Nolan sneezed again, and I laughed, rubbing his chest. “That may be for the best.”
The others huddled around me, the sounds of barks and meows fading into a quiet din as I smiled at them.
“Landry. Well,”—I looked down at my stomach—“it’s nice to meet you.”
Chapter 47
Hailey
“Why do they make these damn things so hard to build?” Preston grumbled while he and Nolan did their best to assemble the crib.
“Because it needs to be safe for the baby,” I told him from where I was sitting in the corner of the room, folding burp cloth after burp cloth to put in the dresser-changing table thing.
I may have gone a little overboard with the shopping, but it was finally time to set up Landry’s nursery, and I’d been a little overexcited. Between the many shopping trips we had taken as a pack and me utilizing my free time at home to do copious amounts of online shopping, I’d ended up with a mountain of baby items.
“You know what, this is the one job I wouldn’t have minded if you guys had done while I was in the slammer,” Preston whined, but I knew, deep down, he was happy to be helping.
We were all meshing as a unit, and I’d honestly never been happier. Every day that passed, we got closer and closer to the baby coming, and I found myself getting more excited by the day.
And more and more ready to have my body back.
While Preston had been at the camp, we’d been in a sort of triage mode, trying to keep everything going, unable to really enjoy the experience. Now that our entire pack was together, we were focused on truly being together and preparing for our son.
“We willnotbe beaten by a crib,” Merrick said, his voice firm as he stood over the parts, hands on his hips as he studied the instructions.
“We could always ask Walker or Elliot to help,” I offered casually, knowing my words would irritate them, but I couldn’t resist. “They have crib-building experience.”
Merrick glowered at me. “No.” He turned to Preston. “Where’s that instruction video? We’re building this contraption if it’s the last thing we do! I helped Walker build his crib for Abigail. I should know what I'm doing!”
Nolan and Wilder returned from grabbing drinks, and the four of them got to work, muttering to each other as I continued folding burp cloths and tiny onesies into the dresser they had already built.
Every now and again, one of them let a curse word slip, and I giggled from my little corner of folding.
Spending an afternoon together, building our little nursery…it was perfect. If someone had told me a year ago that I would be in this position, I would have told them they were clinically insane.
But that was the funny thing about life.
Now, the baby’s nursery was painted a pale yellow, and everywhere I looked, there was color. After buying so many neutral shades, I’d decided I never wanted to see another beige item again. Now every surface had bright reds, blues, greens, yellows. You name it, and I had something in that color.
My baby was going to be obsessed with everything colorful if I had my way.
Funnily enough, I always imagined that I’d be decorating my baby's nursery solo. As an omega, my nesting instincts were somewhat severe, and I had assumed that having someone help me would irritate me.
Other people wouldn't get it right. Only I could. But, actually, having my pack with me was a comforting and enjoyable experience.
Sure, I had to correct them on a regular basis, but instead of being irritating, I found it amusing. Thankfully, they took my pedantic nature in stride when I insisted that the dresser needed to be two inches to the left or the light fixture was slightly crooked.
My guys took every piece of feedback beautifully and did their best to make everything perfect for me.
I fucking loved them. So much so that my chest ached with the emotion more often than not. Watching them bicker playfully while they made the space perfect for our child, it was almost overwhelming.
These damned hormones.
“I’ve been thinking,” Nolan said from where he was sitting, reading the crib instructions, breaking me out of my little spiral of feelings.
“Oh no, thinking is dangerous!” I whispered dramatically.
Nolan wasn’t bothered by my theatrics, though. He rolled his eyes and continued. “I took a look, and there are a few small offices in town, available to rent. I’ve already started studying for the California bar exam, just in case.”