325 Little Graduation

It’s been two years since the war with the Valestines. And with Caleb’s kids shifting schools, that is Connor and Ivy going to middle school and Carmen preparing for her last year in middle school, things were much busier around the house. Not to mention, the more the kids grew up the more secretive they became.

“Man, I wonder how Sue did it. I mean with Connor it was still alright, but now with two more kids…man I am going crazier by the day.” Caleb groaned as he picked up his stuff from Dry Cleaners for his kids’ graduation ceremony.

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“You are having a harder time because you were used to servants for your entire life.” Matt pointed out. “I mean, I have two kids, and it sure gets crazier nonetheless.”

“My kids are older than yours.” Caleb rolled his eyes.

“Don’t blame me for choosing late parenthood.” Matt scoffed. “You should have known better.” he teased his friend. Without further ado they got in the car. Caleb had dragged Matt from his day off in order to run some errands. He sure was pissed off, but it wasn’t like Caleb would take no for an answer.

After a while they drove back to the pack premises, particularly in front of a house. Caleb honked loudly before a middle aged man walked out of the building. “Special delivery,” he called.

“Thanks man” George smiled a little before nodding, whilst Matt tossed him a covered material from the trunk.

“How’s she doing?” Caleb asked.

“Well, Melanie is still on bed rest.” George shrugged. “And Paige is driving me crazy. Now that she is a bit older, she runs around all the time, messes things up and asks a lot of questions.”

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“See, even younger kids are a handful.” Matt interjected.

“I never said they weren’t, I just meant three is a lot for me.” Caleb clarified. “I don’t think I am cut out to be a single parent for all of them.”

“Hey, at least you can afford help unlike us.” George interjected.

“Right” Matt scoffed as well. While Caleb did miss the three of them hanging together, he certainly didn’t miss the other two ganging up on him. Moments like this made him wonder if he made the right call by making up with George back then. After all it had been a really long time since their feud, holding grudges and having ego beyond that just seemed silly at that point. After all, each of them have been through a lot together, especially after the great war with the Valestines.

Caleb dropped Matt off with his own stuff, before going back to his house. No, not the pack house, but the house Ashton had once chosen to be their home. He was lucky his sister in law, i.e. Ariel was in town to help them out. “I hope it wasn’t much of a trouble?” Caleb asked Riley, who weirdly was accompanying Ariel.

To this day he could never figure out the nature of the relationship they had. Every time someone asked them whether or not those two were dating, they’d both deny it with utter confidence, coercing the questioner to believe them. And yet they were so close with each other that it was hard not to raise suspicion. Those two described their relationship as ‘Really close friends’, but Caleb of course didn’t buy it.

“Well, Carmen is out with Ariel, so I got the little ones. They are so excited.” Riley sighed. “Although I think Connor is a bit upset Ashton won’t be here for the big day.” he shrugged, folding his arms.

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“I know right.” Caleb sighed. “When they met, Connor was so against Ashton… and now I feel like he likes Ashton more than me. Feels weird to be jealous of your own mate.” Caleb shook his head and sighed. “I’ll take care of it. Thanks for watching them.”

“If you don’t mind I’ll wait a little more for Ariel.” Riley asked.

“Sure.” Narrowing his brows, Caleb agreed. It wasn’t long before Ariel arrived with Carmen giggling about something. With their reaction to Caleb it seemed like they didn’t want to tell Caleb what it was all about. He picked them up and drove them home.

While cooking dinner for his kids, his eyes landed on an old picture of himself with his team from his previous precinct. While he loved being a sheriff, after a while it just became too much for him to tackle and therefore he decided to take some time off. He was kind if frustrated with crimes for a while.

At the dinner he noticed that while the girls enjoyed their meal Connor fumbled with his spoon a lot. In order to not draw attention, Caleb gently nudged Connor to eat after which he tucked everyone in the bed individually. He went to Connor’s room the last and waited to tuck him in before he said, “I know you’re missing him. I am as well.”

“It’s just so unfair.” Connor whispered.

“I know” Caleb nodded while patting his son’s head.

“I’m scared” Connor blurted randomly and blushed. Caleb raised an eyebrow due to which Connor continued. “What if I don’t fit in. What if I screw up in this new school? I don’t even know what to do there.” He sighed.

“No one does.” Caleb chuckled softly. “But you get to figure it out gradually. It’s all part of the experience.”

“What if I hate it?”. Connor asked.

“Do you hate your current school?” Caleb asked.

“A little bit”. Connor pouted and turned around.

“Yeah but you also love it a little bit. Give this new school some time and you will realize that this school is not that different from the current one.” With that he went back to the door and whispered. “Good night” before turning off the lights and going to his room.

The next day was crazy enough as it was with so much excitement and nervousness. He single handedly managed to dress Ivy and Carmen up for their special performance at graduation before driving them to the school.

Even though it was a tiny skit, as the turn of his kids approached Caleb could feel his nerves going haywire. Feeling excitement, craziness and even pride even he was close to crying. Just as Caleb felt he was about to explode he felt a soothing and familiar hand grabbing his own and pressing it gently. Turning around, Caleb realized that it was none other than his mate, Ashton.

“How?”

“What? There is no way I’m missing my son’s graduation”! Ashton scoffed and smiled at his mate before turning his face to the stage

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