Page 39 of Duke's Baby Deal
Finally, Abel said, “That’s the point. We don’t want anyone to think that they don’t have as many choices as anyone else. If an Alpha wants to work in the daycare, and they’re good at it, why shouldn’t they?”
Duke nodded.“Yeah. What do you need us to do?”
Mac gripped Duke’s shoulder and gave it a shake. “Things going well between you two?”
“Yeah.” Duke drank another swallow of beer. “Fine. Better than fine, really.” He wondered if he should say anything before they really knew what was happening, then decidedfuck it. “Adelaide thinks we’re having twins.”
“Holy shit! Congratulations!” Mac grabbed him and pulled him into an awkward sideways hug, and as soon as he let go, Abel leaned forward to shake his hand, though he gave Duke a searching look to go along with it.
Duke gave him a firm look in return, and sat back with his beer. “Yeah, well, it’s not certain yet. Adelaide wants to send him outside walls for some tests, and if he is, then he’ll have to be careful, being so young.”
“You know you can count on me,” Mac told him with a grin. “Just as well. Jason’s pregnant too.”
“MacKenzie Mercy Hills! I thought we’d agreed to wait until dinner.” Jason stood in the doorway, his hands empty this time.
“But Duke had news!”
Jason turned to look at Duke. “News?”
Duke held his hands up. “Nope. Not risking the omega wrath.” Not that he hadn’t already blabbed.
Bram appeared in the doorway behind Jason. “It’s okay.” He smiled at Duke. “It’s his news too.” Then he blushed. “I already told them anyway.”
Laughter filled the living room, distracting the pups and reminding them that there were adults to climb on. Jason waved to Macy, and Abel snagged Teca before she could run into the kitchen. “Why don’t we put a video on?”
“Lady and the Tramp?” she asked.
“Star Wars!” Fan cried.
“I have something new,” Bax said, slipping into the room in that unobtrusive way of his. He walked over to the wooden trunk in the corner and opened it, reaching deep into one end. “Finding Nemo!”
“What’s a Nemo?” Fan asked, wrinkling his little nose.
“It’s a great movie,” Duke told him. “A little boy fish, about your age, gets kidnapped, and his dad goes on an adventure to save him and meets all sorts of weird other fish. You’ll love Dory.”
“Who’s Dory?” Teca asked, obviously not certain about the movie.
“There’s no describing Dory. You have to see her to believe her,” Duke told her gravely.
Fan didn’t seem impressed, but a bribe of one Christmas cookie for each pup soon had them all settled on the couch beside Abel and the movie hadn’t been on more than thirty seconds before they were totally engrossed.
Duke looked up to find Bram watching the pups with an uncertain expression on his face, as if he wasn’t sure he was ready for this. He caught his mate’s eye and smiled at him, telling him in that silent expression that he believed in him. After all, he’d seen Bram wrangle a half-dozen over-excited pups. Two babies should be a breeze.
Bram smiled back at him and his expression softened, and Duke’s heart swelled with happiness.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Back in the kitchen, I picked up another carrot and began scraping the peel off it. Bax was putting together something he called buttermilk pie, and Holland was cleaning up the mess of flour and pastry scraps on the table.
“Should we make more cornbread?” Holland said as he scooped the last of the crumbs off the table.
“We should have enough. We’re not cooking for that many. Remember that time in Buffalo Gap when Uncle Mitchell decided…” They began to reminisce about Christmases in Buffalo Gap, talking about people I didn’t know and wasn’t likely to ever meet. I moved on to another carrot and then another, until the pot in front of me was half full of little orange circles. The first uneasy complaints of my stomach made their appearance as the smell of roasting venison began to drift through the air.Nooooo!At that moment, Ihatedmy body. Well, maybe not all of it, but my stomach wasdefinitelyon my shit list.
I filled the pot with water and set it on the stove next to the boiling sweet potatoes, ready to be turned on just before the roasts and the turkey were done. The meat smell was stronger here and my stomach made a weird gurgling noise and twisted inside me.
“Bram, can I borrow your stove for the sweet potatoes?” Jason asked over his shoulder while he washed dishes at the sink.
I couldn’t answer, or my stomach was going to empty itself on the floor. Deep breathing didn’t help. If anything, it only made it worse, and I clamped my hand over my mouth and started to leave, but only made it as far as the closest chair.
