26. Chapter Twenty-Six

We pulled up to the massive, five-story, brick house, with a circular drive full of cars, and I stared wide eyed. I knew my mouth was hanging open, but I couldn’t help myself. “Wow.”

Grayson cut the engine on his SUV, staring out the windshield. “Yeah, it’s massive.”

Snow had fallen the week before, lightly dusting the ground, ensuring we had a white Thanksgiving.

Julianna babbled happily from the back, content in her car seat. She was two and a half months now, and it was amazing how fast she was growing. Last week, she had rolled from her side to her back, and she could fully hold her head up during tummy time. She loved kicking her legs and flapping her arms. Best of all, she was sleeping for longer periods of time at night, sometimes going a full three hours in between feedings.

Grayson and I had been quietly dating for the past several weeks. Which, with a baby, meant we spent a lot of time at one or the other’s houses. Dinners in and a lot of movie watching. While I didn’t always agree with his choice of what constituted a great movie–for such an intelligent man his movie choices were questionable–I did love the make out sessions that usually happened during, or shortly after, the movies.

I had one rule and that was no sleepovers yet. Our relationship had started with sex, and if we were going to have an actual, real relationship, I wanted us to go slow and get to know each other. Surprisingly, he hadn’t pushed, even when he’d watched Julianna when I had gone in for my six-week checkup.

Halloween had been a fun time, and another new experience to check off my list. I had never gotten to dress up and go door to door for candy before. My parents had thought trick or treating was beneath us, and had never answered the door to our high rise apartment when other residents would ring the bell.

Wade’s birthday was on Halloween, and while he apparently hated birthdays on holidays, he thoroughly enjoyed dressing up and taking the kids out. He had insisted Julianna and I were going to join the other omegas and their mates, and I had quickly learned that when Wade Sinclair decided you were going to do it, you just went along with it.

Picking out Julianna’s costume had been fun, and I had finally decided on a bumble bee. She had no clue what was happening, but she didn’t mind being pushed in her stroller or all the attention she got, and I had enjoyed the time out with friends. The weather had been decent even, the night clear but chilly. Grayson had to work, but he would show up every few blocks in his patrol car.

Now we were sitting outside Mary Sinclair’s mansion where we’d both been invited for Thanksgiving. Grayson had a standing invitation, and I had been shocked to receive a phone call from the Sinclair matriarch herself last week.

Mary Sinclair had a pleasant voice that instantly put me at ease. She had wanted to make sure that Julianna and I were planning to attend with Grayson, as he was family and according to her Sinclair rules, I was a part of too.

I still found it strange that so many people had been so welcoming to me, in such a short amount of time, but I found myself lapping it up.

“Mary lives here alone?” I asked, still wide eyed, staring at the large house. Grayson got out, opening the back door to unhook Julianna’s car seat to carry her inside. “She did once the boys moved out. William, their alpha dad, died when they were ten. Jamie doesn’t say much about him, but I get the impression he kind of fucked them all up in one way or another. He was a shit ton older than Mary,” he chuckled when I raised my brows and him, silently noting our wide age gap. “Yeah, I know, don’t remind me. Anyway, he was really old school alpha. Do not give me that look, I’m not like that.”

Walking up to the wide, ornate double doors, I teased, “Whatever helps you sleep at night, old man.”

“I think it was almost an arranged marriage. Old school money to old school money. A rich older alpha that needed a mate and an heir to carry on his name. He ended up with four boys all at once and didn’t have much use for the extra three. Mary raised the boys here after his death and was alone until last year. She met her fated mates and now they all live here together.”

My eyes widened, “Mates? Plural?”

He sat the car seat down, making sure the blanket covered Julianna from the cold. “I need you to prepare yourself for what we are about to walk into.” His voice was ominous, and I stopped my hand mid-knock.

“Mary’s mates are Quinn’s parents, Maeve and Allan Rafferty. This was like a huge scandal last year in the family, and I don’t think any of them are fully recovered from the trauma. It’s been like a year and a half now since they found out. It was last year, July, because it was the quads birthday,” he nodded his head doing the math, “so yeah, a year and a half. Just…don’t mention it. Act normal.”

“Okay,” I rolled my eyes at him, “that was dramatic. Should I start calling you Wade?”

“Smart ass,” he grinned back, “It’s going to be loud in here. There’s a ton of people, kids, babies, and personalities. I think this is going to be a completely different type of holiday than you’re probably used to. So if you get overwhelmed, or uncomfortable, just use your safe word.”

“You want me to safe word at a family Thanksgiving dinner?” I questioned slowly, frowning at him.

“Just if you need to,” he nodded, looking serious. “You can safe word anytime.”

“You’re ridiculous,” I rolled my eyes, shaking my head at him “How would that go exactly? Pass the rolls, and by the way, Star Wars?”

He picked up Julianna, and turned the doorknob without knocking, ushering me into a warm foyer, “Red works too.”

Shutting the door on the cold, he shouted, “We’re here!”

There was noise and light everywhere, and I wasn’t sure where to look. To our right was a huge great room, with a fire burning warmly in a gated fireplace. Above the fireplace was a huge screen TV, playing Frozen loudly, so it could be heard over all the kids that filled the room. There were several Pack ‘N Plays set up, and I recognized Ryan and Brendan’s daughter, Charlie, dancing to Let It Go in front of the TV. Quinn and Lachlan’s little boy, Patrick, was spinning in a circle next to her. Ryan was stretched out on the floor, his legs crossed up in the air, coloring with Patrick’s twin sister, Rory, next to him. Brendan was on the couch with two other children I couldn’t make out from the tops of their heads. He waved a hand in the air at us in greeting.

