Alex

“Time to wake up, sleepyhead.”

Jeremy was still in bed with the covers over his head, the only noise coming from him a low growl.

“Come on, honey. My parents are gonna be here in a half hour. You need to get up and get dressed and get ready for your shower.” I slowly pulled the covers back off of his head and couldn’t help but smile. He was wide-awake under there and was giving me a crabby scowl.

“Tell your parents to stay at home. This is all a huge mistake. I’m gonna call my cousin and tell him he can party all goddamned day if he wants to, but were not gonna be there.”

“We can’t do that,” I said, crawling on the bed and pushing Jeremy’s hair back as he lay there and stared at me. I knew he was afraid to go out in public while he was so pregnant but this seemed like it was something else, and I was really starting to worry that it had to do with me. “Most of your family has already seen you. I don’t know what you’re so worried about.”

“That was not most of my family, Alex. You have absolutely no idea. There are so many of them I doubt anyone will even notice if we don’t show up. They’re gonna be too busy shooting guns and eating cheese from a can to care, anyway. I’m better off just staying in bed. My feet are swollen, I’m tired, and my back is killing me. I just don’t want to go.”

“Sweetie …” I started, hoping to convince him to go for just an hour, but as I thought about a way to get him out of bed his phone rang. “It’s your cousin,” I said, looking at the lit up screen on the bedside table. “You have to at least talk to him.”

“Ugh,” he said as he grabbed the phone. “Hey … Yeah, I know, it’s starting in an hour. Look, Luke, I don’t think … Yeah, you told me that … Really? She seriously came all this way? Well, did you tell her … All right … Okay … No, no … We’ll be there in about an hour.” Jeremy hung up the phone and sighed deeply, then looked at me. “I guess my great grammy Felicia is gonna be there.”

“That’s great. When was the last time he saw her?”

“I don’t know. When I was a kid, I guess.”

“You sound like it’s the end of the world. You’re not happy to see her?”

“It’s not that. I do want to see her. It’s just … I guess now I have to go.”

I didn’t know what to say. I still didn’t understand why Jeremy was so upset. His cousin and nieces and nephews were so happy for him. I didn’t understand what he was so afraid of, but I was tired of the whining. I wasn’t going to let him sulk his way through his entire baby shower.

“It sounds like there are a whole bunch of people who are really excited to see you and are going to be very happy for you. I don’t know what your deal is but you need to get up out of that bed, take a shower, get dressed, and put a smile on your face. Because today is that baby’s one and only baby shower. This is the day that everybody is going to celebrate you and that little being inside you, and I’m not going to let you act like you’re going to a goddamned funeral.”

Jeremy finally cracked a smile. “You did not just roll your head at me, did you?”

“I’m gonna do a hell of a lot more than roll my head if you don’t get out of this bed.”

“Okay,” Jeremy said with a big sigh, then held out his hands. “Help me up? I don’t know if I can do it by myself anymore.”

I laughed and took a hold of Jeremy, pulling him up so he was sitting on the edge of the bed, then I grabbed him in my arms and picked his whole body up.

“I didn’t mean you had to lift me out of the bed!”

“Well, I had to make sure you got up. Do you need me to carry you down the hall and into the shower?”

“No! I don’t! Now leave me alone. I need some space,” he said, shooing me away with his hands.

“Okay, just remember my parents are going to be here in …” I took my phone out of my pocket and looked at the time. “Holy shit, in fifteen minutes.

“Fifteen minutes?!” Jeremy whined as he shuffled into the bathroom and slammed the door shut.

Jeremy was almost four months pregnant now and I notice the further along he was, the more emotional he became. And by emotional I mean crabby. But I couldn’t get mad or impatient with him, because no matter what he said or what tone of voice he used with me, all I could see was my incredible mate who was carrying my baby. Not to mention the strong person who had gone through so many changes in such a short period of time. In my eyes, Jeremy was nothing short of amazing.

