Glancing up at Mark from beneath my eyelashes, I tapped my fingertips on the table thoughtfully before I spoke. “So I’ve been thinking… Just because I’ve always lived like a vagabond, doesn’t mean that you and our pup should suffer that fate.”

Mark set the newspaper aside that he’d been perusing, and took a sip of his coffee before slowly responding.

“What’s brought this on, snowflake? I’ve never pushed you on the issue of where we should live permanently. I’ll stay in this caravan forever if that makes you happy, and you know it. Why don’t you tell me what this is really about, hmm?”

I pushed my tea aside and tilted my head at him thoughtfully. “Can you at least pretend to believe my subterfuge here and there?”

“What would be the fun in that? Seriously though, what’s going on?” He asked me in a level tone.

I shrugged. “I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the scene you replayed for me of my parents when my father died. Maybe the reason dad always moved us around like something was chasing us, was simply him trying to outrun the ghosts of the past? I don’t know, but I always thought he and I had been meant to be free, you know? Just a pair of tumbling tumbleweeds, if you will.”

Mark smiled gently. “And now you’re thinking that a few roots wouldn’t be such a bad thing? You know, we don’t have to rush into it. But tell me, what did you have in mind?”

“What if we bought this caravan from Sean and stayed here in Ireland? Maybe not forever, but for the near future at least. Now that Clark and Kent have moved here and bought their house adjoining their twins’ property, it feels like our entire pack is here in the UK and if we leave, we’d be the only ones out of the loop.”

Reaching across the table, Mark took my hand in his. “That’s a fine idea. If Sean doesn’t want to sell this caravan, we’ll find another one. But this would give us the freedom to move around Ireland if your wanderlust kicks up, but still stay central to where we have friends. I like that idea. I also enjoy the thought of our son growing up with our packmates’ children after this is all over.”

“So we can still travel, maybe go camping or hiking–since our home would be this caravan–and you’d be fine with that?” I held my breath waiting for his response. To be fair, this was a big ask when Mark had never been a gypsy soul like me.

“River, you’re my home. I don’t care if we live in this caravan and fill it with a dozen pups until it’s bursting apart from the seams. I would like that just as much as I would if we bought a huge manor in the hills somewhere, or a small cottage by the shore. Home isn’t about brick-and-mortar, home is where the heart is, as trite as that sounds. And since you’re where my heart is, everything else is just details.”

“But what about your hometown back in Maine? Will you really be okay if we never go back there?”

Mark snorted. “I sold my shit from storage a month ago, remember? There is nothing left for me in Maine but memories, and I’ll carry the best of those with me. Unless, that is, you were hoping to go back and visit Gary?”

I giggled and yanked my hand back. “No, Gary can pretty much go sit on a cactus for all I care. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay with this idea.”

Mark gave me a guilty grin. “Well, I’ve been trying to figure out how to bring this up to you, but I’ve actually already made arrangements to buy the caravan from Sean. He says the property is ours too if you’d like it, but I told him we take things one step at a time.”

“I’m sorry, is this where I’m supposed to be angry because you acted like an alpha and made sure that your mate and pup had a roof over their head? I’m not going to get upset because you already made plans to buy this caravan, it’s a nice little place and it will be perfect for us—for now. As our family expands, we can revisit this conversation. In fact, go ahead and buy this lot from Sean too. That way you’ll know that you’ve provided a place for your family, and I’ll know that when we stay here we’ll have good neighbors to visit.”

Mark pulled his phone out and began tapping out a message. He quirked a brow at me. “Since we’ve just gotten you to agree to a pretty major thing here, I suppose discussing whether or not to eventually build a cottage on this spot should probably wait for another day?”

“You assume correctly, alpha.” I winked at Mark, loving how protective he was being.

Before Mark could say anything else, there was a persistent knocking on the door. I was about to say come in, when the door opened and Colleen Murphy–Sean’s Mam–poked her head in.

“Oh, good. Yer up! I brought us some mint tea fer tae wee babe, even though you’ve not had the morning sickness through this pregnancy, this tea is still nice and soothin’ when you’re expectin’. After we’ve had us a nice cuppa, I’ll read yer leaves.”

As she spoke, Colleen was already bustling around our small kitchen area getting the pot put on for tea. Mark quietly rose and began putting the tea tray together.

