Page 39 of Prayers for the Prickly

Whoa, slow down, you don’t have to reorganize your whole life yet,I cautioned.We don’t even know if I am pregnant yet. For all we know, I could have missed my cycle due to all of the excitement about meeting you. It could start up again next week and we’d have wasted energy on remodeling plans for nothing.

Not for nothing,he declared.If you aren’t pregnant now, you will be eventually, August. No matter what the doctor says, we can just look at this as a test run to see how prepared we are and what work we still need to do to get our home ready for any potential additions. I can’t wait to plan the perfect nesting space with you. Now, get some sleep. I can feel how sleepy you are and it’s just adding to how exhausted I feel. Miss you more than words, see you in three more sleeps.

Three more sleeps was three too long, but I was too tired to convey that thought to him, or anything else as I settled in to let sleep claim me. I was glad it had been another long, grueling day on my feet making candy. I was just tired enough not to miss the feel of his arm draped across me.

But my fingers missed it, and I finally had to roll the comforter down so I had enough pressure across my hips that I could pretend it was him. As I curled my fingers around the cloth, I pictured him with a baby hedgehog on one shoulder, and one of our children in their human form cuddled in his arms.

I couldn’t wait to see him in full on papa wolverine mode.

What a snarly cute view that would be.

If we were having hoglets and wolverine whelps, they were going to have so many new cousins to play with who’d be just about their age, since I had a sister and a brother who were pregnant, too.

Our family had really started to thrive again since we’d come here. While I thought about how lucky we were to have found this place, I couldn’t help but hope that it remained as lucky for the generations to come as it had been so far for us. In short, it had been life changing.

Chapter 15

Gregor

I wasn’t sure what I was in for when I spotted Olly waiting for me at the docks when the ship came in. His face was unreadable, too, which was never a good look on Olly’s usually grinning mug. I checked my phone as I waited for us to finish docking, but there weren’t any missed messages from him.

It was only ten, though, not even time for him to be at the shop yet, so maybe he wanted to prepare me for something that had happened there. I kept waiting for him to look up and make eye contact with me while we were waiting to offload, but he never did. He barely glanced at me when I reached his side, just turned and jerked his head down the dock, so I followed him.

“I need to move out of my mother’s house before she ruins my life worse than she already has,” he said once we were out of earshot of the rest of the crew. “I was wondering if I could stay with you and August for a few days. I swear I’ll be out of your hair just as soon as I can find an apartment. I just can’t take anymore of her shit.”

“What happened now?”

“The brand-new washer somehow sprung a leak that sent water all over the kitchen floor, and of course it happened when I was doing my laundry which made it my fault and my responsibility. So I cancelled the date I had with Everett so I could stay home and clean up the mess and dry everything to her specifications. Then, since it was late and she couldn’t use the kitchen because I’d flooded it, she sent me out to get supper, and of course I run into Ever in the process. He took one look at me with takeout from Zesty Pandas, shook his head, and walked away before I could explain what the hell was going on.”

“Don’t know what to tell ya,” I replied, because I really didn’t.

I’d told Olly months ago to get out of there and move back into his old room at Mom and Pops’ place. It was the guest bedroom now, but I knew they’d prefer having him back there than him continuing to stay with her. I just didn’t get why my usually reasonable brother was being so stubborn about it.

“Did you try texting him?” I finally asked when he didn’t say anything.

His response to that was to snarl at me and start stalking down the dock again.

Guess I’d have to go back and grab my bag later.

“Why should I be the one to have to text him when he’s the one who walked away?” Olly snapped. “If he’d just given me a moment, I’d have told him exactly what had taken place and who the food was for, though I doubt knowing would have made things much better. Not after Mom threatened to ruin Everett’s business if he didn’t stay away from me. I swear to you, Gregor, if I find out that she had anything to do with what happened three hours later, I will never speak to her again.”

“I wish you’d stop speaking to her now and save yourself the headache of waiting for the next bit of dumbassery before you cut her out of your life.”

I knew my words had poked at a sore spot, but I wasn’t sorry. How could I be when I saw the way her words and actions had cut my brother apart over the years? Some parents just weren’t worthy of the love and loyalty their children showed them, and she happened to be one of them. I was just glad to see Olly waking up to what we’d been telling him for years. That she was toxic and only interested in Oliver when she thought there was something he could do for her. I know he kept hoping to feel genuine love and affection from her, but she wasn’t capable of it. That might be a shitty thing to think, and I’d refrained, so far, from saying it to his face, but I’d come close a couple of times and would never be able to keep the words in check if he was running the risk of losing his mate.

“Olly, what happened three hours later?” I asked as we reached the far end of the dock, and the stairs down to the beach that ran along the front of our shop.

It looked like Olly was in the mood to walk the mile this morning, instead of wade through the crowded fish market to reach the parking lot where he’d no doubt left his car. Guess we’d both have things to come back for later.

“A lady came storming into the chocolate shop with a box of candy she’d purchased earlier in the day. She claimed there were ants in the orange nougat. I wasn’t there, so I don’t know what else went on. I wouldn’t even have known about that if Old Margo hadn’t dropped in to buy another of your seagulls and told me all about what she’d overheard when she was in the bakery. She brought me a blueberry cheesecake Danish this time, it was amazing. You’ve gotta cut down on carving new seagulls, she brings me a new treat each time you put one in the window. I’m gonna be fat as hell by the time she buys them all.”

“How is it that I’m doing all the carving and you’re getting all the treats?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him when he met my gaze, shrugged, and giggled.

“Maybe it’s ‘cause you never smile at her when she comes in?” he suggested.

“Pff, I never smile at anyone.”

“You smiled at August, well, you tried to anyway. It was more like a half a smile, and kinda awkward, but you tried,” he offered before nudging me with his shoulder.

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