Nick wanted to move in with me. Finally, everything in my life seemed to be going in the right direction. Well, except for the part where I was unexpectedly becoming a father, but even that thought had started to appeal to me. I wasn't lying when I told Nick that I was looking forward to seeing his belly grow, and it wasn't just that either. I was sure he was going to be the most fun parent ever and I couldn't wait to see that. Couldn't wait to meet his child—our child.

I'd never wanted to parent on my own, but with Nick? Yeah, I could see myself doing that. It would be an adventure. The greatest adventure of my life, perhaps.

To be honest, I got kind of excited thinking about all the books I could read to the little one. Already I was wondering what genre they might like best growing up. I'd loved everything fantasy-related as a child, and during the first week of February, I dug through the shelves in the bookstore to find all my old favorites.

I realized it would be a few years before the baby was old enough to share my love for these stories, but you could never start preparing too early, right? Besides, Nick got a giggle out of watching me make a mess of the shelves in my search. Whatever made him laugh couldn't be bad. So yes, I was warming up to the idea of being a parent. There was only one thing, really, which was still a thorn in my side. The rest of my family. More specifically, my parents.

“You think we should visit your parents?” Nick asked, his face telling me exactly what he thought of the idea when I brought it up with him as he sat on the couch with his sketchbook.

“We should at least tell them that you're pregnant, don't you think?” I ran a hand through my hair. “Maybe then they'll finally stop bothering me about growing up.”

Nick put his sketchbook down. “Do you think they'll finally sell you the store?”

“I don't know. It would be nice, though, wouldn't it? If we could own the place where we live.” That the apartment wasn't technically mine hadn't bothered me so much before, but now that I was going to live here with my mate and child... There was definitely something to be said for home ownership.

Nick sighed. “I guess you're right. At least this time we don't have to pretend with them?”

I sat down beside Nick and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I was never really pretending anyway.”

He chuckled. “Trying to get me in a good mood?”

“Is it working?”

“Not yet.” Playfully, he shoved me aside. “Go call your parents and set up a date so I can prepare mentally.”

“Fine, but once we have a date, I'm holding you to it.”

“What, you think I'd try to reschedule my flight back to LA just to avoid a meeting with your parents? The thought's never crossed my mind. Your family is lovely.”

“Sure.” Snorting, I grabbed my phone.

At least Nick and I were in this together now.

* * *

My parents invited us over for dinner the following Sunday. Over the phone, I only said that we had an announcement to make, but I kept them in the dark as to what it might be. I admit, part of me wanted to see their faces when we told them. Yes, they wanted me to father children, but I was somewhat certain that at least my mother still held some reservations as to my choice of mate.

Fuck her.

Sunday night, we stood on my parent's porch right on time, in our best evening attire—well, Nick hadn't really brought evening attire, but he looked fantastic anyway—and knocked on the door.

When my mother opened the door, she wasted no time cutting to the heart of the matter. Of course not. My parents valued efficiency in both their professional and private lives.

“Are you two getting married?” she asked, hands on her hips, as we were hanging up our coats.

“Mother!”

“Well, are you, or aren't you? It's a simple enough question, don't you think? I don't understand why you couldn't just tell us over the phone.”

“Please, Mother. In reality, you're glad to have us over for dinner.”

“I suppose it is nice to see your face every now and then. You spend too much time in that store.”

“I work there.”

She made a discarding gesture, the way she always did when I insinuated that running a bookstore was real work. To her, I would always just be taking my hobby too far. One reason I never told her how much money I was making off my writing. She wouldn't believe me anyway.

“It smells good,” Nick spoke up as if trying to prevent an argument from happening. It did smell good, though. I thought I could catch a hint of roasted meat and cooked vegetables in the air. Carrots and onions?

“Thank you, dear. I've prepared my famous beef roast for tonight.”

“Sounds great,” I said. “Should we head to the dining room?”

“Yes, please.” My mother led us there, temporarily forgetting that I still hadn't answered her original question.

She didn't remember to ask again, either. Not until my father brought the topic up when we were halfway through dinner and, I suspected, the worst of his perpetual appetite had been sated. “What is it that the two of you wanted to discuss with us?” he asked, a forkful of beef hovering in mid-air on the way to his mouth. “I hope it's good news after your sister just broke off her engagement.”

She did? I hadn't even heard. Perhaps she'd realized that she shouldn't marry just to please our parents after all.

Go, Lissy!

“Well,” I started, “we're not here to announce an engagement.”

“That's a shame,” my mother said, and she managed to look like she actually meant it too. I was sure on the inside she was relieved, thinking she still had a chance to set me up with someone else. Well, I was going to smash that hope in the next second.

“We have another announcement to make, though.” Under the table, I grabbed my mate's hand and squeezed. “Nick's pregnant.”

I'd never seem my mother's eyes grow so wide. “He's pregnant?”

I nodded, and so did Nick.

“And you're not getting married?”

“Not for now, no.”

“But in the future?”

Nick and I looked at each other in exasperation. “We'll let you know,” I said turning back to my mother. Seriously, I wasn't going to discuss this with my parents before I'd even discussed it with my mate.

