Mateo and Carl were also pitching in to help, and Ken had to admit it was adorable how quickly Dania and her siblings took to the two men.
Ken decided to start a load of laundry while awaiting a return phone call from Idaho. He’d already been shopping that morning at the nearby discount warehouse store they frequented, and Badger had been out in the garage organizing the haul. When they walked into the kitchen from the garage, Ken with an empty laundry basket in hand and Badger on his heels, they pulled up short at the sight of Dewi standing in the kitchen, where she pulled a package of butter out of the fridge.
Dewi looked around and turned to Ken. “Is it organic, grass-fed butter?”
Badger barked a laugh. “Are ye shittin’ me? After all the stuff ye et lately—“
Ken slapped a hand over Badger’s mouth. “Yes, honey. It is. Organic, grass-fed butter, just like you asked for. It’s the store brand but I looked it up and it’s made by one of the companies that makes the name-brand stuff and they just package it for the warehouse store chain. It was a little cheaper to buy it that way.”
She nodded and grabbed it—itbeing the entire three-pack of one-pound boxes of butter he’d just purchased from the discount warehouse store that morning—and left.
He was pretty sure she mumbled, “Thanks,” under her breath.
Ken wheeled on Badger once he heard the office door shut behind her. “What in theactualfuck iswrongwith you, Badger?” Ken hissed. “Are youtryingto get me killed?” He pointed in the direction of the office. “I’m married to a literal pregnant velociraptor! I’m barely hanging on by a thread here, and you’re trying to rile her up?”
Badger scratched at his chin. “She might make ye wish ye were dead, lad, but she won’t actually hurt ye. Ye know that. Scaring the hell outta ye an’ hurtin’ ye are two different things entirely and not mutually exclusive, neither.” He pointed toward the doorway. ”Are ye seriously telling me she’s about to eat threepoundsof butter, and yer okay with it?”
Ken set the laundry basket down and walked over to the sink, grabbed the sponge, and wiped up a spill of dried cake mix on the counter from Dewi’s earlier snack attack. “Three pounds of organic,grass-fed butter, thank you very much. And I have six more three-packs out in the garage fridge.”
“Feckin’ hell, man! That’s”—Badger did quick math—“eighteenpoundsof butter ye bought today!”
“Yup. Sounds about right. Hopefully that lasts her until tomorrow, because I wiped them out and their next shipment doesn’t arrive until tomorrow afternoon. They’re going to hold ten packs for me.”
Badger’s eyes widened. “Are ye barkin’ mad?”
Ken turned, water splattering from where he shook the sponge at Badger. “Then by all means, be my guest andyougo in there and tell her she shouldn’t eat three pounds of organic, grass-fed butter in one sitting. Oh, wait. First, let me get my phone and record that little encounter so I have a record of your demise to show to Peyton and Trent, because they damned sure won’t believe you were dumb enough to question her dietary choices when she’s in this mood!”
Badger held up his hands in surrender. “Fine, fine. Ye sure this won’t hurt her or the baby?”
“According to her doctor, and Duncan, and Trent’s experience with Asia’s other pregnancies, Dewi’s fine and acting normal for her condition.”
“I didn’t hear anything about Tamsin eatin’ like that.”
“Well, for starters, we don’t live with Tamsin and I don’t audit Carl and Mateo’s grocery expenses. Secondly, Tamsin’s an omega corgi shifter, not a Prime Alpha wolf. I don’t claim to be an expert on shifters but I think there’s a better than slim chance there might be a huge difference in their diets regardless.”
The old shifter slowly nodded. “Sure, sure. I s’pose yer right about that.”
Ken finished wiping down the counter and sink. “If you really want to help, make another grocery run for me this afternoon and hit the other warehouse store down in Brandon. See if they have that butter in stock.”
“Eh, why not regular butter?”
Ken slowly turned on him. “Did younotjust witness that entire exchange? Don’t you think I clarified that with her already? If shewantedregular butter, she’dhaveregular butter. She specifically wantsthatkind of butter. The kind from Ireland will also do, because it’s similar in texture and taste. Something about the fat content or processing methods or something.”
Badger slowly shook his head. “Ye know, I used to feel sad Tahlia and I didn’t have pups.” He barked a laugh. “Now? I’m thinkin’ maybe I dodged myself a big one.”
* * *
Badger
Badger wrapped up a few chores around the house, received an updated grocery list from Ken, and headed out to Brandon. There was another warehouse store there from the same chain and they’d likely have the extra stock on hand.
No, Badger absolutely didn’t believe he’d dodged anything by not having pups. But something he’d painfully learned from his experience was that it hurt less to learn how to joke about some things in front of others, even family, rather than talk about them honestly.
Otherwise, the weight of their discomfort and their well-intended sympathies only magnified the size and pain of his loss.
And he was forced to relive it over and over again.
It was ironic that while it felt like life was currently far more chaotic than it certainly had been since Dewi was a child, increasingly, memories and thoughts of Tahlia had crept into his mind, peeking around corners he’d believed long reinforced against the strain of the emotional agony.
