Only then did they breathe easily once more.
While Ken grabbed the discarded whipped cream cap, Badger walked over to the coffee maker and removed the basket holding the grounds. “Well, at least she’s notpickles-and-ice-creamingus.”
“Oh, yeah, that reminds me,” Ken said. “Please addbread and butter picklesto the grocery list. She polished those off earlier this morning during her pre-dawn snack attack.”
“Bloody hell, that was a brand new jar!”
“And we’re out of cheese slices. Apparently she’s using the cheese instead of bread to make pickle sandwiches.”
Badger reached for the notepad holding the shopping list and added the items.
“I’d suggest getting three of the large family packs of sliced cheese from now on instead of just one,” Ken added. “And larger jars of pickles. Or more of them.”
“I don’t think they sell larger jars.”
“Thenbuy.More.”
Badger snorted. “At this rate I’ll need to buy out a whole warehouse store.”
* * *
Ken leftBadger in the kitchen and returned upstairs to their bedroom.
With everything currently going on, Ken wasn’t too proud to admit he couldn’t summon the courage, much less the will, to confront Dewi about her dietary selections. He’d spoken privately to her doctor the week before and he insisted that as long as Dewi was healthy, and their baby was thriving, and she wasn’t consuming anything like cocaine cupcakes or meth macaroons, then she could eat whatever she damned well pleased.
If that meant coffee and cake batter right out of the bowl? Or “sandwiches” made of cheese slices and pickles? Or mouthfuls of whipped cream?
Or entire sticks of salted butter?
Then Kendamnedsure wasn’t going to say a word to her about it, other than to ask if she wanted him to go to the store for her to buy more.
Especially since he knew the ice was extra thin under him after confessing to her last night that he’d asked Peyton to recall her to Idaho for a couple of weeks because Ken was terrified for her safety.
She’d been increasingly clumsy, including tripping and smacking her head against the bathroom counter, which had completely freaked him out.
And Peyton had done it for Ken, taken the burst of her wrath for him, but Ken had to confess the truth to her when she’d started ranting about it.
Now… In the light of day, Ken was wondering if maybe he had overreacted a little.
Ken was gathering clothes to do a load of laundry when he heard a soft tap on the open bedroom door.
He turned and spotted Duncan standing there, leaning against the jamb and wearing a smirk.
“Yeah?” Ken asked.
“You are handling this far better than Badger.”
Ken knew exactly what he meant. “I’m not about to get between her and food. Do Ilookstupid? I’m already on her shit-list for going behind her back and calling Peyton.”
The older shifter slid his hands deep into the pockets of his khaki cargo shorts. Dewi’s maternal grandfather looked more like a man close to retirement age than a powerful Prime Alpha wolf shifter over 445 years old. “Louisa craved pie crusts.”
“Raw?”
“Baked. Not filled, just baked crusts. From a specific recipe one of her cousins had given to her. And for three of the girls, she craved hot peppers dipped in peanut butter. Then there was her raw salmon phase.”
“Sushi? I didn’t think that was good for pregnant women.”
“No, not sushi. Whole, raw salmon. I felt like one of those handlers of wild animals, tossing them to her so I didn’t lose fingers.” He mimed it, making Ken smile. “I had all the butchers and fishmongers from the pack compound all the way into Spokane on retainer to keep me well-stocked. Paid one of my cousins to drive to Spokane and back nearly every day to resupply us.”
