24. Heller

24

HELLER

T wo years later…

The car stops.

“Are we there?” I ask. I’m wearing a blindfold, so I have no idea where “there” is.

“Yes, we’re here. Wait one second, and I’ll get the door for you.”

His car door opens and shuts before I can tell him I’ll get the door myself. I’m pregnant, not unable to use my arms. I put my hand on the handle and push. It swings open a little too quickly.

“Hold on. Let me give you my hand,” he says. I feel the warm, reassuring grip of his hand on mine. He tugs me forward gently, and I climb out of the car. I’m a little bigger this time than when I was pregnant with Lark, but I can still manage just fine. Dancing through my pregnancy has helped me maintain my mobility.

“Dinner Daddy!” Lark’s voice calls out in the distance.

“That’s Daddy Heller,” Max voice says.

I smile. Lark has developed nicknames to keep track of all their dads. I’m Dinner Daddy, Eli is Morning Daddy, and Sergey is Fun Daddy. Max is Dirty Daddy, because he always comes home dirty from the forge, so he’s very invested in Lark learning our names instead.

“Everyone in the family is here,” Sergey tells me, as he guides me forward, placing his other hand on my hip to balance me. We’re outside, so the ground is slippery.

“Us too!” An older voice says. That’s Sergey’s alpha dad. I didn’t know they flew to Anchorage. This must be one hell of a surprise.

Sergey guides me a few steps forward. “We all helped with this. Lark even helped choose the colors. Max and Eli were involved with the whole process. I got their okay on everything.”

The colors of what? I had no idea Sergey was planning anything. He hasn’t traveled much since we found out I was pregnant, and he’s spent almost every night with me. What could he possibly have up his sleeve?

The blindfold is pulled off my head. We’re standing in front of two cojoined townhouses. If I’m not mistaken, this is in Otis’s neighborhood. I’ve accidentally turned down this street before when I was trying to pick Lark up from their house.

Max, Eli, and Sergey’s dads are standing in front of the second home with Lark, who’s holding a sign that says, “Welcome Home, Heller.”

“Welcome home?” I turn to Sergey, who is grinning at me. He holds out a key with a keychain that says, “Dinner Daddy.”

“This is ours?” I ask.

“The right half is ours. Lark’s room is in the middle. There are two doors to their room. One to our house, and one to Max’s and Eli’s.”

I cover my mouth with my hand. “What? How did you find two houses with a cojoined room like that?”

“I didn’t, baby. I built it for you,” he says.

My vision swims with tears. I’m always crying these days, and this would make me cry on a normal day.

“And we can just live here?” I ask, which is a stupid question. If Sergey built these homes, of course we can live here.

“After you lay the egg we can. The doctor said we can’t move because you’re near the end of your pregnancy, and it might mess up your nesting, remember?”

He’s thought of everything. He leads me to our front door, our family trailing behind us. The houses are adorable, with pale blue siding and window cut-outs on the front door. “Lark chose the color of the siding and the kitchen,” Sergey says, opening the door. We walk into large, open living room with hardwood flooring and a beautiful, old-fashioned chandelier. “My dads bought that light fixture for us. It’s an antique.”

I turn back to whisper a “thank you” to Sergey’s alpha dad. That looks like the kind of purchase he would make. It’s very romantic. He smiles back at me, quite pleased with himself.

Next is the large dining room and kitchen. There’s already a long table with a dozen chairs.

“Louisa got that for you. She made sure there were enough chairs for her to come over with Toby, Felix, and the kids. She said she expects a dinner invitation soon.”

Tears keep streaming down my cheeks. He not only bought me a house, but he filled it with things from the people I love.

Lark runs into the kitchen and dances around. “Pretty, pretty, pretty.” The cupboards are the same pale blue as the siding outside with crystal pulls.

“This is beautiful, Lark. You did a good job picking stuff out,” I say.

They dash forward toward an open door in the dining room. It’s empty right now, but I can tell by the unicorn light fixture who the room belongs to. On the other side of the room is a second door.

“You can put Lark to bed at night by walking through this door,” Eli says. “And I’ll go in that door the next morning to wake them up. You’re always welcome to come into our home, of course. If you need a cup of sugar, we’re right over there.”

