Page 57 of Jake and Conner
"You didn't," I reminded him. "And if you had, we would have handled it somehow."
"It's thesomehowI don't want to think about," Jake said. There was an undertone to his voice that suggested we wouldn't have handled it the best way, in his imagination.
He was probably right about that. And I could only hope that we would handle it better if it happenednow.
"We don't have to worry about things that never happened," I said, trying to sound lighter than I felt. Because I had weird food aversions and I'd fainted and even though I was too smart to ignore the signs entirely, I didn't want to think about any of it. "I'll see you in a little bit," I said, ending the call.
As it turned out, it was a good thing that Jake had taken Mark to a clinic, because he was pregnant with not only one, but two babies. There were all sorts of complications that could arise from a twin pregnancy and his babies stood a much better chance of being okay if their progress was monitored.
I met Jake in front of Dean and Griff's house, where he sat on the porch, waiting for me.
We greeted each other with a kiss, and then he told me how the day had gone after our phone call ended. He'd taken the teens here, and Bastian had told his parents exactly what had happened, even though Dean and Griff could probably guess just by looking at Mark.
Jake told me their faces had gone even whiter when Bastian said 'twins' though. I understood only too well. This was going to be a lot for the young parents to handle.
As I heard the story, Dean hadn't said anything for a long time, but Griff had insisted that they were going to support their sonandthe father of their grandchildren, even if they had been incredibly stupid. So Mark had a place to stay now.
That was the most important point.
I was pretty sure that Bastian had more than one lecture coming at some point in the near future, but it seemed for today, everyone was busy sorting their own thoughts.
When Jake had finished relating the story to me, I headed inside to see the omega I'd thought I'd failed.
Dean greeted me as I stepped into the house. It looked like he was on his way out to the porch, a can of beer in his hand. I certainly didn't judge him for it.
"The boys are upstairs," he told me as he passed and I thanked him.
I found Mark and Bastian in Bastian's bedroom, looking at the same time downcast and relieved. Bastian had one arm around his mate's shoulder, but made as if to get up when I entered.
"It's fine," I told him. "I'm not here to lecture you or your boyfriend. I only wanted to see Mark."
"I'm sorry I worried you," Mark said in an almost demure kind of voice. "I just didn't know what to do."
Of course he didn't. He was young and he'd been caught in a mess bigger than anything he could navigate by himself or even with his boyfriend. I didn't say anything. I simply sat next to him on the bed and gave him a quick hug. "I'm just happy to know you're well. And congrats on the twins. I know it's going to be a lot of work, but you two can do it."
"Thank you." Mark's eyes shone and I decided to give him and Bastian some space.
I went back downstairs and spotted Griff in the living room, sitting on his couch and looking at the TV, even though it wasn't turned on. He didn't notice me until I sat with him. Then, he turned his head at me. "Oh, hi Conner. Jake is outside, I think."
"He is. I just wanted to thank you."
"For what?" Griff looked honestly confused.
"Agreeing to let Mark stay with you. I could have put him up at the shelter for a while, but this is better."
Griff shook his head. "My parents kicked Jake's dad out when he wasn't much older than Bastian is because he was pregnant with Jake. I was furious at them. I could never do the same thing to my child. Or to his mate. Honestly I'm a little disappointed that Bastian didn't tell us earlier."
"He was probably scared."
"I know." Griff sighed. "Don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm not angry that he messed up like this, but what's the point in raging at him and driving him away? Life's going to be hard enough for those two from here on out. They're havingtwins." He gestured with his hands, clearly upset even though he was holding himself together pretty well. He sighed again. "This house is going to be very full very soon."
"I'm sure things will work out in the end," I said. "There's some government programs for omegas in Mark's position. I'll help him apply."
"Thank you," Griff said. "I know we're going to be okay somehow, but it's going to be tough for a while. I wish they'd told us sooner so we could have had more time to prepare."
"I get that."
"I don't know how they thought they could keep this secret. Imagine something had happened to the babies while Mark was in hiding. I'm glad we can face things head-on now."
