He let Sam report the finished work to Wendy. “Good work, gentlemen,” she said. “You two can pick the dessert!”
“Hot fudge sundae,” Sam said—with a questioning look Alejo’s way.
What could he say? “Hot fudge sundae for me, too!”
Later that night, as Alejo and Wendy lay together in the aftermath of passion, she pillowed her head on his shoulder. “I have the room all ready,” she said. “I thought about replacing all the shampoos and hair and skincare products, but I don’t know what a teen might like. I could take her shopping, and let her pick out her own.”
He said, “Make sure you tell me how much money you need. No, I have a better idea. Let me give you my card. I’ll put your name on the account on Monday, when the banks open.”
Wendy stiffened, then lifted her head to look at him. “Alejo, I can’t take advantage like that. It’s fine. It’s just a few things.”
He could feel how not fine it was, and wanted to kick himself. He was so used to buying what he wanted when he wanted it that he didn’t think about how hard she had to work to make what surely was a modest income stretch for two people. That rattletrap of a car outside was evidence of that. He hadn’t been able to work on it today, and tomorrow he’d be on the road, but he’d get to it!
Or, better...why not get her thinking about a new car?
He squashed the urge to go out Monday and buy one. She needed to be part of this decision.
He held her tighter. “Wendy, my dad invested long ago, and because we liked making most things ourselves, the money has been piling up in the bank unused. While we’re not billionaires, we’ll never have worries like that. Please let me share a little of it with you. It gives me so much pleasure.”
She thumbed her eyes. “I…”
“Please.”
She kissed him. “Thank you.”
A little sigh escaped her, as if a burden had rolled off her shoulders, and she laid her head back on his shoulder, snuggling close as she dropped into sleep.
Alejo lay awake longer, loving the peace of this moment, aware that daylight would bring a daughter.
SIXTEEN
WENDY
Wendy gave Alejo a last kiss for luck. He gave her a lingering glance through those beautiful dark eyes, then got into his truck, and rumbled down the driveway.
Sam skipped out to play in the garden, leaving Wendy to run her hands nervously down her jeans, inspecting the house one more time—she’d only checked it over six times this morning—when her phone rang. Thinking of flat tires, engine problems, a delayed flight, she raced to pick it up. It was Godiva.
“Wendy!” Godiva bellowed, as usual making the phone speakers crackle. “How’s my timing? Alejo is on his way to LAX, right?”
“He just left,” Wendy said.
“Good. He’s my boy, and I want him happy, but I’m also thinking of you. Now that he isn’t there, how are you feeling about all this?”
Wendy uttered a kind of strangled laugh. “Which ‘this’ would that be? Mates, or shifters, or Oriane?”
“All.”
“Oh, Godiva, sometimes I don’t know if I’m dreaming. Nobody could possibly be this happy in day-to-day life.”
“I want to know if you’re truly okay. Alothas come at you really fast.”
Wendy sat down, glancing toward the door. She was alone. She caught the sound of Sam’s piping voice coming through the windows that she’d opened to let in the ocean breeze.
“I’m good,” Wendy said slowly, searching her feelings. “A little worried. But when I think about it, the worry is mostly on Alejo’s behalf. I can feel how much he wants to do the right thing by Oriane. Though he’s still getting used to us, and the whole mates thing.”
Godiva chuckled. “Finding his mate booted him right into the land of bliss. Luckily he’s got more of Rigo’s nature than mine. Rigo being a quiet river, clean and deep, and, me, well I’m a thunderstorm. But here’s something about Alejo maybe you ought to know: he was abandoned not once, but twice. By Rigo, by me. Neither of those abandonments was intentional. But to a kid, intent doesn’t matter. He’s never been resentful, though he has a perfect right. He’s just always carried the idea of home close to his heart.”
Wendy’s eyes prickled. “I’m … beginning to sense that. And me, I find myself hoping, wanting, that he will make his home here. You know the reasons why I still feel a bit tentative.”
