Two weeks later
Lorenzo watched as Mandy played with his nephews. The girl had been quiet for the past couple of weeks, but apparently, his boisterous nephews were starting to pull her out of her funk. That and his mom who had been showering her with the overzealous affection of a grandparent.
Al was arrested for assaulting Karen and was currently undergoing a psych evaluation. It seemed that his lawyer was pushing for an insanity plea. The divorce was now final, and Sadie had custody of Mandy. It was likely that depending on what happened with the court case, Al would get supervised visits with Mandy, but that was the best they could hope for. Lorenzo would prefer no meetings at all, but Mandy would want to see her dad. Though, she was still reeling from what happened at that moment. It would probably take her a little while longer before she wanted to see him again.
Sadie snuggled against him. Wanting to get Mandy away, they had moved into the leap compound.
“I’m glad she’s smiling again,” said Sadie.
Lorenzo grunted in agreement. She was a sweet young girl, and he hoped she would be happy in the leap because frankly, his jaguar wasn’t prepared to let either her or Sadie go.
Mine rumbled the beast as he looked between Sadie and Mandy. Yes, they were, they were his family now.
“Will she still be smiling when she finds out she’s moving here?” he asked
Sadie laughed. “I told her this morning.”
Lorenzo looked at her in surprise. “You did?”
“Yep, I told her we were planning on getting married.”
“You did?!”
Sadie gave him a smug smile. “Yeah, by the way, will you marry me?”
Lorenzo was flustered. “Well, I, ah…”
“I’m not hearing a yes,” she teased.
“Yes! Yes of course!” he blurted.
“Phew!” she chuckled.
“I just… I was planning on asking you,” she grumbled.
Sadie patted his chest. “Sure you were, champ.”
“I was!” he cried, leaping to his feet, nearly knocking her over.
He fumbled in his pocket and after a fight with his too tight jeans managed to produce a ring box. He dropped to his knee in front of her.
“Will you marry me?” he demanded almost grumpily.
“I already asked you,” she taunted, “and you said yes so…” Her mouth gaped as he opened the ring box. “Ignore what I was saying, that is beautiful!”
She plucked the ring out of the box and beamed at it.
“It was my grandma’s – my mom gave it to me,” he said apologetically. It wasn’t like he went out and bought it for her, and he somehow felt he had to be sorry for that.
But when he told his mother he wanted to marry her, she insisted he give it to Sadie. His parents weren’t officially married, nor were any of his brothers, but he wanted to marry Sadie because he wanted to make sure that Mandy could be officially his. He hadn’t spent a lot of time with her yet, but he knew he loved her because he loved Sadie, and Mandy was the most important part of Sadie’s life, so now she was the most important part of his.
“I love it,” murmured Sadie, pulling him in for a kiss.
There were whoops and growls of joy all around them, and they pulled apart to find all of Lorenzo’s family smiling at them in glee. Mandy was smiling too, and Sadie beamed at him.
For all his worries, kidnapping his mate had a happy ending, and he couldn’t be more thrilled. His jaguar roared in happiness.
*
Four months later
Sadie looked up as Diego, and Lorenzo jostled through the door, each carrying more than their fair share of boxes.
“Where do you want these?” asked Diego.
“Anywhere will be fine,” said Sadie.
She hadn’t decided where everything would go yet. She was opening her own store in the town near to the leap compound. Sadie had pitched the idea to her boss – rather than being a traveling cosmetics saleswoman, she would open a small store in a growing tourist town. Her boss loved the idea, as did the locals and the females in the leap. Previously they had to travel to Los Lobos to buy cosmetics, or purchase them online – they loved the idea of having somewhere to buy anything they wanted. Plus, the town was becoming more and more popular as a tourist destination, so the leap was purchasing more retail properties to encourage this. They owned holiday houses nearby, so it was in their interest to encourage more visitors.
