I knewthey were my mates, not boyfriends or lovers, when Jasper watched me pull on some underwear and prepare for the terrible flow that was about to come. I tried to search his face for disgust or something, but he was just concerned, laying me down on the bed and curling around me as soon as I was down. His big hands were like heat packs, radiating out something that soothed the ragged cramps. But by the time Ben brought me a glass of water with the aspirin dissolved in it, Logan appeared to have gone.
They watched me drink down every drop of the medicine, the pain in my head quickly giving away to a dull throb rather than a frantic stab. I let out one breath, then another, melting into the bed, into them as they all carefully crawled on with me. With each touch, each press of their bodies, my pain eased.
“Just rest, beta,” Ben said when I shifted restlessly, wondering now who was looking after our daughter. “Everything will be all right.”
Chapter 54
“There she is!” Barb said as we walked into the main house. Well, I waddled. The painkillers I’d taken had dulled the cramps, but I wasn’t exactly gonna be running across the field like Jasper any time soon. “I’ve got a fresh pot of coffee going.”
“Dear god, yes…” I groaned, even though my gut was hurting from missing meals and taking harsh painkillers on an empty stomach. I knew the coffee would hit like a match to tinder when I drank it, but I accepted a mug anyway.
“How about I make you some toast to go with that?” Barb offered.
“Yes,” Jasper said, prising my precious, precious coffee away from me. “Food first. Caffeine-laden poison second.”
“Mum!” Evie’s cry cut through any argument we might have had, rushing over then stopping instinctively when she saw my posture. “You’re not feeling well.”
“No, darling, but I feel better for seeing you.” I wrapped my arm carefully around her shoulders. “And what have you been up to, munchkin?”
“We’ve gone for a walk through the eucalyptus forest,” Grace said, stepping forward. “We took a look down at the dam. We helped Jimmy and the boys feed the alpacas. It’s been a very big day.”
“I’m pooped.” Evie flopped dramatically down into a chair, smiling when everyone cracked up at her antics. Being the only kid at the table suited her.
“We all are, cub,” Ben said, ruffling her hair and then sitting down beside her. “So, what did you think of the alpacas?”
Everyone settled around the table and for a moment I just soaked it all in. Barb took food orders from everyone, encouraging the boys to eat more, something they did gladly, then she and Grace argued about what might be best for me. I went with scrambled eggs on toast. Bland, salty, and filling, it would do the trick and help me settle my stomach. But it was Reed’s quiet presence that I noticed the most. He took the seat next to me, and both Grace’s and my eyes widened when he grabbed my hand. He seemed oblivious of our inspection, just rubbing his thumb across my knuckles as the rest of the guys joined the Bradshaw boys in yet another argument about footy. But when I dared a look up at him, I saw he was smiling at the proceedings.
I tucked into my brunch/dinner, listening to Evie’s stories about the animals she’d come across. I knew then I’d be hearing about woylies and pademelons for a looong time after this trip, but it was hard to resent that. Her eyes shone, her cheeks were pink, and she talked with an animation I hadn’t seen for some time.
“I love you,” I told her during a small break in the conversation.
“I love you too,” she said. “Now, Mum…”
“She’s such a bright girl,” Grace said, moving closer when the guys took Ev out to kick a ball around.
My daughter listened patiently to their instructions and then gave the ball a great boot, sending it sailing through the air. You could see all of the men brighten then. Before they thought they were just playing at teaching her but at the smallest sign of ability, they straightened up and grabbed the ball, the teaching growing more serious. Jasper took it and then showed her how to dropkick the ball, his muscles flexing with every move.
“She’s…” A handful, that’s what I usually said, or spirited. Passionate, smart, a challenge. Going to grow up to become a strong woman. But suddenly I didn’t want to make excuses for Ev or twist what she was into something that others might find more palatable. So I nodded. “Yeah, she is.”
“I’ve…” Grace let out a sigh. “I can’t tell you how good it has been to spend some time with her. Richard and I, we were beginning to despair of the boys ever having cubs and now…” She flopped back into her chair, a goofy smile on her face that I recognised, because all of us in Evie’s inner circle eventually ended up wearing it. Yeah, she was hard work, but she was bloody worth it. “I never even dreamed of having a little granddaughter, for obvious reasons, but Lily…”
When she turned to face me, I stiffened automatically, bracing myself for a blow that didn’t come.
“She’s such a treasure. So sweet with the animals, and she has so much to say!”
“My daughter the non-stop chatterbox,” I said with a nod. “I am well aware of this.”
“No, Lily…” She watched her boys working with her granddaughter with a kind of satisfaction. “She talks a lot but she has a lot to say. She has so many thoughts on so many things. I found myself struggling to keep up half the time, but she sees that and stops to explain things further. Every grandparent thinks their grandies are precious, but Evie…”
Her head moved in a sharp little nod, as if she was imagining conversations with other grandparents and was girding her loins to have the fight needed to declare Evie the greatest. I found my hand going across the table and taking hers in mine.
She looked at me then with a look that had a mixture of fear and need and anger in it – a combination that always scared me in older people. Didn’t they have all their shit together by now? Weren’t they past the general free-floating terror of not knowing what the hell was going on that was your twenties? But she just stared at me for a second, mustering a fragile smile before squeezing my hand back.
“No one’s taking Evie away from her family,” she said. “I promise you that. Richard…” A muscle in her jaw jumped and her eyes dropped to the table. “He changed when the rest of my mates died. He had to. We had five young boys to care for and the other packs in town started to circle. He became harder, tougher, inflexible to a fault, in an attempt to keep things together, but…”
She looked up at me, searching my face for understanding.
“I’ll always love him - that’s what it means to be mated to an alpha - but… I won’t stand for this. I’m not sure what we’ll do…”