A Big Night

A Big Night
I looked at Tasha before looking at my son. “Yes, your mama is my mate.”
He bared his teeth at me. “No!”
“I don’t understand. No?”
He walked inside and we followed behind him. He marched right up to Valerie and looked up at her adoringly before he put his hand on her stomach.
“Mate.”
Everybody froze, staring at him. I walked over to pick him up.
“Sorry. He’s confused. We can’t recognize our mates this young.” I bounced him a little. “I’ll talk to him.”
I put him in his chair but his eyes remained glued to Valerie. I sat beside Tasha and took her hand. She smiled at everyone after glancing at Osprey.
“So, I had a few things I wanted to speak to you guys about. The first is a confession.”
She took a deep breath and got up to grab a manilla envelope before laying it in the middle of the table. We all looked at it curiously. She reached across the table to take Timothy’s hand.
“I thought we were going to lose you and so I had a DNA test done.” She turned to Raul and took his hand, too. “I want to apologize to you for wanting our daughter to be his just in case he didn’t make it.”
He blinked. “What?”
She smiled at him. “We’re having a little girl.”
“We? As in me and you?,” he asked in disbelief.
She nodded. “You’re her father.”
“Me?”
She laughed and gently pushed the envelope to him. “See for yourself.”
He opened it and read the papers inside before smiling. “We’re gonna have a little girl, y’all.”
We all cheered excitedly. I smiled at her before leaning across the table to give him a quick kiss.
“Congratulations,” I murmured against his lips.
He ran his fingers through my hair. “Thank you.”
I sat back in my chair, clearing my throat. “Before you make your other announcement, may I say something?” She nodded and I turned to Valerie. “I wanted to apologize to you for not trusting you. I have checked out everything you have said and it has turned out to be true. I also want to apologize for Vincent’s cruelty to you and Rosemary.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, wiping a tear away.
“My mother, Rosemary?,” Tim asked.
I sighed and nodded. “We had a bear named Vincent. He is Raul’s father and attacked Valerie. During his attack, your mother tried to stop him and he killed her.”
He jumped to his feet with his fists balled. “You’re lying! You’re both lying. My mother was killed by hunters.”
I pulled the locket out of my pocket and let it dangle from my fingers. His eyes followed the swaying of the necklace. He snatched it from me and opened it with trembling hands. He sank back into his seat with sadness on his face.
“Why would he attack her?”
“I don’t know. He had another son. I am so sorry, Tim. I went today to investigate what I was told and the forest showed me the truth. I wish it was a different outcome but it’s not. Please, give me the chance to correct this error. My father believed your grandfather. We had no idea that he had lied.”
He closed his hand around the locket. “What do you want from me, Falcon? Do you think I’m going to tell you to leave or that your sleuth can’t come here?,” he asked quietly. “This isn’t your fault. Our families failed us, not you. Thank you for bringing this back to me.”
“I want to help you find peace, Timothy.” I took his hand. “You’re not alone. I’m here. We all are.”
He squeezed my hand. “I know.” He turned to look at Valerie. “I’m sorry.”
She got up to walk over to hug him. “I am, too, Timothy. Your mother would be very proud of the man you are.”
He closed his eyes. “I hope so.”
She let him go after a moment and went back to sit down. Tasha smiled.
“I wanted to ask you guys if it would be alright if Valerie and her family moved back to town? I wanted us to have as much family around for our children as we could.” She looked at Raul. “You have missed out on so much and I wanted you to have your mother close.”
We all quickly agreed and Raul volunteered his house for them to live in. She beamed at all of us and accepted his offer.
“Okay, now that I can breathe again, let’s eat,” Tasha said.
We all dug into the hearty stew she had made for dinner and I moaned at the flavor that exploded on my tongue. I listened to the chatter around but watched our son whose eyes never left Valerie. When they were saying goodbye to everyone, Osprey hugged her tight and followed her to the door where she patted his head.
“Goodnight, little guy.”
I picked him up when he tried to follow her out of the door. I waved to them before shutting the door. I pecked Tasha’s lips.
“Why don’t you go get ready for bed? I’ll put Osprey down and come to bed after.”
“Okay.”
I carried him upstairs and got him into pajamas before taking him over to the rocking chair and sitting him on my lap.
“So, her baby is your mate, is she, son?,” I ask softly. He nodded. “I want to believe you, I do but there has never been someone so young to feel the bond.” I hugged him. “I’ll make you a deal, I will allow you to spend as much time as you want with her and her daughter, but you have to promise me something.”
He leaned back to look into my eyes. The intelligence in his eyes reminded me so much of his mother that I started to wonder how we were gonna fare against the two of them. We weren’t that bright. I cleared my throat to distract me from my thoughts.
“Grow up and be sure she is your mate. Let it develop naturally and don’t run around telling everyone she’s your mate. Oh, and another thing, you have to be on your best behavior. No more growling at me or your other fathers, okay?”
He tilted his head and I could almost see the wheels turning in his head. I chuckled softly.
“If you don’t, I will ground you from seeing her. Is that more understandable?” He nodded. I sighed and hugged him again. “You are such a good little boy, ‘Sprey. I’m very lucky to be your father.” I stood up and took him over to his bed. I tucked him in before kneeling by his bed. “I get how you feel if she is your mate. When I found Mommy, all I wanted to do is spend all my time with her. She was and still is that special to me. To all of us. I promise you that whether or not she is your mate, you will always feel something for her. There’s no rush to grow up. I promise. Please, stay our little cub for as long as you can. None of us are ready for you to grow up yet.” I ruffled his hair. “Go to sleep and tomorrow we’ll go see her. I love you.”
I kissed his forehead before standing up. I walked over to flip the light off and opened the door.
“Daddy?” I spun around to face him with my eyes wide. “Love you, too.”
My heart exploded with happiness inside my chest and I rushed back to the bed to give him another tight hug. I held him for a moment until my heart stopped racing in my chest. I tucked him back into bed.
“I’ll see you tomorrow. Sleep.”
I walked out of the room, a happy skip in my step. I walked into our large master bedroom, beaming widely.
“He called me daddy and said he loved me,” I announced.
Tasha rushed over to me to throw herself in my arms. “Oh my Goddess, that is so amazing.”
I squeezed her tight before letting her go. I slowly approached Tim on the bed who was wearing nothing but boxers. I sat on the edge of the bed next to him.
“How are you feeling?”
“I am hurting. I never got to bury my mother. Her body was never found. My grandparents were so sure that hunters did it and they destroyed Raul’s childhood. How are we supposed to get that back? How do we fix the past?,” he asked sadly.
Raul crawled across the bed toward us and laid his head on Tim’s chest over his heart.
“We don’t, Tim. We move forward and make sure that we don’t make the same mistakes.”
I cupped Tim’s face and ran my finger over his lips. “I can see if the forest will return her body to us so we can bury her.”
His eyes moved over my face. “You would do that for me?”
I nodded. “I would do anything for you.”
“I’d like that very much.”
I leaned forward to press my lips against his. “I’ll do it tomorrow.” I took a deep breath. “It’s been a big night, Tim,” I murmured and ran my thumb over his lip again.
He kissed me again. “Want to make it an even bigger night?”
I pulled back a little to look around the room before nodding. “Yeah. I think I do.”