Page 13 of Home for Nathan (Secret Springs)

Chapter

Twelve

Z ion couldn’t really believe that he was sitting in the house that he owned with their moms and dads all just hanging in the living room while Nathan was upstairs tossing nervous cookies.

The four of them were staring at him like they were expecting him to make conversation. He didn’t quite know what to say.

His folks had seen the house.

Nathan had shown his folks the house.

So that was…good.

“You don’t have to be so nervous,” his mom whispered to him. “No one’s going to bite you.”

“Are you sure?” he whispered back, loud enough for everyone to hear. “I feel sort of like I’m about to be in trouble.”

Nathan’s mom started chuckling. “I think that’s just normal for meeting the in-laws.” She winked at him, her dark eyes twinkling. “Nathan’s already thrown up twice. It’s time for everyone to relax.”

“I blame you, Angela,” his dad told his mom. “You’re terrifying.”

“And now all this time I thought it was Marcus that was the scary one,” Nathan’s mom teased, poking Nathan’s dad.

“That’s me. Terrifying omega. Grr.”

They all started chuckling, which he had to admit helped a lot, because that’s really what he needed.

A little happiness.

A little ease.

A little joie de vivre.

Nathan came toddling down the stairs from the bedroom, and Zion hurried to help him down the last few steps.

“Are you all right, honey?”

“Nerves. It’s just nerves. I’m sorry, guys, it’s so stupid.”

“Pregnancy is kind of stupid.” Nathan’s mom winked at him, and his dad nodded in agreement.

“I think you’re doing an amazing job. You’re very brave to start this process on your own.”

“Well.” Nathan kind of shrugged. “I hadn’t intended to start this process right at this time, but I did, and now little Rachel is wanted by her father, both her fathers, right, Zion?”

“Absolutely.” There was no worry about that. Not at all.

Zion had explained the situation to his parents, and while they hadn’t been overjoyed, they also hadn’t been particularly worried about the situation. Omegas got pregnant. Irresponsible alphas got omegas pregnant. It wasn’t amazing, but it was the truth.

“So how did you come to land in Secret Springs?” Mom asked Nathan, and Nathan shrugged.

“I have a friend, Saul, who runs the daycare here. He and I were friends before, and I had to get out, you know, I had to get away. He said there was a place with affordable rent here where I could get my feet back under me. There was a job opening at the grocery store, and it was just like a perfect situation. The place to get out of town where I didn’t have to worry so much.

It’s super hard to constantly be stressing about who and where and what. ”

Zion hugged Nathan close to him. “Then I got myself a sandwich, asked the most important question of my life, and the rest of history. It’s amazing.

Kaleb is the one who convinced me to move here.

Well, Kaleb and this place. I saw it, and I just knew that this was the place for me and for the business. The mill is so damn inspiring.”

“And it got us Torah.” Nathan beamed at their dog, and Torah’s tail thumped from where she was lying on her back, legs sprawled, farting like a mule. Both sets of dads thought she was superdog and had been feeding her altogether too many treats and bites.

“Do you know Hank Vargas?” Nathan’s dad asked.

Zion nodded. “I do, in fact. He was just up here at the house the other day. He wants to do some…well, investigations.”

He didn’t want to upset the ’rents by having them think there was a ghost.

Of course, this was where Nathan’s dad’s eyes went wide. “You have a ghost?”

Nathan chuckled softly. “Yeah, Dad’s a fan of the podcast.”

“Oh, well how cool.” Zion had to grin. “Nathan is much more likely to see something or sense something than I am. But I think Hank will be at the wedding. We invited him and Elliot. In fact, his daughter was named for a ghost.”

There, Nathan’s dad nodded. “Yes from the hotel. Antonia. I’m a huge fan.”

Okay, that was adorable. “I will make sure that you get to meet him. He’s a very nice guy.”

“Oh, I’d love that. I’ve always painted myself a bit of an amateur ghost enthusiast, and to meet an honest-to-God ghost hunter in the flesh… Well, that would be like heaven on earth.”

Nathan’s mom rolled her eyes. “Oh, Lord. He’ll have his phone out, wandering around the house with his EVP reader app open.”

“Don’t tell Zion if you get something,” Nathan teased. “It will freak him out.”

“Hey, I’ve really come around to the idea.”

Nathan chuckled, grabbing his hand once they were settled in on the couch. “That’s because our ghost is benevolent.”

“She does seem to be.”

“She?” Marcus raised an eyebrow.

“We assume so. Let me show you the stuff I found under the floorboards. Well, Hank has the stuff, but I took pictures, and he’s sent copies back of a lot of it.”

Zion pulled out his phone, and soon he and Marcus were engrossed in discussing the letter opener, and why the blueprints were hidden in the floorboards and more.

“Hank says he’s doing a deep dive on the previous owners of the house, but Nathan thinks she might have been the original matriarch of the family. Or one of the daughters who stayed on here?”

Marcus glanced at his son. “Really?”

