Page 57 of His Gift
That was one of the adjustments we’d made to the event earlier on in the reorganization process. The job fair portion of the whole thing would start in the afternoon. People needed time to visit each of the booths from recruiters and trainers that we’d set up. We figured they would be ready for a meal at the end of that whole process. There would also be a daycare for people who had kids but wanted to shop around for new jobs as well.
“Should I order breakfast?” I called to Shawn as I threw on the hotel robe and started for the main room.
“We don’t have time,” Shawn called back as the shower went on. “Dad is going to kill me.”
I barely heard that last bit. I wondered if the bond that was forming between us meant I could hear my alpha’s rumblings when no one else could. It was surreal to feel myself bonding with an alpha, with Shawn, but that was only one thing piled onto the list of completely out there things that had happened to me in the last two months.
“Your papa doesn’t know whether he’s coming or going these days,” I murmured to the baby growing in my belly as I hurried to get coffee going in the hotel’s kitchen.
Even that made me stop and suck in a breath. I was going to be a papa. Sooner rather than later. It was completely unplanned, but so was everything else in my life. I forced myselfto breathe as I started the coffee machine, then closed my eyes and leaned back against the counter.
“Papa,” I whispered, hoping that wherever he was, my papa could hear me, “I hope you’re going to be there to help me figure this out. I have no idea what I’m doing, and I really wish you were still here to guide me through it all.”
I needed to get moving, so I pushed away from the counter and headed back into the bedroom, shedding my robe so I could jump straight into the shower before Shawn got out. As I did, an old memory of when Papa first got sick and started to go downhill struck me.
“Zo-Zo, you were born to take care of people,” Papa had told me back then. “Whether it’s me or your friends or maybe even babies of your own someday, you were born to make other people feel loved and cared for.”
“Thanks, Papa,” I said quietly as I stepped under the shower’s spray.
“What?” Shawn asked, still frantic as he dried off.
I laughed. “Not you. Just remembering something my papa once said,” I told him.
Taking care of people extended to my alpha as well. It extended to his family, especially Walt, and to the people who would show up at the Christmas Eve supper looking for help and a way to better themselves. And who knew? After Christmas, I would still be employed as a member of Shawn’s team. Maybe I could find other ways to make people’s lives better.
Maybe I’d stumbled into exactly the right life and the place where I belonged after all.
We arrived at the Pullman Center late, and as expected, Shawn’s parents were already impatient for our arrival when we hurried through the center’s doors.
“Is this the sort of behavior you think earned you your position as head of the Wythe Foundation?” Mr. Wythe scoldedShawn almost the second we joined him, Anthony, and the team from the center in the corner of the lobby that had been deemed the command center.
“We had a late start,” Shawn said with a weird, pinched expression. I wouldn’t have had any idea what that expression was all about if not for the conflicted feelings of determination and intimidation that flickered through our forming bond.
“So that’s what the young people are calling it these days,” Mr. Wythe said.
“Tristan,” Anthony said in a quiet but firm voice, resting a hand on his husband’s arm. “I know you’re just trying to get the best out of everyone for the sake of the event, but enough.”
I tried not to look too surprised at the way Anthony scolded Mr. Wythe. It was even harder to hide my surprise when Mr. Wythe softened by a hair and grumbled something under his breath. But most startling of all was the way Anthony looked at me and Shawn with slightly narrowed eyes, like he was studying our auras.
Come to think of it, I could see something vague and fuzzy around him and Mr. Wythe as well. Wasn’t there something about bonded couples being able to see other couples’ bonds?
“I hate to interrupt,” one of the betas from the Pullman Center said hesitantly, “but we need to get the table arrangements finalized, like, half an hour ago.”
That was the kick in the pants we all needed to put the Wythe family dysfunction aside so we could all work on the event. I was in charge of registration, so as soon as we all touched base about what needed to be done, I headed off to the desk at the center of the lobby. Shawn was the chief liaison for the various groups who had been responsible for inviting attendees, so he went off to do his thing.
I wasn’t sure what Mr. and Mr. Wythe were actually doing at the venue so early, since, as heads of a massive company,they technically didn’t have to do anything but show up for the supper and receive applause. I had to hand it to them, though, for the next few hours as we all worked, they actually looked like they were busy with real work. Maybe that was another sign that the two of them weren’t as horrible as the first impression I’d had of them.
There was one person who was missing from all the activity, and that really bothered me.
“We need to call Walt to see if he’s okay,” I told Shawn when we stopped for a quick lunch, which was, thankfully, provided by the Pullman Center. “I’m worried that he didn’t show up today.”
“So am I,” Shawn said with a sigh. “I just hope this isn’t him throwing a fit to make a point.”
“Would he do that?” I asked.
Shawn sat a bit straighter as he spotted something behind me. “We’re about to find out.”
I twisted to find Walt walking quickly toward us, one hand supporting his belly, a foul expression on his face. “What are you two doing sitting here when there’s so much work to be done?” he demanded as soon as he was close enough.
