Chapter 43 Mable
Mable
Why were there no cookies left?
I grumbled to myself as I slammed the pantry door shut.
The reason we had no cookies left was because I had eaten them all, but that didn't stop me from being irrationally angry about their disappearance—among other things.
I had a remarkable short fuse as of late.
But come on, you try being the size of a house and not crabby about it.
Pregnancy hormones were not fair.
Most of my guys were at practice, and Percy was in class but would be back soon.
I was considering texting him and begging him to grab me some more cookies from that lovely bakery.
I knew he would do it in a heartbeat, but I had been very demanding with my cravings as I approached the end of my pregnancy, and I was starting to feel a little guilty.
Except cookies…
I was a couple of weeks away from giving birth, and my little bean was measuring very large for her age. I could pop at any moment, really.
Fuck, I was I feeling huge. And I’d resorted to cursing about it.
It wasn't just my stomach, either. My tits had grown exponentially. I had gone from a modest B cup to a double D. Then there was the swelling. My ankles were basically balloons at this point. Thankfully, the guys kept giving me ankle rubs to help reduce some of that, but it was still irritating.
I was also under doctor’s orders to move around and drink tons of water, which, of course, led me to the bathroom about every fifteen minutes.
Speaking of…I really should go pour myself another glass.
Because if I didn’t do it now, while I was in the kitchen, I wouldn’t.
As I pulled down a glass from the cabinet and set it on the counter, I noticed something out of place.
At first, I thought it was mail, but that didn’t usually come in pink envelopes without stamps.
Yeah, lying on the counter was a little pink envelope. Curious, I set my empty glass near the sink and then returned to where it was sitting so innocently, plucking it off the counter and checking the name.
Maple.
At the sight of my pen name, I smiled and opened it eagerly, my fingers trembling slightly.
Hey, Maple.
I hope you know how much we love you. There are cookies in the fridge from that bakery you love.
P.
Percy was a mind reader, a sexy, sexy mind reader.
Well, I wasn't going to say no to cookies.
Keeping a hold of the paper, I waddled over to the fridge.
I was past the point of being able to walk normally, but the guys insisted that the waddle was cute.
I wasn't sure whether or not I believed them, but I was letting myself be delusional and think it was true.
My eyes zeroed in on the cookies pretty fast, but what pulled my attention away from them was the powder blue envelope on top, the name Maple clear as day on it.
“Another one? What are these guys up to?” My heart was soaring as I grabbed the cookies and the letter, setting the food down on the counter as I pried open the paper.
Sweetness, our stunning pen pal.
I love how enthusiastic you are about plants. Anytime we're out and about and you see a new shrub, you get so excited. It's adorable, and I'm obsessed with it. I wanna spend the rest of my life seeing you get exuberantly excited over shrubs.
S.
“Saint,” I crooned. “You dope.”
And then it hit me. I’d found two, one from Percy and the other from Saint. Did Devin and Jasper get in on this letter-writing scavenger hunt? Grinning from ear to ear, I wandered through the penthouse, looking for more letters. Where would they put them?
But the question was answered quickly enough when I found one tucked into my couch nest near the remote. I hurried over as quickly as a pregnant lady could and pulled open the pretty lavender envelope.
Maple girl,
You know every time you watch a TV show and you get really into it, your nose scrunches up in the most adorable way?
You are such a bright and vibrant person, and in the short amount of time you've been in our lives, you've improved them exponentially.
I love you so much more than I ever thought I could love anyone.
You are smoking hot, but you've got a sweet, killer personality to match.
I've considered running headlong into a wall to see if I'm actually fast asleep and this is all just a dream, but thankfully, you are very real.
J
Tears stung my eyes. I was both so incredibly flattered and laughing to myself because Jasper was so adorable. He was right, though. This sometimes felt like a dream, and I was very glad that it wasn’t.
Scanning over the penthouse, I tried to spot the last letter, the one that would be from Devin, my sweet grump.
Over toward the kitchen, on the small dining table, was a mint green envelope positioned so that it lay against the decorative bowl of fruit I’d put there. I scampered over and yanked it open.
Mable Maple Garnett,
We are so unbelievably lucky. Firstly, the fact that the sweet omega we were talking to online turned out to be you, and not an old smelly man living in his mother’s basement, is a miracle in its own right.
