The Reveal

HARPER

~Oh God, I’m dying.~

~I’m so hungry, why didn’t I grab my phone?~

~I’m never going to watch my son grow up.~

~I have to be strong, strong for this baby.~

I banged my fist against the wall. “Someone…help me.” Please.

My life is over, I can feel it slipping through my fingers.

At least I lived a good life. I was blessed with a beautiful but ridiculously deaf child, a wonderful man who can transform into a wolf, and an amazingly supportive family.

Yes, I lived a good life.

I’ve been stuck on this dang toilet for the past century, hollering out for toilet paper and no one has bothered to answer me, what do they want me to do?

Use my damn hand? I’m so hungry.

Kiya and Levi are right in the next room and no one can hear me.

I might die here on this toilet, my tombstone will read: Here lies Harper Maddox, left to wither away stuck on the toilet because no one knows how to refill the fucking toilet paper.

My fist banged on the wall again. “Levi! Toilet paper!”

I can feel my limbs going numb, all hope fading, I just want to cry.

With my luck, if I shake and do the pants-less run to the hall closest to get more, I know I’m going to either get busted or have leftovers running down my leg.

Why did I need to poop now of all times?

“Sweet cheeks? Where are you?”

~Hope? Hope is that you?~

“Spencer?”

“Where are you?”

“Spencer! I need toilet paper.”

“Hang on I’ll get it.” Thank god, my furry animal to the rescue.

Suddenly, the most beautiful angel appears in the doorway holding the soft whites triple-sheeted goodness in his hand, laughing his goddamn ass off at me.

“What are you doing?”

I cover my face with my hands. “Don’t look at me, just hand it over.”

He snorts. Oh God, this is so embarrassing.

“You do realize we are getting married right? I may have to see you on the toilet. Christ, what did you eat?”

“Do we have to talk about this now?”

“Harper, I love you, but it smells like something died in here.”

I swear my face went as red as blood. “Oh God, please just leave, Spencer.”

He chuckled at my embarrassment. “How long have you been hollering?”

“Why are we talking about this? I’m so hungry. I’ve been here for a year. I can’t feel my legs.”

That sexy beast just laughed at me. I can’t even look at him, I’m so embarrassed right now.

“Harper, I’ve only been gone for forty-five minutes.”

I look up at him through my fingers.

“Maybe fifteen minutes, but it feels like forever.”

“I think you should talk to someone about your guts.”

“It’s not me, it’s the baby,” I growled.

“Sure, blame the defenseless child because its mother can’t stop eating chili and garlic by the truckful.”

“It’s all it wants to eat,” I cried out like a two-year-old as he finally walked away.

After escaping the clutches of death, I walked my cantaloupe-sized belly into the kitchen and opened the fridge.

~Ooooh, pickles.~

“Put the pickles down,” I hear him call from behind me.

I turned around with a murderous glare. “NO!”

“Well, are you going to at least share them?”

“No.”

I strode out of the kitchen with my jar of pickles in hand, straight for my son’s bedroom, leaving behind a cackling Spencer.

I needed to find out why my son was so ridiculously deaf and left his poor mother wasting away to nothing on the toilet. Jesus, have I become dramatic with this pregnancy.

Opening the door I find Kiya and Leivon lying on the bed with headphones on listening to their iPods.

Spencer had decided Levi needed one since we kept waking him up at all hours of the night with our lovemaking.

I should have guessed, he’s had those things plugged into his ear since he got them.

“Hey, honey.” Ah, success, he finally heard me.

“Hey; Mom, what’s wrong?”

“I almost died, Leivon, I was calling out to you and you couldn’t hear me,” I whined, shoving a pickle in my mouth.

“Sorry, Kiya and I were listening to music.”

“I can see that.”

“Can I have a pickle?” Levi asks.

“No.” He pouts. “Okay.” How could I say no to my baby?

“Jesus, if he gets one I do too,” I rolled my eyes as Spencer comes in from behind me, shoving his fingers into my jar.

“C’mon, y’all. Kiya grab your stuff, we’ll take you home. Then we are off to find out the sex of our baby and next alpha.”

“Oh, are you finding out today?” Kiya pipes up.

“Yes, what do you think I’m carrying?” I asked her curiously.

“Hmm, maybe a boy? You already have one. Mom says that’s the usual way things go.”

“I agree with Kiya, we have to have a boy Mom, I need a friend.”

“You have Kiya, Levi.”

“Yes, but she doesn’t want to play cars or ride bikes. She does like swords and karate though.”

I took a look at Kiya as she blushed furiously. “Karate?” I questioned as she slowly nodded.

Spencer tapped me on the shoulder, and as I turned, he mouthed the words “warrior training,” and it clicked.

“Yes, I want to be a warrior like my father,” she seemed to beam with pride.

“Wow, that’s amazing. I’m down for that, but what would you be protecting as a warrior?”

“You, Mrs. Marcelo, you, the alpha inside you, and Levi. Beta doesn’t need protecting.”

Shit, I got to hang out with this girl more often; she really seems to know what she is talking about.

“Well, I’m glad the pack is in such great hands.”

Leivon was bouncing in his seat again. He and Spencer were a ball of nerves.

