I rubbed up and down Papochka’s back. “I love you too, Papochka. I always will. I’m sorry you went through that.”
Papochka loosened his embrace and took a partial step away. “I am too. It happened and cannot be changed. I am truly grateful for you and your father. I love you both so much. And I can already see a similar love from you for Camden. He is good for you, no?”
I smiled. “Camden is very good for me. He certainly wasn’t expected to be anything other than my coworker. I love him, and I fell fast.”
“That is the way it used to be,” Father said. “Back when I met your dad, there was none of this dating for a month or more to get to know each another before we claim one other. We had our mate. We recognized them, and we claimed one another. They were chosen for you for a reason.” Father sighed and shook his head. I had to chuckle. I felt much the same, but I had also known others who didn’t care for their fated mate. It happened.It wasn’t common, but Thomas didn’t always use to get things right the first time. He and Canyon did an amazing job now, and there were certainly no complaints from me.
“Camden is only a hundred and thirty-seven, but he was more than ready for a mate and family. He was in complete agreement with me on not waiting since we both recognized who we were to one another and saw no need to wait. We make sure we talk about things, and we’ve not had any issues. The mutual respect goes a long way.”
“That it does,” Father said. “Not to cut things short, but our dinner time is almost here. Our presence has been requested, and we’ve been asked to join Alistair and his family. But even I know it’s not his family, as in his One and children. Is there a reason why I’m being asked to join the created warlock for dinner?”
I really could use Camden’s ability to look completely innocent, but my parents knew me too well. “I couldn’t say for certain, but I know there has been talk of asking you to join the council in a committee position. Beyond that, I cannot say, as I wasn’t there.”
Father and Papochka shared a look. Father sighed, and Papochka grinned. “Your father didn’t believe me when I said that was probably why. I told him it’s completely his choice. I won’t complain about getting to run in the snow in the winter in my shifted form.”
I chuckled, because I’d said that very thing to Camden. His fox was looking forward to it as well. “I have no say in the matter,” I said, holding out my hands.
“Sorry about that,” Camden said as he came into the room. “Did I miss something?”
“No,” I told him. “Father and Papochka need to go have dinner with Master Edison, though, so he can try to persuade Father to join his committee.”
“Oh, that would be nice,” Camden said as he pulled down a glass and pushed the water dispenser in the door of the refrigerator. “The baby would have grandparents around a bit more frequently,” he said absently. This was true, but I wasn’t going to say anything either way. It was their choice completely.
“Yes, he would,” Papochka said. “I’ll have to work on Winston a bit more and see if he’s willing. It isn’t as if he can’t poof us somewhere warm and sunny when needed.”
Camden grinned. “That’s so nice, isn’t it?” He set the water down on the counter, and Papochka wrapped him up in a hug. “As soon as you can and are ready, we’ll go for a run. And by run, I mean you’ll run, and I’ll trot.”
Camden laughed. “You’re probably right there.” He looked down at his stomach and rubbed it. “You might need to give me a few weeks though.”
“We have all the time,” Papochka said. He hugged Camden, and when he met my gaze, his eyes were a bit watery. I understood to some level. At least I thought so. I would love the opportunity to have my fathers close again, but I didn’t expect that to happen. But when I saw the way Papochka and Camden were smiling at one another as they said something quietly, I thought that maybe it was a possibility. The appeal of a pregnant omega seemed to have an effect on everyone.
Chapter 18
Camden
Obviously, I hadn’t ever been pregnant before. I had delivered enough babies in my life that I knew the “off feeling” I was experiencing meant that our little guy was going to be here soon.
“Maxwell?”I called out through our bond. I was in the bedroom, and he was somewhere else in the house.
In response, he suddenly appeared in the room with me. Maxwell tilted his head, then furrowed his brow. “You’re in labor.”
“I had assumed,” I said. “I feel ‘off.’ I’m not sure what it is, but I know the waves that I’m feeling are contractions. But it’s more.”
Maxwell was suddenly concerned. “All right. Let’s get you into bed, and I’ll check you over.”
I nodded. I was ready for that. I was four days from my due date, and I’d woken up with that burning sensation in my omega line. It was opening, and that meant our baby was going to be born soonish.
Maxwell carefully placed me on the bed and then gently pulled my sleep pants down. His eyes widened so briefly that I would have missed it if I weren’t staring at him.
“All right. You’re basically ready to give birth. But your waters haven’t broken. I can get you to the shower and do that for you if you’d like.”
The last thing I wanted was for them to break on the bed and cause a huge mess there. So what did I do? I sat up, and I absolutely shouldn’t have because apparently doing crunches to sit up when you were full-term pregnant did exactly what I didn’t want to happen. The sudden gush of warm fluid from my front and lower had me closing my eyes tightly and saying a silent curse. I lay back down and put my hands on my face.
Maxwell was chuckling, and I moved my hands long enough to glare and growl at him. “I’m glad you’re enjoying my discomfort.”
“That’s not it at all, my love, and you should know that. I’m only laughing at the situation because you did not want to make a mess of the bed.”
“And that’s exactly what I did.” I covered my eyes again. “Can you fix it? You can, right? You can do all the things?”
