Page 280 of One Winter Knight
“People do what?” Saoirse gave me a look.
“Fan art. It’s funny.” I grinned. “As far as I know, alpha males can’t get pregnant. We’re going to be increasing the family, and we wanted to bring this up sooner rather than later. But she’s right, we’re not ready for it to go beyond this car.”
Fiona was bouncing up and down in her seat. “I’m so excited and I’m going to plan that amazing baby shower for you. My friends will help, of course, when you’re ready for me to tell them.”
“I’m sure your omega assassin brunch society will plan quite the party,” Saoirse replied. “But I get to design the nursery myself.”
“Cici’s pregnant? Oh, my goodness you and Dusty are going to have a baby! There’s going to be a little lovely.” Carlos squeezed my shoulder. “Man, I am so excited for you, are you going to write a song?”
“Maybe. I want to do a Christmas one calledSanta Dad.” I looked at Saoirse. She didn’t mind being called Cici now, but I’d eased back on it, knowing how much she liked me using her name.
Carlos’ fingers waggled as doing the mental math. “I’m guessing you’re due close to pre-season and Hale starting classes, but we’ll figure it out.”
“Yep. I’ll absolutely clear my schedule of anything other than things super worth my while or her explicitly wanting me out of the house,” I replied.
“Next season we’ll have a tiny baby in a jersey!” Fiona replied.
“Baby Himbo will be in good company, JP’s wife is pregnant, too,” Carlos added.
“And when I have a baby there will be two. Don’t worry I’ll figure everything out so Saoirse can participate, but we still make the summer window,” Fiona reassured.
“Two babies nine months apart might be a lot,” Hale said softly. “Just speaking from when my twin siblings were born. But they could also be best friends. I mean, Verity and Creed are like sixmonths apart. I wasn’t around for that. We’ll do the math and see what we can figure out.”
Relief flowed through me. “That’s the spirit."
“When we are ready to tell everybody, can we do tiny boots? I’ve always wanted to do that,” Hale added.
“What is that?” Saoirse asked.
“We have a picture of all our boots sitting by the door–my boots, Carlos’ boots, Dusty’s boots, Fiona’s boots, your boots, and then we have the tiny baby boots. We just drop the picture with a quote likebought some new bootsand leave it like that,” he replied. “We can continue it for any other babies with captions likeboot shopping againorsometimes you need more boots.”
I nodded. “I like that.”
“It’s such a cute idea,” Fiona squealed. “I could use some cowboy boots.”
“I like how it establishes a boundary,We’re having a baby, but that’s all you get to know,” Saoirse added.
“We are thinkingBaby Lovely, though, notBaby Himbo, even if we aren’t Pack Lovely,” I added.
“I like Pack Lovely, since that fits with you, unless you want to be Pack Peace & Beans?” Hale offered.
“That could also work, we do stand for peace and beans in this pack. Or Pack Lovely Beans?” Carlos replied.
“Ooh, we’ll have to ponder that,” I replied. We had time. “Did you all see the dates in the group chat for the party Carlos’ mom and my moms are planning? Fifi, we have zero control of this one, but it’ll be in a few weeks. It won’t conflict with your party, this is more of a meet-and-greet.” With food, music, liquor and every tia and tio in the tri-state area.
“Like I said before, I want all the parties, I want to meet everybody,” Fiona said.
Hale’s phone rang. “It’s Grace.”
“Take it, though we’ll be there soon,” I replied.
“I’m in the car with my pack. We’re meeting Fiona’s parents for dinner,” he said. Hale went quiet. “Wait, really? Have I told you lately that you are my bestest sister? What? No, I don’t tell Verity and Mercy that, much or often.” He chuckled. “We’ll have dinner next time you’re in town. Love you, too.”
He ended the call, beaming.
Fiona grinned. “Did she just tell you that they’re funding your research?”
“Yes. So glad quitting my job at the Titty Tank wasn’t for nothing,” he replied.
