Chapter 479

I wait for a second, grimacing a bit, watching Jackson’s face for a reaction. But he just stares at me, completely blank.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, shaking my head, reaching for him. “I’m sorry, Jacks – I didn’t mean anything bad by it –“

“No, Ariel…” he replies, blinking out of his frozen state and clearing his throat. “I just – I just don’t understand –“

I frown at him, not getting what he doesn’t get.

He narrows his eyes and leans closer to me. “How…how would you become her mother?”

“Well,” I say, twisting my fingers together, feeling tense. “I would…adopt her. Legally, she would be mine as well as yours – I’d have all the rights as her mother and she as my daughter. And there’s a ceremony that you can perform at the Temple before the Goddess’s sacred pool – people do it all the time when they adopt kids. You ask the Goddess to bless the union so that the child is spiritually yours, as well as legally.”

Jackson continues to just stare at me, though I can see his mind at work now, putting it all together.

I do my best to give him a moment to think, but eventually I can’t bear the silence anymore, guilt and worry rushing through me. “And I’d never want to replace Tasha –“ I say softly, all in a rush. “We wouldn’t like – erase her memory, or pretend that she’s not real, or keep anything a secret from Marigold – we can find ways to honor Tasha and find ways to help Marigold remember her first mom.”

Jackson sighs, his head dropping like he hadn’t even considered that point.

“But if…if Marigold has someone in her life who desperately wants to be her mother,” I whisper, lifting a hand to cup Jackson’s cheek, hope and love surging through my chest. “Then a mother is a wonderful thing to have. And I really…really want to be her mom, Jacks.”

Jackson raises his eyes to mine and as soon as I see the wetness of his lower lashes tears spring to my eyes as well.

“Ariel,” Jackson says, shaking his head, disbelieving that such a thing can be true. “It’s – it’s so much to ask of you –“

“But you didn’t ask,” I reply, shaking my head, smiling at him even as tears streak down my cheek. “I asked. And if you say no I’ll understand. But…I really hope you say yes. I want to do this – I want to be a family. I want…Marigold to be mine as well as yours, a full sister to all of her future siblings.”

“All eighteen,” he sighs, shaking his head, resting his forehead against mine.

I burst into laughter, pulling him close, loving him a great deal. I smile, letting my eyes fall shut, breathing in a deep breath full of his scent. “Is that a yes?”

“Of course it’s a yes,” he whispers, pulling me close and cradling me to him. “Unless…unless Marigold won’t like it? Like you said I don’t…want to wipe away Tasha from her life. Maybe…maybe we give her a minute to adjust.”

“Yeah,” I say, smiling and pressing a kiss to my mate’s mouth. “Yeah, we’ll give her plenty of time. There’s no rush, right? But…” I bite my lip a little, suddenly incredibly happy at this new thought. “I really like now that…I have a little girl.”

He grins at me, likewise pleased. “You like it?”

“Yeah, she’s really cute!” I say, laughing a bit and winding my arms around his neck. “She reminds me a lot of this guy I have a really big crush on –“

Jackson laughs, tucking his head down next to mine, pressing a kiss to my neck, to my mark. “I love you, Ariel.”

“Yeah, I love you too,” I say on a happy sigh, snuggling closer, if it’s even possible. “I think…I think it’s going to be really great, Jacks. Challenging but…I really like our new tiny family.”

“Me too,” he murmurs, raising his head and pressing a kiss to my mouth this time – a real one, true and deep. I kiss him back, giving myself into it, wrapping my hands into the fabric of his shirt and pulling him closer.

Things get heated…very fast.

“Ariel,” Jackson pants, stopping himself with a force of will that I…absolutely do not have. He glances towards the door, anxious.

“Oh whatever,” I mutter, wrapping a hand behind his neck to pull him close again. “It’s locked. Who cares.”

Jackson hesitates for a second more, glancing at the baby monitor, but then he groans, bringing his mouth again to mine and fully giving in. I moan as Jackson lays me out on the little couch, slipping his hands beneath my shirt and against my bare skin, moving them steadily down.

