Chapter 77

Agnes

I woke up to the sensation of something small and warm nuzzled against my belly. Looking down, a small smile touched my lips.

Thea.

She was fast asleep, her hair a tangled mess around her face and her teddy bear squished between us. She must have crawled into bed at some point when I was recovering from the drugs, and the thought of her sneaking into my room to curl up against me filled me with a profound feeling of warmth.

But with that warmth also came a bittersweet feeling that I hadn’t expected.

Thea wasn’t my daughter. Or so Elijah said; he believed that my child was still out there somewhere, but that it wasn’t Thea. Olivia had been pregnant with her, he said.

And of course, I believed him. Elijah knew his own daughter, and Thea was his—the paternity tests had proven that. Furthermore, he didn’t sleep with me. He said he would have remembered that, and when he had said it, his voice had been as firm and resolute as ever.

I wasn’t sure if I should read into that statement or not, but it didn’t matter.

Thea wasn’t mine. Not biologically, at least. Although, sweet moments like this reminded me that biology wasn’t everything, and that she was my daughter in all the ways that mattered.

As I lay there, just basking in the warmth, the memories of the drugging began to resurface. I felt much better now, thanks to Elijah’s quick appearance.

How had he found me so quickly, I wondered? He had showed up at just the right moment, saved the day like my knight in shining armor. He was gone now, but his scent lingered in the room, indicating that he had been in here until somewhat recently.

I wasn’t sure how I could ever repay him. Somehow, he had swept in when I needed him the most. If he hadn’t… I shuddered just thinking about what could have happened had he not shown up.

I had to talk to him. To say thank you, at least.

Careful not to disturb Thea, I quietly disentangled myself from her and crawled out of bed. I pulled my robe on over my pajamas and tugged on some warm socks before I made my way downstairs, searching for Elijah.

Unfortunately, I didn’t find him. His car wasn’t in the driveway, either.

I did find one of the housekeepers, though, and stopped her in the hallway. She was carrying a bundle of clean linens and looked a little exasperated that I was disturbing her work.

“Have you seen Elijah?” I asked.

She paused, furrowing her brow, then said, “He went to work. I told him he should rest, but he wouldn’t.”

I frowned. “Was he ill?”

The housekeeper shook her head. As she did, her eyes swept over me—not with outright disdain, but maybe a hint of annoyance. “He stayed up for two days taking care of you while you were asleep. Wouldn’t sleep or eat himself. He wouldn’t even lie down.”

My eyebrows shot up at that. It shouldn’t have taken me by surprise that Elijah would do something like that for me, of course, seeing as how kind and thoughtful he always was.

But two whole days? For me?

As I watched the housekeeper walk away, I felt more guilty than ever. Elijah was an Alpha, an extremely busy man with a lot of things to do and a lot of moving parts to manage in the pack. He surely had plenty of better things to do than sit by my bedside and wait for me to get better. He easily could have had someone else do it.

But he didn’t.

He had stayed by my side for two days.

I had to do something to make it up to him.

As I was trying to think of something nice to do for Elijah over a steaming cup of coffee, Thea shuffled into the kitchen, her hair still mussed and her small fist rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“Mommy, can we have waffles?” she asked by way of greeting.

I chuckled, but nodded and began to pull out the ingredients. Waffles sounded good, honestly.

As I worked, Thea noticed my faraway expression. “What are you thinking about?” she asked, furrowing her brow. “You look like you’re thinking a lot.”

I let out a small sigh. “Your dad did something really nice for me, and I want to do something nice for him in return. But I’m not sure what.”

Thea’s eyes narrowed, and she tapped her chin. “Hm…” She thought for a moment, then her eyes lit up. “Oh! I know! Daddy could use a new robe.”

My hands stilled over the bowl of waffle batter. “A robe?”

Thea nodded and wrinkled her nose. “His robe is all yucky and has holes in it. But he always says it’s still useful. I think he needs a new one.”

I continued preparing the waffles, considering. Now that I thought about it, Thea was right; it was rare that I saw Elijah in his robe, but when I did, I couldn’t help but notice that it was pretty worn and old. Typical Elijah, having all the money in the world but spending none of it on himself.

With that settled, I finished making the waffles, planning on heading out to the store to pick out a new one. But when I turned with the plates in my hands, I saw that Thea had spread out a bunch of coloring supplies on the table.

Upon closer inspection, I saw that she wasn’t just coloring; she was sketching designs for robes. They were childish and out of proportion, but her inspiration was clear. The robe she was currently working on had large pockets, a sash, and a fluffy collar that looked almost comical on the sick figure that was wearing it.

But it did look… nice.

Really nice, actually.

I leaned closer, inspecting the drawing. “Thea, that looks really cozy.”

Thea beamed and held it up for me to see. “I think Daddy would like it. Can we make it?”

I took the picture, considering for a moment. I hadn’t sewn anything in a while, not since the Mate Trial, and looking at the sketch filled me with an unexpected sense of inspiration.

Maybe this was what I needed for work. Maybe I needed a day of sewing to get in the right headspace to create something good for the fashion show.

And so it was settled. That day, Thea and I ran out to the fabric store and bought enough fabric for Elijah’s robe, plus some extra. Thea asked for matching robes for all three of us, which I doubted Elijah would like but I couldn’t say no to her.

Once we got all of our supplies, we got to work on the robes. The living room turned into a mess of fabric and sketches, kids’ movies playing on the TV while I pushed the fabric through the sewing machine.

It was… nice. Peaceful. And the longer I worked, the more the inspiration came to me.

Soon, I had not only sewn three plush robes, but I had also come up with a new design for my own work: a fashionable housecoat with a cinched waist and a pleated skirt, comfortable yet attractive for a mother on the go.

I couldn’t wait to get it on paper and see what the other designers thought.

But as my mind was fixed on the fresh ideas, the door opened, pulling me out of my thoughts. Thea and I just barely had time to jump to our feet, shoving the robes behind our backs with matching sheepish grins, before Elijah stepped into the room.

He stood in the doorway, his eyes scanning the mess that we had made.

“What’s going on here?”