Chapter 51 #2
“You need to sit up,” Easton says. Lyle and East manage to pull me up and Troy reaches behind me to boost my pillows to cradle my body.
“I can’t believe I fell asleep,” Troy grumbles. “It’s not even like I did anything amazing like push out a baby.”
I huff out a light laugh, shaking my head. I don’t mind. He rushed back from work as soon as he heard that my water broke. I hadn’t been having heavy contractions beforehand and told him to go. My due date wasn’t for another few weeks.
I guess Charlotte was ready to come see her mommy and daddies.
“I’m not doing anything except nursing and cuddling Charlotte,” I tease him. “I can’t believe she’s really here. It feels like it’s been forever.”
We’ve been trying to get pregnant since Lyle became mayor. If I’m honest with myself, it’s been even longer. My body wasn’t strong enough and we had two more miscarriages before getting pregnant with Charlotte.
“Life’s tests suck,” Troy says. “We’ve fought for this, baby. She’s ours and so fucking loved.”
Silas continues to feed me while we snuggle together, and I can’t stop rubbing Charlotte’s head. God, her hair is so soft.
The doorbell rings out of nowhere and I frown, not knowing what time it is.
“I’ll get rid of whoever is at the door,” Lyle growls.
“The life of a mayor,” I tease him.
“They’re not supposed to come to my damn house,” he grunts. “Fuckers.”
He kisses my temple before getting up in his joggers.
“Shirt, Mr. Mayor,” I remind him, raising my brow as he glances down.
“Dammit. Yes, ma’am. I completely forgot I took it off.”
“What time is it?” I ask.
“Seven-thirty,” Easton says, checking his watch. None of us have our phones on us. I was in labor for hours, despite my water breaking last night.
Lyle leaves the room as he pulls on a black t-shirt, his muscles in his back rippling.
“Aging like fine wine,” I mumble under my breath.
“You think we’re sexy,” Easton chuckles.
“Exhibit A of this is sleeping in my arms,” I remind him.
“I like to be reminded,” he shrugs. “Did you tell anyone else the publisher emailed you about your book?”
“I forgot,” I wince. I was fully prepared to publish my book and then forget about its existence. I don’t need the money, I just wanted to say I did it. Cassidy talked me into querying for my book, and I got a response yesterday.
“Spill,” Troy urges me.
“They want to publish my book and want to have a call to work through the details. I screamed when I read the email after dinner, and then may have broken my water right after.”
Silas grins, shaking his head as he puts the empty plate away and sits down on the bed. “Charlotte is going to love hearing that story when she’s older.”
“Oh, come on!” Lyle yells, making me flinch. Easton and Silas reach for their guns without thinking and are at the door before I can even wonder where they’re keeping their weapons.
“The guns will be locked up once Charlotte starts crawling,” Troy says, rolling his eyes.
“We knew we’d be upstairs. They’re Velcro’d to the fake drawer,” Silas says over his shoulder. “Do you want company, Little Fighter?”
“My entire boob is out, Silas,” I hiss. It’s currently Charlotte’s pillow, I’m not moving her.
“You heard it from her. My omega is half naked, go away,” Silas shrugs.
“You didn’t answer your phones,” Cassidy says. “Did she have the baby? Oh crap.”
“What did you think happened?” Lyle asks.
“I don’t know! At least we sent a text to the group chat when we went into labor,” she says.
“You went into labor at an art show the first time and in my back yard the second,” Easton chuckles. “It was impossible not to know.”
“Yes, but we went to the hospital both times,” Cassidy grumbles.
“We have a doctor who lives in our backyard,” Lyle reminds her. “We’ll have everyone over in a few weeks.”
I make a face, though I know it’s necessary. I’m never going to be comfortable being the center of attention.
“Alisa doesn’t like when we’re all over,” Cassidy mumbles.
“Ugh. Help me cover up and let her in,” I groan.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Troy asks. He grabs a light blanket to hide my dark nipple where Charlotte’s nose is snuggled against and I raise my hand to get Silas’ attention.
“Fuck it, come in,” he sighs. “Don’t make it weird."
Cassidy gingerly walks in, immediately bursting into tears when she sees Charlotte. We’ve slowly become friends over the years and she knows how much I’ve wanted to be a mother.
“Oh, she’s perfect,” she whispers.
“Isn’t she?” I ask, my eyes tearing up. “It’s not that I don’t like when you’re over, you’re all very loud and I get overwhelmed. I can handle like a pack at a time.”
“I call dibs first,” she says, dashing her tears away. “Winter wants to see you.”
I’ve slowly started getting to know Winter and Bellamy over the years. Bellamy’s art is on our walls and we’ve hung out at small get-togethers. While they’re homebodies like I am, they handle being social better than I do.
“Did you just call dibs on my baby?” Lyle asks, amused.
“Yep. I’m not sorry,” she says. “Since I know everyone is alright, I’m going to go accept Abbott telling me that I overreacted.”
“Is that who I saw in the car?” Lyle asks.
“Yep. Congratulations on becoming parents,” she says, practically skipping out of the room.
“Our life is so odd,” I giggle, watching as an exasperated Lyle follows her out.
“We always knew we wouldn’t be normal,” Easton says, putting the guns in the safe with a blush. “Sleepy yet?”
I yawn widely, nodding.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” he grins. “I’ll get baby snuggles while you sleep.”
I watch as he carefully picks up Charlotte, and my heart explodes as he cuddles her.
“You look good with a baby,” I mumble, moving to lay my head on Troy’s chest. His fingers play in my hair, ignoring the tangles as he smoothes them out.
“Not as good as you do as a mom,” Troy whispers. “Sleep, sweetheart. We’ve got it from here.”
Nodding, I close my eyes, asking myself how I got here. Friends, a pack who loves me, and a closer relationship with my brothers.
Maybe my broken pieces are rearranging themselves to make room for all the good things I deserve. Ups and downs are normal, but the peace and love I feel drip from my eyes as my breathing evens out.
Sometimes, destiny gives you more than you could ever imagine having, but the trade off is crawling over glass and fire to get it.
I still choose this knowing what the cost to my soul is. Every time.