Calix
I was so relieved to have Goddess back. After a bit of a squabble between my brothers and me, I got to carry Chasity from the jeep to the house. I set her down carefully on the doorstep. I could barely move without bumping into Felix or Alex. All three of us wanted to be within a few inches of Chasity at all times. We couldn’t help it. We were all still traumatised by the kidnapping and we had only just gotten her back. I was happy that our proximity seemed to make Chasity feel protected rather than smothered.
When we walked through the door, Mom’s jaw dropped. She was completely shocked to see not only Chasity but Chasity’s long-lost parents as well. Chasity’s Dad Chase was Mom’s stepbrother so technically Goddess and I were related by marriage as step-cousins though we were not related by blood. This fact was something my brothers and I had agreed to bring up next to never as long as we could avoid it. Also, since our maternal grandfather had remarried some young woman, I supposed we were actually Chasity’s ex step-cousins? I wasn’t too sure. I would ask Alex about it later.
I watched Mom and Chase embrace each other with tears in their eyes. I couldn’t believe Mom had managed to keep this secret for as long as she had. She had only ever referenced Chase in relation to all the money he supposedly owed her. She had never spoken of missing him or of mourning her missing stepbrother. I didn’t doubt her emotional reaction though. I could see that she did in fact love her step-sibling.
I caught a strange smirk on Chalice’s face as she watched the reunion. I was a little worried about Chalice and my Mom living under the same roof. A lot of my Mom’s unfair distrust of Chasity had stemmed from her old grudge against Chasity’s Mom. Thus, it was pretty fair to say that Chalice and Mom had not liked each other in the past. I hoped it would be different now. They would soon share a grandchild. Also, Chalice had (albeit unwillingly) maintained years of sobriety so it was not as though she was still a “bad influence” on Chase as Mom had initially thought.
Mom was hugging Chase tightly and crying into the collar of his shirt. Dad hovered behind her, seemingly just as shocked to see Chasity walk in with her parents. To my pleasant surprise, Dad came up to Chasity, ruffled her hair and welcomed her back with a hug, embracing her very gently as though she were made of porcelain.
“I’m glad you’re safe Chasity!” Murmured Dad. “My boys were a mess without you.”
He wasn’t wrong. We had been at our wit’s end. The only thing holding us together had been the hope of getting Chasity back home safe and sound.
“Thank you,” said Chasity softly, smiling up at Dad.
I wanted us to be one big happy family so this promising display put a huge smile on my face. Everyone seemed to be making amends and Chalice was keen to go next.
“Dad, I owe you an apology,” said Chalice to her father, Chance. “I should have let you have custody of Chasity back when you asked for it. I was a junkie back then and I wasn’t thinking straight. All I could think was how upset I was that you were trying to take my baby away,” she admitted.
Chance’s eyes were brimming with tears. For years, he had believed that reconciliation with his daughter was impossible because he had thought her dead. I could only imagine how overwhelming it was for him to find her alive and well. Chance smiled, opening his arms wide for Chalice to embrace him. She did just that.
“Chance,” said Mom, looking a tad uncomfortable. “I’m sorry for accusing you of killing my stepbrother and his wife. I was…that was unfounded.”
“I’m sorry for accusing you!” Said Chance with a sigh.
Mom gave him a faint smile. I could tell Mom felt a little awkward around Chalice and Chance but she was trying and I appreciated that.
“I’m not sorry for accusing anyone I accused,” declared Felix defiantly though no one had asked him anything.
I couldn’t help but snicker. Alex, on the other hand, was not amused.
“Felix!” Exclaimed Alex indignantly.
“I had my reasons,” insisted Felix. “The important thing is it all led up to finding my Baby, Chasity, who, I would like to announce, is having my baby!”
His baby? With us being identical triplets (and virtually naturally-occurring clones), there was no real way to know for sure with whom Chasity had conceived this baby. Even if we did know who was the technical father, we would all act as a father figure to this baby anyway. Also, I was probably the father. I just had a feeling. I wouldn’t say anything just yet to avoid deflating Felix’s huge but fragile ego and to avoid stirring up any trouble with Alex as we usually got along “swimmingly” as he would say.
Alex
“Our baby!” I corrected promptly.
I had valid reason to believe that the baby in question was my baby but I was a mature adult unlike Felix and I knew we would be sharing the fatherly role anyway. It was not like we could find out the scientific way. DNA testing would probably be unequivocal due to us being identical.
“Yeah” agreed Calix.
I smiled at him. I didn’t want to hurt Calix’s feelings by claiming that I was the father of this first baby. We were supposed to be like one Alpha in three bodies anyway.
Mom’s face broke into a huge smile in response to the news.
“It would be wonderful to have a baby in the house again,” she said in hushed tones to Dad. “Remember the triplets as babies,” she said, beaming as she reminisced.
“They were a handful. We were not ready for that. We were scarcely prepared for one rambunctious child let alone three!” Chuckled Dad.