“And you knew about this? For how long?” I ask.

Max and Eli glance at each other. “A year? Sergey had to tear down the two homes that were here before and build from the ground up,” Max says.

“They’ve known for thirteen months,” Sergey’s omega dad says. I secured the properties about fifteen months ago. It was hard to find two homes this close to Otis’s house, so I started looking as soon as you accepted Sergey’s pebble.”

That was eighteen months ago. He’s been planning something like this for that long?

“Thank you,” I say.

Sergey wraps his arms around me. When he holds me like this, I feel loved and safe.

“I wanted a place that was perfect for our family.”

“Well, it helps when you have an obscene amount of money,” Eli says.

I thought that money was already tied up in real estate. Sergey was able to buy almost all of Toby’s properties, including the welding school where he now teaches an advanced prosthetics class. The only thing Toby kept was a hotel near his old Gentoo finishing school. He converted the rooms to apartments for displaced Gentoo omegas.

He named the updated building, “Francis’s House of Hope.” The dedication was really special. I ugly cried through the whole thing.

“Sergey earned that money,” his omega dad reminds Eli.

“By charging an obscene price for a prosthetic,” Sergey says.

“To rich people who gave up their hands for money. It’s fine. Don’t feel guilty about that,” his omega dad argues.

He’s a little scary sometimes, but only in the most polite way possible.

Sergey takes me upstairs to the other bedrooms and a glorious ensuite bathroom with a big soaker tub. “For when you can take hot baths again,” he says.

Through the bathroom there’s one last door. I open it, expecting to find another walk-in closet, but it’s a full-on room with a large window seat and another chandelier light fixture.

“This is for you whenever you need some time to yourself. I thought we could put a bed in here and maybe a mini-fridge. I want to be home more during the next few years, but I know you need your independence, and I don’t want to take that away from you. The only way you can get to this room is through our bathroom, which you can lock. So you can take some time away from the kids without them pounding on the door.”

Sergey knows me so well. I break down sobbing, because how could I not? This is why I wanted to have a child with him. Because he understands that I need breaks and space. But he also understands I need love. He dances that line better than I thought anyone ever could.

Max and Eli take Lark in the other room, and his dads leave us too. It’s just the two of us in this room that he built just for me in the house that’s custom-made for our family.

I grasp the necklace he welded around my neck eighteen months ago. His pebble is always next to my heart, even when we’re apart. I never thought anyone would give me a gift better than my grandma’s necklace until he gave me his pebble. But now he’s given me this house too.

“You have to stop buying me exorbitant gifts, or I’m going to end up with unrealistic expectations,” I warn him.

He smiles. “Or I could just keep on giving you exorbitant gifts for the rest of your life.”

“What am I supposed to give you? I could never buy you something like this. Our relationship will be lopsided.”

He places his hand on my rounded belly. “You have me beat, Heller. There’s no way I could give you anything more precious than this.”

“Technically, this kid is half you, so…”

“Yeah, but you’re going to lay it.”

I kiss his cheek. “With your help. I assure you the process is a lot more fun than you realize.”

“So you tell me. I’m not sure I can live up to the infamous Eli, hired fist extraordinaire.”

“Oh, please. Your knot will be way better than his fist and you know it. You just want me to tell you all the details again because you get off on me talking about having sex with other people.”

He smiles. “And watching you have sex with other people.”

I glance through the door, hoping my in-laws didn’t hear that.

“We should go join the others, rather than have inappropriate conversations in earshot of your parents,” I suggest.

“Okay. If you insist. But I have one last gift for you.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a credit card. “This has millions of dollars on it. In case you wanted to get some jewelry in the next few weeks. You don’t need to steal it this time. I’ve already talked to all the jewelers in the area. They agreed to save receipts of anything you buy with this card. So…”

I take the card from him. “Thank you. But I don’t know if I need to get jewelry this time around.”

“Just in case,” he says.

It seems wild to me that Sergey would be able to pay for all the stuff I stole last time outright. But I guess it’s good to know.

“Just in case, I agree.