Page 68 of Expensive

Nestled next to the stuffies, which will need to be washed before they’re allowed on the bed again, are two blue eggs. Our babies.

I gently pick up the first one. It’s warm and solid.

Andrew watches with heavy-lidded eyes. There’s a deep contentment in his expression that I understand all too well. I didn’t expect the primal attachment I already feel. I thought that would come once they hatched.

I pick up the second and cradle it next to the first in my arms. Tears well in my eyes as the enormity of it all crashes over me.

These are our babies, and no one can take them away from us.

I crawl forward and sit next to Andrew, holding our eggs out to him. He runs his fingers along the scales and smiles.

“I can feel my dragon,” he whispers. “I can’t shift, but he’s right here with me.”

My red wolf is too, and I need to shift. I need to show Andrew and our babies my animal form. I give him both eggs and pull off my clothes. He doesn’t ask why. I think he understands.

This shift is easier than it was back at the bike shop. The extension of my tail and snout almost feels like an exhale. Orange and gray fur grows from my entire body, and my metal hand turns into a foot.

Andrew’s eyes tear up as he takes in my wolf form. “Oh, Daddy. You’re so beautiful.” He runs a hand along my head, massaging me under my ear. I lean into his touch. I don’t know why it took me so long to show him this side of me. Maybe I felt guilty because he doesn’t get to take his animal form. But Andrew is right. I feel his dragon here with us too.

I lie next to Andrew on the bed and he nestles the eggs between us.

Here we are with our two babies, surrounded by a mountain of stuffies, and we don’t need to worry about a thing. All we need to do is live with all this joy.

Or as Mary Shelley would put it, “Seek happiness in tranquility.”

I close my eyes and fall asleep with my new family—my pack—all around me.