Page 30

ALEX

“T here’s no such thing as not having a white Christmas here, is there?”

Alex had never seen anyone who loved snow as much as Orson. He was still as enthused about it in December as he’d been in September when the first flakes started falling. He stood at their front bay window, looking out over the snow-muffled trees. Usually the view extended to the distant ocean, but between the late morning twilight and the blowing snow, they were isolated in a cloud of muted blue.

“Wasn’t there snow in Colorado?”

“It wasn’t Alaskan snow,” Orson protested. “Alaska does everything better.”

Alex wryly wondered if the glamor would wear out by February or March, when winter seemed to drag on forever and summer was a distant, impossible dream. She couldn’t wait to see him experience an Anchorage spring, with everything bursting into green; she was sure that he would be as exuberant about that as he was about everything else.

If someone had told her six months earlier that she would be here, this happy, engaged to a man who could turn into a bear, she would have laughed at them.

Now she laughed all the time, not the fake little laugh that Sandra had encouraged, but a sound from deep in her belly.

She put her hand over her belly in wonder.

If someone had told her six months ago that an unplanned pregnancy would fill her with anything but existential dread, she would have punched them.

“Can we do presents yet?” Orson begged, turning away from the window as Alex quickly moved her hand. “You haven’t let me into the garage in two days and it’s killing me.”

“Your gift was a little too big to wrap,” she said, smiling at him.

“Is it a car?” Orson guessed.

“It’s not a car,” she teased. “You already have a perfectly good car.”

“Is it sex on top of my car? Because that sounds super fun to unwrap!” Orson swept her up in his big arms and kissed her, which always made it hard to think clearly.

She chuckled. “It’s…related to sex. Sort of. Not really. I mean, technically…”

“Aaaaah!” Orson wailed. “I’m dying to know.”

Alex took pity on him. “C’mon, let’s go see what Santa left you.”

“I was very good this year,” Orson promised. “Super good. I didn’t light anything on fire that wasn’t supposed to be.”

“Close your eyes,” Alex commanded, and he obeyed.

She led him out into the garage. “Merry Christmas,” she said, after letting him suffer a moment while she drank in his handsome face.

Orson opened his eyes. “Oh, a bike! That’s a nice bike. Love the color. Are those winter tires? Wait…why is there a child seat on the back of it?”

“It will be a little while before they’re big enough for a ten-speed of their own,” Alex explained, watching Orson’s face carefully.

His eyes went wide and cautious. “Do you mean…? But you…?”

“No birth control is one hundred percent,” she said pragmatically.

“And are you okay with it? I mean…wow. Wow!” A dozen expressions of pride and excitement crossed his face. “Hot damn!”

“I’m okay with it,” Alex said confidently. “I’m more than okay with it.” And she was. She was as excited as Orson was, if that was even possible, and it had been so hard to keep the secret this week, burying half a dozen tests in the bathroom trash.

He gave a wild whoop and tackled her with a laughing hug as he lifted her off her feet and twirled her around. “I’m going to be a dad!” he hollered, loud enough that their distant neighbors could probably hear it over the wind.

After he’d twirled her, he set her down on her feet and kissed her passionately. When they drew apart for air, he declared, “I love you, Alex Vex, and you are going to be the sexiest mom in the entire universe. Oh, and I’m afraid I have to tender my notice at work so I can stay home with our kids, which is fine because my boss is super grumpy. She’s a total hard-ass, you wouldn’t even believe. And we’ll have to get married right away so I can still carry you over the threshold.” He demonstrated, sweeping her up into his arms, and she laughed and clung to his neck as he carried her back into the house and up the stairs.

“What about my presents?” Alex protested as they passed the sparkling tree.

“I got you a fancy tablet and some lacy underwear,” Orson said dismissively. “You can open them later. No, wait, I want to peel you out of those.” He pivoted back down the stairs and nearly dropped her into pile of presents as he tried to juggle her and pick up a box at the same time.

“Put me down, you oaf,” Alex said, not really struggling. “I can walk upstairs all by myself.”

“You might not be able to when I’m done with you,” Orson cautioned.

“Is that a threat or a promise?” she wanted to know, nuzzling his short beard.

“You tell me,” Orson growled.

They didn’t get the present open or make it to the bedroom, and Alex plucked tinsel from her hair later as they poured coffee in the kitchen.

“I can’t wait,” Orson said, standing close enough that she could feel the heat from his big nude body. “I mean, pregnant sex is definitely super hot, but I can’t wait to say hello to our little cub.”

That stilled Alex. “Will they be a shifter like you?”

“It does tend to be genetically dominant,” Orson said proudly.

Alex took a bracing sip of coffee. The idea of little bear cubs running around the house didn’t scare her was much as it should. She liked that there was a world of wonder and magic secretly shrouded right beside the ordinary one. “What do people do who can’t stay home? Or single parents. Is there a day care for shifters ?”

“I don’t know,” Orson confessed. “Kids are terrible at keeping secrets. I can imagine how hard it will be.”

“Well, luckily our cub will have a super-dad,” Alex said, sidling even closer. “Thanks for being willing to do it.”

“It’s a hard job, but someone’s got to do it.” He added suggestively, “I do a lot of hard jobs…”

“That’s what she said,” they chorused together.

* * *