Page 34 of Single Omega Dad

At five months pregnant, I got hungrier more often, but I couldn’t eat huge meals in one sitting. I saved half my steak, ate most of my salad and potato, and realized I had no room for pie.

“Maybe we can wait on the pie until a little later,” I suggested to the table.

That was me presuming Mathias was even going to stay later than he had to after I signed the documents he’d brought.

Tybor and Luke wiggled in their chairs, waiting to be allowed to be excused.

“Can we watch a movie?” Luke asked.

“Yeah. Go ahead, guys. You may be excused.”

They grabbed their stuffed kittens and ran off to the living room shouting, “I get to pick first!”

“No, I get to!”

I got up to clear the table. Mathias said, “I’ll help.”

I didn’t really want Mathias’s help. It seemed too personal, somehow. Yet he’d already inserted himself here by bringing groceries and giving my kids gifts. Careful, I told myself. Don’t read too much into this. If he wanted more from me, great, but if he didn’t, I had to be all right with that, too.

“All right, then.”

We made a good team, rinsing and stacking the dishes in the dishwasher. It felt both odd and right.

After the dining table was cleared and with the dishwasher running, we sat there with me facing the living room down a short, wide hall so I could keep an eye on the kids.

Mathias opened his sleek attaché case and pulled out his laptop and a paper folder. When he had everything set up, he said, “It’s fairly straightforward. Just need some signatures.”

He slid a document across the table to me.

I saw the figure for the new payments right away. “Is this right?”

I pointed at it.

He nodded. “I’m not taking a commission so it’s a slightly different number.”

It cut off another hundred dollars in the monthly payment. “Shouldn’t you take a commission? Isn’t that standard?”

“There are still commissions. The loan officer I used gets one.”

“I was talking about you.”

“I’m fine.”

But it felt like taking charity. He’d already found this loan, bought us dinner, given my kids things. Sure, those weren’t exorbitant things, but I couldn’t help the pang of guilt that washed through me.

I pushed the paperwork back toward him. “You should redo the numbers then. I want you to have a commission.”

“I get paid by the bank quite handsomely. I’m not a loan officer and this procurement is part of the guardianship. The bank is taking a fee for that.”

“Oh.” I hadn’t thought of that even though to begin with it had pissed me off. Financial guardians were not provided for free.

I might often feel screwed just for being an Omega, but suddenly I realized Mathias wasn’t going to screw me over just because I was one. A warm rush of affection for the stoic Vandergale Alpha came over me.

I took back the paper. He’d highlighted in yellow marker where I was to sign.

It took us about ten minutes to get everything completed.

“Well, that was pretty easy. Don’t these types of things take longer to go through the system?”