“But he's having your baby,” my mother pointed out.

My father, meanwhile, eyed us just as critically. “Don't you think it's time you took on some responsibility, boy?”

“I think being a parent is plenty of responsibility, thank you.” Not that those two would know it. My sister and I had mostly been raised by our grandmother, after all. Something I thanked the stars for every day.

“You have a responsibility to your omega as well,” my father said. I cringed. His tone of voice made it sound like Nick was some sort of object in his eyes. I knew my parents, and yet their archaic way of thinking caught me off guard again and again.

“I'm taking responsibility,” I said through gritted teeth. “Nick and I will be raising the child together. He's moving in with me.”

“Into that small apartment above the bookstore?” my mother asked.

“The apartment you don't even own?” my father added.

My eyes narrowed to slits. The only reason I didn't own that apartment was because he refused to sell it to me. “It's all right,” I made myself say. “My landlords are reasonable people most of the time. They wouldn't want to see their grandchild living on the streets.”

“They might not appreciate their grandchild being illegitimate, though,” my mother said. “They might even think their child was behaving in a very selfish, inconsiderate way.”

With my free hand, I rubbed my temple. Seriously, these people... “We're not being selfish, Mother. We're simply living life at our own pace. You're going to be grandparents. That's good news, isn't it? Can't you be at least a little happy about that?” Couldn't they see that they were finally getting what they wanted?

“We are happy about that!” my mother insisted. “But we have to consider what the neighbors are going to say. We have a reputation to uphold, you know? With the kind of business we run, how's it going to look when our own grandchild is born out of wedlock? Have you thought about that? Of course you haven’t. You only think about yourself.”

I took a deep breath. It was all that kept me from exploding all over my parents' dinner table. They thought I was being selfish? They were the ones who only ever thought about their own needs and what people might think of them. “I'm guessing this means you won't sell the house to me?” I asked, because the sooner we talked about this, the sooner I could grab Nick and get the hell out of here.

“You shouldn't buy a house before you're married, son,” my father said.

I grimaced. “Of course.”

Now that my parents' stance on the matter was clear, I saw no reason to remain. “C'mon, Nick. I think it's time we left,” I said, getting up from the table. Neither of us had actually finished dinner. I couldn't speak for Nick, but my appetite had vanished, anyway.

“Don't be like that,” my mother said. “It's not like what we're asking for is unreasonable.”

“We could argue about that all night, but I don't think it's going to get us anywhere. Frankly, Nick and I have better things to do. The food was very good, though. Thank you for that.”

“It was fantastic.” Nick looked at the food left over on his plate with some remorse. So, he was still hungry. I made a note of that, planning to fix him something when we were home. I hardly ever cooked when I was on my own, but for Nick, I could do it. Especially considering he was eating for two.

“I'll call you some time,” I said to my mother before Nick and I headed out. She didn't respond. Just as well.

Once the door fell shut behind us, I exhaled.

“We have better things to do?” Nick asked.

I vaguely waved my hand in the air. “I can think of plenty things we should be doing that would be better than spending another minute in there.”

“For example?”

I led Nick down from the porch. “Let's step away from the door. Knowing my mother, she's probably still standing on the other side.”

“Yeah, that wouldn't surprise me. Now tell me what you'd like to do to me.”

Nick's demand got a smile from me. Was he trying to distract me from the fact that my parents were assholes? He'd always been good at that. When I was with him, I never thought about home. “Oh, there's a lot of things I would like to do to you. I'll start by feeding you. How do you feel about pasta? Or pizza?” I couldn't cook difficult things, but thankfully, my mate was a man with simple tastes.

Probably the reason he'd picked me.

“Sounds good.” Nick laughed. “I’ll take the pizza.” He paused. “You know, I love this.”

“What exactly?” I drew him closer to me because the night was cool around us.

“I was expecting you to make some sort of sex reference when I gave you the chance, but you just want to feed me. It's not all about sex with you, with us. There's always been more. I love that.”

“I love that too.”

“I think the reason I was never interested in relationships before was because I never knew they could be like this. Like... feeling you can take on the world together even when all you're doing is bantering in the snow.” He looked up at the sky as if he expected more snow to fall as he spoke, but the night was clear. The only snow to be seen lay at our feet. I liked it that way. Winter had been long enough. I was looking forward to spring.

“I'm sure we'll be just as good together in the summer too,” I said, reaching for Nick's hand.

He smiled at me as if he could see the future before his eyes. “Our child will be born at the end of summer.”

That was true. I hadn't thought of that. “Even more reason to look forward to warmer weather.”

“Yeah.” Nick squeezed my hand. “You know what your parents said about marriage—”

“Don't worry about that,” I cut him off. “I'm not going to let them dictate my life. Our life. You don't have a problem with our child being born out of wedlock, do you?”

“No.” Nick bit his lower lip. For a moment, it seemed he had something more to say, but the words never came. “Let's go home,” he said finally.

“After you,” I said, opening the car door for him.

This evening could have gone better, but all in all, I still felt happy with my life that night as I took Nick home with me.

To hell with whatever my parents wanted. Nick and I would walk the path that was right for us.

Hand in hand.