And Jeff had sure never been tasked with telling someone about shifters for the first time. He wasn’t the type of guy to keep secrets, so he didn’t have a lot of experience revealing them.
He was going to have to figure it out, though.
Jeff leaned in, inhaling Leah’s delicious scent, and kissed her lightly on the temple, then silently got out of bed.
Before any dramatic secrets were revealed, they were definitely going to need some breakfast.
Emily was still asleep in her Pack-n-Play, so Jeff padded soundlessly past her and started prepping breakfast with as little clatter as he could. Apples, oatmeal—oh, he had to build up the fire to warm the milk.
That caused an unavoidable amount of noise, and by the time he had it roaring up again, Emily was blinking her eyes open.
“Sorry,” he told her. “I should’ve kept it down, I know.”
She looked around, and then her little face crumpled and she started to cry.
Jeff finished up with the fire as quickly as he could, but by the time he got over to the Pack-n-Play, Leah was coming through the doorway to the bedroom, yawning.
“Good morning, sweetheart,” she said to Emily, picking the baby up and holding her close. “You slept so well! Good job.”
Jeff was arrested for a long moment by the sight of them—his mate and her baby girl, both of them so beautiful.
It took him a long moment to shake himself out of it, but then he strode over to enfold them both in his arms.
That was even better. Leah smelled delicious, that warm smoky scent that was his mate, and Emily had that indefinable baby scent. He pulled them close and knew that he had everything he could ever want in life, right here in his arms.
“Mmm, good morning,” Leah murmured.
“Good morning,” Jeff said into the curl of her ear. “I was just getting breakfast started.”
She let out a sigh that was almost a groan. “God, I could get used to hearing that in the morning.”
Get used to it, Jeff wanted to say, because I want to say that to you every morning for the rest of our lives.
He could picture it so easily, the three of them in his little house, waking up early to get pancakes started. Leah dancing Emily around the kitchen while the smell of breakfast filled the house. Maybe more kids someday, chasing each other around the room. Leah coming up behind him to wrap her arms around his waist and kiss his neck...
He was getting ahead of himself. Even though he felt like that was a sure thing, Leah still didn’t know anything about it.
“I’ll take care of this little lady while you get breakfast, then,” Leah was saying. “She has a stinky diaper, don’t you?”
Emily giggled.
“Yep, that’s a yes all right. Whoa.” Leah yawned hugely, and rested her forehead on Jeff’s shoulder for a moment. “Tired. What time did we go to bed last night?”
“Very, very late.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” She kissed Emily on the nose. “Big nap for you today, honey. But diaper first.” Leah pulled away—was it just Jeff’s imagination, or did she seem reluctant to let go of him?—and went to get the diaper bag.
Jeff went back to prepping oatmeal. Him with breakfast, her with the baby...he didn’t need to picture this happening in the future. It was happening right now. He should be whistling, he thought, he was so cheerful, but the smile tugging at his mouth wouldn’t let him.
Breakfast was oatmeal made with almond milk, with chunks of apple and a bit of the sugar from the sealed containers in the cupboards. It was delicious.
“We’re living well for stranded in a cabin in the snow,” Leah said after her first bite. “You weren’t kidding when you said you could cook.”
“I can cook more than oatmeal, I promise you,” Jeff said, amused. He glanced out the window. “Hopefully we won’t be stranded for much longer. The snow’s stopped.”
And as he spoke, a ray of sunshine broke through and hit the window, sending a long golden strip down the burnished wood floors of the cabin.
“And the sun’s come out.” Leah was smiling. “Great. I don’t want to trespass on these poor people’s property any longer than we have to.”