Tomas was opening his own restaurant, and Maria – along with her new bear mate – was opening a small store to sell fresh produce and cakes, thanks to financial support from the leap.
Sadie looked around and smiled. It was only small, but it was lovely, and Mandy couldn’t wait to work there on weekends and get free samples – in spite of Lorenzo’s disapproving warning that she wasn’t allowed to wear make-up until she was twenty-one. Mandy had chosen the pretty color schemes and had even painted a mural on the wall – a picture of a jaguar surrounded by flowers. She used Lorenzo’s jaguar as a life model. It was beautiful, even if Sadie – the proudest mother and wife in the world – said so herself.
Diego placed the boxes on the floor, and so did Lorenzo.
“There you go, darling,” said Diego with a smile.
Lorenzo growled lowly, and Diego chuckled. He only called her darling because it annoyed Lorenzo. Diego had his own mate – his own pregnant mate – and he was completely devoted to her.
“Place is looking good,” he said peering around.
“It is,” agreed Sadie a tad smugly.
“I gotta go – lunch with my mate. She gets cranky if she doesn’t eat every two hours.” His phone started ringing, and he snickered. “That’s her now, wondering where I am.” He answered as he walked toward the door, waving goodbye. “Hey, sweetheart, I’m on my way…”
Lorenzo pulled Sadie into an embrace, and she sighed as his lips covered hers.
The three of them – him, her and Mandy - had moved into a new house in the leap. Mandy had easily settled into the leap school. Sadie had been a little worried it would be hard for her – being the only human and girl in the school, but Mandy seemed fine. If anything, she seemed to enjoy the attention all the boys paid her – much to Lorenzo’s irritation. There were a couple of other human girls in the leap, but both were a little older and attended high school. Still, she quickly made friends with both, and the three of them enjoyed each other’s company. Yes, she missed her old friends, but Los Lobos wasn’t so far away – she often went down for sleepovers at the weekend, and her friends visited her as well – much to the delight of the male cubs in the leap. Also, her love of leap life was helped by the fact that she could keep her pony in the leap compound – a few of the other leap members had horses and took tourists on rides. It meant Mandy could ride her pony whenever she wanted. That was a big plus.
Both Sadie and Mandy loved that they suddenly had a huge family. Mandy loved her grandparents and adored playing with her new cousins. Sadie was trying to persuade Gina that perhaps she and her lawyer boyfriend might consider moving up to Honey Blossom Mountain – the town didn’t have a lawyer. She suggested maybe he could set up a practice with Hester – their new resident cheetah shifter lawyer. Maybe it was a long shot, but who knows – Gina had started complaining recently about how crowded and noisy city living was, maybe Sadie would persuade her yet. Plus, Gina loved Mandy, and there was another incentive on his or her way in another eight months…
Sadie wriggled out of his grasp and danced over to the door. Lorenzo watched in amusement as she locked it, took his hand and led him back into the small stock room.
His amusement quickly turned to hunger, and his eyes shimmered with gold. But as he swooped in to claim her lips, she held up a hand covering his mouth. He pouted in protest, and she giggled.
“We can have fun in a moment; I just need to tell you something first,” she said, failing to contain her smile.
“I love you too,” he said, muffled behind her hand and tried once again to get to her lips.
Sadie rolled her eyes. “That wasn’t it.”
Lorenzo frowned.
“Honey, I’m pregnant.”
Slowly his expression turned to shock, before morphing into absolute delight and then back to shock again. “Pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“Yes!”
He looked down at her stomach as if he couldn’t quite believe it.
“I swear I am,” she said, starting to get a little annoyed.
“This is… this is wonderful,” he breathed.
“Yes, yes it is,” she agreed excitedly. “And yes, I do love you, so much.”
Her beautiful mate grinned at her, and she finally allowed him his kiss, which soon led to other things. To think, she almost didn’t go to that damn speed dating event, and look where she was. Life was both funny and wonderful sometimes, and she wouldn’t change a thing about it.
The end