Grayson grabbed my hand and pulled me into a half bath off to the left, shutting the door tightly. “Did it escape your notice that you left our daughter out there in the middle of the floor?”

He waved a dismissive hand, “She’s fine. Chances are Gigi will have nabbed her by the time we come out, and will have her the rest of the day. I need to tell you something so you don’t embarrass Ryan.”

“Why would I embarrass Ryan?”

I happened to like Ryan a lot. Miss Rose was correct; he was pretty much my right hand at the daycare. He was bright, funny, and super sweet. On top of that, he was amazing with the kids. He’d admitted that Miss Rose had offered for him to buy the daycare before she had ever listed it, but he had no desire to be a business owner, at least not at this point in his life. He was still in college, had a new husband and a toddler and he wanted that to be his main focus. And he liked the kid part of the job way better than all the paperwork.

“He and Brendan are into kink, and the family knows, so they feel comfortable being free to just be themselves when theyre here.”

Frowning at him, I was confused. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Just in case you hear Ryan call Brendan Daddy, or he seems a bit younger than normal, don’t make a big deal about it.”

My mind spun for a minute, and then I whispered, “Ryan’s a little?”

It made perfect sense to me. The way he was always so good with the kids, how he sometimes acted younger than he was–even though he was even younger than me–and his coloring on the floor just now.

“Bingo.”

I shrugged, “I won’t act surprised, or even like I heard anything out of the norm. What people do in their own time is not my business. I’m not one to judge anyone’s kinks. I like to be held down and told what to do.” When his dark eyes heated, I shoved my hand into his chest, “But only in bed.”

He laughed, “Oh, I’m aware. I’m working on it.”

A light knock on the door had us both jumping.

“Becks, everything all right?” A warm, feminine voice called.

Grayson opened the door, bending down to hug the small woman. She returned the hug with one of her own. “We’re fine, Mary, just giving Wyatt the rundown of things.”

He moved out of the doorway so I could pass, and sure enough, Julianna was missing from her car seat.

“Oh, Gigi has her, don’t worry,” The woman, who I assumed was Mary Sinclair told me with a smile, “between Miss Rose and Gigi, that baby probably won’t be put down all day. Hello, Wyatt, it’s so nice to finally meet the man that brought Becks to his knees.”

Grayson laughed heartily, and I shook my head, but the look he gave me was full of tenderness. “That he did, Mary, that he did.”

She was a petite woman, who couldn’t be more than five feet tall, and I had a hard time imagining that she had given birth to the four hulking alpha wolf shifters I had met. And all at one time. She had graying blonde hair, warm brown eyes, and warmth radiated from her. I held my hand out to her, and she laughed, brushing it aside.

Reaching up, she grasped my face in between her two hands and stared into my eyes. “We hug in this house, no exceptions.”

Mary Sinclair’s hug was like a warm cup of hot chocolate on a cold winter’s day. You felt it down to your toes. For a second, I let myself imagine having someone like her as a mom. How nice that would have been. How different. It was what I wanted for Julianna.

“Becks, he’s lovely.”

Blushing at her praise, I ducked my head so she couldn’t see my face. “None of that,” she chided, “now come along. Dinner’s almost ready. Let’s head to the kitchen. That’s where everyone is hiding out. We have wine.” She winked over her shoulder at me.

Thanksgiving dinner at the Sinclairs was a loud, boisterous affair filled with wonderful food, laughter, teasing, but most of all love that could be felt in the air.

Mary had been right, and Julianna had been passed between Gigi and Miss Rose, then Mary, Maeve, and even Allan Rafferty had taken a turn. When I had tried to take her to feed her, I had been told to sit down and enjoy my meal. Julianna was treated like one of the family, another grandchild to be doted on, and it brought tears to my eyes each time I looked over to see her being rocked, or changed, or fussed over like the other babies in the room were. Julianna was the youngest one there and had that “new baby smell” as Gigi put it, before she had turned her green eyes and given Quinn a pointed look.

Hed promptly taken a sip of his wine, snarking, “I gave you two at once. Don’t look at me. I’m done.”

“I’ll just have to count on Wade to take one for the team, then.” She had sassed back, and Finn had nearly died choking on the bite of food he’d had in his mouth. Finally, he’d wheezed, “We gave you three in four years. Tapped out, Gigi, tapped out.”

“Never thought the Sinclairs were quitters before,” she had muttered, shaking her head and rocking Julianna.

Bash, who I was sitting next to had put his head down, trying not to be noticed. “It’s up to you, Wyatt. Jamie and I are done, too. Unless Brendan and Ryan come through for us.”

Ryan had blushed, and Brendan had grinned, “We’re working on it.”

“Uh…” I had floundered, then blushed when I had looked across the table at Grayson, who had winked at me. “I’m good for now.”

Driving home later that night, after dessert and playing several board games, while a football game had played in the background, I stared out the window into the darkness.

Grayson reached over and squeezed my hand, “They’re a lot, but you looked like you were having a good time.”

Turning to look at him, I nodded, “I did. Just thinking.”

“About?”

“Family. Julianna. What I want for her.”

He pulled into my driveway, leaving the motor running so the car stayed warm. Turning in his seat, he faced me. “What do you want, Wyatt?”

“I want holidays like today. I want a family that makes her feel wanted. I want hugs, and laughter, and no one wants anything from anyone. I want happiness. I want her to feel protected and safe. I want a home filled with warmth.” Bringing the sleeve of my jacket up, I wiped away the silent tears I hadn’t even realized were sliding down my face.

Grayson reached over and traced a tear with his thumb, catching it before it fell from my chin. “I want that for you both, too.”

“What I’m trying to say, Grayson, is that I want all that with you. If you want us.”

His answer was a sexy growl, and a searing kiss.