Page 24 of His Treasured Mate
“You can’t possibly expect us to just leave now! Our Pack needs us here. There’s too much to do. We have displaced wolves and hungry workers.”
I silenced her with another kiss.
“I am aware of all of that, but yesterday you were very specific about your request to fly home early.”
She looked around and shook her head. “First, I can’t believe that was only yesterday. Second, this is my home, our home, Thomas. Our people need us more now than ever, and we have a responsibility to be here and be present for them.”
“I know, but it’s okay if you and the girls want to fly out early. No one would argue it, especially in your condition.”
I saw the look of fury in her eyes before the words were fully out of my mouth.
“In my condition? My condition! What condition is that? Just because I’m pregnant means I’m worthless and incapable of doing anything?”
“That’s not what I meant at all, and you know it.”
“I don’t know anything. What does my condition have to do with anything?”
“Nothing at all. It’s just that everyone already worries about you overdoing things, so if you need the break and some downtime with your family, no one will fault you for it. That’s all.”
“Do you even know me? Do you think I’m capable of just abandoning our people in a time like this? We have a responsibility here first and foremost.”
I kissed her again, and this time I heard Luke chuckle nearby.
“I love you. And I agree with everything you said. I can’t leave right now. I just wanted you to know that if you still felt strongly about getting back to San Marco that I could make that happen still.”
Her forehead wrinkled, but she didn’t try to argue again.
“I’m staying.”
“Yes, ma’am. Luke, tell the pilot to stand down. We aren’t going anywhere.”
*****
Life changed quickly in a week.
It was amazing to watch the transformation and realize just how much we'd accomplished in such a short period of time.
The debris was gone and so were a lot of the tarps. Lizzy had made record time getting an insurance adjuster out to assess the damage, but I wasn’t waiting around for that money and had fronted the costs of the projects myself once we’d gotten approval to use our own team from within Collier for the repairs. I think the guy was a little shocked at just how quickly a community like ours could move in response to a crisis.
In all, we only lost seven homes, two storefronts in town, and ten head of cattle. Ruby and Emmett had done a fantastic job securing our animals that needed it and the rest free-ranged, finding places to ride out the storm. Since none of the barns or the dairy took any serious damage, things were good.
Still, I couldn’t help but weigh the cost and potential damage of a large greenhouse in that storm, or even fields of gardens. It was exactly that kind of storm that had nearly bankrupted this Pack years ago and why we had gotten away from farming and into ranching.
I was going to have to reconsider things after this and was grateful I hadn’t given my stamp of approval yet on Kenneth’s project. If I had, it would have quickly turned into a very costly investment.
Luke was meeting me at the ranch to do a walkthrough with Emmett, Clay, and Ruby, but only Ruby was around.
“Where is everyone? I thought we had a meeting today.”
“You didn’t get the text?”
“What text?”
“Angel’s in labor. Your whole Six Pack went over to support her and Austin. Sam was en route last update I saw.”
“Angel’s in labor, like right now?”
“Yes.”