Page 100 of Unexpected Delivery

Morris clears his throat. “The top set is Gracie’s paternity test results. Congratulations, you and Hael made a baby.”

Hael snorts, and I give her a tight squeeze. She’s been concerned since Adam was here, and we’ve done everything short of flat-out telling her that he won’t be making it back to Arizona, but it might be time to just lay the cards on the table.

“Do we have a plan if Adam asks for a retest?” she asks, glancing over the information on the page.

Hael has been the most vocal about telling her Adam is dead, but Morris and I have been on the fence.

You can hate someone, want them nowhere near you, and still not want them to be murdered. And yet, sensing her concern in the bond is enough to make me clear my throat.

“As it turns out…” I pull her even closer, trying to find the right words.

“Adam’s rental car was found in Atlantic City,” Hael says. “Adam was not with the vehicle, and he never made it back to Arizona.” He shrugs. “Perhaps he headed down to Jersey to blow off some steam and ran into the wrong type of crowd.”

“Wait, what?” Arbor whispers.

Morris stretches a hand across the table, squeezing hers. “He can’t ask for a second test because he’s no longer a threat to you or any woman he might come across.”

She exhales heavily and finally nods. “I think I understand what you mean, and I’m relieved if I’m right.” Her emotions are kind of frazzled in the bond, but the underlying emotion seems hopeful.

“You don’t need to feel guilty. You didn’t make the call,” I say, just because I don’t want those thoughts to pop up later and cause her any emotional distress.

She nods mindlessly, flips to the next page, and gasps. “They approved our pack commitment license?”

“Yup.” Hael moves to dig in his pocket, pulling out the ring box. “That’s just the digital copy. We’ll need to wait for the official one before we can have our names changed, but how about you go ahead and hold out your hand for me?”

Arbor turns toward him and shoves her hand at his chest.

Morris chuckles, snapping pictures.

I’m just grateful I finally feel like I can breathe again.

Hael slips the two carat round-cut solitaire on her finger and captures her lips.

Of course the server pops up at this exact moment, so I collect the dessert plates from her and place them around the table as I wait for my turn.

Arbor and Morris share a naughty kiss stretched across Hael’s lap, and I start envisioning all the things we’re going to do to her when we get home. It’s a good thing Mom is staying at Nana’s.

Arbor turns to face me, and I bend, meeting her in the middle. It’s crazy how life changed in the blink of a damn eye, but I’m more at peace than I’ve ever been.

This wraps up the main epilogue, but I get more requests for extra-long happy endings than anything else. If you’re content with how the story stands, then you can be done here. If you’d like to live in the happily ever after for a little longer, then snuggle in and enjoy the fluffy comfort.

Epilogue

Hael

Five Months Later

Gracie rocks on her knees, grinning and drooling. She’s a cute little slobbery fiend. I wiggle my hands, trying to entice her forward. It may be abitearly for crawling, based on what the baby books say, but some parents online claimed their babies were crawling by six months. She’s close to seven months old, and she’s advanced for her age.

It’s coming… I can feel it.

“Come on, Gracie Girl, you can do it. Crawl to Daddy.” I boop her nose and pull away when she stretches a hand up to grab mine.

“Arbor will smother you with a pillow while you sleep if she misses Gracie crawling for the first time.” Morris laughs, pulling out his phone. “I’ll record it just in case Gracie gets lucky.”

As soon as he gets the phone up, Gracie grunts and gives up. She rolls onto her back and over again to her tummy before grabbing one of the teether toys.

I laugh, shaking my head.

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