Page 36

Chapter

Twenty-Eight

S ebastian wandered the bottom floor, wondering if Colton would just move their bed down here for the duration of the pregnancy…

That was only like, May and June, and it was almost the end of April.

With Abby, he hadn’t had the time to be tired or swollen or “lazy” as he called it. Colton called it worn out from growing another being. Like Aliens or something. But with this baby, he had more security. More time to feel it, really. And he had Abby too. So he was pooped.

“Daddy? You sick?” Abby was sitting on the couch with her babies, watching Paw Patrol. She studied him with her surprisingly mature gaze, checking him over, he thought.

“I forgot my tarot journal upstairs, and I just don’t want to go get it,” he told her, smiling some to make her feel better. “I’ll be okay.”

“Call Papa. He’s up there.” She went back to her show, and he laughed. They did tend to call each other if they needed something on a different floor, between Colton’s leg and his belly…

“My smart girl.” He called his husband, still thrilling at the thought that Colton was right here, living with him and Abby in his family’s house, loving him.

“Hey, baby. What’s up?” Colton had run up to put together some mysterious thing in the nursery.

“Can you go to the bedroom and grab my journal? I left it—Oh!” Said journal appeared in front of him, just sort of floating in the air. “Never mind. Someone brought it to me.”

“I didn’t hear Abby come up.”

“She didn’t. Thank you to whoever got it for me.”

“Ghost delivery? Cool. Remind me to write that one down.” Colton was recording all the phenomena that happened in the house these days, saying it might be handy to have it all marked down at some point.

He thought maybe Elliot had convinced Colton to write a book.

“Yes. Which is good. My feet are killing me.”

“Did you want me to come down and rub them?” Colton paused. “I draw the line at the ghosts doing that.”

He bit back a silly giggle. “Please?”

“Make room on the couch. I’m on my way.”

They hung up, and he limped to the couch. “Make room for dads! Papa is coming down to rub my feet.”

“Okay.” Abby scooted, taking all her babies and her blanket with her.

Colton came down, cane tapping, which meant he’d probably been crawling around down on the floor or something equally ridiculous.

Colton sat, then patted his lap. “Come on, baby.”

He sat and turned to put his feet up, letting Colton rub the soreness out. So gently. Swelling could hurt like the very devil.

“Can I lean on you, Papa?” Abby asked, scooting back over to lean on Colton’s back and side, since he was half turned to Sebastian.

“Of course you can, baby girl. I’ll rub your feet when I’m done with Daddy’s.”

Giggling, Abby rubbed her babies’ feet, her little fingers more clumsy than Colton’s. Which felt like heaven.

“Papa?”

Colton smiled down at Abby. “Yes, baby girl?”

“Am I going to have a baby like Daddy?”

He couldn’t wait for Colton to explain this one. Abby was an alpha, no question, no concerns, and while he had no doubt that one day she would be the best alpha parent known to man, she was not going to be delivering any babies.

Colton gave him a wide-eyed look, and he nodded, encouraging.

“Well, baby girl. Your daddy is an omega. Omegas can have babies. But you’re an alpha like me, and we’re the ones who take care of the omegas while they’re having the babies and love on them, and then help raise the babies after they’re born. ”

He was fighting his laughter for all he was worth. Colton actually had done a fine job. There was no reason to explain sex until Abby was ready to ask the questions, really. And he wasn’t sure that she understood that there was a method in which babies were made.

It seemed perfectly reasonable at four years old.

“So…” She frowned at him, so serious. “You didn’t take care of Daddy when I was in his tummy. Does that mean you’re not my Papa?”

Oh, he wasn’t going to let that one go unanswered. “That is not what that means. Papa hurt his leg, remember? You know how his leg hurts sometimes?”

She nodded, tears barely held at bay.

“Well, he’d been in a bad accident when you were in my tummy, and so he couldn’t be here, but as soon as he got better, he came.”

“Oh.” She melted into a lump. “So you are my Papa?”

Colton nodded to her, hugging her tight. “Yes, I am your Papa. You are half mine. And even if you weren’t, I would still be your Papa because I love you. But I am the alpha who helped make you.”

There went that head again. “You maked me in Daddy’s tummy? Did you put me in Daddy’s tummy?”

Uh-oh. Danger, Will Robinson. Danger!

“Yes.”

“How?”

Oh, this was going to be great.

He’d saved Colton once, he wasn’t going to do it again. No friggin’ way.

Colton could just figure this out all on his own.

Sebastian wiggled his feet because Colton had stopped rubbing.

Colton grinned and started rubbing again, around Abby, who had crawled into his lap.

“Well, that’s a story for another day, kiddo, but what I can say is that when an alpha and an omega love each other so much like Daddy and I do, there are things we can do to make a baby.

