Chapter 47 Hailey
Hailey
“Why do they make these damn things so hard to build?” Preston grumbled while he and Nolan did their best to assemble the crib.
“Because it needs to be safe for the baby,” I told him from where I was sitting in the corner of the room, folding burp cloth after burp cloth to put in the dresser-changing table thing.
I may have gone a little overboard with the shopping, but it was finally time to set up Landry’s nursery, and I’d been a little overexcited.
Between the many shopping trips we had taken as a pack and me utilizing my free time at home to do copious amounts of online shopping, I’d ended up with a mountain of baby items.
“You know what, this is the one job I wouldn’t have minded if you guys had done while I was in the slammer,” Preston whined, but I knew, deep down, he was happy to be helping.
We were all meshing as a unit, and I’d honestly never been happier. Every day that passed, we got closer and closer to the baby coming, and I found myself getting more excited by the day.
And more and more ready to have my body back.
While Preston had been at the camp, we’d been in a sort of triage mode, trying to keep everything going, unable to really enjoy the experience. Now that our entire pack was together, we were focused on truly being together and preparing for our son.
“We will not be beaten by a crib,” Merrick said, his voice firm as he stood over the parts, hands on his hips as he studied the instructions.
“We could always ask Walker or Elliot to help,” I offered casually, knowing my words would irritate them, but I couldn’t resist. “They have crib-building experience.”
Merrick glowered at me. “No.” He turned to Preston. “Where’s that instruction video? We’re building this contraption if it’s the last thing we do! I helped Walker build his crib for Abigail. I should know what I'm doing!”
Nolan and Wilder returned from grabbing drinks, and the four of them got to work, muttering to each other as I continued folding burp cloths and tiny onesies into the dresser they had already built.
Every now and again, one of them let a curse word slip, and I giggled from my little corner of folding.
Spending an afternoon together, building our little nursery…it was perfect. If someone had told me a year ago that I would be in this position, I would have told them they were clinically insane.
But that was the funny thing about life.
Now, the baby’s nursery was painted a pale yellow, and everywhere I looked, there was color. After buying so many neutral shades, I’d decided I never wanted to see another beige item again. Now every surface had bright reds, blues, greens, yellows. You name it, and I had something in that color.
My baby was going to be obsessed with everything colorful if I had my way.
Funnily enough, I always imagined that I’d be decorating my baby's nursery solo. As an omega, my nesting instincts were somewhat severe, and I had assumed that having someone help me would irritate me.
Other people wouldn't get it right. Only I could. But, actually, having my pack with me was a comforting and enjoyable experience.
Sure, I had to correct them on a regular basis, but instead of being irritating, I found it amusing. Thankfully, they took my pedantic nature in stride when I insisted that the dresser needed to be two inches to the left or the light fixture was slightly crooked.
My guys took every piece of feedback beautifully and did their best to make everything perfect for me.
I fucking loved them. So much so that my chest ached with the emotion more often than not. Watching them bicker playfully while they made the space perfect for our child, it was almost overwhelming.
These damned hormones.
“I’ve been thinking,” Nolan said from where he was sitting, reading the crib instructions, breaking me out of my little spiral of feelings.
“Oh no, thinking is dangerous!” I whispered dramatically.
Nolan wasn’t bothered by my theatrics, though. He rolled his eyes and continued. “I took a look, and there are a few small offices in town, available to rent. I’ve already started studying for the California bar exam, just in case.”
Wilder’s head shot up. “You thinking of opening your own place?”
“I am. It would be nice to be able to work closer to the clients, and not have to answer to any partners. That is”—he turned to me—“if you don’t mind?”
“Why would I mind?” I asked, cocking my head to the side.
“You’re about to have a baby, and we’re going to be a very busy pack.”
Standing slowly, which was more of a get onto my hands and knees and wait for someone to help me, I waddled over to where he was sitting and collapsed next to him as everyone watched us, only half-heartedly working on the crib now.
“I think it’s a wonderful idea. Nolan, you read law books for fun. It's clear you adore your job, and I'm not going to stop you from doing it. I wholeheartedly support you starting your own practice.”
“Yeah, man, that would be amazing,” Preston agreed with a nod. “That's been your end goal since you started law school.”
“You should totally do it!” Wilder said, letting a part of the crib rest on his hip.
“You should swing by the firehouse after my shift tomorrow, and we can go look at a few offices,” Merrick offered.
“I'll come with you,” Preston added.
“Sweet. That means that the cutie and I can have a movie marathon with ice cream.” Wilder beamed at me, rubbing his hands together like a maniacal villain.
“I think that sounds like perfection. We’ll have to do a grocery store run for more ice cream, though.” I narrowed my eyes at Wilder. “Someone ate all my rocky road.”
Nolan's eyes widened. “Don't tell me you're out of ice cream already. I bought you twelve pints less than a week ago…”
“I haven’t actually finished all of it, but I'm going to need more for a movie marathon, and it's Baby's favorite snack, so we can't say no,” I pointed out.
Wilder cackled. “Don't worry, grumpy, I’ll also get some fresh fruit and veggies, and we’ll have healthy snacks in between the bowls of ice cream.”
Nolan opened his mouth to say something, but Merrick shook his head. “Dude, I think that's the best you're going to get.”
The pair looked at each other before Nolan sighed deeply. “At least eat something green.”
“Gummy bears are green!” I pointed out, descending into fits of laughter at Nolan's disappointed and slightly horrified expression.
“I’ll prep a veggie tray,” Merrick said, looking sternly at me. “I know you're not going to go too overboard with the ice cream because you know full well what vitamins and nutrients you need to help the baby grow.”
I pouted. “You, Merrick, are a spoilsport!”
“And yet, you still love me.” He smirked, wandering over and kissing the top of my head.
“I do,” I confirmed, beaming up at him.
Nolan wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me into his embrace. I melted into his side, taking a deep breath of that old paper smell that I had become so addicted to.
All of my alphas smelled like absolute crack to me, and I was obsessed. I was lucky, because I'd heard of some omegas suddenly hating their alphas scents while pregnant.
Scent and food aversions during pregnancy were no joke. Even though I had never cooked enough to be around it much, now the smell of meat in a frying pan was enough to make me gag.
Luckily, I had very sweet alphas who cooked for me while I was in a different part of the house.
“I think I’ve got this!” Wilder declared excitedly, looking at two of the crib parts.
The guys all converged on Wilder, trying to figure out what he was doing. I returned to sitting on the sidelines. At one point, Preston passed me a bottle of water as they continued to bicker over building the crib.
Even if the crib was never built and our baby had to sleep in a box, they would be the most loved baby in the world, I realized as I watched these four grown men, each with their own intense careers, wanting and doing everything in their power to make a crib for our child.
I was one lucky omega.
Somehow, a very shitty situation had turned into my perfect life.
Sweet, indeed.