1. Otis

1

OTIS

T wo months later…

Mornings are my favorite part of the day.

I make toast and eggs while Kade sleeps. Cooking is something I've taken interest in since I escaped the Slope. There, I could never cook my own food. I forgot how calming it was to crack an egg into a pan—to watch it turn white and solid from the heat.

The strawberries in the fridge are from my own grocery store. I like to visit daily and learn more about the business. I put them on a tray with the plates of eggs and walk back to our bedroom. I never thought I'd get to be someone's Daddy again, and making a healthy breakfast for my sweet Kade is satisfying too.

He's still sleeping. He lies on his side, his baby bump now round enough to be visible under the baggy T-shirt he stole from my dresser.

I wish I could freeze this moment. This is what happiness looks like.

Kade stirs, his eyes fluttering open.

"Daddy, it's so early."

"Good morning, sunshine." I set his breakfast on the nightstand, then open the drawer and pull out the peppermint oil. Kade still lets me massage his hands in the morning, even though he doesn't get nauseous.

"I'm going to take Trudy and Sean to school today."

He holds out his right hand and yawns. "Why?"

"Because I want to."

And because I don't technically have a job yet. The last few months I've been so busy with the press and getting our new home ready for our babies, I haven't figured out what I'm going to do for work. The axe-throwing gym has been a fun place to work out, but they don't need my help. And while I've been learning as much as I can about the inner workings of Emperor Fine Foods, the manager Harry hired is more than adequate.

I like to imagine that I could spend all day just doting on Kade, but it turns out that we both like to stay busy. It's nice when I have something to do while he makes his videos.

Harry and Silas both have jobs, of course, so it's helpful when I take their kids to school. Don't we live next door to them for this exact reason? To help each other out?

I massage the peppermint oil into Kade's skin with slow strokes. "You have your knitting class later, don't you?"

"Mmmhmmmm."

Kade loves the yarn shop that Harry invested in for me. There's a surprising overlap between the knitters and the kink community amongst polar bear shifters. Most of the clientele there also frequent Anchor. This seems perfectly normal to me, but Kade finds it hilarious.

"Don't forget that we have a meeting tonight," I say, moving onto his left hand.

He beams. "Ben is bringing Scooch."

I'm sure Cy will love that. He's always complaining about how distracting the tortoise is when we meet at their house.

My phone buzzes in my back pocket. I release Kade's hand to pull it out. It's Silas.

"Hello?"

"I can't find the kids' backpacks anywhere. Did they leave them at your house when you helped them with their homework yesterday?"

"I don't think so, but let me check."

Kade nibbles at a strawberry from the tray of food while I head back into the kitchen to look for the backpacks. The kids worked on their homework at the counter, so I check there first. Nothing. I move into the dining area and living room. Nothing.

"I'm not seeing them."

"Huh. It's weird that they would both be missing. Usually we just lose one backpack or the other." It's hard to understand Silas's raspy voice over the phone. I still have moments of regret, even in my new-found happiness.

I go back into the bedroom, and at the corner of the bed I see a flash of bright pink—like Trudy's unicorn backpack.

"Hold on…"

I walk around to Kade's side of the bed. Both Trudy's unicorn backpack and Sean's cat backpack are sitting next to the bed, in addition to the ragged backpack I carried Kade in when I walked off.

What is that doing in here? I tossed it in the back of the closet when we were getting settled and hadn't thought about it much since.

"I found them," I tell Silas. "Somehow they ended up in our room. I'll put them in the car."

"Thanks. I'm sending the kids over now."

I slide my phone back in my pocket and bend over to pick up the backpacks.

"What are you doing?" Kade asks.

"I'm taking the kids' backpacks to the car," I say, shuffling toward the door.

Kade scrambles out of bed and yanks Trudy's backpack out of my hands. "You can't take them!" He runs over to his side of the bed and sets down Trudy's backpack.

"I'm driving the kids to school, Kade. They need their backpacks."

He grab's Sean's backpack. I hold onto the handle more firmly this time.

"Give it to me," he says, trying to pull it out of my grasp with all of his might. But I've been working out at the axe-throwing gym, and he's very pregnant, so it isn't enough might to be successful.

"Why?"

He leans over and bites my hand. I release the handle of the backpack, and he runs off with it, setting it next to Trudy's on his side of the bed. What the hell?

That's when a conversation I had with Ed last month resurfaces in my memory. He insisted on having a heart-to-heart talk with me at his bowling alley after closing. We ate pizza and I bowled for both of us.

I didn't realize how terrible I was at bowling until that night.

"There's gonna come a time when Kade will start collecting something around his bed. Probably something weird. And you gotta let him do it."

"What do you mean something weird? Like what?"

Ed shrugged. "One of my buddies collected saddles. Another one collected chalkboard erasers. There's no way to know what Kade's gonna collect. But unless you want a furious pregnant omega on your hands, don't touch his nest."

"Do you mean saddles as in saddles for horses?" I asked.

"Yep. And the guy had never ridden a horse in his life."

Is this what Kade is collecting? Backpacks?

Kade crouches on his side of the bed, with his arms around all three backpacks. "They belong here."

I kneel down and put my hand on the small of his back. "You're right. They look nice there. I'll tell Silas that we have to keep them." I don't have to understand it to find it adorable.

Kade's shoulders relax. "Trudy will need her homework, though." He unzips Trudy's backpack and takes out her folders and math textbook. "Here."

This logic doesn't make sense to me. Apparently, we need the backpacks, but not what's inside?

"It might be good for her to have pencils to write with," I say tentatively.

"Oh, you're right! We better get those out too." He digs into the front pocket and gives me a handful of pencils and pens.

"Do you think she'll need her eraser?" I ask.

"Yeah. She probably will." He hands me that as well.

"What about Sean? Do you think he'll need his stuff for school?"

Kade unzips Sean's bag and pulls out the folders and text book. He also hands me the pencils and eraser. There's something blue and soft in the front pocket of Sean's bag that Kade doesn't offer me.

"What's that?" I ask.

"Mittens," Kade says.

"Do you think Sean will need his mittens?"

Kade grabs Sean's mittens and jumps up, fleeing like a bat out of hell to the bathroom. The door closes, and I hear the click of the lock.

Apparently not.

I get out my phone again and call Silas.

"Hi, Otis. What's up?"

"Unfortunately, I can't give the kids' backpacks to them, and you'll need to buy more mittens for Sean. Let me explain…"