Chatper 280
The day unfolds happily from there on out, with Bridgette and I spending most of the morning curled on
the sofa, enjoying ourselves. The Betase, of course, but we bribed Ian and Alvin with the offer of
much candy to move Victor’s littlemand station into the kitchen, which they do with enthusiasm.
“What!” Victor exims when hees into the house and sees the two of them scurrying around with
laptops andputer monitors in their arms. “What are you doing?!”
“Bridgette and I need the living room today!” I call to him with azy smile.
“Evelyn!” he protests, taking a step towards me. “I have work to do –“
“And I have gossip to watch,” I toss back happily, leaning my shoulder against Bridgette and winking at
her as I grab the remote from the floor and flick the TV on. Victor starts to protest again but I just smile
at him. “Wasn’t I told to rx?”
Routed, Victor growls a little and then stomps into the kitchen to help the boys set up. Rafe filters in
with the Betas and they all get to work, Alvin and Ian helping happily before Miss Georgia cane
and give them their lessons.
“You’ve got him a bit under your thumb, don’t you?” Bridgette murmurs to me as I flip through the
channels, looking for something juicy.
“For now,” I say with a happy sigh and moving a hand to my stomach. “At least, for the next nine
months.”
“Why –“ but then Bridgette gasps, grabbing my hand. “Wait – you aren’t –“
Iugh a little and put a finger to my lips, nodding towards all the Betas in the kitchen. “It’s early days –
we’re not public with it yet – even Rafe doesn’t know –“
“Ohmygod!” Bridgette gasps, wrapping me in a hug with a little squeal. Victor looks over at us at the
noise, concerned, but I send him a little message in his mind to let him know that she knows. He nods
happily to me, taking a moment to smile at Bridgette who beams back at him. “I’m so happy for you
guys!” Bridgette gasps, and I am warmed to know that she’s truly thrilled.
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“Yes, we’ll have fun with these ones,” I say, leaning back against her. “It will be good to have some girls
in the house –“
“Girls?!” she exims. “How can you know so early –“
But before I can respond Alvin almost drops a pile of folders in his excitement. “Hey!” he shouts, eager.
“It’s me!” I turn to him and follow the direction of his finger, which points directly at the tv.
Surprised, I sit up and focus on the screen to see – well. Alvin.
“Oh,” I say, raising my eyebrows as the gossipwork begins to sh through photos of my family. “I
guess…the news of the engagement is really out…”
Curious, Victor and Beta Stephene into the room followed by Ian and Rafe. Alvin runs to deposit
his pile of folders in the kitchen and then rushes back in, eager to discover why he’s suddenly part of
the media news cycle.
“The news of Alpha Kensington’s engagement broke recently,” says the eager voice of a reporter over
top of the images, “via the social media of a family friend, who posted this picture –“
Quickly, a picture of Victor and Iughing on our front porch shes on the screen, our hands tightly
sped. I smile when I see it – I’ve actually never seen this one before, and I wonder when Delia had a
moment to snap it. I’m pleased, though – it’s not the formal engagement photo that ismon to these
kinds of announcements. Instead, it really captures what I understand as our rtionship – a lot of
laughter and love, very informal. Just real and happy.
“Formal sources and an announcement from the Kensington office – which has been quiet for weeks –
has confirmed the news: Alpha Victor Kensington will indeed be marrying Evelyn Ortega, formerly
Evelyn Walsh, the mother of his two children, Alvin and Ian Kensington, whom the Alpha recognized
formally as his sons and heirs in a ceremony this past fall.”
“I can’t believe they said your name first,” Ian grumbles, crossing his arms and ring at Alvin.
Alvin just smiles at him and sticks out his tongue, pleased. “Alphabetical,” he exins, making me
smile.
I watch, fascinated, as the presenter continues, giving an overview of what they know of our
rtionship, starting with the scandal six years ago (luckily, she doesn’t show any of the scandalous
hotel window pictures) and then moving through my time as a Rogue, my work as a therapist, our
apparent rediscovery of each other sometime in the fall, and finally my reunion with Victor after he
rejected Amelia on their wedding day.
Victores to my side as we all listen to the reporter, taking my hand and squeezing it. I smile up at
him, knowing that he, too, is relieved to see that they’re telling rather…well, rather a romantic story.
This could have had a much more scandalous bent, marking Victor as a man who betrayed his mate
for a woman who ruined his life twice, but instead…
Well, the reporter uses the word “star-crossed lovers” to describe us more than once, a phrase which
makes meugh because of its closeness to the actual reality, which is that we’re astral mates.
“It’s alling together,” I whisper, looking up at him. “This is what you wanted, yes?”
“For the world to see us as we are?” Victor asks, smiling at me and nodding. “Yes, that’s precisely what
I want.” I squeeze his hand in return then, excited.
But then everyone in the room gives a little gasp at the next bit of news that pops onto the screen.
“As for the rejected Amelia Jones, she was recently spotted on the beaches of Italy with an unidentified
mystery man!”
Collectively, we all lean forward to peer at the images that pop on screen.
“Oh my god!” I hear myself cry as the gossipwork gives us several images of Ameliaying out,
gorgeous in a white swimsuit to contrast her amazing tan, and then shows us images of her wrapped in
the arms of a shirtless man with muscr shoulders and a curly thatch of ck hair.
“Mama!” Alvin gasps, pointing again at the tv. “Is that –“
“It’s Beta Edgar!” Ian shouts when the image shifts and is reced of one of Ameliaughing in Edgar’s
arms, her head thrown back, Edgar smiling at her, happiness clear on his face. “Oh, eww! Gross
Amelia is dating Edgar! He’s too cool for her!”
“Ohhhh my god,” I say again, and then I fall back against Bridgette in hystericalughter. “Victor!” I
gasp, “you tried to punish her, and instead you sent her away on a magical vacation where she fell in
love?!”
Victor justughs along with me, running a hand through his hair, shaking his head in disbelief. “I mean,
all I told Edgar to do was to keep her contained and out of our life,” he says, “I didn’t give him any
instructions on how to do that. I guess…he used some alternative methods.”
“Gross!” Alvin cries when the next picture shows them kissing.
“Ew!” Ian agrees. “She tried to kidnap us and send us to boarding school! Edgar can do better!”
“He probably can,” I murmur in agreement, pulling both of my boys onto the couch with me and
Bridgette, happy in my heart and wanting them close. “But…the heart wants what it wants. You should
be happy for them.”
“No,” Ian replies, crossing his arms, stubborn. Iugh at him as well.
“Well, maybe just for Edgar,” Alvin murmurs, relenting a little more.
“Wow, what’s all this?” A new voice says, surprising me and making us all turn, suddenly, to see Delia
and Emma standing there, apparentlying for a little visit.
“All your fault!” I reply,ughing and pointing to the tv.
“What?” Delia asks and, then, focusing on the pictures of Edgar and Amelia, her mouth falls open in
shock. “Well, I didn’t do that – that’s for sure!”
“Still,” I reply, grinning and getting up to give them both a hug. “None of it would be on TV if it wasn’t for
your social media posts.”
“Well,” Delia says in a mock-casual tone, “it was all very selfish. I only got half a million new followers
out of it, so it was barely worth my time.”
I wrinkle my nose at my friend and pull her into the kitchen then, my sistering along after us,
asking if they want some coffee. I’m excited to see them, of course, but their visit is a surprise.
What could they have to tell me that couldn’t wait?