Jumping out of my seat, I ran over to Ethan and straddled his lap. “Yes, yes, yes!” I gushed, kissing every inch of his face as I spoke.
Laughing, Ethan wrapped his arms around me and soaked in all of the affection. “I figured with the baby coming, we’re going to need as many uncles around to help raise them as possible. Ware children are hellions, you know.”
“All children are hellions,” I countered, resting my forehead against his.
“True,” he amiably agreed. “But can you imagine if we have a little Flint on our hands? Lord help us!”
We both had a good laugh at that. We sat for a moment, absorbing the gravity of everything that had happened over the last few months. Me finding out I was a ware. Ethan coming forward as my champion. My mother’s sudden resurrection in my life. The death of Osyrius. And most wondrous of all, our pregnancy. We’d certainly packed in quite a bit of activity over the last little while. Yet there was still something else I wanted to do, and I hoped my mate would approve of the idea.
“Ethan,” I began, leaning back so I could look at him while we talked, “I’ve been giving something a lot of thought recently, and I wanted to know what you think about it.”
Ethan toggled his head to the side. “Let’s hear it.”
“Since we aren’t exactly struggling financially, I was wondering if we could share a little, maybe help others.” Biting my lower lip, I pressed forward. “I keep thinking about what Laurence did, and still does, for so many children in need. I was wondering, well, if you were okay with it, I’d like it if we continued his work here in Montana. I’d like to open up the cabin to ware children who don’t have a pack of their own. With our son or daughter on the way,” I placed my hand over my still flat stomach protectively, “I keep thinking about what would happen if we weren’t around to care for them and it breaks my heart. No child should ever go without a home, pack or not. Everybody deserves somebody to love them like Laurence does the boys of Cascia House.”
Tears pooled in Ethan’s eyes as I spoke. When I was done, he didn’t speak. Instead, he pulled me close and hugged me so tight I could barely breathe and my ribs ached.
After a full minute of this, I began to giggle and asked, “Is that a yes?”
Ethan stood and tossed me over his shoulder cave-man style. Slapping my ass, he carried me upstairs and showed me just how much he liked my idea, three times over.
EPILOGUE
Six months later…
Millie
The doorbell rang and I reluctantly set down my sandwich. I was starving, as was my constant state these days, but my midday snack was going to have to wait.
Hand over my growing belly, I made my way over to the front door, but Ethan stopped me before I got there.
“What are you doing?” He demanded, hands on his hips like a mother hen.
I was confused. “Answering the door?”
He shook his head, eyeing me speculatively. “I can get that. You go back and have something to eat. You look like you’relosing weight.”
Glancing down at myself, I snorted. Losing weight? Was he serious? I was as big as a house. Well, my belly was at least.
“The doctor said the more walking I do the better,” I pointed out for the hundredth time. “There’s no need to keep me cooped up like a veal calf, Ethan. Pregnancy is a perfectly normal event for both wolves and women,” I lectured.
Thankfully, I had a ware OBGYN now who answered every question I had in my head. Melanie was a goddamned saint who gave me her personal number in case I thought of any questions I needed to ask at three in the morning whenever I got up to pee, as I did all the freaking time now.
“Well, you need your rest. Twins are a strain on a woman’s system and require frequent naps and snacks so that a mother is properly nourished alongside the babies,” he lectured right back.
Damn Melanie for giving him that baby book! The man read it religiously before he went to bed each night and it was starting to really grate on my nerves. The doorbell sounded again and I unsuccessfully tried to maneuver around him.
“I’ll get it. You go sit down and rest your feet. It’s probably just Flint. He said he might stop by for dinner,” he told me offhandedly.
“Flint’s coming for dinner?” I asked, my whole face lighting up. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Ever since we’d informed the pack we were having a baby, they had each made time to visit more regularly. Though, not regularly enough for my liking. Unfortunately, work kept them traveling so much we hadn’t had a chance to broach the subject of them living here permanently. As soon as thingsevened out a bit, Ethan promised we’d have a family meeting about our collective futures.
My mate frowned. “I didn’t want to get your hopes up in case he couldn’t make it.”
That was fair. Last time Flint said he was visiting for the weekend and then couldn’t make it, I cried for three hours straight. Though I knew it was just the hormones, Ethan had been beside himself with worry, trying to calm me down. It had taken an entire tub of my favorite ice cream, plus several desperate phone calls to Flint demanding he pick a very specific time to visit in the future, sworn to in text and voice calls, that I was able to stop sobbing. The man probably thought I was crazy, though he’d never be foolish enough to say so out loud or Ethan would have his ass.
“Let’s go together,” I suggested, desperate to see who was at the door. “If I feel faint, I’ll let you carry me the last few steps.”
