Page 17 of Single Omega Dad
“Four. With two more kids on the way, I am going to need them all. Drayden used one for his office—my office now. Tybor and Luke sleep together. I have the master. But the fourth is the baby room. Right now it’s more like storage, but I’m going to fix it up.”
I was babbling like some insecure, pregnant teen. I knew it. But I couldn’t stop.
We walked through the living room. It was large, furnished the way Drayden wanted it with two expensive leather couches and the biggest flat screen TV he could find. The floor was real wood. The tables were oak, the lamps all different, all handmade.
Mathias followed me through to the kitchen where black marble countertops shone with silver flecks. All my appliances were silver, including the fridge. I’d just cleaned everything so every surface gleamed.
Drayden had liked black and chrome, grays and whites. I threw in my own color when I could. I had a red teapot and red-handled cooking utensils in a silver metal vase by the stove. My stove top covers were multi-color abstract designs. I loved them.
But as I looked around at everything, a surge of adrenaline ran through my veins. Panic. Did it all look like too much? Was Mathias thinking I was somehow spoiled and should move down in class due to my circumstances?
The dining room beyond the kitchen was massive and overlooked plate glass windows showing off a view to my large backyard with its thick green lawns and flowerbeds. I had had help with the upkeep on it when Drayden was alive, but since his death, I was the one who kept things watered and mowed. It was fun because I got the twins to help out and they loved it.
But now I looked it all over and my every nerve went taut.
I didn’t want to rely on Mathias’s opinion, but in an Alpha ruled world, I had no choice. I stole a quick glance at him, but he seemed pretty relaxed, his face showing no indication of disapproval.
I took a deep breath.
“It’s all one story. Let me show you the bedrooms. They are off the other side of the kitchen and down a hall.”
The first bedroom was the office. It was done to Drayden’s tastes, all black and white. The desk computer was on, flickering a pattern of a moving fractal. There was a huge white rug on the floor before the desk.
Drayden had not allowed the boys entry unless he was present and invited them. But now it was my office and my rules. My sons were allowed anywhere they wanted to go in the house. It was their home, too.
The next bedroom was the baby’s room, dark with the curtains closed. I stored exercise equipment in there as well as the boy’s baby things which would come in use for the new set of twins.
“I’m going to paint and stuff. I need new cribs because I sold the last ones. I’ll need to budget for all that.”
“Of course.” Mathias still showed me no sign of his thoughts or opinions.
Next came Tybor and Luke’s room. The boys were playing with a race track they’d gotten last Christmas. It was their favorite toy. They could build tracks in all different shapes and race their cars against each other as well.
Tybor and Luke looked up as we peeked in.
“Daddy, I’m getting hungry,” Tybor said.
“Lunch will be in a few minutes, okay?” I replied.
“Okay.”
My heart rammed against the walls of my chest as we moved on to the master bedroom. It felt weird, like this was an intrusion. The room was my private place, and yet I had only felt that way recently. It had been Drayden’s room, kept how he liked it, and I’d always felt like the guest. Even after we bonded and married, I tiptoed around him.
Double doors opened onto the room. It was carpeted with black plush, which showed every speck of dirt and dust. Gray and black curtains framed wide windows that looked onto the side yard which had a big pine tree.
Normally, the spread on the bed was Drayden’s choice, a black or white comforter, but I’d recently bought a dark purple one and used that. It was neatly made and I thought it made the room look more elegant than it ever had been when Drayden was alive.
The closet was a walk-in and the bathroom huge.
Refusing the guilt that tried to bubble up within me, I stood in the middle of the room, breathing a bit shallowly.
Mathias said nothing. He looked around once, then wandered back into the hallway. It surprised me that he had no tablet or notepad. He wasn’t taking any notes.
I followed him back into the living room.
He turned and said, “Your home is perfect for raising a family with four children. With the housing market as it currently stands, if you moved anywhere else you would not necessarily save. Best to keep this place and the equity you already have. In time it will grow and the house’s value will appreciate.”
“But my mortgage is my highest bill.”
