“So you decided to come back to us after all, did you?” Mrs. Costner asked me.

“Just for a couple of months.” I wasn’t wearing my ring to work, terrified I’d knock a stone out of it, but I’d hung it on a chain around my neck. “My alpha did come through for me and I’ve decided to give him a second chance.” I fished the ring out of my neckline and held it out for her to see. “My last day there, we went to breakfast and then he took me to get this.”

Her eyebrows went up and she nearly dragged me off my feet as she pulled it closer to the window of the common room to get more light on it. “My, my, that is a nice one. That’s not silver, is it?”

“No.” I couldn’t help my silly grin. “He wouldn’t let me get a silver one, said it was too soft.”

“He’s not wrong there.” She looked up and made a gesture with one hand, very much like a sorceress conjuring a familiar. “Robert, come here and look at this.”

Mr. McAllister made his way to us from the recliner he’d been reading his newspaper in. “Good morning, Lew,” he said, then took in my ring, held imperiously out for his examination by Mrs. Costner. “Why, Nance, are you proposing?”

She giggled. “No, but someone did. Our Lew here’s getting married to that grandson of Maddie West’s, the one that went down to Hollywood a few years back.”

“Well, he certainly did it up right,” Mr. McAllister said. “That’s a mighty fine piece of work.”

“So when’s the big day?” Mrs. Costner asked.

“We haven’t set one yet,” I admitted. “He gave me this just before I flew home.” I paused and debated whether to tell her the rest of it, then realized she’d probably find out anyway. “I’m going to be putting in my notice soon. I’m going back to live with him while we plan the wedding.”

She slapped my hand lightly in delighted shock. “You naughty omega! But I supposed that’s what all you young folk are doing now. All those hormones they put in the meat, I supposed.” Her eyes danced and she opened her mouth again.

“I was telling Mom that it was time I got out on my own,” I rushed to put in, to forestall any more comments about meat and hormones. “He’s got the cutest little apartment. And I’m going to see if I can get work out there.”

“Movie work?” she asked curiously.

I laughed. “No, I’m not movie material. Just what I do here. I know it’s not as glamorous as Mike’s job, but I like it.” I leaned in and nudged her shoulder with mine. “I like you. But I know I’m no competition here.” I jerked my head toward Mr. McAllister, who laughed but still puffed his chest out. Not that an omega was much competition for an alpha, even one fifty years older than the omega.

“Well, I want to hear all about your adventures while you’re gone,” she told me archly. “I don’t travel all that well anymore, so I have to live vicariously through you young folk.”

“I’ll do my best,” I told her and got to me feet. Immediately, Mr. McAllister took my chair and the two of them put their heads together. I was sure they were gossiping about me, but I didn’t care. It was cute to see them, just like teenagers there in the corner. And I had work to get done.

I dropped my engagement ring back down inside my shirt and slipped out of the common room to grab the laundry cart and start my rounds in the medical wing. As I walked, the ring bounced against my chest, warm and comforting, like the promise for the future it was.

Long distance relationships sucked. Mike was working from morning until regulations shut down filming, making up for the two weeks that he’d taken off to come home for Maddie’s funeral. We texted a lot, but real phone calls hardly ever happened and when they did, he was half falling asleep during them. I’d given in my notice, sort of—told them that I didn’t know for sure when I’d be leaving but that it would be within the next couple of months. They were good about it, though they weren’t happy not knowing the date. I was resigned to the idea that I might have some unemployed time on my hands before I moved back to California with Mike.

And then there was this. I sat in my bathroom and stared at the narrow blue line on the pregnancy test. Not exactly unexpected, since we hadn’t taken any precautions while I’d been there, but I wondered how Mike would handle it.

Only one way to find out. I grabbed my phone and took a picture, then texted it to him with a Guess what? caption.

It took him an hour and a half to get back to me—I was already at work, changing an adult diaper on one of our medical residents and doing a sponge bath on them when I felt my phone buzz. I was irrationally irritated by the delay, so I finished with this resident and the next before I found a quiet spot to check my messages.

Okay, there might have been a few nerves in there too.

If he backed out this time, though, he wasn’t getting that ring back. I was going to need a crib and a bunch of other shit and that all cost money.

I’ll start looking at two bedroom apartments. Do you want to run away to Vegas for a few days once I’m finished filming?

I stared at the text, relief and some confusion chasing each other around in my brain. Why Vegas, though?

So I texted him that, then stared at my phone with my lower lip caught between my teeth, hoping he was on a break from filming.

The text came back almost immediately. Marriage. But no damn Elvis impersonators, got it? As the alpha in this relationship, I’m putting my foot down on that.

Jerk. It was kind of funny though. You might want to look into a really comfortable couch if that’s gonna be your attitude, alpha. I thought some more and sent, Can you call me later? I’m off at seven.

I waited a few minutes, but he must have been called back for filming because I didn’t get an answer. He’ll let me know when he can. This was something I was going to have to learn to live with—he wouldn’t be at my beck and call like a husband with a regular job would be. And, honestly, I kind of liked that idea. He wouldn’t expect me to be totally dependent on him like another alpha might. Though, if he didn’t know me better than that now, our marriage was going to be in serious trouble before it even started.

Vegas. Did I want to go there and get a quick wedding done?

With a baby on the way, it was probably the right thing to do.

Except I’d always wanted the big family party, friends and family gathering around to have fun and tell stories, seeing people I hadn’t seen in ages because life is busy. I wanted to have that one night to be the center of attention, for Mike and me to make our promises in front of a crowd. Maybe that was selfish and shallow of me, but ever since my tests had come back omega, the dream of a big wedding had been growing.

Ah, I’d talk to Mike about it later. Hopefully our schedules would overlap at some point in the next couple of days. It wasn’t like we needed to make the decision right away.

With a sigh, because I really would have preferred to sort this out now, I put my phone away and headed off to the next resident’s room