Page 27

Angell

A t two, Arly was a lot to keep up with. When he took his first step, he was off and running. He loved to run.

I chased him all over the dewy grass of the backyard. He couldn’t quite climb trees yet, but he tried. He put his little foot on the rough trunk of one, turned to me, signing and speaking simultaneously. “Daddy, want to climb.”

“When you’re bigger, okay?” I signed, then scooped him up into my arms.

He looked just like a mini-Niro, all dark hair and eyes. His hair flowed to his shoulders, shiny and wavy like Cambry’s. What a looker he was going to be.

Just then, Cambry came out on the patio with a tray in hand. “Snack break,” he called.

Arly scrambled to get down and nearly dropped from my arms. He ran to the patio calling out. “Dad. Dad.”

I followed much slower. By then, Cambry had our son up in a chair on a booster seat. Arly hated his highchair, but he still made messes. But what were we to do? It was booster seats for him or he refused to eat. Every meal, even snack breaks, involved some sort of wash down or bath afterwards.

Arly held his sippy cup of juice, while Cambry and I poured ourselves freshly made iced tea from a pitcher. The tray held fruit and graham crackers. Arly’s chubby hands grabbed at it all until he held a cracker in one hand and a peeled apple slice in the other.

Arly took small bites and chewed thoroughly. He frowned and looked around the patio. “When Dada home?”

“Soon,” Cambry said. “Remember we told you he goes to work outside the house some days?”

“Want Dada.”

Of course he did. Dada was the best. He didn’t make Arly do things. We did. And we disciplined him when he got into trouble, like putting him in terrible time outs or making him take a nap. We were the evil daddies, and Niro was the cool Dada.

“Before you know it,” Cambry said, “he’ll be here. He’ll be having dinner with us.”

Arly chewed his apple thoughtfully. This boy could focus. And he understood a lot more than we often gave him credit for.

When snack time was over, I took Arly in to wash his hands. And arms. And sticky knees poking out from his cute jeans’ shorts.

Through the bond, I knew Cambry was tired. All day, he’d been feeling under the weather.

After Arly fell asleep on top of his favorite stuffed bear in the playpen, I went to Cambry who was lying on the couch.

“Feeling tired?” I signed.

He nodded.

“Tell me.” I sat down next to him.

“It’s just nothing. I guess maybe I didn’t sleep well last night.”

“After the pounding Niro gave you?” I teased.

“Those snacks make my stomach feel weird now. I might be sick so move out of the way if I run.”

I leaned against his bent knees and signed right in his face, grinning. “You’re not pregnant, are you?”

His eyes flashed wide. His eyebrows jumped up. “What? No!”

Before I could blink, he shoved me out of the way and was running up the stairs.

Checking to see that Arly was still fast asleep, I ran up after him. Cambry was in the bathroom, slamming cupboards and drawers. “I know we have test kits in here.”

Slowly, I opened the drawer closest to the toilet. “They’re right here,” I signed.

He grabbed one and ran to the toilet. I walked out, giving him some privacy.

When he came out of the bathroom, he was holding the stick tightly in his fist.

“Has it been thirty seconds?”

He shrugged, giving the tester to me. “Maybe. I haven’t looked.”

I went to the edge of our bed and sat. Then I turned it over and looked. And there it was: the pink plus.

I grinned up at him.

“I’m pregnant?”

I nodded.

“Really? You’re kidding me, right?”

I just stared at him, slowly spelling out, “Congratulations.”

Together, we went downstairs and checked again on the still-napping Arly. Then we waited for Niro.

Our Alpha walked through the front door half an hour later. We stood right by the front door to greet him. I had Arly in my arms. Cambry had the tester in his hands behind his back.

Arly reached up excitedly. “Dada!”

Niro took his tiny look-alike into his arms, then frowned at us. “Something’s going on,” he said. “I feel it in our bond. Tell me.”

I motioned to Cambry who stepped forward. “We have news.”

“What? Tell me.”

The baby shifted in Niro’s arms, smacking him on the chin and saying, “Dada” over and over.

Niro kissed him on the nose and actually cooed at him. Arly burst into shrieking giggles.

Cambry chewed on his lower lip, still facing Niro.

“Well?” Niro asked.

Slowly, he brought the tester out from behind his back. He held it up to Niro.

Niro looked at it, frowned, then bent his head closer. “That’s a pregnancy test.”

We both nodded.

“That’s a positive pregnancy test.”

Again, nodding.

“What does that mean?”

Niro wasn’t stupid, but sometimes he took a moment to digest new information.

“It means I’m pregnant,” Cambry said.

While Niro seemed to be at a loss for words, the three of us exchanged glances and growing smiles while Arly tried to eat his Dada’s tie.

Already I was making plans in my head to fit a fifth member of the family into our home. We would make it work. We all had so much love to give. And we weren’t done.

THE END