Reckless Regrets
Chapter 65

Kade

After we’d dealt with the fire and gotten all of the omegas settled in their new temporary homes, everyone went their separate ways and passed out. It had been such a long and exhausting day, and even though Thorne was finally gone, so was the packhouse, two i***t patrol wolves, and Nate and Marisol.

While Xander went to work getting new plans for the packhouse and expanded village cottages in place, Alaia, Morgan, and Taylor decided to hold a memorial for Nate and Marisol. Gabby was taking the news of her best friend’s death extremely hard, and the only person who was able to get her to talk was Luca. And even he didn’t know what to do or how to fix this.

We also knew that it would be a great way to unify the two pack locations; finally, we would have everyone gather together, hold a pack run to solidify the bond, then send Marisol and Nate’s spirits off to the afterlife. But before any of that could happen, I needed to tell Cameron what was going on.

I pulled Morgan away from the memorial planning for a few minutes so that she could sit with me while I explained things. Cam loved Morgan, and since this change would affect all three of us, it only made sense that she be there from the very beginning.

I found Cameron at the preschool and decided to check him out for the remainder of the day. He’d been attending school since he’d gotten here and loved it. All of his teachers enjoyed his creative spirit, and he soaked up knowledge like a sponge. Needless to say, he was a star pupil.

When he saw me at the front of his class, his chubby little face lit up, and he rushed over.

“Hi, Dad! What are you doing here? Ms. Laura still has more time to teach me stuff before I go home,” he announced.

“I know she does, buddy, but I need to talk to you about something really important, so I figured I’d come to get you early. Is that alright?”

“I’ll miss snack time; we were going to have graham crackers and peanut butter today.”

He stood and stared at me as if to say that I needed to rectify the snack situation if I would be making him leave early.

“I’ll make sure you get your snack; we can even go and put it together now while we talk. I can manage smearing peanut butter on a cracker,” I told him.

“Make sure it’s a graham cracker, Dad, and not the salty ones.”

“Got it. We’ll have Morgan to help if I just can’t seem to figure it out.”

“Ms. Morgan? Oh, yeah! Let’s go; I know she’ll know how to make my snack.”

Cameron proudly walked out of the door and down the hall, leaving me shaking my head. Since when was I not good enough? I wasn’t completely helpless in the kitchen! I caught up to him and listened as he told me all the new shapes he’d learned about in class. I really hoped that our talk would go well and that the death of his parents wouldn’t completely destroy who he was. And I also hoped that he would accept Morgan and me as parents.

When we walked into the house, he ran right to the kitchen, where Morgan was sitting having a cup of tea. She’d found that lemon tea with honey was the only thing that worked for her nausea. Actually, she said it worked for everything. Fatigue, sore and tight muscles, constipation, everything. Morgan would hook herself up to a continuous IV drip of her lemon tea if she could.

“How are you feeling, Sugar? Is the baby giving you trouble today?” I walked over and asked.

“I’m just a little tired and sore, but nothing too major. Hey, my handsome boy,” she leaned around me and beamed at Cameron.

“Hey, Ms. Morgan. Are you having a baby?” he asked.

I never realized that Cameron, only being four, probably didn’t know anything about the pregnancy that I’d just announced to him. So it looked like we’d have to explain a few things to him today.

“Yes, I’m having a baby. Do you want to feel it?” Morgan asked.

“Does it feel like a worm? Worms are gross.”

“No, it doesn’t feel like a worm. It’s more like a lump right now.”

She took his tiny hand in hers and kissed his palm, then gently placed it on her belly.

“Can you feel how it’s kinda round and hard? My tummy is making room for the baby to grow,” she told him.

“That’s cool. It’s like a seed, right, Dad?” Cameron turned to me and asked.

I remembered the conversation we’d had weeks ago when I explained how someone had to plant a seed for a woman to make a baby, and it looked like Cameron had remembered it as well.

“That’s right, just like a seed,” I replied.

“Can I play with the baby when it gets here? I promise I’ll be extra careful. I can show them my toys. Do babies like toys?” he innocently looked up at Morgan and asked.

“Yes, sweet boy. Babies love toys, and you can play with it all you’d like,” she replied.

Cameron smiled up at her and wrapped his arms around her waist for a hug. She quickly wiped away a stray tear and hugged him back. Now seemed like the perfect time to start explaining everything.

“Cameron, why don’t you sit down over here for a minute so Morgan and I can talk to you?” I asked. He nodded and took Morgan’s hand, pulling her with him to the common room so that they could sit together. Once they were settled, I sat in front of the two and took a deep breath before I started.