It was such a Dad joke but my brothers and I laughed politely anyway. I wondered if I would be making jokes like that in the future. I glanced at Felix and then at Calix. Suddenly, an unsettling thought hit me. Would I be the “uncool” Dad? Calix would definitely be the anything-goes pushover Dad and kids loved that. He might also be the fun one. He certainly had retained a child-like wonder to his adult personality. I could certainly see Calix playing peekaboo with the baby, teaching our toddler to ride a tricycle and then playing video games with our teenager years later. I had to begrudgingly admit to myself that Felix would likely be the “cool” one: letting them take sips of beers and teaching them how to ride motorcycles. What would I do besides snatch the beers away and strap their helmets on snugly? That didn’t sound very cool. I knew I would have to be the disciplinarian. I just hoped they would thank me one day.
Chasity pinched my cheek snapping me out of my thoughts. I gave her a quizzical look and she just smiled.
You seemed faraway, she said.
I kissed the tip of her nose lightly.
I’m okay, especially now that I have my Luna and our baby back, I said, resting my hand on her tummy.
She wasn’t really showing yet but I felt calmer whenever I placed my hand there, almost like I could somehow communicate with the pup even though our baby was much too young to mind-link. I smiled to myself. Even if I ended up being the uncool Dad, I still felt like the luckiest Alpha alive. Having my beautiful Luna back safe and sound and finding out she was with child was overwhelming in the best way possible. I was overjoyed but I was also exhausted. I could hardly wait to be curled up with our Luna and I knew that Calix and Felix felt the same way.
Felix
We followed Chasity to her old bedroom, leaving Mom, Dad, Chance, Chalice and Chase in the living room. Good grief, those names. Chasity was the only one in that family with a cute name. I needed to think of a cool name for our pup and by ‘our’ I meant me and Chasity. I loved my brothers but I usually outran them during wolf runs. My sperm were probably just a touch faster. I wouldn’t bring it up though. I was too classy to get into specifics like that. Besides Calix would probably cry and then Alex would use his eldest Alpha voice on me, forbidding me from mentioning my strong swimmers ever again. Not that it would work. His eldest Alpha voice wore off after a while because we were all Alphas so we couldn’t really be commanded.
Shouldn’t we tell her that her downstairs room has been cleared out before she gets alarmed? Asked Calix, his voice sounding panicked over mind-link.
Before Alex or I could respond, Chasity flung open the door. She let out an audible gasp followed by a scream as she gawked at her empty bedroom.
Too late, I said dryly to Calix.
I wasn’t going to let Chasity throw a full tantrum over this. The last time I let her have her way, I said she could have a moment to herself and she made her way up to the attic unattended and was kidnapped. Never again.
“You’re not to stay down here! You were kidnapped here!” I said sternly, folding my arms.
I knew she was technically kidnapped by the attic’s balcony but whatever it all added up. The point was that she needed to share a safe space with us upstairs where she and my pup could be monitored and protected.
“Where are all of my things?” Demanded Chasity, her arms akimbo and her expression livid.
I smirked at her sassiness. I knew we couldn’t really reunite tonight if you know what I mean. Alex had forbidden such carnality until we had a ‘first trimester ultrasound’ and I actually agreed with him for once. I needed to know my pup was okay before I let Chasity do anything strenuous and by something strenuous, I meant me not cooking and cleaning. I had already forbidden her from doing domestic work months ago.
“In our new room. We got a fourth bedroom on our floor that has all of our stuff,” explained Alex sheepishly.
“Isn’t that cool?” Said Calix with a grin.
I really hoped Chasity liked our new bedroom. Calix kept insisting that she would love it once she saw it. I hoped he was right. I had been too out of it while she was gone to have much input in its design. My brothers had been much less spirited without Chasity around but they had spent more time designing the new room as a ‘labour of love’ than I had. Of course, we had hired lots of help so it had just been a matter of relating what we wanted to the crew.
I still wished I had done more. I hadn’t even been able to paint a piece for the new bedroom. The only thing I could get out of bed for back then was the investigation into Chasity’s kidnapping. Now that my Baby was back, I could paint a piece for our room. One without eyes since she didn’t like portraits staring at her at night. I’d have to do a still-life. Maybe some tropical fruit to remind her of our vacation. And a painting of some baby things for the nursery. Speaking of vacations and baby-making, I knew Chasity would love the huge bathtub. It was the one thing my brothers and I had all agreed on: that Chasity’s new bathroom should have the largest tub in the house.
“Go look in the new bedroom and bathroom! Please!” I said, stressing the ‘please’ so my pouty princess would humour me.
Chasity huffed and marched away from us. We followed closely behind, refusing to let her out of our sight. She dragged her feet up the stairs until Alex scooper her up, carrying her bridal-style to our new bedroom. I opened the door for them, excited to see her reaction. Alex set Chasity down. I found myself holding my breath, waiting for her approval along with my equally eager brothers. She had to like this new room and the new bathroom. That tub spoke for itself, didn’t it?
