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“We might. How would you feel about that?”

“I love her. I want her in our pack.” Joey nodded, a smile spreading over her face. “Hey, Daddy? Am I going to have a brother or sister?”

“We don’t know yet.”

“I want a girl. Then there will be three girls in the family, and three boys!”

I couldn’t refute that logic. Even if Bethany had a boy, I had no doubt that these girls would still be running circles around us.

We had been so busy with the logistics, I hadn’t taken time to really think about what this meant. A new little baby boy or girl in our family. The sleepless nights, the potty training. Gideon and Jensen had butted heads constantly in the early days with Joey. Gideon naturally wanted to stick to a very regimented schedule and looked up everything online and researched, whereas Jensen wanted to use his doctor knowledge and insisted he knew better.

When they’d started bickering around three a.m., I’d simply scooped up baby Joey and snuggled with her in the living room while she had her bottle.

It had been some of my favorite moments with her.

Personally, I would be happy with a whole pack full of babies, boys or girls.

Chapter 39

Beth

Humming to myself, I glanced over the menu, despite having visited the café many times before. It was one of those fun places that offered delicious seasonal drinks, and I wanted a Christmas drink. It was only a week away, and it was officially the last day of classes, so Mama deserved a decaf treat.

A peppermint latte sounded perfect.

Ideally, I would have it jacked up with caffeine, because despite only having a small bump, the little nugget was managing to disturb what little sleep I got. Sadly, thanks to the aforementioned nugget, decaf was my only option.

“Hi! What can I get started for you?” the barista asked in a perky voice as I approached the counter.

“Can I just get that amazing-looking peppermint latte?” I asked, pulling out my purse with a smile.

“Sure! That’ll be four dollars.”

I tapped my phone to the reader to pay, frowning when it made that little rejection sound.

“Sorry, that didn’t work. Can you try again?” the barista asked.

“Sure.” I sighed but kept my smile on as I tapped my phone to the reader.

Only for it to be rejected again. While I had been using the pack credit card more and more, I had opted to use my personal card connected to my digital wallet for the coffee. I knew I had plenty of available credit, so I had no clue what was happening.

“So sorry, my phone doesn’t seem to be working.” I frowned. Digging into my purse, I reached for my wallet. “Just a second. I’ll grab the actual card.”

“Of course, go ahead.” She smiled, ever chipper.

When I went to tug my card from its slot in my wallet, I froze. It wasn’t there. “I am so sorry. I’ll come back once I’ve figured out what’s going on,” I said, turning from the counter and rushing out of the café, embarrassed. Where the heck had I left my physical credit card?

All I’d wanted was a tasty seasonal drink before I tackled the mountain of work I had in front of me.

As I walked outside, I pulled up my credit card app on my phone, scrolling through it in confusion.

I wasn’t rich, by any means, but I had been saving and working hard in order to afford my tuition. Thanks to my family’s lack of support, I had done it all myself, and I was damn proud of it. Also, the guys had been insisting on paying for everything, so my small stipend from the university was rapidly accumulating.

My heart plummeted when I saw my balance.

The card I had barely even used recently had a balance of nearly ten thousand dollars, fully maxing it out.

I had neverseenthat much money, let alone spent it!