Chapter 19.

MY POOR, BEAUTIFULwoman was sobbing like her heart was broken and crashing down all around her.

So, I just held her, calming her down as best I could. I gently stroked her hair and rubbed her belly and promised her that everything was going to be okay now. I’d personally file charges against that mother fucker, and I’d burn his house down, too. He was never getting anywhere near my woman again.

The police were called, and Jamie was dragged away for surgery to try and fix the damage I’d done.

I hope I fucked his face for life. Asshole, pretty boy.

I carried my pregnant mate back to her bed to be checked over by the staff and I refused to leave her side, even when Tommy asked me to. “No.” I snapped at him. “I’ve been keeping my distance and look what happened! No, means no, brother. I’m not leaving her. Never again.”

Stacey smiled at me with tears in her eyes, clearly overwhelmed but grateful for my protective and possessive brand of support during this frightening and trying time for her.

I held her hand as they poked and prodded at her and declared she still very much needed to remain on bed rest. When everyone left, including Tommy, I finally melted onto the bed with her, dropping my head and pressing a kiss to her swollen belly. “Please forgive me, Stacey.”

She stroked my head and ran her fingers through my hair, seemingly willing me to feel comforted, when it was her who needed it most.

“I should have always trusted you,” I lamented. “And I’m so sorry I made you feel like I didn’t want you or the baby. I was acting like a jealous ass. I’m better than that, I promise.”

“It’s okay,” she finally said after a time. “I understand why you felt the way you did, and it’s okay that you were worried. It’s a very human thing to feel. And I’m happy to do a paternity test to prove to you she’s Tommy’s. I’ve already asked the nurse and she said we can do that as soon as she’s born.”

I kissed her belly again and shook my head. “No, that’s not necessary. She’s ours and I love her already.” Flooded with emotions I’d never felt before, I lifted my head and stared at my mate. “And I love you, Stacey, so much. I thought I was going to die when I saw him with you, trying to take you away. It was like having my heart torn out of my chest.”

She huffed out a laugh. “I almost died on the spot when he walked back into my life, at your house, and here, again. But I’m okay. I promise. I’ve learned that I’m a little tougher than I ever thought I was.” And she looked it, in fact, she had more color in her cheeks than she’d had all week. The rosiness suited her.

I tilted my head at her, a silly wolfy mannerism, and assessed the feelings emanating from her. “If you don’t mind my saying, you seem... content in a strange way.”

Stacey actually smiled at me this time. “Is it terrible that I feel, relieved?” she asked.

“Not at all. Jamie won’t be bothering you again, I promise.”

She squeezed my hand and settled into the bed. “I know and it’s all thanks to you.” She closed her eyes and sighed. “I might need to rest for a while, I’m exhausted, but can you stay, please?”

I kissed the top of her head. “I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart.”

And I wasn’t. I’d hired a new chef during the week—an old friend from culinary school. Before Stacey I’d never imagined I could let someone else run my restaurant, my kitchen, or my business. But she’d very quickly shown me what my true priorities were. Nothing mattered in life if I didn’t have my mate or my child. Their well-being and happiness was everything to me. And no amount of money or success, or control over my work life, was ever going to make me as truly happy as this spectacular woman.

She murmured something that I didn’t quite catch as she drifted off to sleep, interrupting my train of thought.

I leaned forward. “Sorry, what was that, beautiful?” I whispered.

“I love you too, David,” she whispered back.

My heart broke and was remade in that moment and I knew my life—our life—was never going to be the same again.

***

THE NEXT SIX WEEKSwere insanely busy. Stacey, of course, stayed in the hospital and we got an extra bed added to the room so that Tommy and I could stay with her as frequently as possible.

At thirty-seven weeks pregnant, Dr. Morton told us the baby and Stacey had waited long enough given the touch and go nature of their situation, and it was time for a C-section. There were tears of fear from Stacey—it certainly wasn’t the dream birth she’d hoped for—but in the end, everything went well, and our beautiful daughter was born.

Margaret Rose Bailey. 6 lbs. 6 oz. and absolutely perfect.

Stacey and the baby stayed in the hospital for a few more days. Observation was required for the baby and Stacey needed medication after her surgery, then it was time to take her home.

Home.

I don’t think I’d ever appreciated the word as much as I did, now. “Are you ready to go?” I asked.

Stacey was busy looking through the cupboard and the drawers for the sixth time to make sure she had everything.

Our sweet little Maggie was fast asleep in my arms and my heart beat with a steady, happy rhythm in my chest. I’d never known love like this before setting my eyes on my daughter. She was a perfect, mini replication of her mother, with her perfect Cupid’s Bow lips and a cute tuft of downy blonde hair.

