Page 27 of Mating of Convenience
“In time, Rafe. Don’t make it look like you only married for the money. That makes me sad.”
My mouth fell open. Was she for real? I had never punched another person in my life, but that moment, I swear I came pretty close.Keep calm, Raph. If all of this helps keep a roof over your siblings’ heads, it’ll be worth it in the end.
I only had to remember that.
“When do you think will be the time to talk about money?” I asked as politely as I could. Seriously, though, how long was she gonna dangle that carrot over my head?
“I think you and your new mate need to enjoy your honeymoon first. And don’t forget to send pics.”
Honeymoon? “We haven’t planned a honeymoon,” I tried to explain. “We don’t have money for that sort of thing.”
“No? That’s too bad.” My grandma rubbed her chin, shooting me a thoughtful look. “Well, I’m sure something can be done regardless.”
“Sure. I’ll send you pics,” I said, trying to hide my disappointment. I’d hoped that mentioning our lack of money would make the old hag cough up my dollar bills a little faster.
I should have known that plan was going to backfire on me.
15
Nathan
“You said you had news for us?” My father shot me an expectant look over the rim of his coffee mug. He sat on one end of the couch, with his husband and two of my younger siblings--Caleb and Henry--next to him. Clara had taken up one of the armchairs, lying in it and letting her feet dangle over the side, a bored expression on her face. Aside from her, everyone else seemedat leastmildly curious, though. My dad understood that whatever I had to tell them was big. Why else would I have gathered the family here like this?
I’d even asked my old great grandma to come--but mostly because I knew she’d never forgive me if she heard from someone else first.
“I do have news.” I took a deep breath. Now was the time to let them know what Raph and I had done only three days ago. I tookanotherdeep breath.
And then my phone rang. I nearly jumped at the sound. Who was calling me now? How rude! Although, to be honest, I was almost a little grateful for the momentary relief of the tension I’d felt. “Sorry, I gotta take this,” I said, answering the phone before I could even really think about it.
“We need to talk.” That’s was Raph’s voice. I had no idea what he was on about, though.
“What do you want to--“
“Now! We need to talk now! I’m coming over to your place.”
“No, wait.” I mumbled a quick apology to everyone and stepped out of the room. “I’m with my family.” Why was Raph in such a hurry? He didn’t usually get this agitated over anything. “My granny is here too. I’m about to tell them all about our marriage,” I said in a hushed tone of voice, facing away from the living room where my family was gathered.
“Oh really? I caught you at a bad time, huh?”
“No, you know what? Come over. It’ll be better if it’s both of us telling them. Then they won’t think I’m delusional.”
Raph laughed. “I was gonna come over anyway, but thanks for the invitation. I’ll be there in twenty.”
“Wait, what did you--“ Before I could ask again what he wanted to talk about, he’d hung up. Great. Now I was left in suspense, but since I was about to do the same thing to my family, maybe that was only fair.
When I stepped back into the living room, it was my great-grandmother who spoke up first. “What’s the news you wanted to tell us? Are you pregnant?”
For a moment, I only gaped at her.
“Nathan’s an alpha, Grandma,” my dad reminded her.
“Oh, I keep forgetting. You have so many children, Ethan, I can’t keep them all straight in my head, can I? And Nathan takes after you so much it’s difficult to remember he’s an alpha sometimes.”
What was that even supposed to mean? Was I not alpha enough for her? I was about to say something when my dad cut me off with a pointed look. I bit back a sigh, knowing that he was right. Great-grandma wasn’t to blame for her poor memory, or some of the things she said. “I am an alpha,” I said. “And I’m not pregnant. I have other news, and actually, I just got a call from Raphael, so I’m gonna wait ’til he’s here to tell you.”
“Is Raphael pregnant?” Great-grandma asked. “He’s an omega, right?” She looked back and forth between my dad and me, waiting for someone to confirm her suspicions. “You were dating him, weren’t you? Oh, I hope he’s pregnant. I can’t wait to be a great-great-grandma. I’ll be the greatest grandma there ever was.”
“He’s an omega, yes, but he’s not pregnant,” I said.
