Our Life Together

Over The Next Few Weeks

Today is the day of the gender reveal party. Of course, I had to be carried to the backyard for the party. I hate being on bed rest, but I know that is for the pups that I am carrying. I have never liked to be the center of attention. Today, I know that my belly and I are going to be just the center of attention. I told William that, "I didn't want to be at the center of everyone's attention and people touching me all the entire time, especially while I was pregnant. " I had already known that, which was what was going to happen. He said that "you were the one that wanted to have this party." That meant that I had to attend it. I told him in response, "I knew that I was the one who wanted the party, but I thought that we could have it on our floor so that I didn't have to be carried everywhere I wanted to go." He told me that the whole pack would not be able to attend then because not everyone would be able to fit on our floor. I told him that I knew that too. I was just getting tired of being carried everywhere. He also told me as we were going down the stairs to go outside that today was my idea and that he and I knew that everyone in attendance would do anything that I asked of them and more if they needed to. All I could say in response was shake my head. Yes. We were almost outside when I started to see all the decorations and how everything looked. That made me want to cry just knowing that everything was so beautiful. William told me that everything was done by the whole pack and that my sisters did the biggest part of it. William always knows just what to say to make me feel better.

As soon as I saw all the decorations and how the whole pack was gathered to celebrate me and the pups I was carrying, it made me want to cry again. They had chairs set in a huge semicircle with one in the middle for me to sit in and mine looked crazy comfortable. Everything was done in blue and pink for boys and girls. There was a huge 9-tier cake that I was sure had pink and blue-colored cake inside to tell us what we were having, at one end of a gigantic table that seemed to go on and on forever. There were pink and blue balloons that said boy and girl on them. In the human world, baby showers are mainly held by just women, but in the werewolf realm, we have men attend as well. We do all the same games and everything humans do, we do them just a little differently. It gives us a chance to come together as a pack and just celebrate together. As William sat me down in my chair, he told everyone that I was really sensitive. I looked at him and gave him the biggest smile that I could get on my face. I was truly happy with the way my life was going and the people I got to spend it with. My wonderful husband, our great teenagers, and our soon-to-be pups. I began to think of when the older kids were babies and how joyful William and I were and still are. We started playing games that were related to the genders of the pups. William and I got to open the presents for the new pups, but what the older kids don't know is that there is something for them to get while we are opening the gifts for the babies. After we opened all the presents and got our fill of the food, we started trying to figure out the genders of the new pups. We had this game where we had to pop a series of balloons to get the genders. We knew that we were having three babies. We didn't know if all three were boys or girls or if we were going to have a boy and two girls or two boys and a girl. So the balloons were supposed to help find that out.

They had boxes that had splatters of blue and pink all over them, and they told us that, along with the cake, that we were going to have two girls and one boy. After we had cake and opened all the presents, William told me and the older kids and the rest of the pack that there was a surprise for all of us just around the corner. He picked me up and carried me to where I saw a small barnyard in the middle of the first clearing just inside the woods beside our house. There is even a playground on the other side of the clearing and a few fields just big enough to put a few horses in, but then I see one with some cows and other farm animals in it. The little barnyard reminded me of when my sisters and I were young, and we helped out with some farm animals.

I looked at William and asked if we could afford a farm and all the animals that were there that we had seen so far. His reply was "let's go look in the barn". As a couple, warriors opened the door to a barn that held about 60 horses and there might have been more that I just hadn't seen yet. Outside the barn on the backside there were a few toys and things for the kids and the whole pack to use. I told William to put me on my feet and that it would not hurt me if I was on my feet for a few minutes. When I saw a chestnut-red head with a star in the middle of its head, I thought for a second that it was a horse that I worked with when I was younger named White Wall Crown, but I didn't think that it could be him. I started to get teary-eyed as I walked over to him, and noticed that he had all four feet that were white up his legs, about 1/4th of the way up. I knew then that it had to be him and that it didn't look like he had aged much at all in 30 years. Even though it was impossible to be him, I still thought that it was just for a minute, and then I decided to look under his lip for a tattoo. Sure enough, there was one, and when one of my pack members asked why I had done that, I told them that is what you will see if a horse has ever had a job racing, and they all looked at me like I was crazy. So I told them that some people use horses and other animals like this to make a lot of money from them. When they get too old for their job, people will either get rid of the animals or, if they are able to, they will use them for another job of making more to keep making even more money from their kids.

I asked William and the one warrior that walked up and handed me some files for each of the animals and on the front of the folder was a picture of an auction house that is also a slaughterhouse. William walked over to me and told me that he remembered all the stories that my sisters, mom, dad, and I used to tell him about working with horses and other animals. William told me that there was enough for every pack member to get one horse that they would be responsible for and that the kids and their mates could also pick one, and we would help them start to form a bond with them. Only after we helped get the bond started would it be up to them to finish out the training and to get the bond solidified. Everyone agreed and went to see which horse was going to be a match for them and find out what they needed to do to start getting them used to being loved again. I asked our warrior Bobby about these horses and other animals, and he said that he bought the auction/slaughterhouse, and they are going to turn it into a place for animals to come to if their owners don't want them anymore. He also asked me if we could make that a business for him to be owner of, and I told him that was a great idea and that when the papers came through that we would put him down as owner and operator of the whole place. William told him that he thought that was a great idea and that if he needed any help with the remodel, he could let him know, and he would be happy to help.

