Filed to story: The Alpha’s Pen Pal Book
The smell of the roasted chicken and vegetables Mom cooked for dinner reached my nose. My stomach growled, causing everyone in the room to chuckle.
We settled into our seats. I sat between Scott and Tiffany, and Dad dished out food for everyone, the casual conversation flowing between the adults.
I mostly tuned them out, swinging my feet under the table as the music I was dancing to earlier played in my head. I had to force myself to not hum the tune out loud. I focused on finishing my dinner so I could get back upstairs and continue dancing.
“Dad, you know how I feel about ‘alternative medicine’ doctors! They’re all charlatans, just trying to make a quick dollar by using terms like ‘natural medicine,’ when in reality it’s just a mix of random herbs that don’t actually heal or fix anything!” Tiffany declared.
“This woman was different, Tiff!” Dad argued. “She had credentials and certificates all over her walls!”
“Daaad,” Tiffany groaned, her head falling into her hands.
She shook her head as she continued speaking. “Dad, people can just buy those and print them. Unless they’re from an actual accredited university, it doesn’t mean shit!” She covered her mouth and glanced at me. “I mean anything. It doesn’t mean anything.”
“She gave me these new vitamins,” Dad said, ignoring Tiffany. “She said they’re supposed to help heal cancer cells before they begin multiplying in your body.”
Tiffany looked over at her brother for help, but he stared at his plate, staying out of their argument. My heart, however, leapt up to my throat at his words, a tightness forming there.
“You have cancer?” I asked, my eyes wide.
“No!” Dad said, reaching across the table to grab my hand and squeeze it. “I just like to make sure I’m taking proper care of my body so I don’t get cancer.”
I nodded, and the worry I felt slipped away, replaced by happiness to be sitting there, eating dinner with my family.
“Are you still writing to your pen pal? What was his name? Presley?” Scott asked me, changing the subject, a teasing smile on his face as he looked at me.
My cheeks heated, and I pressed my hands to my face to hide my blush.
“Wesley,” I mumbled in reply. “His name is Wesley.”
“Right, right, Wesley,” Scott said, nodding.
I swallowed down my embarrassment. “Yes, I still write to him sometimes.”
“Sometimes? Try at least once a week!” Dad barked out with a laugh. “I’ve never spent so much money on stamps in my life!”
“Dad!” I cried, my embarrassment coming back.
I buried my face in my hands, my blush spreading to the tips of my ears.
“It seems our Havie has her first crush.” Tiffany chuckled.
“What?!” I shouted, my head snapping up to stare at her. “No! No, no, no! We’re just friends!” I insisted, my arms crossing and uncrossing in front of me vehemently.
“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, Haven,” Tiffany said. “It’s perfectly normal for you to have a little crush on him. He’s a nice boy, and I can tell from the picture mom showed me he is a pretty cute kid.”
“This is not happening,” I muttered to myself under my breath as I looked up at the ceiling and sighed. “Mom, tell them to stop, please!” I begged her, but she laughed along with my dad, Scott, and Tiffany.
“All of you, leave her alone,” she told them anyway, even though she was still giggling.
“Sorry, Havie,” Scott said, ruffling my hair with his hand. “We’re just teasing. And you’re so cute when you blush.”
I shoved his hand off of my head with a groan.
“I remember I had a crush on Stevie Bernard when I was in 4th grade,” Tiffany said as she cut a bite of her chicken. “He was my first boyfriend,” she added with a sigh.
“You had a boyfriend in 4th grade?!” I squeaked.
She laughed. “I mean, he asked, and I said yes. We wrote notes and brought each other gifts on holidays, and then we ‘broke up’ when he moved to another school.”
“No boyfriends for you,” Dad said, pointing at me with his fork. “Not until you can drive.”
“I’m not interested in boys,” I told him, shaking my head.
“Well, no girlfriends either,” he amended.
“No! I mean…” I sighed. “Never mind.”
I went back to my meal, ignoring their stares, hoping they’d change the subject to something that didn’t involve me.
“So, Mom, as much as I love regaling you all with tales of my hilariously entitled clients, I know there was a reason you called Tiff and me here other than to listen to me talk about work,” Scott said as the conversation dwindled.
Mom and Dad exchanged a glance, then Dad nodded and left his seat to go into the kitchen. Tiffany glanced at me, and Scott took a drink from his water to hide his smile.
“Haven,” Mom began, and I turned to look at her, shoving my shaking hands under the table to hide them. “Haven, this probably won’t come as a surprise to you, but we have something we’d like to ask you.”
My heart pounded in my chest, knocking against my ribs with a force I’d never felt before. Butterflies swarmed around my stomach, and my throat tightened as if being squeezed by a vise. I had been waiting for them to ask for months now, but even knowing it might happen didn’t prepare me for how I would feel when it actually happened.
Dad came back into the dining room just then, holding a cake box, a hopeful smile on his face. “We already think of you as part of our family, but we wanted to ask you…”
He set the box down in front of me, and in purple writing on top of the white frosting, they’d written:
Will you officially be our daughter?
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?