I’m not sure how, but I always seemed to be able to find the exact words to calm Jeremy and make him smile, and that’s all I ever needed from my mate, anyway. Besides, I had to admit I found it incredibly adorable when he was scowling and crabby. But I sure as hell would never tell him that. But, oh, my God, I just loved watching that big burly man—all pregnant and holding his back—stomp around while he whined and pouted like a little kid. And, of course, he always got his way after I watched him put on a little performance for me.

But not this time. This time there were two entire families up against his mini tantrum, and guess who was going to win.

Jeremy got out of the shower and got dressed just as my parents arrived. They had Mateo and his kids with them in their car, and the two of us went out to meet them. As much as I’d wanted to have Jeremy over for dinner to meet my family, he always seemed to have some excuse for not going, so this was going to be the first time they all met.

I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect when Jeremy met my family. I had to admit, it had crossed my mind more than once that Jeremy was being so weird because he was embarrassed by the fact that my family was Puerto Rican. It definitely wouldn’t have been the first time I dated someone with that reaction.

But as soon as they started hugging and talking I realized I was wrong. He was incredibly sweet with all of them.

After the introductions my family piled back into their car, Jeremy and I climbed into his truck, and we all headed over to Luke’s house. I hadn’t noticed when we were there before, but apparently there was a huge pond not too far away from the house.

Apparently, in the summertime, the family swam in the pond, and we were invited to bring our swimsuits. It was a beautiful fall day, but a bit too chilly to swim, so we were going to stay out of the water and just stick with the barbecue. Besides, I was sure there was no way Jeremy would strip down to a swimsuit in his condition.

It wasn’t until we got to Luke’s place that I realized exactly why Jeremy had been so nervous about this whole event. It was his own family that he was embarrassed of. He had the funniest look on his face when we got out of the truck and a pack of whooping and hollering people came running at him. He looked at me with pleading eyes like he was about to say something, but within seconds he was swallowed up by the mob.

There was extended family on top of extended family that seemed to stretch out forever. Cousins, uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews, second cousins, third cousins, great uncles, and finally, the grandparents and great grandparents. My head was spinning by the time I was introduced to the entire family.

Then, when it came time for me to introduce my family, I barely had a chance before they were all swept up by Jeremy’s aunts and uncles and cousins and taken over to a huge picnic table that was overflowing with food. They quickly made room for the bowls of tostones and salads that my family had brought with them. I looked back at Jeremy who was still surrounded by some of his omega cousins and a pack of kids—some of whom really did have Kool-Aid stained T-shirts on—and they were all ooh-ing and aww-ing over his enormous, pregnant belly.

But the amazing thing? Not a single one of them mentioned his transition from beta to omega. Not even the kids. I was pretty sure Luke must have mentioned to the family that Jeremy was sensitive about it, and that’s why it didn’t come up. But either way, I was touched by how considerate they all were. It was one of the reasons I immediately fell in love with the entire crew.

The other reason was because of how quickly they accepted my family and made them feel at home. I had to admit I was a little worried, but these people were awesome. They accepted a strange family into their own without question because they knew how much it meant to Jeremy.

While I was watching Jeremy talk about all the clothes and baby toys Luke had given us, the alpha cousins and uncles grabbed my arm and dragged me over to a huge, three-bay shop that was completely surrounded by all kinds of car and appliance parts. I’d never seen so much metal in my life. It seemed to stretch out in every direction of the surrounding field for as far as the eye could see. Apparently, Luke’s husband was a whiz at fixing just about anything, and could locate any part in the yard by memory.

I was handed a beer and made to feel at home while the traditionally alpha-oriented conversations started up, mostly revolving around the finer points of adjusting the suspension on a lifted truck, getting the rust off of tools and other pieces of steel that had been left out in the rain throughout the winter, and the recent Nascar upset, but eventually turned to the tree felling I’d been doing for Jeremy’s parents.

It seemed that quite a few of Jeremy’s relatives lived on large pieces of property in the area and were all interested in hiring someone to do what I’d been doing for them. They all told me they liked to keep their business in the family and some of them were even hoping to pay me under the table, which was perfectly fine with me.

