Page 104 of The Chosen One Universe: Volume One

“Yeah. Papa, I’m hungry.”

“Okay. Let’s go get a snack. Nana should be here soon. She’s making waffles.”

“Mmmm.”

Ollie waited for Sam to climb out of bed and lift him up. Sam gave Vaughn a smile that had him grinning in return. Goddess, he loved his life.

Their morning routine went off without a hitch, and Sam left with only a few tears from the kids. Nana and Grammy saved the day, as always, and Vaughn managed to get out of the house himself.

He made a quick trip to the local flower shop and returned home with two dozen perfect, long-stemmed, red roses and a bundle of helium balloons shaped like hearts. He hid them away in their bedroom and was out the door again in time to see his first patient.

Instead of going out with Sam, he’d planned a romantic night in. He’d get the kids over to his parents with a movie and pizza marathon. They’d have fun. He’d have a nice dinner with flowers and balloons. Sam loved the romantic gestures, even though he pretended like he didn’t.

He’d end the night with a proposal, down on one knee and everything, and then they’d go get their kids and tell them the big news. It was perfect. He couldn’t wait.

Vaughn only had another half hour or so at the clinic before he needed to head home and get started on dinner. He was reading a really interesting article on the benefits of a raw food diet, particularly for small dogs. He had a couple patients who might benefit from such a radical diet change, and fortunately, those patients had owners who were more than willing to put up with the extra fuss it required.

“Alpha Jerrick!”

Teague, the hellhound assigned to guard the kids that day, burst into the office, his eyes wide.

“Shit. What’s wrong?”

Teague’s mouth opened and closed, and he gaped like a fish. “Nothing’s… no one’s hurt.”

Vaughn rounded the corner and took off at a run. He stopped in the backyard of his house.

“Daddy!”

Ollie came running and jumped at him. His eyes were filled with tears. The remains of his perfect, two dozen, long-stem, red roses were scattered across the yard. His cheerful and silly heart-shaped balloons were tangled near the top of the big oak the kids liked to climb.

“It’s okay, pup. I’m here.”

Ollie looked up at him with wet eyes. “I tried to do up, Daddy. It didn’t work.”

Up…He’d tried to let the balloons pick him up like in the movie. Vaughn winced and petted Ollie’s back. “It’s okay, little man.”

“I dropped the balloons, Daddy. I’m sorry.”

It didn’t explain the roses, but Vaughn was certain there was a completely ridiculous explanation for that as well. Nana met him at the door. Her hair was tangled and sticking up, but she was trying her best not to laugh.

“What happened?”

The house looked like a tornado struck it. Literally. Nothing was where it was supposed to be.

“So, apparently Natasha’s allergic to roses.”

Nana’s smirk continued.

“Good to know,” Vaughn said. He had a bad feeling that he knew where this was going.

“All day, she had red eyes and the sniffles. I wasn’t too worried about it because the mold count is a bit up, and I remember your dad would react that way. I made sure it wasn’t getting worse. I’d have called you if it was more than that.”

“I know, Nana.”

“Well, Ollie decided he wanted the blanket off your bed so he could watch TV.”

And he’d opened the bedroom door Vaughn had so carefully made sure was shut before he left the house. More of the rose scent escaped the room, and Ollie had a perfect view of the balloons.