My head falls back as my mate kisses his way steadily down my neck, my chest…

And my eyes drift shut as I think – just to myself - that I’m really, really going to enjoy the rest of my life with this man.

“Okay, little baby,” Pippa whispers, pressing the fussing infant close to her chest as she pulls the door softly shut behind her. “You want to try a little walk? You liked this when you were –“

But Pippa goes still when she turns and sees the Alpha sitting with his back against the wall, his arms resting over his knees, which are bent up before him. He looks up at her with sad, exhausted eyes.

Pippa gasps at first and freezes but then whips her head left and right before storming over to Mark Sinclair. “What on earth are you doing here!?”

“Pippa,” Mark says, looking up at her, flipping his hands over, helpless. “What…what else am I supposed to do?”

“You’re supposed to…to be elsewhere!” Pippa hisses, her eyes darting up the hall. She spins back towards her door, a bit frantic that her Alpha will come out of it and witness this encounter.

“I can’t go elsewhere, you’re here –“

“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Pippa snarls, turning back to Mark with a frown. She presses the still-crying child even closer to her chest and jerks her chin at him before starting down the hall. “Come on! We have to go somewhere we won’t be seen.”

Mark sighs as he gets to his feet. Because even if his wolf howls with eagerness to go with his mate, he knows this isn’t going to be good. Mark follows Pippa, his heart attuned both to the sound of them and to the baby’s soft cries.

Pippa rushes forward, her quick steps doing nothing to outrun Mark’s long stride, until she finds a dark alcove. She rushes inside, turning her face up to Mark as he follows her in, a frown on her lips. “Are we going to be overheard here?”

“No,” Mark says, giving a shrug. “It’s the middle of the night – and no one uses this wing, mom wanted you to have privacy – Pippa, do you want me to take her?” he reaches for the baby, who cries louder now. “She’s very fussy –“

“No!” Pippa growls, clutching the baby tighter and turning her half away. “She’s my baby! I can take care of her!”

Mark hesitates, letting his hands drop a little. “I never thought you couldn’t,” he murmurs. “I just thought you might…want some help, you must be exhausted –“

“My exhaustion is none of your business,” Pippa bites out, looking down at her baby girl with a frown, bouncing her a bit to comfort her.

Mark sighs, letting his hands drop fully, putting them on his hips to have something to do with them. “I mean, it kind of is my business,” he murmurs, annoyed and sad and…a bit at the end of his rope regarding what to do next. “Considering you’re my mate.”

Pippa whips her face up to him, her eyes full of rage. “How dare you, Mark Sinclair!”

“How – how dare I!? Pippa, it’s true!”

“I have an Alpha, Mark!” Pippa snaps, her voice wavering with emotion. “An Alpha who I love very much, to whom I have always been faithful! We have a child together!”

Mark sighs, his head dropping. “I’m aware of all of this, Pippa.”

“Then you should be aware of the necessity of leaving me alone! We shouldn’t – we shouldn’t even -!” she gasps, the sound putting Mark’s nerves on edge. He whips his head up to see her smack her hand across her mouth, horrified.

“What?” he asks, taking a step towards her, worried.

She takes a step back, shaking her head rapidly. “I – I shouldn’t even be alone here with you – this is uncouth, and unmatronly – this is unchaste –“

Mark can’t help it, he laughs – just a tiny bit. “Pippa, we’re just talking –“

“In private! Alone! I – I have never been alone with a man who wasn’t my Alpha, or a member of my immediate family!”

Her face goes as white as snow and Mark takes a step back, realizing that she’s genuinely uncomfortable. “I’m…not going to touch you, Pippa. It’s okay. I just wanted to…talk.”

“We have nothing to say to each other, your highness,” Pippa snaps, her chin held high, her voice wavering. Mark sighs, leaning back against the wall of the alcove, studying her.

Because even as every atom in his body wants to be here, right now, with her, in this little alcove, Mark has to admit that he is…completely out of ideas regarding how to handle this.