Page 61 of Knotty New Year

“You two know how much I loved betasitting. Pax and I are going to have this baby, and probably more.” I winked at them both. “And you’ll be the first sitters I call when we need one.”

“Remind me to change my number, Sunny,” Rain murmured.

“Already on it,” Soleil replied.

We left the bedroom laughing, but as I walked out into the main room of the lodge, with my two best friends on either side of me, and my parents standing in the circle with all of Pax’s family, I couldn’t keep a few tears from falling.

The room was decorated from floor to ceiling with fairy lights and vast swaths of white fabric printed with tiny candy canes. Electric candles had been placed on all the low tables, and the couches were all covered with soft, fluffy white blankets—an omega’s dream. The air was thick with the scents of vanilla, cinnamon, lemon, pine, as well as my own strawberries and cream, and it made an almost intoxicating combination.

The happiness on the faces of all of Pax’s family was staggering. They loved him so much, and now? They loved me, too.

Teddy cleared his throat. “Nicky, Candy? I invite you both to come forward and stand before your loved ones, and each other.” His eyes gleamed as he looked up from the tablet where he had all our vows and the short service saved. He’d gotten ordained on the internet the month before, and had been incredibly touched that we’d asked him to perform our service. I’d caught him tearing up more than once at the short rehearsal the evening before.

Rain and Soleil let my hands go, stepping back as I reached my parents. Dad had tears standing in his eyes.

“My sweet girl,” was all he could say before his voice broke. I hugged him tight, not caring if my gown wrinkled.

When he let me go, Mom cupped my face in both hands and whispered, “I’m so happy for you, my sweet Candy. And so glad you waited for the right alpha.”

When I finally turned to Pax, I sighed at how perfect he looked. He wore a charcoal gray suit that outlined his muscular frame perfectly, and set off the salt and pepper at his temples. His mahogany hair swept low over one brow, and my fingers itched to push it back, to lose myself in his dark gaze.

His eyes gleamed with something like awe, but when he lifted his arm to take my hand, it was all I could do to keep from giggling. On his wrist sparkled a pinkish-red cufflink in the unmistakable shape of a grapefruit. Another gift from the girls, I assumed.

Teddy cleared his throat. “Dear friends, and family,” he began. He read a poem by Rumi, and spoke about love and lifetimes, and how lucky we were to find each other in this wide world.

When he was done with everything but the vows, Lin whispered, “Time for the rings, baby.”

Benjamin shouted at me from his father’s arms. “Can Cay!”

When I nodded to his dad, he set Benjamin down, and the toddler waddled over to me, holding two small velvet boxes. I picked him up, ignoring the smear of sticky pink on his face as he gave me a smacking kiss on my cheek.

“Give them to Unky Nik-Nik and Aunt Candy,” Lin encouraged. When he finally relinquished them, Pax took the smaller box, and I opened the larger one.

Inside was a platinum man’s ring, etched with candies that matched mine, and inscribed on the inner band with four words:I’ll always choose you.I slid it on Pax’s finger. “I choose you, Pax, in the good times and the bad. I’ll be here with you, taking care of you, and growing together.”

His voice was raspy as he slid the band of pink diamonds onto my finger, where it nestled perfectly next to his mother’s ring. “Candy, my love. No matter where you go, or what you want to do with your life, I will be there to support you. Every night. Every day. Through every decision you make—”

“Wemake,” I interrupted, amazed I could even speak when my throat was thick with tears. “Pax, you’re my choice. My alpha, and my love. We’re going to love each other until the end of our lives.”

“Maybe longer,” he whispered.

And we did.

Epilogue

Candy

“Look, Candy, this will be perfect for Bon Bon,” Lindyann cooed from the next aisle over at the Baby Boo-tique, a pop-up Halloween shop inside the “farmer’s market” at the Westclear community. I gazed around the spacious, glass-domed enclosure, built to look like an enormous greenhouse, though no actual farming had ever taken place near here.

And the shoppers were certainly not farmers. Half the women in here I knew from the Omega League or charity functions—and it was all women, except for the security personnel, who stuck out like overgrown eggplants in a mini pumpkin patch.

Mmmm, pumpkin muffins. Pumpkin cake. Pumpkin cookies. I was getting hungry again, even though Pax had hand-fed me breakfast that morning. Well, if his cock counted as breakfast. Chef Adaline had followed that up with pumpkin pancakes, in honor of my last outing as a pregnant woman. I sucked in a deep breath of pumpkin-spice-flavored air, and tried to smile at my sister-in-law.

“First off, Lin, we’re not naming the baby Bon Bon. I wouldn’t do that to him. My parents gave me a hooker name, and I’m still working through my issues.” I grabbed the hanger with the matching trio of black cat ears, paw coverings, and tails, in very obvious Daddy/Mommy/Baby sizes. “Second, Pax will never wear this. Not after he found out where you got the New Year’s polar bear costumes.”

Wrinkling her nose, she took the costumes back. “I didn’t getallof them from Furry Emporium,” she grumbled.

“Just give me a minute. I’ll find something for the Halloween party.” I needed a newborn baby costume, something loose for me postpartum, and something “dignified” for Pax. Finally, I found a long, peach princess gown. “I wonder if he’d think being Mario was dignified?”

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