Page 38 of Bread with the Orc

My hands rested atop hers on the gentle swell of her stomach. She wasn’t very far along, but by our first anniversary, our son or daughter would be here. Created from our love.

“This would also be an acceptable time to announce the gender of my grandchild,” her father suddenly announced. “To me. The child’s grandfather.”

Laughing, Laney twisted in my arms. “You’ll have to wait until he or she is born, just like us. But…if it’s a girl, I want to name her afterAma.”

I squeezed her, offering my approval, and her father nodded firmly. “Then I will pray for a granddaughter.”

I’d already explained that in human-orc pairings, male offspring looked orcish and female children looked more like their mothers. But in this, I did genuinely believe my father-in-law wanted a granddaughter so she would bear his wife’s name, not so she’d look less like me.

The old bastard had warmed up to me over the last six months, after all.

It turned out that both of us had a protective streak when it came to Laney. She’d thought that her father had ignored her for the year leading up to her businesses failure, but apparently he’d been keeping close tabs on her, even doing what he could to help behind the scenes. He hadn’t wanted her to know, and I suspected he had half-hoped she’d fail so she’d turn to him for help…

But when she hadn’t? When she’d built a successful business on her own? He’d been proud of her.

It wasmehe took longer to warm up to. Eventually, though, we figured out that the male just needed to be needed. It had been a tough pill to swallow, the first time I’d called to ask him for advice…but from then on—strange as it might seem—he respected me more.

And as much as I hated to admit it, hedidknow his shit. There was a reason he was such a successful businessman, and although I’d never admit it to him out loud, I was grateful my Mate and I could turn to him for suggestions before we launched any new ventures.

Like when we hired more front-of-house staff for the shop, or the food truck we were considering buying.

Or the fact that my Harvest-Festival-winning plaque was hanging in the place of honor beside the display caseswhere my Mate could brag to everyone. The Town Council had already lined me up to judge this autumn’s contest, and I’ll admit that I liked being thought of as an expert in my field.

“I will make some more tea,” my Mate’s father announced.

“Oh no,Baba, I can do that!” Laney jumped toward the kettle.

But the old man waved her back. “Your mother taught me to make tea as well as she taught you. Let me do this for you, since you don’t need me to carry you any longer.” He eyed the place where she leaned against me, her hand still on her stomach. “It is good that you’ve found a protective husband.”

She tipped her head to smile up at me. “It’s true. I found the best Mate. I’m the luckiest.”

“No,” I rumbled, wrapping her in my arms. “Idid. I’m the luckiest.”

After all, a year ago I’d been content in my solitary life, not realizing the perfect female worked next door to me. I’d found her, I’d fallen in love with her, and I’d bred her.

Laney giggled and poked me until I let her out to breathe.

“We’re all lucky to have built a home in Harmony Glen. Our babies are going to grow up blissfully happy.”

I had to smile at her optimism. “Because we’ll love them?”

Laney’s soft smile was the one she gave me when she wasabout to say something adorably mushy. And I wasn’t disappointed.

“Because we live in Harmony.”