Page 145 of Home: Posy 5

"I mean, can you imagine these tiny babies with the last name Price-Barlow-Carson-Mitchell-Black?" he'd joked.

Yet more confirmation, if I needed it, that theyallconsidered themselves the babies' fathers, regardless of whose blood ran through their veins.

You doing okay, cutie?Wyatt linked, drawing me out of my thoughts.

I looked at the clock and saw he was right on time. Every fifteen minutes, if not sooner, one of them linked me to see how I was and if I needed anything.

I'm fine. Just feeling really restless, I sighed. It was the first week of May, and I yearned to be in the sunshine.I wish I could see how the new flowerbeds are doing.

I'll carry you down to the garden after lunch, okay, baby?

Thank you, fifth star.Smiling, I sent him a wave of love and he sent one back.

Then a hard kick made me wince and I closed the link before he felt my pain and came barreling up here.

I guess the babies are super restless today, too.I rubbed what I could reach of my enormous belly.

They usually were fairly active and acrobatic - thank you, Ash and Wyatt - and gave me super strong kicks - thank you, Mason and Cole - but today they seemed to want out of my stomach as much as I wanted them out.

Think mates will like names we picked?Lark asked, her tail on high-speed in her eagerness.

I hope so!I told her with a grin as I remembered asking the boys for suggestions.

The first thing we all agreed on was using stars for middle names since they had become such symbols in our lives. Then Mason jokingly suggested Rock, Paper, and Scissors for first names, and I could have smacked him upside the head! He knew better than to tempt his brothers like that!

True to form, they each had some ridiculous suggestion. Wyatt wanted Tic, Tac, and Toe. Cole said Snap, Crackle, and Pop. Jayden insisted on Ganon, Link, and Zelda - whoever they were - and Ash offered up Cheeto, Frito, and Dorito.

That one made me laugh until I peed myself.

Yes,literally.

Pregnancy bladder was nothing to mess with!

In the end, I took theirdecentname suggestions and my own ideas and came up with something I hoped they liked, although I had a back-up plan just in case. Now I just needed to keep them a secret until after the babies were born so I could surprise them, which was not an easy thing.

Pregnancy brain was almost worse than pregnancy bladder!

When it came to the nursery, we all agreed on a theme - woodland animals, which was kind of an obvious choice for wolf shifters - then we shopped together online for what we wanted. I also asked Wyatt to create some artwork and he did not disappoint. His little critter paintings were so adorable, they made me cry.

Of course, I was so emotional that most things made me cry. I was huge, uncomfortable, hormonal, and exhausted before the babies were even here!

This pregnancy had made my dreams more vivid than they'd ever been, and when I had a nightmare— Well, it was bad. Fortunately, I didn't get them as often anymore, but twice now I'd woken up from one and went right into a panic attack, terrifying myself as well as my mates. Dr. Myers assured me that it wouldn't hurt the babies, but I wasn't convinced. Surely that kind of stress wasn't good for them.

So now, I hated to fall asleep for fear it would happen again, and Jayden spent hours singing and playing the guitar, deliberately picking songs to put me to sleep.

As for my other mates, they dropped by throughout the day whenever they had a few extra minutes just to cuddle. They'd also organized an endless stream of visitors to keep me company, although Cole told me they didn't have to ask anyone.

"Your friends and family are lining up to see you, honey. We're just making sure there aren't too many at one time so you don't get tired or overwhelmed."

So I'd played endless rounds of Uno and Monopoly with Thoreau, Wayne, and Archer; got to meet all the new babies one at a time in the peace and comfort of my special room; and drank countless gallons of Mom's special pregnancy soups to keep down the nausea while Walker told me about Rosie, his brothers, Rosie, what he did at school, and Rosie.

Our Sunday afternoons were reserved for Grandpa William and Grandma Alberta. Those two were so cute! Three years ago, Grandpa asked her to be his chosen mate and she said yes. Now they were inseparable. He called her Bertie and she giggled. She called him Yum and he blushed.

"We're going to be like that, too, princess," Ash had teased me one evening after they left.

"Of course we are." I'd puckered up for a kiss, and he didn't leave me hanging.

After family - which included my betas, of course! - the next most regular visitor was Bridger Donahue. He really turned his life around and became an excellent father for his little girl, which made us all proud. At least twice a week, he brought Isabelle over, and Ash always dropped everything to see his Rosebud. Their special bond warmed my heart, and I cooed every time her baby voice called himTama.

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