“Oh, about that,” I said with a grin. “He’s not infertile after all.”
She inhaled sharply. “What did you say?”
“Felix is pregnant. Right now. About halfway through, actually.”
She sounded like she was choking. In the background, I heard her calling, “Dennis! Come here!”
Sounds fumbled on the other end.
“Can you repeat that, Elijah?” Felix’s mother asked.
“Yes. Felix is pregnant.”
“Oh!” An excited male voice sounded beside her. “He is?”
I smiled at the pure happiness in the man’s voice. “Yes. He’s due in about four months now.”
They both broke out into laughter and cries of joy. I had to stop walking to concentrate on the sounds of their voices--and because I was smiling so hard.
“But how is that possible?” Evelyn asked. “He told us it wasn’t possible to have children! Was he lying?”
“No. Larry was the one who lied to him,” I replied, trying to keep the bitter hatred out of my voice. “I have a history with the Bisleys. Worked for them before. I know what a bunch of spineless bullies they are. Long story short, what we think happened is that Larry screwed up his own body, and then manipulated Felix into thinking it was his fault.”
The silence was telling. I practically heard his parents’ guilt becoming tangible.
“Well, this changes everything,” Dennis said with a little laugh. “Felix pregnant with a child of his own. And he’s happy with you, Elijah?”
I beamed, unable to hold myself back. “Yes. Very, if I do say so myself.” I paused. “But I’m sure he would appreciate telling you himself, if you gave him the chance.”
“I was afraid he wouldn’t want to speak with us, after what happened,” Evelyn murmured.
“Then I’ll tell him to pick up the phone. Promise.”
Her voice softened. “Thank you, Elijah. For taking care of our son when we didn’t.”
With a slight frown, I moved over to a less crowded-sounding part of the sidewalk so nobody overheard us.
“Why did you do it? Give him away like he wasn’t even a person?” I asked.
There was an uncomfortable silence. I almost regretted bringing it up when the conversation was going so well, but I had to know.
It was Felix’s father who finally spoke.
“It sounds pathetic, but we really didn’t know any better,” he admitted. “We’ve always been a poor family. We couldn’t afford to send Felix to school, or to any lessons, or any of the things he wanted to do. When it came time for all the other kids to go to college, Felix stayed home. He said he would rather stay home and get a job to help around the house than take on the burden of student debt.”
My heart broke for Felix. That sounded exactly like something he would say, even now.
“We didn’t want that for our son,” Dennis continued. “We were desperate to find him a better life. That was how we found the Bisleys.”
My fist clenched around River’s harness handle, and I forced it to loosen.
“There was an ad, in the paper,” Evelyn said. “A local rich family looking for a house omega for their alpha son.”
“A house omega,” I repeated bitterly. “So basically, an omega who bears kids, stays quiet and does chores all day long?”
The stiff silence confirmed what I thought. Repulsion prickled my skin.
“We thought it would be a better life than working a minimum wage job for the rest of his life,” Dennis added. “So we applied for him.”
