Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 65355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 327(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 218(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 327(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 218(@300wpm)
She knew the time would go quickly, just as it had with the triplets. It seemed like only yesterday that she had delivered them, a bittersweet moment in time. The misery she had endured, going into labor while Blane was at work and his refusal to disrupt a meeting with investors to come home and take her to the doctor. Instead, she had been forced to call a cab, not even able to conjure up a single member of their pack who didn’t have an excuse for not helping.
It had been no surprise to her, as she had never fit into her pack. Her foster parents had been poorly thought of and thus, so was she. When she was very little, they had fancied themselves world travelers and left the pack behind for parts unknown. They had eventually returned, a single child in tow, and there was great speculation as to how they had obtained the child. Her mother was an Omega and should have produced more than one offspring, but she had not. The child, Constance - now, Leslie - was always subject to rumor.
When Blane had shown interest in her, everyone had been surprised. She was assumed to be faulty, perhaps not even an Omega, though she had long ago had to prove herself as a shifter. Her foster parents had disapproved and she had reconsidered marrying Blane, but when they died the month before her wedding, she had decided it was for the best that she go through with it, lest she be sent away altogether. It was a decision she would always regret, as it had done no more to win her favor with the pack than it had with Blane.
While he had never been the warm and fuzzy type, he had at least been a gentleman and seemed keen to have a family and share his life with them. In truth, all he had wanted was an incubator, and an Omega who wasn’t deemed worthy by her own pack was prime pickings for a man who wanted complete control over his wife. She had no friends before marriage and she would have none afterward. She had had her girls alone and practically raised them alone. Only the Taylor girls had come to her aid and that was normally only allowed as a convenience to him.
It would be easy to be bitter about it all, but she couldn’t be. It had resulted in the birth of three beautiful daughters and it had led her to the man who she believed was her soulmate. This was where she belonged. It was where she had belonged all along. She truly believed that. Tucker was so loving, so gentle - not only with her but also with the girls. Her life was perfect with him and the other would someday be only a fleeting memory.
“Leslie?”
It sounded like it wasn’t the first time Tucker had called out to her. She had drifted off into thought as he was talking to his Aunt Meredith. Snapping back to the present, she looked toward him.
“I’m sorry. What did you say?” she asked.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, why?”
“You just had an odd look on your face,” he replied. “You seemed far away.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I’m back now,” she said, smiling up at him.
“You ready to head home? We’ll drop Aunt Meredith off on the way.”
“Of course. Let’s go.”
The three of them left the clubhouse and made their way out to the car, Tucker opening both passenger doors and then helping his aunt in while Leslie got in the front. They were quickly on their way.
Leslie waited in the car as he walked his aunt to the house. She continued to watch as they disappeared inside and he quickly came back out, jogging back to the car with a smile on his face. She was struck, as she usually was when watching him from afar, at how beautiful he was.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The evening passed quietly. Leslie and Tucker ate dinner with their daughters, who were now well past their breastfeeding days and in highchairs, eating soft baby foods and drinking regular milk from sippy cups. Dinner usually resulted in a huge mess from dropped food, thrown food and spilled drinks, but it was mostly entertaining with their happy babbling and giggles.
Their life had become quiet, tranquil. All of that would end in less than two weeks, when she would give birth to what seemed to be a bit of a lighter load this time. The doctors had indicated that she was only having twins. Both of her pregnancies were considered a bit light for an Omega. Most of her kind gave birth to nothing less than triplets and sometimes up to octuplets. She chalked it up to her unknown lineage. Perhaps her biological mother had only ever had her as a child as well.