Some talked about trades as well, and by the time I was finished I had offers for having a house framed, the electrical put in, a septic tank dug with a backhoe, plumbing, and a roofing job. And all for work that I’d be able to do throughout the winter. It was incredible. I had no idea Jeremy’s family was so huge and would be so much fun to do business with.

But before any deals could be made Luke’s husband, Gary, told the group that we could talk business later, that this was a day for partying. His comment made perfect sense to me, and I didn’t think anything about it until later in the day when I found out exactly why he’d said it.

For the next hour or two I made the rounds throughout the party, being introduced to various relatives, eating tons of barbecue and other amazing foods, and getting slapped on the back more times than I could count. And every time I found Jeremy in the crowd he was surrounded by family members who were gushing over his pregnancy. He definitely didn’t give them the benefit of the doubt when it came to accepting his new status. It seemed to me, that was his problem in general—assuming that he already knew what people were thinking.

But, honestly, that seemed to be just about everyone’s problem. I knew I even tended to make judgements and assumptions before I knew the truth about a person. A lot of people did. And this whole experience was making me aware of just how silly that was.

When I looked up and saw Jeremy sitting with his great-grandmother I had to go and meet her. They were on a bench chair together and Jeremy was letting her feel the baby kick. He was so excited when I walked up. “Grammy, this is Alex. Alex this is my great-grandmother, Felicia. She’s one of the last female members of my family to give birth.”

Her eyes filled with tears of joy as Jeremy’s belly moved like crazy. “It looks like she’s really excited to meet you,” I said, sitting down in a chair next to her.

“So you know that it’s going to be a little girl?” she gasped. “Jeremy has been frustratingly vague about the baby’s sex.”

“Yeah, Grammy, they told us the sex at the last ultrasound. But we hadn’t told anyone yet, so I didn’t want to just blurt it out. I figured Alex should have a say in whether or not we told everyone.”

“Well, you’ll have to announce it today, that’s for sure!” she said, a flame of excitement in her eyes. “We’ll do it the old fashioned way! Just like we used to back home in Arkansas!”

“But Grammy, that’s a little dangerous, isn’t it? With all the kids running around?”

“Ah, will wrangle those little rascals together and keep ‘em safe. We haven’t had one of the ceremonies since your grandfather was born, god bless him. We’ve got to keep the family traditions going, Jeremy. Traditions are what keep us together.”

“But new traditions are good too,” Jeremy said, glancing over at me. “And I’m sure Alex’s family has some too.”

“Not really. The main tradition in my family is eating, and we’ve got enough food here for an army, so they’re happy. So, what’s this old family ceremony?”

“Oh, it’s this crazy, old way of letting everyone know the sex of the baby.”

“It’s certainly not crazy, and it’s only old because it’s been going on for decades. But it’s fun, and it’s tradition, now get someone over here with a shotgun so I can tell them what to do.”

Jeremy gave me a funny look, then smiled at his great-grandmother. “Okay, Grammy, I’ll go get someone,” he said as he started to push himself up.

“Here, let me help you.” I stood up and grabbed Jeremy’s hands, then helped him up and pulled him against me. “What the hell is she talking about?” I asked as we wandered off to find Luke. “A shotgun? What are we gonna use a shotgun for?”

“I knew this was gonna get weird,” Jeremy said as he put his head on my shoulder. “My family is just so …”

“Family?” I said with a laugh, pulling his face up to mine. “Jeremy, everyone’s family is crazy. That’s what makes life interesting. And what makes it extra special when you get to pick the person you’re going to be with for the rest of your life.”

“Well, I can’t believe you picked a redneck like me.”

“Me either,” I said, curling my hands around Jeremy’s head. “If anyone had told me I’d be spending the rest of my life with the guy who drove up and down my street in a lifted pickup that had a busted muffler I would have told them they were crazy.”

“It’s not busted! I told you I put a lot of work into that exhaust system!”

I didn’t say a word. I just smiled and kissed Jeremy until he calmed back down a bit. I knew if I told him how cute he was when he talked about his truck he’d kill me.