I was so happy to have my very own horse friend and Star was too. She asked me if we could get him out and go running with him soon. I told her that after the pups were born and if he was feeling up to it and if she eased up on making my headache even worse, then we could go for a run with him. She was so happy with my response that she started doing small jumps and howls in my head. I saw something that made me start thinking of the best name for him and that was that he was a gelding (meaning that he can't reproduce). I asked Bobby if any of the horses and other animals had names, and he told me that he didn't think that they did, because when he asked about them, the people just told him that they were nasty, dirty, unfit for anything but the slaughterhouse to be killed. When our kids heard this, they immediately got all fired up and ready to put someone in pain. Even though we can't harm humans except if they try to harm us first. By now, everyone had found their horse and was trying to get them to trust them. I told everyone that it might take some time for them to learn to trust anyone ever again, but this will be where they live out the rest of their lives and will know that they are loved unconditionally. I told everyone that we were going to have a vet come out and check them out and make sure that they were all healthy and if they needed to have any medication or anything, we were going to have it done.

They all looked a little on the skinny side. William said that they were on the way with hay straw and grains for all the animals. I was so happy to have the family and friends that I have. Just like my sisters and I did when we were young, I told the teenagers that they would also be able to pick a horse, that after some training they would have to continue with the training, and they would be able to name the horse, and they would be responsible for the upkeep of their horse. Everyone asked me if I was going to name my sweet horse and I told them that I wanted to see how he acted out in the field, then I would think of a name for him. I looked at him, and he looked at me and I knew that he knew that he was safe, and he would be loved by all of us, most especially me. I asked him if I would put a lead on him, if he would allow someone to walk him for me, and he stepped back so that I could get into the stall. Then I clipped the lead on him, and when I started to walk out of the stall, it was then I think he realized that I was heavily pregnant because he would not allow anyone else to lead him out of the barn. Even after William picked me up, he still walked right beside us and kept watching my belly the whole walk and that was about a 2-minute walk. Once we got onto the field, I undid the lead and took off his halter and told him to go have fun and that I would be right here waiting for him to come back, and we would go back inside to have some dinner and get some rest. He took off like a bullet, running around and just getting to be a horse for the first time. I didn't know how long he was at the auction/slaughterhouse, but it seemed like it was a long time.

I knew my dad had said something, but I could not make out what it was that he was talking about until he walked over to the bale of hay that I was sitting on. He told me that this horse reminded him of another horse that we had seen once. He told me that he thought his name was White Wall Crown and that the only difference between this horse and him was that the other one was a stallion and not a gelding. I thought so too, but I thought that there were too many similarities between the two. I decided that when he came back over to me that I was going to look under his top lip to see if there was a tattoo or not. If so, then we should know if this horse was the one we think he is or not. If there was a tattoo, then we would know what his name was, and we would know where he came from. When he walked over to me, he nudged my shoulder with his head. He wanted me to pet him and I put his halter back on him and asked if I could see the inside of his top lip, and he actually showed it to me. As I was petting him, I let him know that he didn't have to feel scared or worried anymore. Neither do any of the other animals that we now have. I asked him if he liked the name White Wall Crown. We watched his eyes light up, and he started to neigh and whinny at me, telling me that that was to be his name from now on. Everyone that was standing around us started to get worried about me getting hurt or something. The only two that weren't really worried were my dad and William. The reason we were not worried was that we were used to it.

I told him that it was time to go back to the barn for the night, but we could come back out for the day if it was nice out. I clipped the lead to him and handed it to my dad so that he could walk him for me, but he would not take a step for him. Dad handed me back the lead, and he walked right with William and me. I looked over to the right side of the barn and saw about 3 kennels and runs for more animals. I saw a bunch of younger pups and even our teenagers playing around with some dogs and cats and other animals. I told them that it was time for dinner and that we could all come out and play with all the animals tomorrow after breakfast. After putting White Wall Crown back in his stall, we walked back to the house. I asked Bobby to look up the number that I saw under his lip and that number was 16479. He told me that he had found it. What he found shocked all of us. He was definitely a race horse, but he didn't win much. He was used when breeding mares more than anything. He produced a few good foals, but when he went back to racing he couldn't win anything. It was like his head just wasn't into the game anymore. His breed was a standard-bred race horse, meaning he pulled an open-seat cart at top speed around a racetrack. I asked William and Bobby, "How did all these animals get here without me knowing that it was going on?" They told me that they did it while they were doing the remodel of the house.