‘— Caroline’s POV —
“Caroline! Hurry up!” Howard called out from the living room.
“I need time to get ready, you know?”
“You’ve been saying that for the past hour!” he groaned.
“Whatever.”
“You’re such a girl!”
“Maybe because I am one,” I said in a ‘duh’ tone.
“Just hurry up Caroline,” he sighed.
“I am.”
He didn’t reply, but I could imagine him rolling his eyes at me. Howard and I have been getting closer and closer everyday; we’re not officially a couple yet, but we’re taking things slow. At first when I came here, I was dead set on not giving him a chance at all, but as I got to truly know him, I realised that he wasn’t such a bad person. In fact, underneath that cold, player exterior of his, he was truly a kind person.
And I knew how hard it must’ve been for him to take things this slow, but he was doing it for me. Being a werewolf, males normally mark and fully mate their mate within a month at most because of their hormones and their wolves- who constantly whine about marking their mates as soon as possible. And Howard being a werewolf, it must be harder for him since this wolf instincts are a lot stronger. However, he, knowing that I was ready to go to that part of our relationship or whatever we have yet, hasn’t pressured me into doing anything at all. I know it’s really hard for to control it, but it makes me trust him a little bit more, knowing that he’s willing to suffer for my benefit.
Ever since Mom’s funeral, he has been there for me every single day while I tried to be strong for Chris and Dad. I knew they were as devastated as I was, especially Dad, who seemed to have gone in complete shock and was not responding to anything, but I knew I had to be their rock and be there for them instead of break down and cry, something which I wanted to do countless of times.
But I was glad he was there. He was my rock and kept me going strong for the rest of my family, and everyday, he would prove to me that he loves me. And I think I might be falling for him too. We hadn’t spoken of the night of our first date where I ran away from him at all and the first time he had spoken to me after that was on Mom’s funeral, where he had handled me. I’m finding myself falling for his stupid, sexual related jokes and those cute dimples of his and those eyes. . . those eyes which openly display all this emotions.
But that moment I hugged him back during Mom’s funeral, I knew that my carefully built up walls had crumbled in that very second. And I guess I was to scared and confused of my emotions when he showed me proof that he thought about me a lot. I was scared of him hurting me but then my Mom’s words came into my mind. . .
“Follow your heart.”
My heart was aching for him. I wanted him and my wolf. . .she needed him. And I realised that I needed him as well, because like I said before, he was my rock and without him, I’d still be broken. He repaired my broken heart albeit he was one of the people who caused it and he’s been fixing it stronger for me. He’s been healing me.
“Are you done?” Howard asked, knocking the door.
“Nope.”
“Well, I’m coming in anyways,” he replied, causing me to roll my eyes at him. As he opened the door, I could feel this gaze burning a hole at the back of my head and I could feel his wolf purring at the sight of me.
I straightened my plain red dress, which had sleeves upto my elbow and clung onto me like a second skin. After swiping bright red lip gloss across my lips, I spritzed my favourite Chanel perfume and puffed my hair up a little using my fingers. Slipping on my nude heels, I was aware of Howard’s eyes on me.
“Are you doing staring? You know you’re kinda freaking me out a little, watching me like the stalker you are,” I whispered, walking up to him and swaying my hips.
“No I’m not done staring, I could just sit there and watch you all day long, like your stalker that I am,” I muttered, his eyes roaming my body.
“That you are, now come on, no time for joking around big boy. We have dinner with Chris and Isa now.”
“Can we just cancel and watch a movie or something?” he whined, wrapping his arms around my waist from the back.
“Nope. This is the first time in like three months that I’m going to spend any time with Chris, and I’ve missed him. And he says he has some important news to announce anyways; I don’t know about you, but I want to know what it is,” I said, detaching myself from him to check up on the twins. I had missed Chris because I hadn’t spent any proper quality time with him since we went to the race track which was more than three months ago.
Once I reached the living room, I smiled at the sight in front of me. They were so cute together. I knew I was scared of having twins at the beginning, but I wouldn’t change it for anything.
“Stay still Terrence,” Samantha pouted, looking very annoyed at her older brother.
“I’m sorry Samantha,” Terrence offered.
“Now smile, okay and don’t move,” she demanded bossily. She was bossy, alright.
Terrence smile and sat still while she drew him. She looked so cute trying to concentrate hard like that with her eyebrows creased and her nose wrinkling slightly.
“Samantha, Te-” Howard started saying loudly but I grabbed him and placed my hand on top of his lips, effectively silencing him.
“Shhh. . .don’t disturb them. They look adorable,” I said, pointing to them.
