Accidental Surrogate for Alpha

#Chapter 483 – Growing Family Ella

“What do you mean I made it snow?” Cora frowns at me as she bustles around the kitchen, making mimosas. ”

That’s ridiculous – you must have imagined it.”

“It totally snowed!” I protest, laughing and shaking my head at her, turning to Sinclair at the table for support.

“It did,” he says, raising his eyebrows at Cora even as he hands Rafe another slice of apple. “”The news is

completely baffled by the sudden cold-snap that immediately disappeared by morning. They’re calling it the duke’s

miracle.”

“What!?” Cora gasps, spinning to stare at Sinclair wide-eyed.

“That’s so cool,” Roger says, grinning at baby Jesse in his arms, who peers up at his dad with sleepy eyes.” Mom’s

magic, Jesse,” he whispers. ” It’s very cool.”

“You guys are just teasing me,” Cora sighs, leaning against the counter as I turn the knob on the stove, cutting off

the fire beneath the pan of eggs, sausage, and bacon that I’ve finished frying up.

“Dominic is dead serious,” I say, nodding to Cora eagerly with raised eyebrows. “Seriously, word got to the media

that the nation’s beloved duchess had her baby and that night it snowed unseasonably early – people are freaking

out.” I laugh a little as I starting to portion our breakfast out onto plates.

“Oh my god,” Cora says, covering her face with her hands. “I didn’t even mean to do that – do you really think it

was me?”

“You tend to affect the weather when you’re emotional,” Roger says, grinning at his magical mate with a happy

shrug. “I think it makes a lot of sense.”

“Oh, that’s so weird,” Cora says with a sigh, shaking her head at Roger and then at me. “People are going to start

figuring out what we can do, Ella,” she says. “We’re going to need to have some sort of story.”

“I think my secrets kind of already out,” I say, giving a little grimace. ”

And why do we have to tell anyone anything? Just let the rumors fly – it’s not anyone’s business but ours.”

“Yeah,” Cora says, rolling her eyes at me before turning back to her previous task of adding the world’s tiniest

amount of orange juice to nearly-full glasses of champagne. “Until they burn us at the stake for being witches or

something.”

“We won’t let them do that,” Sinclair murmurs, smirking a little as he focuses his attention on Rafe’s breakfast.

“Plus,” Roger says, shrugging at Cora as if it’s inconsequential, “it’s not like it will work. You can just rain on the fires,

Cora.”

I burst out laughing at this and Cora, despite herself, laughs too.

“Well, whatever,” she sighs, carrying a mimosa over to Roger and Sinclair first, who murmur their thanks. “I guess

you’re right and it doesn’t really matter at least not until our children develop some weird gifts that end up being

dangerous or something. Or make them social pariahs.”

She returns to the counter, handing me a glass of mimosa and taking one for herself, raising it to all of us in a

toast. The rest of us raise our glasses as well, toasting baby Jesse and then drinking deeply

Well, they drink deeply. I fake mine, just letting the bubbles of the champagne press against my lips before putting

the drink down on the counter, neatly tucked away where Cora can’t see it.

Because as much as I would usually love to toast my nephew’s birth with a festive breakfast beverage…

Well, my reasons for not drinking are so much better. Still, it’s Cora’s day, and I don’t want to steal her thunder just

yet. Not that I think she’d mind, just…one happy announcement at a time.

“How did he sleep?” I ask, raising my chin towards Jesse.

“Fitfully,” Cora says, crossing her arms and frowning over at him. “But that’s normal, right?”

I nod, smiling at her a little. “He’ll find his patterns soon, don’t worry. How did you sleep?”

“About the same,” she says, giving me a little smile. “I kept waking up every time he like…moved.”

I grin at her, remembering that habit in the early days of a new baby. “You’ll get used to it too.”

“Well, some people,” Cora says, laughing already and glancing over at Roger, “are already used to it.”

“You cannot begrudge me my sleep, Cora,” Roger says, looking at her completely unashamed of himself. “It is self-

care. I will not apologize for it.”

“You have a baby to care for now,” she throws at him, though she smiles. I grin, truly appreciating their teasing

relationship. “You need to be a little more self-less.”

“I will care for the baby during the day,” Roger says, gesturing to the baby cradled in his arm. “At night, he’s your

son.”

We all laugh again, mostly because we know he’s not serious. Roger, like Sinclair, will certainly do his share of

childcare without complaint, day or night. He’ll just tease Cora about it more, mostly because he knows that it

makes her laugh.

“How can you take care of the baby all day,” Sinclair asks, turning mischievous eyes on his brother, ”

while you run the military from the palace?”

“I’ll bring him with me,” Roger says, grinning down at Jesse like it’s obvious. “Never too early to get the boy used to

a war room.”

I grin, picturing Roger in his admiral’s uniform with a baby asleep on his shoulder, a little barf dribbling down his

back. And honestly, I don’t mind it as much as I probably should. These Sinclair dads – I don’t think they’re going to

have any hesitation about incorporating their children into the day-to-day activities of their lives.

As I consider it, though, my hand passively drifts over my stomach, because I wonder quietly if the same will be

true when there’s a girl in the picture. Would Roger have said the same thing – that it’s never too early for the child

to get used to a war room if Jesse had been a girl and not a boy?

I sigh a little, hoping that it’s not true. Because this little girl – she’s going to grow up with two big Alpha boys who

are barely a year older than her, and I’m damn well going to have a word with them if they try to cut her out of

their activities just because she’s a girl.

You all right? Sinclair says, passing the words discreetly into my mind but keeping his eyes on Rafe as Cora sets out

the breakfast plates that I forgot about in my musings.

Yes, I say, letting him see my light worry but also letting him know that it’s not about anything big. Just…mom

thoughts.

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