Page 46 of Healing Fate

The realities of parenthood were hitting me hard, but how could I not think about it when all I wanted was a life with these two ladies.

Lucy was staring at us again with that look on her face that I couldn’t understand.

“I know I should have put her down already. I’m sorry. She’s just so cuddly.”

Lucy smiled. “No, it’s fine. A little extra love never hurt anyone.”

She looked around the room and I wondered if she expected I would crash and burn flying solo with Vada.

“We survived alright,” I told her as I sat up keeping the child close to my chest.

“I can see that. Everything’s so tidy.”

I shrugged. “Habit. In my line of work, it helps to keep everything in order.”

She bit her lip, but I knew my obsessive tendencies had not gone unnoticed around the office either.

“I let her have fun and make a mess,” I defended. “Then we played the clean-up game before getting jammies on.”

She snorted. “Jammies? Clean-up game?”

I shrugged completely unaffected. Dealing with my youngest patients had always come naturally to me. Or maybe I’d just never fully grown up. My father would definitely agree to that one. My work ethics he never had an issue with. Turning over his practice had gone flawlessly. It was my personal life he'd always taken exception to.

“A grown man shouldn’t play fantasy games all the time,” he’d said on more than one occasion.

My mother didn’t seem to care as much. She encouraged it even, but it drove my dad nuts.

Mom was more of a “When will you give me a grandpup? You know your father and I aren’t getting any younger.”

I looked down at Vada and grinned. Mom was going to love her.

“Hey, what are you two doing on Sunday?”

“Nothing that I know of, why?”

I stood up to take Vada to her room stopping to steal a kiss along the way.

“I’d like to take you and Vada to my parents’ house for dinner, or really more like a really late lunch? Super early dinner? I don’t know what to call it exactly.”

While she thought about it, I disappeared down the hall and carefully laid Vada on her bed then tucked her in and kissed her sweet head.

“Sweet dreams, sweetheart.”

Experiencing something so personal as putting a child to bed, not just any child, but my mate’s daughter, did something to me inside.

I stood there a moment just staring down at her sleeping form.

Mine,my wolf whispered.

I grinned and nodded in the dark.

When I walked back into the living room, Lucy was pacing.

My heart started to pound as I looked around for any threats. Pacing was never a good sign for a shifter. It meant stress and anxiety.

“Luce, what’s wrong?” I asked, going to her and wrapping her up in my arms.

“Your parents? You want me to meet your parents?”