But the fact that it was you, the sweet, caring woman who completed our pack in a way we didn’t even realize we needed, is by far the best thing that’s ever happened in my life.
In any of ours. I can’t wait to build our family together because I know, with you, every moment will be better than the last.
D.
Unable to contain my smile, I wandered around the apartment, gathering the notes.
They were everywhere, from the TV screen to inside the box of tea I had become obsessed with.
Each note held a few sweet, loving sentences from the alphas.
They’d taken the time to write and hide all these little love notes… just for me.
It was hard not to feel so insanely loved reading those words.
On the door to my greenhouse, there was one taped to the glass, so I couldn’t miss it.
Mable,
Our lives are busy and messy, and I’ve been okay with that for so long. Between classes and games, I found comfort in a sassy and painfully sweet omega online. For a while, that was enough to keep me sane and content, but something changed. We met you. Our lives were infinitely better for it.
I was always more interested in classes than hockey, but I played because I liked being on a team with my pack mates, and I could fit it around my schedule.
Well, that’s changed. You came into our lives, perfect, sweet Maple. You and the baby made me reassess what I want from life.
As of next week, I am no longer on the California Chargers. Devin has been working on nullifying the contract for the last week, and until contract renewal at the end of the season, I am a free man.
I thought long and hard about what I wanted, and that’s you.
I'm not making the decision out of obligation.
I promise. I'm doing it out of genuine desire to be home with you and our baby.
When you fell sick, I felt like the ground had fallen out from underneath me.
I never want to feel that way again. I want to be there for all the firsts, when the baby burps for the first time, when they have a blowout diaper, when they go to the doctor, when they smile.
I want to be there for you. You have done so much for us.
You moved into our apartment, you've lived with us, and dealt with our pack dynamics, even though you didn't ask for this.
You filled a hole in our hearts that was painfully empty.
You have been sweet and kind and gracious and you deserve everything.
I’m not arrogant enough to think I'm everything, but I am ready to give it a shot—for all of us.
I love you, and one day I hope I can call you my bonded omega. If it were up to me, I would be biting you as soon as possible because I cannot imagine a life without you.
Percy.
I paused, looking up from the paper and back several times. The thought of being alone had been keeping me awake. This… this was a solution.
But was Percy really okay with it?
The light caught the back of the paper, and I noticed there was more on the other side. I flipped it over, and the handwriting changed to scribbles from the rest of my alphas.
We know this is a lot, but please say yes. We adore you, we love you, and we want you forever. —D
We have all promised to ensure the house is stocked with all the goodies, and I promise to be there for each and every heat moving forward with sex and cuddles. —S
You’re ours to keep forever, Maple girl. I’m not letting anything so sweet get away. And I’ll show you just how much I adore you whenever you ask. —J
“My guys…” Tears were making things blurry. “Oh my god…”
When the elevator pinged, letting me know Percy was home from school, I waddled over as fast as I could to meet him.
“Hey,” he greeted warmly, his face breaking out into a smile. “I see you found the letters,” he said, nodding to the papers in my hand.
“Are you really leaving the Chargers?” I asked, guilt and excitement warring inside me.
Percy pulled me into his arms, kissing the top of my head. “For the next year, I’m all yours.”
“I didn’t want you to give anything up!” I cried harder, more and more tears welling up.
“I’m not,” he insisted, pulling back to look at me dead in the eyes.
“I’m gaining everything. I want to focus more on classes and my pack.
On you. The university will let me take most of my classes online so I can be home with you and the baby.
Trust me, you are way better company than the team.
Of all of us, I'm the one who cared the least about hockey. I mainly just wanted to be with my pack, and this way, I still am. You are my pack, Mable.”
“Are you sure, like sure sure?” I held his eyes, my voice watery.
“I've never been surer of anything in my life.”
“Well, I—oh!” My words were cut off when I felt the wetness trickle between my legs.
Percy frowned, the instant concern making him grip my shoulders. “What’s wrong?”
“Well, I either just peed myself, or my water broke…”
“Shit, it’s early!”
I shook my head. “Only a couple of weeks. They’re fully grown…The doctor said to be prepared…Oh, it’s still going. Yeah, I definitely didn’t pee.”
A grin spread across his face, the excitement and nerves so clear. It was adorable.
“Well, okay.” He looked around the apartment, trying to think what we needed and remember where we’d put the hospital bag. “Umm, yeah. Hey, let’s go have a baby!”