Filed to story: Sorry Alpha I Am Wolfless Novel
“The only thing not right is the beds and clothes in the nursery. I need to get over there soon and get that taken care of. But I don’t want to leave Riviana here alone.” Well, I guess Joaquin was thinking more practically than I was right now. I hadn’t even thought about needing to fix the nursery.
“Oh, there is something else that needs to be fixed, but don’t worry about it. I will take care of it all and you will just get to see it when I am done. So, I will head back to your house and let the next group know that they can come on over. And I will even tell them to bring you some dinner. That will give you an even bigger break since they will have to wait for it before they come up here. Enjoy your rest, take a nap or something. I will see you later.” With that, Juniper leaned in and hugged me tightly, and when she pulled back I saw that she even hugged Joaquin around his waist. “Take care of her, Candy Pants. And the babies too.”
“I will.” Joaquin answered her while quickly hugging her back.
“Goodbye, I love you all.” With that, she rushed out of the room with a smile on her face.
****
Riviana
****
I wanted to do just what Juniper told me to. I wanted to take a nap. I was tired enough to do it, that was for sure. However, I just couldn’t fall asleep. Joaquin did though. He propped himself up in the chair and went right to sleep. He had been doing so much for me and it was pretty tiring. And I know that the only reason that he was sleeping right now was because he thought that I was sleeping as well. If he knew that I was awake, he wouldn’t be sleeping.
I wanted him to rest though. He needed it. And when I do finally get some sleep, he will be the one to help me with the babies. So, yeah, he needed to sleep when he could. This was a partnership between us. We both gave it our all. It wasn’t just him doing things for me nonstop. Contrary to what it was that he might be thinking.
Well, since I just wasn’t able to sleep, I decided that I was going to do some reading. I didn’t have a book with me, but I did have my phone. And using my phone, I was able to access a lot of stories that I had bought through the years.
I engrossed myself into the story, and before I knew it all of the time that I had to spare before the next set of visitors arrived had disappeared. I had engrossed myself into a story about a girl that hated fairytales and was forced inside a book to live through them. And the next thing that I knew, I heard the knock on the door.
…..
The knocking had immediately woken Joaquin up, so that was one thing that I didn’t need to do. And honestly, I wasn’t even thinking about that. Instead, I was thinking about the smell that was coming through the door.
I couldn’t smell the people at all. All that I could smell was the food. The glorious smells of that food. It was enough to make my heart sing and a smile spread across my face. I knew what that food was. I knew what it meant. And I knew who was at the door based on just the smell of the food alone.
There is only one person that will outright spoil me with Chinese food like this. The smell of all the different spices and flavors that I knew so well. I could already taste it and I hadn’t even told them to come in yet.
“Get in here and bring me my dinner, Noah.” I called out to him in a greedy voice. There was laughter all around me when they heard it. Joaquin, Noah, Carter, Nikki and Emmalee were all laughing.
“Well, I guess since it was an order, I have no option but to comply.” Noah laughed the loudest as he opened the door. I saw that he had a large bag of food in his hand and I was eager to get a hold of it.
“Ooooh, yummy yummy yummy. Give me. I want it.” I was reaching out for the bag more than anything else.
“Oh, you want a hug. Of course, my dear sister, I will always give you your hug.” He set the bag on the table and leaned in while I was staring at it wistfully. “Now, Riviana, don’t tell me you love the food more than me.” He was pretending to pout now. “Did you see that, Nikki? She doesn’t love me.”
“I think she loves you just fine. She’s just hungry, that’s all. She wants to eat more than she wants to hug you. You know how we women can get when we need food.”
“Murderous?” Carter asked her as he came over to hug me then. “I know that’s how Emmalee gets.”
“Hey!” His peppy little wife snapped at him for that comment of his. Oh, and she slapped him on the arm as well.
“Ouch! What was that for? I didn’t lie. When you’re hungry, especially pregnant and hungry you get murderous. I have to feed you like they feed the lions in the zoo.”
“Oh, gee, thanks for revealing that to them already.” Emmalee playfully crossed her arms and glared at him.
“I didn’t tell them you were pregnant, you just did.”
“Well, I can see that there is a lot that has been going on. Thank you for the food, Noah. I love you. It’s nice to see you Carter, I missed you. Emmalee, it’s great to see you, and congratulations. And Nikki, thank you for coming, I need you and your wisdom here to help me deal with these brothers of mine.”
“Of course, Riviana. You know that we women need to stick together so that we can manage these animals that we call men. It’s a daily struggle, but we will make it.” Nikki gave me a hug quickly and made room for Emmalee.
“I missed you too, Riviana. We need to get together a lot more. The kids need to spend more time together.”
“I agree. We need to have the whole family together on a regular basis.”
“Alright. Enough with the greetings, get the woman some food before she takes a bite out of one of us.” Noah laughed as he brought the food over toward me. “I know what you love more than anything in the world, Riviana, and I got it for you right here.”
“All of my favorites?” I asked him excitedly. “Hainanese chicken, dumplings, rice, the noodles, all of it? Did you get me the BBQ meat set and the pork ribs too?” My excitement was getting a little out of control at the moment. And I guess that just showed how hungry I really was.
“Yup, all of them and more. I made sure that Joaquin would be able to eat as well. If I didn’t get extra, then he would probably have his hand bitten off when he tried to eat your food.”
“Hmm.” I pursed my lips and thought about that seriously for a moment. “Maybe not bitten all the way off, perhaps just mangled. I wouldn’t be that bad.”
“Gee, thanks Little Bunny, I love you too.” Joaquin laughed at my response.
“Hey, food is life, my love. Sometimes I need to prioritize things that benefit me.” I laughed then because Joaquin knew that he was more important than food, most of the time. I mean, if I really want something then I would get defensive over it. I would literally become a rabid wolf if I had to. Though in all these years, it had never happened. So, he’s been safe this whole time.
We chatted about random nothings while Joaquin and I made our plates and started to eat. Only when we were sitting down once again did we start to actually talk about important things.
“So, Emmalee, when did you find out about the baby? How far along are you?”
“I am a few weeks along. Just shy of a month. I wanted to wait until we came to see you all so that we could tell you in person. I hate sharing this kind of news long distance. It’s too hard to hug each other with happiness when we’re not in person.”
