Page 87 of Broken Bonds

Her fingers drift carefully across the soft gray walls I painted with fluffy white clouds. I might have had to research and watch a few videos on how to paint clouds, but I got it done. Thank fuck I started with the walls Friday night when I brought everything here. It might have taken me until nearly dawn to get them finished.

A deep blue rocking chair with gray cushions on the seat and back sits in a corner on the opposite side of the room from where I put the cribs. There’s a shelf full of children’s books and baby toys on one side of it that I arranged neatly, and on the other side is a small side table Ramsey can use for anything she might need to have close by when she’s sitting in the rocker.

Ramsey walks over to the dark mahogany cribs next, touching the neutral toned blankets I hung over each of the sides. I put them together close to each other. One in the middle running horizontally against the wall with the other two on either side of that one, leaving an open space for her to walk between the three. Sitting inside of each crib is a handmade stuffed animal that can later be embroidered when the babies are here. One is a kangaroo, another an elephant, and the last is a monkey. She touches all three and then sets her hand on top of her belly as she turns to face me and Jillian where we’re standing in the open door.

Jillian walks in, dragging me by my arm behind her.

“What do you think?”

My heart beats erratically as Ramsey takes her time to answer, eyes flitting all over the room again. She blows out a breath, an awed chuckle escaping her.

“You did all of this?” she asks me, looking directly into my eyes.

“I did. I mean, it wasn’t all me. Jillian found some notes your alphas had been leaving around with nursery ideas, and then we got a delivery to the bar. Seems they’d had the whole thing figured out and were going to surprise you. I just brought the idea to life for them,” I tell her sincerely.

She bites her lip, tears forming along her lower lash, but she quickly dashes them away and laughs.

“Of course they had it figured out. Assholes. I’d only been trying to get them to come up with ideas with me for weeks before they died. I thought they were procrastinating,” she huffs, looking down and shaking her head. When she looks back up at me, her eyes shine brighter in the low light.

Ramsey stares at me for several seconds before getting a resolute and determined look on her face. She steps closer to me, close enough that her belly presses against my middle, and looks up at me. Then, she shocks the hell out of me.

She fucking hugs me. Wraps her arms right around me, pressing her cheek against my chest.

I stand there frozen for what seems like forever. She can probably hear my heart going into overdrive, feel it beating rampantly against her cheek. When she squeezes me, I finally react, hugging her back. My eyes close and I bow my head, enjoying the feel of her in my arms more than I should. This sense of peace settles inside my chest with her wrapped around me. It’s something I never want to live without.

“Thank you. You didn’t have to do this, but I really appreciate it,” she tells me when she steps back, swiping her fingers under her eyes and sniffling.

My arms drop to my sides and suddenly, I feel… bereft. I shake the feeling off and look down at her. She’s so beautiful.

Like a ray of sunshine.

My ray of sunshine.

“It was no problem, Ray.”

My eyes widen and I nearly facepalm myself.

I didn’t mean to call her that.

Where the fuck did that come from?

She smiles and tilts her head.

“Ray?”

I clear my throat, feeling embarrassed, but answer her anyway.

“Yeah. You’re… You’re like a ray of sunshine,” I tell her, my ears practically stinging with how hot they are.

Jillian giggles and I glare at her over Ramsey’s shoulder. Ramsey’s hand on my arm pulls my attention back to her.

“You’re sweet. I don’t think anyone else would tell me I’m a ray of sunshine these days,” she says with a laugh. “I really do appreciate you doing all of this for me. It’s… Well, to be honest, it hasn’t been something I’ve let myself think about since everything happened. If you hadn’t put this together, these babies probably would have come home with no beds or anything set up for them.”

“Yeah, right. Like I would have let that happen, Rams,” Jillian snorts, throwing her arm around her best friend’s shoulder.

“It really was no trouble. I’m just glad you’re not upset about me doing it. I was worried I might have been overstepping.”

“I think you’d be a hard alpha to be mad at, Rion,” Ramsey says, her voice almost a whisper.

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