Page 99 of Knot Her Beta

“I vote for a single-family unit under the Wright Pack,” Grady says, quiet but sure. “I’m okay with being adopted.”

“I’m already a Wright,” I add, “so that’s the easiest for me, too.”

“I’m sure Kyle will understand me giving up the family name,” Jared says. “He might even decide to join up, too. As a Beta, it’s not as if he’s on good terms with our familial pack.”

When Grady casts him a questioning look, he elaborates, “They only like perfect Alphas and Omegas.”

“Ah.” Sadness fills Grady’s eyes. “You didn’t deserve that.”

Jared waves it aside. “At least they let me stay and put me through tech school before sending me on my way. Others have had it worse.”

A beat of silence follows before Jared pulls out his phone, thumb scrolling. “Next up is emergency contacts. We need to decide on our medical decision-making hierarchy. Who calls who if something happens.”

“Emily first,” I say without hesitation. “For all of us. Then Jared, me, and Grady, in that order.”

Grady nods. “That works.”

“Finances.” Emily reaches for the breadbasket and tears off a chunk of sourdough. “How do we want to handle money? Joint accounts? Separate with a shared household fund?”

“Household fund,” Jared says. “For living expenses, groceries, kid stuff eventually. We should keep our individual accounts for now. No reason to merge everything at once.”

“Agreed.” I reach for the wine bottle and top off Grady’s glass before my own.

We talk through the rest, going down the list, and it’s as extensive as Jared warned.

Medical insurance plans. Life insurance beneficiaries. School districts, though that’s years out. I expected there to be arguments, but there’s no drama as we sit at the dining table, dividing up responsibilities.

Emily gets up at some point to clear the dishes and brew coffee. She still appears flushed, which worries me. She works outside all the time. It would be just her luck to come down with a bug just as the cold season is ending.

When the conversation turns to parenting philosophies, Grady leans his elbows on the table and describes the summer reading program his mother ran for charity, and how every child who finished five books got a homemade cookie and their name on a construction paper star.

Emily listens, leaning toward him with a tender look.

“We should do that,” she says when he finishes. “The foster home I grew up in was always trying to spark our interest in learning. I would have loved my name on a star.”

The coffee beeps, and Jared gets up to go into the kitchen. When he returns with a tray of mugs and creamer, he drops the big ball. “So, where are we actually going to live?”

Grady and I straighten in surprise, while Emily rakes her fingers through her hair and drops her head, but she lets him continue.

“The cottage won’t fit all of us,” Jared says as he passes out mugs. “And it definitely won’t fit our pups.”

Grady turns to Emily in alarm. “Are you expecting twins?”

“He’s talking about my future pregnancy,” I reassure Grady. “And that’s not happening yet.”

Emily leans back in her chair. “Jared and I talked about adding a second story to the cottage and expanding the footprint into the garden. But it would be a lot.”

“How much?” Grady asks.

“Eighty, ninety thousand. Maybe more with permits and foundation work.” She rubs her fingers over her temples. “I could do most of the labor myself, with a second pair of hands for the heavy lifting. We’d need electrical contracted out.”

“Timeline?” I ask.

“Six months if we’re lucky. Longer if we hit permit delays.” Her fingers drum once on the edge of the table. “And we’d be living through construction with a newborn, so it’s not ideal.”

Jared shakes his head. “My vote is still on us moving to the island.”

“That might not even be an option,” she protests. “We can’t demand a mini-Homestead for all of us.” She turns to Grady and me. “And that’s assuming you want to cohabitate?”