Page 23 of A Roommate for Ronny

I still wasn’t used to that. Once in a while, we’d be shopping, and someone would look, and I knew they recognized him. But the actual fan-boying? That was a lot to take in.

“And what kind of clothes are you looking for today?” His gaze was glued to my mate instead of me, the one who obviously needed the clothes.

“You need to ask my husband.” He held up his hand and wiggled it, highlighting his ring finger.

Had the sales associate been a shifter, he’d have pulled down his collar. My mate was all about showing me off, and I enjoyed every second of it.

“Oh, yes. Sorry, sir. And what were you looking for?”

“Honestly, I would like to get out of my duck era.”

He looked me up and down. “Fair enough.”

He brought me tons of clothes, but trying on outfits was too much work. The second I found a pair of pants that I liked, I went with buying three different colors and calling it good. And with the shirts, I was going with the hope-for-the-best method.

When we were done, I had more items than I needed on the counter. Once upon a time, I’d never have spent this kind of money on clothing, but it made Ronny happy to get them for me. And it was nice wearing clothes in the correct size. I hadn’t noticed how uncomfortable the fit of my clothing had been making me, thinking it was just par for the course of being pregnant. The new clothing taught me that lesson.

“Are you sure we should get this much?” I leaned against his side as the man was ringing us up.

“You have, what, six weeks after this pregnancy and any other pregnancies in the future still. Sounds like a good investment.”

“You know what else is a good investment? Ice cream.”

“Don’t worry, omega mine. I never forget a promise.”

Chapter Seventeen

Ronny

Our home was ready, we were ready, and Grandpa Jones was even more ready, but one person didn’t seem to be. And that person was in charge of the whole show. They were small, apparently very happy with their current location, and as of our last appointment with the healer showing no interest in vacating the space.

I walked past the bathroom one morning to find Brach having a conversation with his belly that had me stopping in the doorway.

“If you will just come out, I will give you ice cream for breakfast every day,” he said. “You can name your bedtime and you can pick three days a year to ditch school with no repercussions.”

While I watched, he stroked his belly in slow circles and made promises that he couldn’t possibly keep. He was so big and so uncomfortable, and I would do anything to help him with that. He’d been so happy throughout the pregnancy, shrugging off stomach upsets and food aversions and not even asking for things he had every right to want. When we went shopping for his paternity clothes, he’d insisted he didn’t need so many. My mate had never before been valued as he should have been, and I tried every day to show him his worth.

But right this moment, I could only think of one thing to do. I marched into the bathroom, faced my mate, and also spoke to his belly. “Young one, it is time to be born. Your father cannot really do all those things, he’s just exhausted and we’re both ready to meet you. Come out right now and we will shower you with so much love, you won’t mind not having ice cream for breakfast, except maybe on your birthday.”

When I finished, I looked up to see my mate staring at me like I’d lost my mind.

“Alpha, are you all right?”

My cheeks burned. “Uh, yes. I was just trying to help.”

“I don’t think the baby is going to hold me to all that.” He giggled. “But I also don’t think you can give them orders at this—” He gasped as fluid splashed around his feet. “Alpha, what did you do?”

“That’s a good baby.” I patted his belly. “I’ll go call the healer and remake the bed.”

“I’ll take a shower.” He threw his arms around me and gave me a kiss on the lips. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome?” I drifted out into the hallway to find my phone, muttering under my breath. “Sure, I tell the baby to be born and bam, he’s in labor. Way to be an alpha.” Now all I had to do was repeat that whenever I needed our child to do anything good for them for the rest of their growing up. Would it work for eating spinach? Taking naps?

No…it would not. It was a coincidence, which my omega would realize once we got through this intense moment. But for now, it was kind of nice to feel like the problem-solver of the day. Truly, if our child was responding to anyone, it was my omega who offered ice cream for breakfast.

We had our birth plan all laid out, and we each went through our steps, so by the time the healer arrived, Brach was showered and tucked into the bed I’d made up with the special sheets to protect the mattress. He’d had some pains, but they weren’t too close together yet, and I half expected the healer to say we should have waited.

“Let’s take a look, Brach,” he said after I apologized for jumping the gun. “And we’ll see if you need me here yet.”