“Okay, so Morgan and I have something to tell you, then we have something to ask you, alright? And it’s okay if you get confused or upset, we’ll explain everything you need us to; got it?”

“Sure, I’ve got it.”

“Good. So you know that your mom went back to Oregon a couple of days ago to help with some pack stuff, right?” I asked.

“Yeah, she said she had to go be Captain. I sometimes get to be the Class Captain and help pass out our schoolwork for the day,” Cameron told us.

Morgan smiled and kissed the top of his head; his innocence was one of my favorite things about that little boy.

“I’m sure you’re an amazing Class Captain, and your mom would have been a great Captain too, but there was an accident at the house. Do you know what fire is?”

“Yes. It’s really hot, so I can’t touch it, but me and Ms. Morgan use it to melt chocolate for our cakes.”

“That’s right, it’s very, very hot, and it’s dangerous. Well, there was a fire at the house you and your mom used to live in, and your mom got hurt pretty badly. There was too much smoke, and it made her not be able to breathe, so she went to sleep,” I explained.

“So, is mommy hurt, or is she sleeping?”

“She was hurt, but once she went to sleep, she didn’t feel any pain anymore. And this is a special kind of nap that’s forever; you don’t wake up from this nap. Do you understand?” Morgan asked.

“I can wake her up with cookies or k****s, that usually works unless she’s just really tired,” Cameron offered.

“It won’t work this time, buddy. Mommy is going to be asleep forever,” I told him.

I could tell that Cameron didn’t quite understand what we were telling him, and I didn’t want to push him too hard and hurt him. So I tried a different approach.

“Have you ever had a pet before?” I asked.

“I had a goldfish named Gill! But I fed him some of my goldfish crackers, and mommy said that it broke his tummy.”

“Okay, and you and your mommy probably had to say goodbye to Gill, right?”

“Yeah, then she flushed him down the toilet. She said he was in fish heaven.”

“Well, your mommy is like Gill. The fire broke her, and now she’s in heaven. Just like Gill, you won’t see her again, but you can always hold on to your memories of her,” Morgan stated.

“Did you flush my mommy down the toilet?”

“No, she’s too big, silly! And she deserves a better sendoff than that, don’t you think?” Morgan asked.

“I’ll never see her again? Who will read my bedtime stories and buy me crayons? Or what about my hugs?” Cameron asked. His voice broke when he said hugs, and it took everything on me to not breakdown in front of him.

“Morgan and I would like to do all of those things for you if you’re alright with it. Morgan could never replace Marisol, but she can do everything a mommy does, don’t you think?”

Cameron thought for a moment before he nodded.

“Yes, Ms. Morgan does do mommy things, and she gives nice hugs too. Do you know where to get crayons? I’ve got money in my piggy bank if you need it,” he turned to Morgan and asked.

“Yes, I know where they sell crayons. I can also get markers, chalk, paper, glue, glitter, everything. And I have money too,” she replied.

“Wow, that’s amazing,” he said, looking up at her in awe.

“It’s very amazing. So what do you think, can Morgan be your mommy now?” I asked.

“You can’t be my girlfriend and my mommy. And I really need the crayons, so I’ll let you be someone else’s girlfriend now,” Cameron offered.

Morgan laughed and gave him a quick hug.

“That’s very gracious of you, thank you so much.”

I wanted to tell Cameron about Nate being his actual father and his grandfather being gone too, but I felt that it could wait. Nothing was harder to take than the death of a mother, so we needed to break the news to him as slowly and gently as possible.

“So, can I call you Mommy now? I like Ms. Morgan too, but I want to talk to my mom sometimes,” Cameron stated.

I could see Morgan getting choked up, and after a few seconds, it didn’t look like she’d be able to answer. She looked over at me and gave me a small smile.

“I think that would be perfect, Ms. Morgan is now Mommy, and I’m Dad,” I replied.

Cameron nodded his head and looked back into the kitchen.

“Mommy, do you know how to make graham crackers and peanut butter? Dad made me leave before Ms. Laura started snack time,” he asked Morgan.

I couldn’t help but laugh, this kid had his priorities, and that snack was at the top of the list.

“It sounds like a pretty simple recipe. Let’s see what I can whip up.”

Morgan took Cameron’s hand and led him back to the kitchen, but not before she leaned down and gently kissed my forehead. Just like that, the three of us became a family, and I could already feel the love that we all had for one another. The next step was to talk to the lawyers as make it official.

“Just FYI, sugar, I call dibs since Cameron broke it off with you. Now you’re my girlfriend!” I yelled into the kitchen. I still needed to make that official as well.