But you don’t have to worry about that until you’re a little older. ”

Her eyes went wide. “I will love my babies so much. I promise.”

That made them both go, “Ohh.”

So damn sweet. Sebastian stretched, his back cracking.

“Daddy, can the baby hear us?”

Sebastian nodded. “Yeah, the baby can hear us.”

Abby scooted down off the sofa, walked around and put her mouth right on his belly. “Hey, baby, it’s me. It’s your sister. I love you.”

“What do you think we should name the baby?” he asked.

“Flowerhead.”

Colton blinked. “Flowerhead?”

“Uh-huh. I think that’s a good name for a baby. Silly, silly Flowerhead.”

Sebastian arched one eyebrow. “I suppose it’s better than Ringing Belle.”

Colton snorted. “Or Jingle.”

“Tinkling. God, this is fun.”

“Hand.”

“Oh, Hand Belle, I like that.” They’d already decided that they were all just going to be Belles. It worked for him because he would never let Abby or the new baby be a part of Colton’s family. They sucked.

“Is it a sister or a brother?” Abby asked, as if that just had occurred to her.

“You’re going to have a little sister.”

Abby frowned. “She can’t play with my doll. She has to have her own dolls, okay?”

“You wouldn’t play dolls with her?”

Abby nodded. “Yes, she can have her own dolls. And I will have my dolls.”

Sebastian could handle that. “Well, that seems very fair. Everybody should have their own dolls.”

“And her own room.”

He wasn’t going to laugh. “Yes, the baby will have her own room.”

“And no ice cream. Babies don’t get ice cream.”

“No, babies eat milk. Babies don’t have any teeth.”

Colton muttered, “You don’t need teeth to eat the ice cream.”

“Shut up,” he hissed. “She’s obviously having concerns.”

She pouted at him. “What about Uncle Xavi?”

“What about Uncle Xavi?” Sebastian just didn’t follow.

“Will he love the baby like me?”

Ah, he understood. “No, he’ll love the baby like the baby. He’ll love you like you.” He wrapped an arm around her and moved her hand a little bit so she could feel the baby kick. “The baby will change things, but not how much anybody loves you. Love is special.”

She frowned at him. “How?”

“So, love, it’s like a water well. Like you can dip down into it and bring up a bucket.

And if you put the bucket back down, there’s still water, there’s still love.

I can love you and Papa and the baby. You can love me and Papa and the baby and Uncle Xavi and Uncle Xander and Uncle Gent and Uncle?—”

She bounced, “Uncle Mason and Uncle Law and Uncle Iago!”

“Exactly.”

“I love love!” She squealed. “See? I can love my babies and the new Flowerhead.”

“Yes. Yes, you can.” He winked, and she giggled.

“Oh! Skye!” She immediately turned to the TV again, engaged by the female pup on the show.

“Well, that went well,” Colton murmured. “Good save, Daddy.”

“Hey, you did a great job.” He moaned when Colton hit his ankles, because that was the ticket. “Right there, babe.”

“You got it. Flowerhead-Daddy.”

He wiggled his toes and giggled. “You know it, Flowerhead-Papa. That’s me.”

They had talked about doing Sebastian’s baby shower in Secret Springs at the hotel, but Gent had decided that they needed it closer to home.

They’d also talked to Tori and Amanda about doing it at the hotel on the mountain too, but they’d told him they were going to Ruidoso for Memorial Day, dammit, and couldn’t they wait a week?

No, they really couldn’t. Not with Rand coming into town to meet Sebastian, and with Gent’s sisters coming to stay, and…

So they’d rented the pavilion in the park.

Well, okay, Mason and Law had volunteered to do a bunch of groundskeeping work at the park over the summer…

Hot Springs Junction was still very much a barter sort of society.

“Think we might have to make folks park at the school.”

Colton, who was unpacking chips and hot dog buns, glanced sideways at Hector Dimartini, who was Xavier’s dad. “You think?”

“If everyone who comes over from Secret Springs has their own car… Yep.” Hector surveyed the parking situation, hands on his hips.

“Well, tell Iago. He’ll arrange it.”

“Yep.” Hector stalked off. He was a man of few words. Which made it all the more hilarious that he was Xavi’s dad. It wasn’t until someone met Xavi’s mom, Ximena, that they understood everything…

“Everything okay?” Gent asked, carrying a tub of ice over to set it on the concrete pad of the gazebo.

“Yep. Parking.”

“Ah. Hector does worry about that.”

“He does.” Colton chuckled. “I just want my omega to get through the day.”

“He’s…big. He’s not due until July, right?”

“Yeah.” Colton had to admit, Sebastian looked ready to pop, and Devon had told him to really keep an eye on his blood pressure, so they tested it nightly.

He’d have to eat the not-salty stuff today, too.