“Shall I bring out some of the gingersnaps you made yesterday, River?” He asked with his hand poised in front of the cookie jar.

“Sure and why wouldn’t ya?” Colleen answered for me. “Mint and ginger are lovely combination fer a pregnant omega. Plus there’s tae sugar, sure and that’s good fer all of us… maybe not so much fer tae arse, more’s ta pity.” She ended with a bawdy laugh.

Mark was setting everything out on the table in front of me when the teakettle began to whistle, and three more heads popped through our still open door. Sean and Heath, with Lulu sitting on his hip, pushed their way into our thankfully large caravan.

“Mam! I thought I saw ya bargin’ yer way in here. Come on, woman! What if Mark had been on his knees fer River and ya’d walked in on that? I mean really... have a care, would ya?” Sean carded his fingers through his thick red hair with frustration.

Heath stepped around his smaller alpha and came to join me at the table. When he sat Lulu down, I did a double take. What the actual fuck?

When Heath saw me looking at the downy, tan feathers sticking up from all angles at the top of the child’s head, he pursed his lips.

“So, apparently she’s enough of a shifter to change early? Halflings like me commonly do it for the first time during adolescence, as you know. But Lulu managed to shift for the first time today. Let’s just say that it was quite the surprise.”

I bit back a laugh when Lulu reached up to play with her feathers. She looked at me with those big green eyes so like Sean’s and chortled happily. “Lulu pwetty.”

“Yes, Lulu is very pretty.” I answered her, unable to resist her cuteness. Looking back at Heath, I shrugged. “Didn’t you tell us that Maon told you she’d be bald for the first year or so? I mean, she’s a girl and she’s almost two. What can I say, the girl decided to gift herself some hair.”

Colleen shrieked and rushed over to the table, picking Lulu up and spinning her around in the air to examine her head from every angle. She cuddled her grandchild to her massive chest, smiling proudly as she spoke.

“Hair, feathers—tis all tae same. Just plumage, when ya get right down to it. But I defy any of ya to tell me this child is not absolutely brilliant by shiftin’ fer ta first time when she’s not even two years old! Sure and isn’t she just deadly? Fair play ta her, I say. And bollocks ta any of ya who want ta say otherwise. My girl is brilliant.”

Mark looked mildly alarmed, but used his Yankee resilience to zip his lip as he took a seat at the table. He gamely held a cookie out to Lulu. “Would you like to sit down with us and have a cookie, or do you want your G’mam to keep holding you, hmm?”

Lulu was already leaning towards the cookie with both hands extended. Colleen laughed and set the child back down at our table, standing behind her chair to fluff Lulu’s feathers. While Mark gave the little one her cookie, Colleen turned her attention to her son.

“Tell us, Sean. How did it happen? Were ya encouragin’ her ta shift?” she paused and brought her hands up to her mouth with wide eyes. “Oh, tell us! Did the brilliant child fly? Does she have her daddy’s pretty red tail feathers?”

Heath covered his mouth to hide a smile, while Sean groaned. “Mam, she’s not more’n a hatchlin’! She won’t have ta proper plumage until she’s a wee bit older, yeah? And no, of course she didn’t fly yet—because, again, she’s just a wee chickadee. And what on this green earth would make ya think we’d actually encouraged this insanity? No, Heath went in ta get her up this morning, and didn’t he find a baby hawk bouncing around ta crib instead of our Lulu.”

Colleen clapped her hands together. “Of course, our girl did it unprompted. Like I said, my granddaughter is brilliant.”

I started laughing so hard, that I got a hard cramp in my stomach. All of a sudden, it got hard to breathe as the cramping increased. With both hands to my stomach, I turned to Mark in alarm. “Something is wrong with the baby, it hurts so bad.”

Heath looked at me seriously and shook his head. “No, sweetie. You’re going into labor, it’s all over your aura.”

“But, I’m not due until next week.” I argued, gasping one another pain hit me.

“Cheers tae ya for knowin’ the calendar, darlin’. That baby in there can’t read yet, that’s why we have ta go on their timeline, not ours. Now let’s get you back ta the bedroom, and I’ll take a look at ya.” Colleen said with authority.

Before I could argue any further, a burst of warm liquid gushed out from between my legs. Heath looked down at the floor, then back up at me with a smirk.

