Page 192 of Toxic

"Relax, I’ll take care of everything. Sit down for now, take some deep breaths, and maybe start that contraction-timing app. I’ll call Dr. Jim."

"And call Winter!" Soren shouted as I was walking away. "Let him know I won’t be able to come to work on Monday…"

I burst out laughing. Soren had worked up to the very end—just yesterday, Friday, we were both at the office. The ByteBites project had been a huge success, and Soren got a solid raise and bonus. Now we were working on another big project. Since Soren’s debt was already paid off, we put the bonus money toward a nice house we had our eyes on. Three months before the birth, we sealed the deal and bought it.

It was in a good, central location, about a half-hour drive from DevApp and around 40 minutes from my parents’ house. We deliberately chose this distance so that my father could visit as often as he wanted. Dad was incredibly excited about the arrival of another grandchild, and impatiently awaited news of Soren's labor.

The other positive was that our new house was across the street from Nathaniel and his husband's mansion. Nathaniel's husband, Darien, gave birth to their son two weeks before Soren; they became friends and supported each other a lot during the pregnancy.

I made the call to Dr. Jim first, who asked us to come to the hospital where he was currently on duty. Dr. Jim had been overseeing Soren’s entire pregnancy and was really rooting for us. He would sometimes text us just to check on how Soren was doing.

Next, I called Winter, who congratulated us and promised to be at the hospital as soon as the baby was born. His life, too, had changed a lot since the day he had decided to give his controversial relationship a chance, and there was a whole story around it, even involving a plane crash… But for now, Winter just assured me that Fay would cover for Soren while he was on paternity leave.

Finally, I called my dad, but to my surprise, my father picked up his phone.

"Hey, I’m calling to let you know that Soren’s labor has started—his water just broke."

I heard my father gasp. "Well, congratulations! Hang in there, everything will be fine. I’ll let your dad know right away—he’s just taking a shower—"

"Okay, we’re on our way to the hospital now. Dr. Jim is already there waiting for us—"

"Son," my father suddenly interrupted me.

"Yeah?"

"I’ve been meaning to say this for a while—I want to apologize for not being more supportive when you decided to pursue Soren. I should have trusted your intuition. I’m glad you didn’t listen to me back then."

I froze for a moment, surprised by his words. Not many parents knew how to apologize, let alone admit to mistakes, so his honesty really caught me off guard.

"Thank you for saying that, and to be honest, I kind of understand. Things didn't look good at first, and they just… weren't! But something kept pulling me toward Soren, and I couldn't resist it, even if it defied logic".

"Now we know why. Next time, we should trust Fate a little more. It’s been very generous to our family after all the difficulties. We’re finally finding our way."

"Sometimes I think that Fate is giving us all this because of what happened in Dad’s past. Maybe it’s a way of making up for it, for our whole family…"

My father went silent, and there was a moment of quiet on the phone.

"Maybe that’s true. Maybe Fate is trying to right a wrong. My only wish now is that one day we can reconnect with River."

This time, I was the one who fell silent. I didn’t know what to say. River seemed like a lost cause, but I didn’t want to voice that, especially not at this moment, when we were about to face such a huge event.

My father must have sensed that because he cleared his throat and said, "But let’s not dwell on sad things. Today is going to be a beautiful day, son. I’ll tell your dad everything, and we’ll get there as soon as we can."

An hour later, Soren and I were in the delivery room.

Dr. Jim greeted us, genuinely excited to see us.

"The magic of True Mates works flawlessly—your due date is today, right on the dot! Everything has gone perfectly so far, and we’re hoping the rest will go just as smoothly!"

The rest didn’t go exactly as planned, though, because Soren had the build of a beta, meaning his narrow hips had to widen significantly for the birth. The hormones flooding his systemloosened his pelvic ligaments, which wasn’t exactly pleasant for Soren. But as my dad had suggested, I did my best to ease his pain by holding him and trying to take over some of it. The True Mate bond worked wonders in this case, helping Soren manage the pain without needing anesthesia or, for that matter, a C-section—a frequent complication for other betas due to their build, if they managed to get pregnant.

At exactly 9:00 pm, our first son—Silver—was born.

Soren was tired but not exhausted, cradling the tiny baby in his arms, gazing at the newborn with intense focus. Tears kept spilling down his cheeks, and finally, he whispered, "You know, I didn’t have anyone. No family. It was just you… and now I have him, Silver! You’re both my new family…"

"Maybe one day we’ll have an even bigger family," I murmured suggestively. "You’ll be surrounded by even more love!"

Soren scrunched his nose and gave me a feisty look. "How big are we talking? Because I’m thinking maybe two tops. I mean, I admire your dad—going through this eight times? But this was pretty challenging!"

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