From then, I realized I had to put aside my plans for his, and we went forward together, in lockstep. With an omega who was afraid to lose all the work he’d put into his business and a pocketful of cash, I made sure to put him and his needs first. It felt good. Like doing my real job. Being his alpha.
One way or another, we managed to do what we needed to. My money was not infinite, and we wanted to be sure to keep the amount we needed for the shop and my business after the baby arrived, but the baking paid the bills. I’d never respected anyone more than Jude who worked so hard to make enough to survive.
And boy was he busy. So busy that we arrived at the eighth month with a nursery that was still a guest room and the holidays approaching again.
“I won’t put up a lot of decorations,” he said. “We have enough to do anyway.”
Looking at his sweet face, his hand resting on his substantial bump, I knew I couldn’t let him do that. “I’ll make you a deal, omega mine,” I said, brushing a kiss over his cheek. “First, we get the nursery ready then, we decorate for the holidays. It wouldn’t do to have our little one arrive with nowhere to sleep or play.”
He giggled. “No way. We can’t have that. They will want to know what we’ve been doing for nine months.”
“We can shop online, or we can go to the big town,” I said.
Jude was in the process of lowering himself into the one chair he could still get in and out of on his own. It was straight backed and not very comfortable, but he swore he liked the independence. “Alpha, would I be a terrible dad if shopped online? I know a good papa would want to see everything in person, but it’s so far, and if my ankles get any more swollen, I don’tknow what I’ll do.”
“Too much salt,” I scolded, moving into the kitchen. “I’m cutting back on what I cook with from now on.”
“See? And there’s that, too. Not only am I late in setting up the nursery, but you’ve had to take on all the cooking and cleaning and nearly all of my job baking. Why do you even put up with me?”
His distress was so hard to take. Thanksgiving was over and the cabin had not a single decoration. I decided right then and there that I had to do something about it for my Christmas-loving omega.
“I’m getting the iPad right now, and I want you to pick out every single thing you want for the baby’s room while I make dinner. A low-salt dinner. Then you’re going to bed early to get lots of rest.”
“We do have that big order to bake tomorrow,” he sighed. “And I’m a little tired.”
He was very tired, had been for some time now, but I didn’t need to point that out. Quinn said he was fine; even with the water retaining, his blood pressure was good. And once he began shopping, calling me over to look at the images before putting them in thevirtual shopping cart, his mood lifted, and he grew more cheerful.
After dinner, satisfied with his progress on the baby’s room and with my promise to paint it to his specifications, he allowed me to tuck him into bed with a big glass of water on the nightstand in case he got thirsty during the night.
Then, when he’d drifted off, I went to work, getting out box after box of Christmas decorations from the shed and trying to remember exactly how he’d had it the year before. It took almost all night, and we still needed a Christmas tree, but I thought it looked pretty nice. I was just finishing up, attaching garland to the mantel and humming “Jingle Bells” when I heard a gasp.
“Alpha, you did this? For me?” I spun to see my omega in his nightshirt, belly bulging out under the long flannel. He held out his arms, and I went to him, hugging him close. “But you hate Christmas.”
“Not anymore,” I said, knowing it was true. “It’s still a little hard, but while I was doing this, I kept thinking that it would make you happy, and I could justsee us with our little one together, spending all the holidays… It was a little hard, but it was time to stop grieving and look to the future. I’ll never forget my brother, but I kind of feel like he’s looking down on us and smiling.”
“Alpha, you’re very wise, and I love you.”
“Love you too, omega mine. You’ve brought back the joy.”
Chapter Twenty
Jude
I woke from a deep sleep with a start. My wolf woke me, clawing at me through our connection. My back was covered with sweat. I swiped the back of my hand against my brow, finding perspiration there as well.
“Jude? Are you okay? Nightmare again?” Ripley reached for me, brushing his hand along my lower back. A simple graze of his fingertips, and I realized how sore I was at the place where my back met my bottom.
“No. Not a nightmare.” My last trimester had been riddled with nightmares. They were uncommon for me. I had such a dream only a few times a year, if that. At first, we’d chalked them up to eating sugary food too late at night or the fluctuations in blood sugar as I neared the end of my pregnancy, but a visit to the healer let me know that it was neither. He said it was more about the hormonal changes and less about thefact that my cookie orders had doubled as of late and thus, so had the sampling of my baked goods.
Even Ripley ran extra hard lately, trying to burn away the extra calories. Silliness, if you asked me. My mate was as chiseled and godlike even after a few dozen cookies.
I, on the other hand, was an ever-inflating balloon, at least, in my abdomen. My kitchen had become entirely too small, I’d found, trying to move around with my protruding belly. I’d once been able to flit around it, efficiently and quickly and now, I barely made it one inch without bumping into something.
“Can I get you something?” Ripley got up from bed and came around to my side where I slid out of bed and felt instantly better once my feet hit the floor. Maybe I’d been sleeping the wrong way.
“I think I’ll go get some tea.”
“I’ll make it for you. Stoke the fire a bit, and we can sit up until you’re ready to go back to sleep.”