The same sonographer from our twelve-week scan waltzes in with a giant smile on her face.

“Naww, great to see you guys again. What are we hoping for today?”

“Wait,” Spencer throws up his hands. “Are we actually finding out, or are you playing with me again?”

The sonographer snorts, “Deputy Marcelo, your fiancé is twenty-four weeks, you can find out the gender today—though I am surprised you weren’t in sooner; you could have found out at twenty weeks. Why didn’t you? Most parents are beating down my door to find out.”

“Yeah, Harper, why didn’t we?” I chuckled.

“I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to know, but I think if I make Spencer wait any longer he may die.”

She stifled her giggle as we both looked over at him. “Well, let’s get this show on the road before he arrests me.”

Spencer grasps my hand and slides his chair closer to the bed, pulling Levi’s seat closer too. The chair legs scraping along the floor created a racket.

I looked over at him incredulously. “Right now?”

He flashes me a toothy grin. “Yep.”

As she tucks in the towels and exposes my rounded belly, squeezing the liquid gel, the sonographer asks again, “What are we hoping for?”

“Whatever, just as long as it’s healthy,” Spence cuts in.

“A boy,” Leivon squeals.

“Mom?”

“Whatever, I’m not fussed.” She picks up the paddle and presses against my lower abdomen.

“Do you have names?”

“Yes—” I go to answer, but Deputy Spencer bursts out, answering instead.

“Yep, Lexie if it’s a girl and Lennox for a boy.”

“Oh, nice names,” she praises.

Just then, the door flies open and Spencer launches to his feet out of protective instinct, ready to fight.

“I found the room,” Flank calls over his shoulder and strides right in, “I knew where you were the whole time but had to make it look like I didn’t on account of Harper’s parents,” he winked at me.

Suddenly he looks up at the sonographer. “Who are you?”

The sonographer stares wide-eyed at him. “C-Cammie…um…C-Cameron.”

“Cameron,” he whispers.

“They’re here; Juniper,” Fitz calls out as he and Patty waltz in.

“Where?” I hear Mom’s voice as her head pops in the doorway. She smiles at me. “Hurry up; Joey, you’ll miss it.” Joey enters after her with Uncle Clade.

“Hey, kid,” Clade waves just as Mom picks up Levi and places him on her knee and she sits down.

“Here, Mom,” Spencer offers his seat to his mother Patty.

“Oh son, you sit, this is your big moment.”

As the room fills with our family I can’t help but feel overwhelmed. “Not that we don’t love you but…what are you guys doing here?”

“C-Cameron,” Flank dreamily chimes in as we all stare at him with wide eyes. Our gaze curiously begins snapping between the sonographer and Flank as they shyly got lost in each other’s presence.

Mom, who hadn’t noticed a thing, answers, “Well, we just thought you would need support—it was Fitz’s idea, blame him,” she pointed as he scowled at her.

“It was your idea, woman, and you know it.”

Joey laughs. “It was both of their ideas,” he clarifies.

Flank had moved closer to the sonographer without anyone noticing, “Cameron what, beautiful?”

“F-Froud, you are?” She blushes, fidgeting nervously.

Spencer and I caught each other’s eye and smiled knowingly. “That’s a beautiful name darling, I’m Flank. Flank Rogers.”

“T-Thank you Flank,” she stutters again.

“Well,” Clade interrupts, “what are we having?”

“You ratbags,” I scorned the lot of them, “you just couldn’t wait until we were finished, could you?”

“To be fair, kid, we were there for all the excitement, it’s only fair we be there for the big reveal.”

They all smiled and nodded their heads guiltily. All except Flank, who couldn’t take his eyes off the sonographer, whose name we now knew was Cameron.

“I think it’s a boy,” Leivon interjects.

“Same,” Fitz agreed, “Patty?”

“Girl… Definitely a girl,” she beams.

“I agree, a girl,” Mom says.

“Nah, the kid’s already had a boy, she’s going for another,” Clade jumps in.

“I second that,” Joey states, as he playfully knocks Clade with his shoulder. “Flank?”

All eyes fall on Flank with a soft smile on his face. “Cameron,” he moans.

We all burst into laughter. That boy was a goner, there was no reaching him now.

She blushes back at him. “When you’re ready Ms. Froud.” Fitz pushes, clearly not wanting to waste any more time.

“That’s my name,” she whimpers, tapping her chest.

“Yes, and if you could proceed please,” Fitz’s voice raises, knocking her from her dreamy state.

“Proceed…oh…oh right, shit—I mean, sorry,” Cameron clears her throat as she focuses back on her job. All of this I found highly amusing. “I just have to measure…this…um, here…”

She began clicking away as Spencer grasped my hand again, smiling at me as he whispered “mate”. I chuckled and mouthed back, “I know”.

“Okay, your baby is growing fantastically. Very healthy, right size—are we ready?”

“YES!” The room shouts back at her as she desperately tries to stifle her giggle.

“Harper and Deputy Spencer, congratulations…you are both having…” You can feel the room tighten, everyone holding their breaths, not wanting to interrupt the moment in the slightest.

“A girl.”

“What the F?”

“Levi!” I scream in horror.