Page 122 of Talk About… Dramay

“Vivian,” he answered. “She had the kindest blue eyes. Her blonde hair was always in these big curls that were bigger than her face, I swear.”

He chuckled softly, sadness covering the sound in a melancholy blanket.

“She was just so nice—always smiling.”

“Well then, let’s make some people smile today in her honor.” Plucking a beautiful red rose out, I turned, scanning the crowd until I found an older omega. The Alpha behind her was following close behind as she made her way through the crowd. Her eyes lit up like this was the best day of her life. I hoped I always kept that same spark.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” I said. She looked up, both of them giving us a kind smile. “We’re giving away roses in honor of his mom. It was her birthday today. Your pretty smile brought us over here—can we give you one?”

“Oh, honey, sure,” she said, taking the rose and sniffing it. Her smile brightened even further when she looked up at Lane. She patted his cheek gently before pulling him into a mom hug. “I’m sure your mom was proud of a kind young man like yourself.”

“Thank you,” he said, stunned and blinking away tears. I quickly linked my arm through his as we said a quick goodbye to the kind couple before I pulled him away.

Lane looked down at me, his eyes wide and startled but so fucking happy that it made my heart beat a little faster for him. This man had already held a piece of my heart and soul, but today, that bond was stronger than ever, thrumming between us.

As we handed out one each of the dozen roses that I’d selected, I watched his spirit lift a little further, the weight leaving his shoulders as each one found a new home.

When we finally finished, he pulled me to him, holding me tight and burying his face into my shoulder, taking a shaky breath.

“Thank you, Princess. I think I needed that. It felt like I was able to stop being angry about everything and just remember the good things.”

“We’ll do whatever you need, I promise. And that lady was right. Vivian would be so proud of you.”

“She would have loved you,” he said, pulling away. I wiped the stray tear from his cheek and pulled him down to me, kissing him a little bit too intimately for the middle of the large crowd, earning us a catcall.

That was enough for us to burst out laughing. He shook his head and pulled me back to his side.

“Come on, I promised you food, and we only have a little bit of time before we need to be over at the community center.”

We’d already seen part of it when they finished the renovations, but we hadn’t seen the final setup inside.

Roman had been secretive about it. I think he wanted to surprise us all and show off the final product to get our genuine reactions.

The lines were long enough that we barely made it through the taco truck line, getting an array of tacos and hurrying back to the antique shop’s booth. My booth. I still couldn’t believe we were a week away from opening day.

Excitement pulsed through me and my mates sent their own happiness through the bond at my unfiltered emotion. They were likely grateful to see me perking up now that my heat had passed.

It had been a rough few weeks leading up to my heat. That mixed with missing each other lately. Something we’d be fixing soon.

The guys dove into their tacos, and I tried my best to eat, but lately, my stomach had just been a little bit off.

Another wave of kettle corn cooking hit me, and I nearly emptied the contents of my stomach right there in the middle of our booth.

Thankfully, a few deep breaths of my mates’ scents and it was held at bay for another moment.

It felt like it could take a turn for the worst at any second. If it didn’t ease up soon I’d have to go to the doctor. It had been days.

Was it an after effect of the crazy heat?

Then it hit me.

Today was exactly four weeks from my heat—the heat I went into without medication and zero birth control.

Holy shit. I was pregnant.

The moment I had the thought, I knew it was true. My hand rested on my stomach, my eyes wide as I stared down at my tacos and locked the bond down tight, not wanting to give anything away.

Hudson was, of course, the one to notice first. He reached for me and frowned.