“Well, now that your water just broke... you were saying? Now don’t worry, Mam is an experienced midwife and I’m a nurse. Between the two of us, we’ve got this covered.”

Colleen turned to Mark and Sean. “Ya boys will just be underfoot right now, so take Lulu outside ta play or take her home. She don’t need ta be here fer this either. Go on now, I’ll call ya if I need yer help.”

Mark ignored Colleen and took my hand. “What do you need from me, River?” He asked quietly. “Do you want me to stay?”

I bit my lip and nodded quickly. “If you don’t mind?”

Mark shook his head. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be right now, trust me on that.”

Colleen rolled her eyes, and turned to Sean. “I’ll not argue the alpha father bein’ here, but you get my granddaughter out of here. And don’t be givin’ me no sass neither.”

Sean snagged three cookies off the platter, before scooping Lulu onto his hip. He flashed me a wink before he turned to leave. “No offense, darlin’. But I’ll just be mindin’ me mam this time, since Lulu really doesn’t exactly belong in yer birthin’ room.”

The next little bit of time passed by in a blur. Mark got me back to our bedroom area, and helped me strip. It’s a good thing that I could give a shit about modesty, since that was apparently to be left at the door for this particular event.

Mark got up at the head of the bed, sitting there with his back against the headboard so that I could sit between his legs and lean back against his strength.

“Would you mind reaching into that drawer beside you, and hand me the large amethyst stone, and the smooth black tourmaline that’s right there next to it?” I asked Mark.

Without hesitation, he did as I asked and passed me the crystals. I squeezed one in each palm, rubbing my thumbs against them as I channeled my pain into the crystals.

“If I didn’t already know that my snowflake was a little hippie, this would prove it.” Mark commented dryly in my ear.

Colleen came bustling in just in time to hear that, and shot Mark a warning glare. “I’ll have ya know that crystals have been used fer generations fer situations such as this, ya leave that dear boy be.”

Heath squeezed in beside his mother-in-law, flashing us an apologetic smile. “I’m pretty sure he was just teasing his mate, Mam.”

“Well of course he was, but that’s still no excuse fer bein’ a total eejit, now is it?” Colleen responded as she nudged me to spread my legs and bend my knees.

I could feel Mark’s chest moving with suppressed laughter, and bit my own lip to keep from joining in. Colleen was definitely one-of-a-kind, but she was a good woman who meant well. She was just… a little more outspoken than most.

* * *

A few short hours later, Colleen and Heath had left our little family to rest. I was all cleaned up and dressed in loose pajamas as Mark and I laid facing each other on our bed, with our bundled up baby boy lying between us. I couldn’t take my eyes off him, he truly was the most precious thing I’d ever seen.

“You know, we really should pick a name for the little guy.” Mark said quietly. “I suppose it’s fruitless to suggest traditional names to you, yeah?”

I snickered, glancing up at Mark affectionately. “You know, just because I’m a little bit of a hippie doesn’t mean that I’m against normal names. In fact, I had been considering something like Brian or Thomas. But, I remembered another thought I had earlier as I was looking at him just now.”

Mark raised his brows curiously. “And what were you thinking, snowflake?”

Before I continued, I paused and asked him a question that had been on my mind for the past few months.

“Speaking of nontraditional names, why do you call me snowflake?”

With an easy grin, Mark reached out to capture my hand in his. “Because you are completely unique and there is without a doubt not another person like you on this planet. Just like a snowflake—you are one-of-a-kind.”

“And don’t you forget it,” I winked. “But as for the baby, I was wondering how you would feel about maybe honoring Effie and all she’s done for our pack to help us with our missions?”

“As long as you’re not asking me to name my son Hugo, Enzo, or goddess forbid, Maon–I can be on board with that.”

I chuckled at his words, then looked back down at our son as I spoke softly. “No, I was thinking of the Phoenix rising from the ashes of the past as a symbol of the future while I was in labor, and that’s when the name struck me. Phoenix. What do you think?”

“I think Phoenix is a perfect name for our son and all he represents for the two of us as we start our new future and say goodbye to our painful pasts.”

I nodded. “I mean, that’s a lot to put on one child, so I don’t know if I would ever explain all that to him. But at the end of the day? Phoenix is a pretty cool name.”

“Agreed,” Mark smiled. “Phoenix it is.”