“Yeah, I think so,” she said, grabbing the baby bag.

Tommy wheeled an extra suitcase we’d needed to pack everything out of the room and offered me a brotherly nod.

“It’s strange... this has been home for so long,” Stacey said, glancing back.

I put my arm around my brave, beautiful woman. “Let’s go home, for real.”

We had a surprise for Stacey, and I couldn’t wait to show her. We took the baby to the car, the new family SUV that Tommy had bought, and jumped in. Me in the passenger seat, Tommy driving, and Stacey in the back with the baby.

“You ready to see your new house?” I asked, grinning at our mate as I turned around in my seat.

Tommy started the car and drove toward Nancy’s, Wade’s, and Tanner’s place.

Stacey frowned at me in confusion. “Um, what new house?”

“You’ll see,” I said and turned back around to face the front.

“You guys bought a new house, and you didn’t tell me?” she asked, sounding shocked.

I shrugged. “If you don’t like it, we’ll buy another.”

And we would. There was always a need for good rentals in an area like this and if she didn’t want this home, we’d find a way to make her happy. That was our new goal in life, after all. The happiness of our girls, our family.

We turned into our new street and drove past our cousins’ place.

“Hey! That’s Nancy’s house,” Stacey said, excitement clear in her sweet voice.

Tommy pulled into our new driveway. “And this is our new home. We thought that you’d want to be near Nancy, and this place has five bedrooms. It needs a lot of design work and renovations done, but we figured, you’d want to do all of that. It might even be a bit of fun, a project to attack bit by bit as the baby grows.”

We got out of the car, and I scooped Maggie up out of her car seat and wrapped her in a blanket. “Come on, baby. Let’s show Mommy the new house.”

Tommy took Stacey to the front door and handed her the keys with a grin on his face. “We haven’t even opened it up yet, we’ve been waiting for you.”

There were tears in our mate’s eyes as she beheld the home we’d chosen for her. “Guys, this is too much.”

I laughed. “No, it’s not. But I’m afraid we can’t stay here tonight because it’s not ready. We still have the town house, of course, though, and we can move in here as soon as you’re happy with it.”

Stacey wiped away the few tears that spilled down her cheeks, slid the key into the lock, and opened the grand front door.

Tommy grabbed her up in his arms and carried her over the threshold.

Stacey squealed in delight, her eyes wide. This was her happily ever after movie moment and she deserved to revel in every second of it.

Tommy finally put her down in the large formal living room and stepped back to allow her to drink it all in.

She turned in a slow circle, her expression one of awe. “Oh my,” She whispered as she walked around the room, staring at the forest green walls and crown moldings. “It’s so beautiful. There is definitely a lot to work with here.”

Tommy and I shared a knowing grin. “We’ve been hoping you’d like it.”

She nodded and made ridiculously cute happy noises. “I can’t believe you actually bought this for us!”

“Come upstairs,” Tommy said, taking her hand and leading her up the double stairwell. “It’s structurally sound, of course, we had the engineers in to check on everything before we bought it. But I think you’ll need to use your interior design skills on every room because everything’s very outdated. The bathrooms are pink. The kitchen is green...”

Their voices faded off as they went down the hallway upstairs to investigate the bedroom situation and no doubt discuss Stacey’s interior design opinions. The master bedroom here was small, but the engineers had already said we could safely knock down a wall into the second bedroom and make a huge master to cater to our needs as a throuple.

“Let’s leave them to it and go see the backyard,” I told Maggie, making sure her blanket was wrapped tightly around her. She was sleeping in my arms peacefully, oblivious to everything going on around her. I’d never seen a child look more like an angel than my own daughter. She was what dreams were made of.

I walked her into the huge, presently ugly kitchen and opened the back door. There, on the broken patio, I sat down with Maggie and looked out over the yard as I told her stories of all the things we were going to do together once we settled in. I was going to get her a swimming pool, string up a tree swing, and we’d have parties all year round—just because. I’d get our handy cousins to build her a tree house to climb, and an amazing sand pit to play in too.

She’d be surrounded by cousins her own age, and have a huge, protective wolfy family of shifters there for her every step of the way. Our beautiful Margaret Rose would grow up knowing she was loved beyond measure. No matter what life threw at us now; we were ready for it and the worst of it was behind us. As a pack, we were strong, and Stacey and Maggie were its newest members.

With my heart full, I gazed up into the clear blue sky and offered a prayer of thanks to the universe.

For my mate. For my daughter. For my heart. For our impossibly perfect pairs happily ever after... Thank you.