He looked confused first before he looked over and his eyes softened. I removed my lips from his lips and turned around to watch the scenery. Feeling the warmth and those sparks, I knew that Howard was embracing me from behind and since he was so much taller than myself, even when I was wearing heels, he rested his chin on the top of my head but not before placing a kiss.
“We made beautiful kids, we should make more, what do you think?” he teased, making me slap his chest. “Ouch! I was just telling the truth!”
“Be quiet, and watch them. They’re amazing,” I whispered, my eyes set firmly on them.
“We have to leave now, babe. Or we’re going to be late,” Howard stated, after checking his watch for the time.
I sighed in frustration. “Come on then.”
“Samantha, Terrence, we have to leave now. Finish your drawing later and then you can show Momma and Daddy, okay?” I said with a smile as I tried to convince Samantha when I saw her open her mouth to say something. “And, Daddy will help draw you.”
Her scowl faded and as soon as I mentioned her Daddy, a bright smile light up her entire face. “Okay!” she chirped. “Come on then. If we finish the dinner quickly then Daddy can help me with the drawing quicker too.” Definitely a Daddy’s girl.
I helped her slip on a pair of red, shiny flats which made the single flower pinned on her plain white dress. Her long dark brown hair was down with a single red flower clip which I used to pin back some of her hair. She looked unbelievably cute! Yeah, we had a tendency to match a lot in some ways or another!
“Is everyone ready?” Howard asked.
“Yeah!”
“I want every one of you to behave and act like decent human beings. Am I clear?” I asked sternly.
“Yes Momma,” Samantha, Terrence and Howard said at the same time, rolling their eyes.
“Good, now come on.”
As soon as we entered the restaurant, the host’s eyes snapped to us- or shall I say Howard before she studied him from top to bottom lustfully. If I hadn’t noticed Howard looking so uncomfortable and squirming under her gaze, then I would’ve been jealous enough to kill the bitch, but this was too funny. But he did look hot with his pair of slim fit black slacks and a white shit, which he had undone three buttons of.
“Er, reservation under Chris Forest?” I asked looking at her as annoyance flitted through her eyes.
“Right this way, follow me,” she said, swaying her hips from side to side. She was trying to attract Howard’s attention but shame Howard was too busy checking out my butt.
“Hey guys, you both look amazing,” I gushed, hugging them both tightly. Howard and Terrence both did a bro fist with Chris and gave Isa brief hugs.
“How are you?” I asked, taking a seat in the middle of Howard and Samantha while Terrence took a seat at the other side of Howard.
“Amazing!” Isa squealed with a glow on her face. And trust me it wasn’t the make-up type glow, it was more of a natural radiant glow. . .
“Great. We should order then, I’m starving!” Chris groaned, making us chuckle. He loved his food.
We were half way through eating our desert while chatting about random things. Chris and Howard, both being the immature boys that they are sometimes, would throw in a sexual joke here and there which would earn them a smack at the back of their head, nevertheless it made me laugh though.
“We have some important news,” Isa suddenly announced. I noticed that she had already finished her third desert, after having two starters and two different main courses. Wow. That girl can eat!
“We’re pregnant!” Chris suddenly bursted out with a huge grin. Bingo! I knew it!
“Oh my God! Congratulations Isa,” I said, rushing over to her to give her a hug.
“Congrats, man,” Howard said, giving Chris a one-sided hug.
“I knew this was coming! There was that glow on you face that you only get when you’re pregnant. I knew the second I saw you. That’s amazing! How far along are you?”
“Five weeks.”
“Well, now I’m going to take super care of you. You, Missy, are going to eat proper healthy food so you can have healthy children. Are we clear here?” I playfully scolded her.
“Yes, Mother!” she rolled her eyes at me but a faint smile appeared on her face.
“Have you gotten a check up yet?” I asked, finishing off my cheesecake.
“It’s next week, and I’m so nervous but excited! Is that weird?”
“It’s perfectly normal, trust me,” I rolled her eyes at her.
Glancing over at Howard, I noted that he was silent. I gripped his hand, which immediately snapped his attention to me. A small smile appeared on his lips, however, they didn’t reach his eyes at all. In fact, I could tell he was sad and there always was a glint of anger. He was probably sad and angry because he wasn’t there for my pregnancy. It did hurt me that he was sad, as well as my wolf, because naturally being his mate, I felt the need to keep him happy all the time, and I knew he those feelings towards me as well, and they were just as strong, if not stronger.
But before I could ask him anything, a putrid odour wafted through the restaurant, making me stiffen immediately.
“Well, well, well. . .Look who’s having a blast with my mate,” a very familiar voice said.
Instantly, all of our heads snapped to her and I could feel Howard’s and Chris’s wolves surfacing as they tried to keep themselves calm.
There, in front of us, stood a very pregnant Eva.