Page 104 of His Gentle Omega
“At least you didn’t use my middle name,” Seth held his hand over his heart dramatically.
“Oh, I’ll pull out the big guns if I need to,” I warned him smugly.
“Ouch,” Wade gasped. “I love it. What’s his middle name? Tell me, tell me!”
Seth pointed a finger at me, “Don’t you dare! I’ll tell you, no need to get mean. We might have asked Lily to pretend she couldn’t tell what you were having on the first ultrasound. And then she told us, so we knew what the color scheme would be. And also because we wanted to tell people what you were having so they could shop accordingly.”
Mouth open in shock, I stared at them both in disbelief, then turned to look at Shay accusingly. He threw his hands up, then when I growled, immediately went back to rubbing my feet. “I swear to you, I did not know we were having a boy until today. I told Lily she had my permission to tell them, but I didn’t want to know before you did. She agreed to pretend she couldn’t determine the sex, and also agreed to this ultrasound to tell us. Plus, we planned the shower knowing you were going to be working today, and Lily scheduled the second ultrasound time, so they could set up for the shower.”
“So devious, all of you.”
Most of our friends were here; all the Sinclairs and their kids, Asher and Gabe and the twins. Even Shay’s boss, Lo, was here, talking in the corner to Becks and his mate Wyatt, and Wyatt’sdad, Robert. Alex, Shay told me, was sorry he couldn’t make it, but he had gone out of town for Thanksgiving.
“This is wonderful, you guys,” I told them, getting weepy again, “thank you.” Glancing around, I realized someone was missing. Seth saw me and shook his head. “I invited your dad, B, but he couldn’t make it. I’m sorry.”
Shrugging, I played it off, like it didn’t matter but it still hurt. We didn’t always get along, that was true, but I had hoped he would be a little more excited about my pregnancy. Instead, he had told me he was much too young to be a grandparent, and he hoped I wasn’t expecting him to babysit or change any diapers, because he was done with that.
“Let me guess,” I said quietly. “New boyfriend? I kind of suspected when he called weeks before Thanksgiving to tell me in advance he was busy.”
Seth winced, “He did say something about spending the holiday with someone new and meeting their family.”
“Oh, fuck that noise,” Wade plopped himself on the other side of me, putting his arm around me. “Blood is so fucking overrated. Found family is where it’s at. We don’t let you down. We show up for all your shit.”
Hours later, after games were played amongst tons of laughter, and everyone was filled up on nibbles and cupcakes, I sat opening presents, Lucas helping Shay and me. There was a knock on the door, and Asher rushed to get it. I’d noticed he’d been on his phone a lot the last hour, but didn’t think much about it, since he was a pediatrician.
Asher opened the door to admit an older Hispanic couple that I had never seen before. The man and woman looked apprehensive, until they spotted Lucas, and huge smiles lit up their faces.
“Maria!” Lucas shouted, rushing over to hug the older woman. She pulled him to her, tears shining in her brown eyes.
“Mijo!” she whispered, looking down into his face. “Look how big you are now.”
Shay rushed over and pulled the elderly, white haired man to him, holding on for a good while before releasing him to hug the woman.
Trying to push up from the sofa was next to impossible, so I waited for Shay to introduce us. Though I had a good idea who the couple was.
“I don’t understand,” Shay said, “how did you get here? How did you find us? I was afraid to email you after that night. I didn’t want Edward to find out you helped us. Alex said when he inquired with the Clark’s lawyers about you, they told him Edward had fired you and they had no forwarding information. I knew Alex was trying to find you, to testify, but he never told me he had found you.”
“Alex found them,” Asher told him, coming up behind Shay and shaking Albert’s hand. “With help from Jamie and Becks.” He glanced over his shoulder, finding Jamie Sinclair across the room. Jamie gave him a thumbs up and a wink, while Becks just nodded.
Maria hugged Shay tightly, wiping the tears from her face. “We’ve been travelling in our RV. After Master Edward–” she glanced down at Lucas, “before he let us go, he paid us off.”
Albert interjected, “He wanted us to keep our mouths shut about what we knew. What we had seen and heard. Gave us a pretty hefty sum too. We took it and got out of there. Bought the RV and have been enjoying our golden years the last few months, seeing all the states.”
“There was no reason for us to stay without our boys,” Maria told him with a sad smile.
Albert shrugged, “And, he forgot to have us sign an NDA, so…when Mr. Ortega finally called us to ask if we would be willing to testify on your behalf, we gladly agreed. Only we weren’t needed after all.”
Maria made the sign of the cross over her chest, muttering something I thought might have been the devil in Spanish.
“I had no idea Alex had been in contact with you,” Shay told them. “He never told me.” Probably because he planned to use them as surprise witnesses, knowing Alex. “We’ve missed you. I can’t ever thank you enough for what you did for us.”
Albert gave him a sad smile, “I wish we could have done more. But we’re here now, thanks to Mister Asher and Mr. Wade.”
“I don’t understand.” Shay finally helped me up from the sofa and brought me over to meet the Santos’. Maria hugged me warmly, asking permission before she patted my belly, which immediately moved her to the top of some of my favorite people. It was truly alarming how many strangers thought it was perfectly fine to pat someone’s pregnant belly without asking. Truly alarming.
Asher cleared his throat. “I could tell how much Maria and Albert meant to you. So happy baby shower. They’re my gift to you.” He ran a hand through his blond hair, “That sounded less weird in my head.”
Laughing at his brother, Shay said, “Thanks.”
