Page 28 of The Omega's Secret Baby

“Hats?”

“Like the one you made for Fiona!”

Involuntarily, I grimaced. I'd only made the hat for Fiona because a younger Jake had insisted that if he had to wear a hat, so did the dog. Like every other omega, I'd had to learn knitting and sewing and crocheting.Valuable skills, I'd been told, and maybe they were, but I hated them. Learning all that had only taken time away from the things I'd really wanted to study.

“I don't know,” I told Jake. “Fiona might become jealous if I knit things for other dogs.”

He mulled this over for a second. “Fiona's a good dog,” he decided. “She won't mind.” He smiled. “Maybe you could make other clothes too! Like sweaters! It would be funny!”

I could tell my son was in love with this idea, even if I wasn't.

“C'mon, Daddy, write it down.”

I gave in with a small sigh and wrote it down, hoping maybe someone at work had a better idea.

Jake grinned. “I'll tell all my classmates. They'll all come!”

“Great. Tell them to bring their parents.”

But the commercial was over and Jake's attention was diverted.

Absentmindedly, I stroked his hair while he watched the continuation of his cartoon and I thought back to the day before. Jake had fallen asleep in the car on our way back, and Matt and I had talked a little bit. Not about anything serious, for the most part, but it had become clear that he wanted to see us again soon.

“Hey, Jake?” I tried when the cartoon was over.

He looked at me. “Is it bedtime yet?”

I glanced at the clock on the wall above the television. “In a few minutes, but I'd like to talk to you about something first.”

He tilted his head, a curious expression on his face. “About the dogs?”

“No, not about the dog.” I grabbed the remote control and shut the television off. “What do you think about Matt? Do you think he's nice?”

Jake gave me a half-shrug. “He's not very good at snowball fights.”

“No, that's true. But he's okay, isn't he? He took us all the way to the big hill.”

“Yeah.” Jake looked back at the TV, even though it was off, and I could tell he wasn't super interested in this conversation. Why would he be? He didn't know that Matt was his father, and I wasn't at all sure how he was going to take those news when I finally told him.

“He suggested we go to the movies together next week. How would you like that?”

“I like the movies.”

“Okay, then we’ll go. Andnowit’s bed time. Go brush your teeth.”

“Do I have to?”

“You have to be good if you want to go to the movies.”

“You’re mean!” Jake complained, but climbed off my lap and headed toward the bathroom anyway.

* * *

Jake enjoyedhimself at the movies the next week. To my surprise, it seemed that Matt did too. No lies, I have to admit that I was a little worried about how much he would really like to see a children's movie, but he handled himself well and laughed at all the right moments. I couldn't tell whether he did that because he was genuinely amused or whether he was doing it for Jake, but I was grateful for it all the same.

It was kind of nice, being out like this. Almost as if we were a real family.

We weren't, of course. But maybe we could be. Someday.