Epilogue
Violet snapped another picture of her daughter standing on the Amalfi coast. She had never been to Italy before during all of her travels.
She and Tristan had been mated officially for six months now. And they had been married the same amount of time. The first couple of trips she took, she invited him along. And he had actually come with her and Arabella to Cairo.
The second trip she took to New York City. Most of her old pack had joined her. She still saw them nearly every day at work, as she continued to work on the fishing boat
Travel with Tristan was a little bit different. Before, in her nomadic life, they had to travel by bus or by walking, and sometimes running as wolves. They'd owned very few possessions. Rarely had they taken planes. But now Tristan insisted on funding her travel. In the past if they'd stayed in a human dwelling, it had been a hostel or a campground. But now he offered hotel rooms. Sometimes though they still went back to their roots and slept in the forest as a wolf or camped out.
Violet still wanted time with just Arabella.
She always wanted her daughter to know that she was going to support her. She had worked out in therapy her own complicated feelings toward her mother. And she mostly didn't dwell on them. But one thing she was adamant about was letting her own daughter know that she was there for her.
Yes, she had a father and an extended family and Violet’s pack too. So she had a whole lot of people in her corner. But as her mother, Violet wanted to demonstrate her own dedication to their relationship. And a solo trip seemed like the best way. She'd been willing to take her backpacking in Wyoming, but Tristan had asked if she had any dream locations.
“If there was no budget, where would you go?” he asked.
She answered immediately. “Italy. The Amalfi coast. I wouldn't mind seeing Rome and Pompeii too.”
So as a gift, he had surprised her with two plane tickets to Italy. At first, she had insisted it was too much. She had some money saved up from her job, but it wasn't enough to cover an extravagant trip. But he'd said no. “It makes me happy that you're happy.”
So she and Arabella packed their things for their ten day trip to Italy.
It had been just as magical as she had expected. Arabella had a blast and she asked so many questions and learned so much.
But now Violet was ready to be home, which was a feeling she thought she'd never have. She was ready to see Tristan, her mate. When they got back to the cabin they shared on his pack lands, he was waiting for her.
He lifted her into his arms, grabbing on to Arabella at the same time. “My girls are home. I'm so happy.”
As soon as he put her down a wave of dizziness hit her. She stumbled to the side a little bit and he caught her arm. “What's going on? Are you okay?”
“Yes. I'm fine. I just feel funny.” And then she ran to the bathroom and threw up.
“Mommy! Why are you sick?”
She washed her face and brushed her teeth and came back out to the living area. She put her hand over her stomach.
Oh.
She had only felt like this once before in her life.
She patted the seat next to her on the sofa and Tristan sat down. His gaze was worried.
“I actually think you're going to like this. This is exactly how I felt when I found out I was pregnant with Arabella.”
She watched his face change to one of utter delight. “Really?”
“Yes.” For the first few months she had done things to prevent them getting pregnant. But she also had not been super consistent. Human contraception methods didn't work for them, so condoms were their best bet, but they had been hit or miss since they were married, and that was okay with her.
He wrapped his arms around her and then pulled Arabella in too. “I'm going to have a little brother or sister?” she asked.
"Yes. I need to take a test, but I don't know what else it could be.”
“Yay!” Arabella leapt from his arms and spun around. “I can’t wait!”
“Neither can I,” Tristan said. “You’re going to be such a great big sister.”
“I’m telling Eliza!” Arabella took off out the front door.
Tristan put his hand on Violet's stomach. “That’s exactly how I feel.” He bent down to speak directly to the pup. “Hello, little one. Welcome to our family.”