“Just a feeling, Dad. You know how it is.”

“I do?—”

“Now, boys,” Angela, Nathan’s mom, murmured. “We need to talk logistics for tomorrow. Marcus is making the pies. Kelly and I have the turkey.”

To be honest, his parents looked pretty relieved at the change in subject. They weren’t much on ghost stories, which Zion understood. He hadn’t been into them only months ago before he moved to Secret Springs.

They got to talking about turkeys and pies and whose dressing was going be better—his mom’s or Angela’s—and they agreed to split it up.

They decided on something he wasn’t even sure of because he and Nathan were laughing together with Torah, dancing around asking for treats, and it was just all of a sudden not awkward.

It was never a given that two people’s families were going like each other when their kids got into a relationship. Zion was pretty relieved.

Zion held out his hand for Nathan to take it, and they shared a grin along with a wink. It didn’t really matter who made the dressing. What mattered was that they were all going to be together for the holiday.

N athan was pretty tired by the time they had achieved turkey and dressing and all the good things including Nathan’s mom’s cranberry sauce.

Which, oh my God, delicious. He didn’t know that the stuff didn’t come out of a can in a gelatinous tube.

Wow, so good. Apparently, she used orange juice in it, and she was going to give him the recipe.

He sat and took a load off his feet while Zion and his dad discussed which football game to watch on TV.

They had all watched the parade together, which had seemed amazing and special, and he was just trying not to cry all day long.

Honestly, six months ago, when he’d contemplated Thanksgiving, he’d thought about how he was going to be spending a very lonely day in his apartment with one of those little turkey dinners that the Sundrop put together for people so they could just stick them in their microwave or their oven.

His dad came and sat across from him in one of the parlor chairs that wasn’t a big recliner. “How are you doing, son?”

Tears stung his eyes again, and he shook them off.

God, he was an emotional wreck. “I’m doing great, Dad.

I really am. I’m so baffled at how all this happened, but I’m so excited because I really think that Zion and I have something special…

” He trailed off for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts.

“Maybe he’s too good to be true, but it doesn’t feel like it. ”

“I’m glad. I can tell that you two are really… What do they call it now? Vibing?”

“Oh, very nice, Dad. I have no idea if that’s correct slang. You know, I’m mostly millennial, and they say my slang is out of style now.”

His dad chuckled. “Yeah, well, at least you don’t say cool for everything, apparently.”

He just nodded. His dad was such a hoot. “How are you and Mom doing?”

“Good. We’re good. Your mom’s really excited about getting her second master’s degree.”

“I know! I couldn’t believe when she told me about it. Actually, what I couldn’t believe is that you didn’t tell me about it before now.” His folks were just getting shit done.

“She didn’t want you to worry. She knew you had enough on your plate and, while it was exciting, she wasn’t sure if she would be able to finish it for a while because of the money.”

“But now she’s going to be able to be what, a level bladdy-blah teacher,” Nathan teased. He thought it was level four.

“Very funny, son.” Mom sat down on the other side of Dad. “But yes, I’m going to be like a level-four teacher, which is really exciting.”

“It is really exciting. You should look into teaching in Secret Springs.” Did he just say that?

Did he really want his parents to move here?

Maybe they could move closer, someplace like Montrose or somewhere that wasn’t Denver.

He really didn’t like the idea of his parents living where they did in the city.

“We’ve actually thought about someplace like maybe Delta or Telluride.”

His eyes widened. “Seriously? You might move?”

“Yeah. You know our neighborhood is on the cusp of becoming one of those gentrified neighborhoods where we can’t pay the taxes.

Now, that doesn’t mean we could afford to live in Telluride, but if we looked at some of the smaller towns around Delta or someplace like that, at least over that direction, I bet we could afford something.

It would be nice to be close to you. You know, slow down a little bit. Your dad can work anywhere, after all.”

“I know.” Nathan chewed his lip. “In fact, I was going to see if Dad wanted to work for Zion’s company, if that wouldn’t be too weird. He needs really good marketing people right now, and he has the money.”

“Oh, that’s sweet, kiddo.” His dad smiled.

“But I’m not sure I want to work for your hubby.

Let’s give it a little time and see. I’m not worried about you two staying together, but you’re just now getting married.

I don’t want to add parental stress to all of that at the same time.

” He winked. “Your mom and I know how that goes. Her folks tried to interfere all the time when we first got together.”

Mom rolled her eyes but smiled. “It’s true. They did, but I’d like to be close enough to pick my granddaughter up for the afternoon, to come to school plays, and see her first Halloween costumes, you know?”

“I do.” He sniffled, his eyes watering. “I want that too. Seriously.”

“Well, then we’ll work on that.” Dad patted his knee. “Now, do you need a nap before pie?”

“I might need a nap.” He might need Zion to hold him, but that was hard in the recliner, and his eyes were so heavy, the blanket that appeared over him was so warm and heavy.

Just what he needed—a pre-pie nap, then maybe he’d stop crying.