Page 91 of The Omega's Surprise Baby

“What's all this?” he asked.

I pointed to the banner. “Can't you read?”

“I can, but... Where I come from...” He stopped and shook his head.

Then he gave me a smile. “I guess we're having a celebration today.”

The corners of my mouth tugged up. “Yup, you two deserve a party.” I gestured at him and Conner. My son had refused to have a party to announce his status, but he wasn't getting out of this one. He eyed me skeptically now.

“We don't need a party,” he said.

“That's where you're mistaken. Now sit at the table, I'm making pancakes.” I grabbed a pan and gestured with it.

He sat, grudgingly.

“I love parties!” Mary announced.

I nodded at her. “Listen to you sister. She's got her priorities straight.” Turning back to the stove, I set the pan down. “You know there's no shame in being omega. Look at Kade and all he's accomplished.” His latest album was selling like hotcakes, despite his temporary retreat from the limelight. In fact, we'd already made back what I'd paid his ex, and more than that.

“It's not that,” Conner said.

And then Kade spoke up before I could continue to argue with my son. “Why do you not want to celebrate today?” he asked.

“It's not right.”

“Why not?”

Conner bit his lower lip, and then he got up and tugged on Kade's arm until my partner followed him out of the kitchen. All right, so whatever it was, he didn't want to discuss it in the open. I didn't enjoy being left out, but whatever the issue was, I knew Kade could handle it. Conner and he had formed some sort of omega-bond over the past few weeks. It was heartening to see, even if it did leave me standing on the sidelines sometimes.

Conner had needed someone like Kade in his life. He was good at listening without passing judgment—and without telling me, as infuriating as that was sometimes.

This time, though, it seemed he could relate what he'd learned.

When the two of them came back into the kitchen, Conner returned to his seat, carefully holding his sleeping baby sister in his arms, and Kade stepped up behind me. His hands on my hips, he leaned in to speak in my ear as I poured batter into the pan. “Conner wants to go to the cemetery,” he said. “I think he’s right too. You've gone every year since... you know...”

Of course.“I know. Take over for me here?”

“Sure.” He grabbed the spatula from me and I approached my son.

“What makes you think we're not going to the cemetery today?”

He pointed at the banner and streamers overhead. “You can’t party at the cemetery.”

“No, I suppose we won’tpartythere, but we’re still going. I know a lot of things have been going on lately and many more things changed, but I’m not forgetting your daddy, okay?”

He nodded slowly. “I just thought…” His eyes darted to the banner again and then to Kade.

“No,” I said, reading the words he didn’t say on his face. “Kade being here and us celebrating doesn’t change that.” I was never going toforgetRon. Kade knew that and he accepted it.Your heart is big enough for both of us,he’d told me the one time I’d brought it up.

I ran a hand into Conner’s hair. “I think from now on, we should use omega day to celebrate you and Kade, and the memory of Ron. How do you feel about that? We’ll go to the cemetery and we’ll tell him how much we love him and how much we miss him, like we do every year. But we’ll also tell him about the good things that are happening in our lives. You can talk about your new sister and your new school. Today doesn’t have to be a sad day.”

“But if you’re still against this party that’s okay too,” Kade chimed in. “We’ll respect that.”

I nodded and looked back at Conner. “What do you think?”

“I guess… we can try,” he said after a moment. At his side, Max gave a short bark, as if agreeing.

I smiled at my son and kissed his hair. “That’s all I ask.”

As I looked up again, Kade put a plate with pancakes on the table. Mary dove right in to them. She loved maple syrup almost as much as she loved ice cream.

“Happy Omega Day!” she proclaimed.

“Happy Omega Day!” Kade and I gave back in unison as we took our seats at the table.

In Conner’s arms, Hope stirred, blinking her blue eyes open at her brother.He looked down at her with a small but genuine smile. “Happy Omega Day, Hope.”

The two of them made such a lovely picture that I couldn’t help but smile as well, feeling in my heart of hearts that today was going to be good. That the rest of ourliveswas going to be good. Not everything was perfect, no, but finally, I was feeling like things were going in the right direction.

We were going to have a Happy Omega Day indeed.