Chapter 207 Calyx

Chapter 207 Calyx
“Petal,” I say as I gently shake Rose’s shoulder to wake her up. It’s five am. We have to get up earlier than her to surprise the birthday girl.

“Papa?” Rose asks as she cracks open an eye to look at me. She gives me the same look that Amalie does when she does not want to get up.

“We have a surprise for you,” I tell her, trying to coax her into waking up faster.

Her eyes snap open fully and she sits up. “Suprise?” she asks.

“Come on,” I say as I pick her up. Rose snuggles into me as I carry her to the living room where everyone has gathered. “Can you close your eyes?”

Rose puts on a big display of closing her eyes. She cracks open an eye slightly. I give her a look, and she quickly shuts it. She buries her head into my shoulder. I chuckle and continue to the living room.

Setting her down, I take a step back and state, “You can open them now.”

Rose opens her eyes to a banner that reads Happy Birthday Princess Rose. My uncles are there with huge smiles, sitting on the loveseat with mugs of coffee. Markus stands with his arms around Amalie, his hands resting on her stomach. Amalie has the first gift that we all want Rose to open. Rose laughs as she rushes to her mother and Amalie kneels down.

“Happy birthday Rosebud,” Amalie whispers into Rose’s hair as she wraps her arms around the four-year-old.

“Happy birthday Princess,” Markus says with a smile.

Rose breaks away from Amalie and starts to hand out hugs to everyone.

“Come here Rosebud,” Amalie smiles as she picks up the present. She sits on the couch with Markus.

Rose freezes as she is in mid hug with Uncle Michael. She lets go and darts back into Amalie’s lap. “Mama, for me?” Rose asks in awe.

“All for you,” she says as she hands Rose the gift.

Rose takes the small box. She gingerly opens the wrapping. Part of me is surprised that she is not tearing into the gift. Rose is taking her time to unwrap the tiny box. When she finally gets it open, she pulls out the box. She opens the little lid.

“What this?” Rose asks as she asks as she pulls out the single picture. It is black and gray.

“This is your very own picture of your baby brother,” Amalie says as she points to the baby, our pup.

Rose’s eyes go as wide as they are able to. She does not scream; she does not cheer. Rose puts the picture to her heart and closes her eyes. “I be the best big sister,” she says with so much determination.

“You will be,” Amalie agrees as she hugs Rose a little tighter.

“We’re having a boy?” Markus asks, shock in his tone.

“We’re have a boy,” I say, just as shocked.

Uncle William smirks into his coffee.

“You could have told me,” Uncle Michael growls playfully at his mate.

“And ruin this moment? Not a chance,” he replies.

Rose climbs to the floor and races to Uncle Michael. “You want ta see?” Rose asks as she shows the ultrasound picture off. When Uncle Michael goes to take it to look at, Rose yanks it out of his reach.

“Flower?” he asks confused.

“My picture, don’t want it hurt,” she says as she looks down to make the picture is unharmed.

“Okay, you show me again and I will not touch,” he tells her.

Amalie melts at that.

I get it. Uncle Michael is validating Rose’s opinion and boundaries. He is not pushing her to hand over the picture.

“Okay party people!” Vickie cheers as she practically kicks open the door. “We come bearing gifts for the princess.”

“I thought we were having a small party?” I grumble slightly.

“Well, the godmother has to be invited,” Vickie smirks as she walks into the living room.

“Sure, that’s why not only your mate showed up, but also James, Sam, Nick, and their mates all showed up,” Markus grumbles.

“We couldn’t miss this,” James says as he sets his and Kira’s gift next to the pile.

“Sorry we’re late,” Kim says as she and Ben enter the house.

Our small party now has ten extra people. So much for not overwhelming Rose on her first birthday.

“Auntie!” Rose screams as she hightails over to our warrior. “Lookie!” she shows off her picture proudly. Rose seems to be doing okay with the crowd.

“Is that who I think it is?” Vickie asks as she kneels down to look at the picture.

“My baby brother,” she says. Rose is practically vibrating with excitement.

“Well, take a seat,” Uncle Michael says. “Mark, Cal, will you help William bring in the extra chairs?”

Mark and I don’t want to, but we get up and leave the room. We carry in the dining room chairs for everyone.

As I enter the room, Amalie is not where we left her. She is curled up on the couch beside Uncle Michael.

“How are you feeling?” he asks.

“Like I wanted to explode. I was terrified that I was going to blab yesterday,” she admits.

“I’m guessing that you two cooked this up yesterday while we were getting ready here?” Uncle Michael asks.

“We wanted to surprise everyone,” she says with a soft smile. She tracks Rose as our daughter is showing off her picture still.

I lean against the loveseat to be close to Amalie. Markus sits on the arm of the seat as everyone else starts to get comfortable in the living room.

“Alright little flower, we brought presents,” Vickie laughs from where she is seated on the floor. She snags Rose as she was walking by. Vickie helps to get Rose settled into her lap. “Let’s get this mountain of gifts open.”

“Picture safe first,” Rose says as she holds her picture to her chest.

“Kim, will you hand her that little box?” Amalie asks as she points to the box sitting on the couch arm beside the omega.

She nods her head and hands Rose the little box.

Rose takes the box and sets her picture in the box and then looks around.

“It would be my privilege to protect your box,” James says as he kneels in front of Rose.

“Keep it safe?” Rose asks as she hands it over.

“On my life,” he says as he gingerly takes it.

“Here you go, flower,” Uncle Michael says as he passes over a gift. “This was supposed to be the first one opened.”

Rose takes the package and with care, she opens the gift. Vickie assists her in opening the seal. Rose gasps as Vickie lets out a whistle.

Vickie assists Rose in pulling out a tiara from the box. Vickie passes the tiara to her mate. The tiara is gold with pink gems inlaid. The gold swirls into little hearts all over the tiara.

“I dub thee, Princess Rose,” Jimmy says as he kneels down and places the tiara on Rose’s head.