entrance of the ER. Their eyes found his immediately.
“Have they told you anything yet?” Assa asked.
“No. The triage nurse said it looked like a mild sprain, but they wanted an X-ray just to be sure. Zinn is with him now.”
“How long have they been back there?”
“About half an hour, so they should be done soon.”
Wes put a hand on Assa’s shoulder. He glanced at Calder, asking, “And how’s your omega? I’m guessing he’s taking this hard?”
Calder chuffed. “Zinn feels awful. As much as I’ve tried to get him to see that this is minor, he’s acting like Ryde broke a femur or something.”
This time, it was Assa who chuckled. “Wait until you learn about all our foibles. Ryde has actually broken his arm twice. Once on the swings in preschool and another time, in first grade, we don’t even know what happened.
He was holding his arm and kept complaining that it hurt.
After a few hours of that, we took him in and—boom—found out it was broken.
He couldn’t remember falling or anything, so the doctor chalked it up to one of those weird medical mysteries and put him in a cast.”
“I’m sure Zinn and I will enjoy hearing more of those stories.”
Assa went to the reception desk to inquire about the paperwork. He returned a moment later, shaking his head.
“What’s the matter?” Wes asked.
“I just realized I don’t have my phone. I had it at the restaurant, but I must have left it there, or it slipped out in the alpha’s car.”
“Your date dropped you off?” Calder asked.
“Uh-huh. We were in one car and wanted to get here fast. We were hoping you and Zinn could drop us off after they release Ryde. We can pick up our car tomorrow.”
“Yes, of course.”
“Try not to panic,” Wes said to Assa. “It has to be in one of those two places, so it’s probably fine. Let me deal with the paperwork and then I’ll check the location on it for you.”
Before Wes could speak with the receptionist, the doors to the back area opened and Ryde came bouncing through ahead of Zinn. A bright pink bandage was wrapped around his left wrist.
“Hey, Pop! Hey, Dad! What are you doing here?”
“You got hurt, so Calder called us.”
“Ah, man. I’m not hurt. I just bonked my arm a little.”
“The doctor said it’s only a strain, not even a sprain, so he needs to ice it and keep the compression bandage on for a few days,” Zinn said.
Calder walked over and pulled him into a side hug, kissing his golden curls. “See, sunshine? Not that big a deal.”
The omega shuddered. “I know, but…I’ve never been so scared.” He peered at Assa. “When he fell, he made an awful noise, like it really hurt.”
“But Zinn—it only hurt for, like, two seconds. I told you,” Ryde whined. “I didn’t even cry.”
Zinn knelt and spoke seriously to him. “I’m sorry if I overreacted. I’m new at this and I…really care about you. If you can stick with me for a little while, I’m sure I’ll get looser. And I promise we’ll have fun when we spend time together. But I can’t bear the thought of you being hurt.”
The boy nodded. “I understand. And we were having fun, up until I tripped on the stupid popcorn bucket.”
“We’ll get the hang of it soon enough.” Zinn opened his arms and Ryde walked into them.
Assa and Wes smiled fondly at them and then at each other. Calder imagined their relief at knowing their son now had more people to care for him. He’d felt the same way watching Zinn get close to Jordie and Ked.
“Can we still go to the pizzeria?” Ryde looked up at Wes over Zinn’s shoulder.
Calder glanced over at Wes and Assa, who nodded. “I think there’s still time,” Calder said. “We have two hours before they close. Now that your parents are here, all five of us can go.”
Ryde gave Calder a fist bump. “Cool.”
Zinn stood. “Ryde, the doctor wanted you to get more bandages from the nurses’ station. Let’s go grab those and then we can leave once your fathers have everything in order.”
As Zinn took Ryde’s hand and led him to the desk, Calder noticed a well-dressed alpha near the entrance trying to snag Assa’s and Wes’s attention. He hung back, waving subtly with two fingers, clearly wary of interrupting.
Wes grinned and motioned him over.
“Hey, Assa, Wes. I’m so sorry to interrupt,” the alpha spoke quickly, withdrawing a phone from his pocket.
“I hope it’s okay that I came, but Wes didn’t reply to my text, and I wasn’t sure if this would be urgent with your son in the ER, and of course I’ll leave soon enough, but I found this in my car. ”
Calder smiled at the other alpha, assuming this was the couple’s date. The betas hadn’t said much about him, but it was easy to see how he might have captured their interest.
Assa squeezed the man’s forearm. “I appreciate you bringing it.” Under his breath, he added, “Like we said at the restaurant, we’re not quite ready to introduce you to our son, but you can see him over there.”
Smiling softly, the alpha looked toward Zinn and Ryde at the nurses’ station.
He froze.
His face went ghost-white, his eyes wide as saucers.
A muted sound, something between a gasp and a choke, escaped his throat.
As his gaze zeroed in on Zinn’s arm around Ryde’s shoulders, his forehead pinched in confusion.
Assa’s phone slipped from his fingers, bouncing twice on the hard linoleum floor before landing at Calder’s feet with a dull thud.
At the disturbance, Zinn looked over.
“Valentin, are you okay?” Assa asked uneasily.
Valentin? Why did that name seem familiar? Where had Calder heard—
Oh.
Shit.
Zinn’s shoulders trembled visibly as he stared at the intruder. He pulled Ryde closer to him.
The alpha’s labored breathing seemed to fill the room.
Finally, he hushed out, “Zeller?”