Page 12

Ethan

Five years.

Tomorrow, we, as a family, were going to have a big celebration with all our friends. Peter insisted because he still took credit as the matchmaker. We had so many people within our orbit—friends, family, colleagues…

Kingston pressed a kiss to my temple as we stood in our backyard—festooned with balloons, streamers, and a handmade sign reading We Love You, Daddies!

With the a in Daddies backward, of course.

Gran supervised, but she was judicious with her corrections.

Florence, our little kit, was mastering language just fine.

Sergio, our little pup, tended to be a step behind his sister. But he’d figured out scampering up trees quicker. His long red tail always helped for balance.

His sister liked to hoard things when she thought no one was watching. Then her brother would find them.

They’d been born within weeks of each other, ensuring absolute chaos in the house. But we hadn’t wanted to wait once we’d found surrogates. Both Rachel, the racoon surrogate, and Stacey, the squirrel surrogate, had been thrilled to help us grow our family. Both had offered, in the past year, to help out again.

Kingston and I had decided, with no small amount of self-preservation, that two was perfect.

Oscar screeched and Olympia was at her brother’s side in a moment. Tabitha and Gillian’s twins were a year older than our two and had, almost from the moment they’d been born, been hell on wheels.

Being honorary godfathers, Kingston and I had a good sense of what we faced.

First crawl, first step, first shift… The dynamic duo taught us what to expect—enabling us to be better parents.

Or so we told ourselves.

Kingston pressed himself against my back.

I leaned into the embrace. “Is it me or is our life perfect?”

“Florence opened the wall safe.”

I pulled away from him and gaped. “You said that safe was unbreakable. That was the entire point of having it installed.” We kept all our important papers in there.

In the beginning, I’d helped with the business—mainly doing advertising and preparing papers for the accountant to file the tax returns.

When the kids, came, though, we decided I’d stay home with them. None of my jobs had even come close to the rewarding sense of guiding our two into their lives.

Gran showed me how.

I applied the lessons.

Kingston did as well, proving to be an amazing dad. He was the one who let the kids get away with way more than I would.

We were happy.

“Okay, you said that safe was uncrackable.”

“It is.”

“Yet our five-year-old broke into it? And she didn’t use your drilling tools?”

“Nope.”

I blinked back tears. “Our baby’s growing up.” I pressed a hand to my heart.

“What are you going on about now?” Kat pursed her lips. “I broke a nail.”

“I’ll get you a nail—” Kingston didn’t even have a chance to finish the sentence before she had a file yanked from her pocket.

Guess when you have nails like that, they might break more often.

She’d proved a capable and competent aunt, teaching all the kids about how to stay safe while shifted. She watched over all of us.

I’d have thought it might feel stifling, but it really wasn’t.

She treasured all the pups, kits, and owlets.

Gran clapped. “Cake.”

Kingston groaned.

Food, no matter how delivered, meant a mess.

I kissed his cheek. “From the man who made me wash my feet, to dirty diapers, to messy faces.”

“Oh God, don’t remind me. I’m glad we said no more kids.”

“Until we have grandkids.” I tried to hide my smile.

He pressed a kiss to my lips. “I look forward to it.”

I believed him. Because he had helped me find a purpose in life, and I’d unlocked his heart.