Bonnie
Chapter Twenty-Six
I’d been living with my mates for a few months now. In the scheme of things, it wasn’t very long, but it was hard to remember my life before here. It was like a distant memory because this was my here and now.
We’d had Marie over for a meal. In truth, I still loved her, but I also hated what she did, and that was hard for me to come to terms with.
But we’d both been working on it, and we were heading in the right direction.
And this morning, I needed her. I needed her badly because I woke up with my stomach queasy and my wolf repeating the same word over and over again: babe.
I took my bicycle to town, not because it was the only means of transportation I had—it no longer was—but because something about it was familiar and safe.
I dropped a few miniatures off with Dallas and let him know I was heading to Marie’s.
He stiffened up. He didn’t really love it, but he wouldn’t stop me because he knew I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t ready.
I promised that I’d call if I needed anything, holding up my phone as Exhibit A, and that I would be back at the store for lunch with everyone.
Archer was baking some homemade bread and making sandwiches to bring for lunch. I loved that our big excitement for the day was eating wonderful bread with those we loved, although I had a sinking suspicion that wasn’t going to be the big excitement today.
I pedaled to the cabin, my stomach tightening as I got close.
I hadn’t been back here yet, and some of the feelings came back.
I pushed them away. We were working through this, and part of that meant I had to let go.
I parked my bike and walked up, knocking on the door, something I’d never had to do before.
When she opened it, there was shock on her face, followed by a huge smile, and she hugged me close.
“Oh, I’m so glad you’re here! I didn’t think you’d ever be back.”
“I’m sorry it’s taken so long, but I’m working on it.” And I was. “Is it okay if I’m here today because I need you.”
I thought she was going to cry at those words. She came real close.
“Come on in. Want me to make you tea?”
“Actually, that would be great.”
She put on the kettle, and I told her why I was there.
She switched her tea to a ginger version and explained the test she wanted me to take.
I could’ve picked one up at the store in town, but something said I needed my mom for this.
She may not have done things the way I wanted her to, but at the end of the day, she was my mom.
I took the test. When I came out, she poured the tea as we waited for the timer to go off.
“Let’s go see that now,” she said.
Yeah. Two little lines were staring back at us.
“I’m going to be a mom,” I said.
“And I’m going to be a grandma,” she replied. Then she leaned back, like maybe she’d made a mistake saying that.
“You’re going to be a good grandma,” I assured her. “A really good grandma.”
I drank my tea, and we talked about all the things I needed to do to have a healthy pregnancy. Then I biked back to town.
Justice and Archer pulled up just as I did, and Dallas shut the store down for lunch. As Archer passed out the sandwiches, I told them where I had been. Dallas already knew, but I didn’t want him to have the burden of that knowledge, of being unsure whether the others knew or not.
“Was it fun? What’d you guys do?” Archer asked.
“You wouldn’t believe it. She made me take a test,” I said in the most serious tone I could. “A test.”
“A test? You didn’t even go to school.” Justice looked confused, but Dallas looked like he was catching on.
I couldn’t keep character for long, smiling. “A pregnancy test. We’re going to have a baby.”
“A baby?” Justice dropped his sandwich right there, walked around the counter to where I was, and hugged me tight. And then Dallas joined in.
“We’re gonna be dads,” he said.
“You are.”
“And you’re going to be an amazing mom.”
I wasn’t so sure about that, but I was going to try my hardest.
Over lunch, I told them everything my mom had explained to me. We probably would have stayed there all day talking about it, but Justice got a notification on his phone that a bunch more supplies were about to arrive at our house, and we needed to be there to sign for them.
I’d done so much recently that I’d run out of certain supplies a lot sooner than expected and will all the orders coming in, I had a lot more work still to do.
Having the right supplies and the right tools made the process so much easier, and as long as demand was up, I was going to keep going. I enjoyed making them come to life.
I kissed Dallas goodbye and drove back with Justice and Archer, my bike in the back. We got there just as the delivery truck arrived.
“This feels so normal,” Archer said.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, we just got the most amazing news of our lives, that wasn’t normal, but now, we’re checking in an order, and I’m going to go water the chickens. Completely normal.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty wonderful, isn’t it?”
He looked at me. “It really is.”