Page 40 of Alpha Crusher: A BWWM Romance Novella

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One Month Later

“Mom,” I said when a familiar voice answered. It’d been seventeen years since I last talked to her, but I would recognize her voice anywhere.

“Who’s calling?” she asked, proving that innate recognition wasn’t mutual.

“It’s Ward, your son,” I answered, and a sting of pain shot through my chest. She didn’t recognize me, her only son.

“Oh, hi Ward,” she said as if I had called to sell her a health insurance plan that she wasn’t interested in.

“Hi,” I replied. Then, there was an awkward silence on the line where neither of us said anything.

“Is everything okay? Do you need something?” she asked.

“Everything is fine. I called because I wanted to—”

“Leanne, will you fix my tie?” I heard a man say in the background.

“Sure, dear,” my mother’s tone shifted. I could hear it soften, and when she said those two words to that man, whoever he was, she sounded as if she loved him completely.

“Leanne, I’ll let you go fix his tie,” I said.

“I’ll call you back later, Ward. What’s your number?” she asked in a tone reeking more so of duty than compassion.

“That’s not necessary, Leanne,” I said, hanging up before anything else could be said.

Some things would never change. My relationship with my mother was one of those things, and I had come to peace with that fact a long time ago. Yet Mira asked me to try again, and I did.

I walked toward the bedroom looking for Mira. She whirled around when I opened the bathroom door and opened her arms to embrace me. I smiled as I looked at her, but instead of going into her arms, I stepped back, reached for her left hand, and slid a ring onto her finger.

She gasped with a surprised expression on her face.

“Ward!” Mira cried.

"I know we have a long way to go, and I'm not perfect," I said. "But when I found you, I found the missing piece to my life. I have never been more certain about anything. It's you, Mira. It's you I want to spend the rest of my life with. I love you, and I want you to be mine forever.”

"Ward… I'm a terrible cook! I don't know if I'll make a good wife or…"

“We have each other, and I’m not looking for a good cook or the perfect wife. I want you with all your flaws because I’m a flawed man too.”

"Yes, I'll marry you," she cried out the words that would change me forever.

“Good, I have already contacted the house movers that will move your things here,” I said.

“Ward! You shouldn’t have done that. I was going to have my things moved into the house I picked out for us,” she said.

We were once again standing chest to chest with me staring down into her sparkling brown eyes. I lowered my head and dropped a kiss on her lips. “Okay, from now on, we’ll consult each other before making any big decisions,” I said.

“Yes, I’d like that,” she replied with a smile.

“I’m sorry for contacting the movers without telling you first, but why do you think we need a new house?”

"I thought we might need something bigger in the future,” she said, taking my hand into hers and moving it over her belly.

“Really, baby? Don’t play with me, Mira.”

She nodded. “It’s true. We’re having a baby.”

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