Once again, I was a mess, but I glanced at Caspian standing there by the door, a blank look on his face. A knot formed in my stomach. What was he thinking?
"Caspian?" I asked hesitantly.
He shook his head, his hands clenched tight. "I'm just trying to soak it in, so I can remember this moment for the rest of my life," he whispered, his gaze glued to my face. "You’ve just taken one of my worst days and made it the best."
I cocked my head to the side, wiping at the tears on my face even as Hendrix and River continued to paw at me. "Why is your birthday one of the worst days of your life?"
Caspian’s jaw clenched, and he looked away, obviously trying to control his emotions.
"It was the day our mother disappeared," answered Hendrix, and my insides clenched in sadness, thinking of them as three little pups…their mother just gone one day.
No wonder Caspian had never celebrated his birthday since then.
It flashed in my brain then, that moment with Hendrix where we talked about all our bad moments leading to this life we were now building with each other. Maybe it was true. Because every day I didn't think I could get happier, and the next day somehow beat it.
"Can you come over here?" I asked softly. He pushed himself off the wall that he'd been leaning against, and quickly strode over, sinking down on the floor on the free side of me. He held my face in his hands, his palms gently stroking my skin as he searched my gaze. "Sometimes I can't believe that you're real. I'm afraid I'm going to wake up and realize that this was all a dream."
"I’m thinking if you were dreaming, you probably wouldn’t be sharing Syn with us," River interjected dryly.
Caspian wiped at a tear that was falling down his cheek with the back of his hand.
"You know, it's not so bad sharing with you assholes. As long as I always get her ass.” He winked sexily at me. “Plus, think of the diaper duties that we get to split up, and the late-night feedings,” he mused.
Hendrix and River nodded in agreement, almost identical looks on their faces as they scrunched up their noses, obviously both in deep thought about what lay ahead of us.
“We should move this party into the bedroom. I never thought that one of my brightest moments would come by the toilet,” I mused.
Caspian startled and lifted me in his arms. I could get used to the whole not walking thing, and I didn't really have to worry about them not being strong enough to hold me when I got as big as a whale. I was pretty sure shifter arms were good for that sort of thing.
Caspian laid me down on the bed and went to sit on it.
"Wait!" River cried frantically, throwing his hands up in the air.
We all looked at him in alarm. "She's not supposed to lay on her back, I don't think. The book—"
I pursed my lips in question. "What book?"
River resembled a fish as he opened and closed his mouth repeatedly. He was shifting around on his feet, obviously embarrassed about something.
"What book?" Hendrix pushed, crossing his arms in front of him, an amused tilt to his lips.
River ran a hand through his hair sheepishly. "I may have bought a baby book," he mumbled under his breath.
"What was that?" Caspian smirked.
River threw his head back with a loud, exaggerated sigh. "I bought a baby book. Okay? But at least I'm going to be one step ahead of you assholes in knowing what to do to help Syn get our baby here."
Okay…finding out that River had bought a baby book was quite possibly the most adorable thing I'd ever heard.
If I hadn’t already been pregnant, my ovaries would be demanding that I drag him to the bed so he could make it happen.
Caspian cursed under his breath, and then I watched as he pulled out his phone and frantically began to type on it.
"What are you doing?" I asked, wondering if he had friends he hadn't talked about that he was giving the news.
"I'm ordering a baby book," he said perfunctorily, as if I should've expected that.
My gaze bounced between the three of them, my heart feeling so full that it might burst if they did one more wonderful thing. Their response to this was more than I could have ever hoped for. They might have been more excited and happy about this than I was, and I wasn’t sure how that was even possible.
I burst into tears once more. All three of them stopped what they were doing and came rushing over to me, alarm on their faces.
"Little wolf, what do you need?"
"I'm just so happy," I cried. And then we were all laughing and crying again. And I wondered if we could possibly stay this happy forever.
* * *