Page 12 of Her Shifter Babe

“You’ll want to open that now.” Tommy gestured with a grin. “Because I didn’t tell you everything we saw at the early scan.”

Nancy’s brow creased as she opened the envelope and pulled out the contents. A single ultrasound image. She stared at it for several long moments as silence descended upon the room. “Is that...?” She pointed at the picture, her eyes like saucers.

“I can’t say for certain,” Tommy announced, “but I’m pretty sure that you are carrying the next set of perfect pair boys in the family!”

“Oh my God!” Nancy cried, clasping her hands to her cheeks, gobsmacked as the room erupted with delighted laughter and riotous cheering once more.

Nancy was snatched up by her proud husbands, who kissed and hugged her like she was the queen of their world and just made them the happiest men on Earth.

Tommy walked back to me, his hands shoved into his pants pockets. “I’ve been holding onto that secret all week,” he shared with me, a twinkle in his eye.

I smiled at him but wasn’t sure how to process all the emotions coursing through me. This was a lot to take in on top of being six months pregnant. “I think I need to sit down,” I said.

“Okay, no problem. Where do you want to go?” he asked.

“My room,” I answered, not even thinking about it before the words spilled from my lips. “Would you mind grabbing me a soda, please?” My stomach liked the fizzy bubbles for some reason. They seemed to help whenever nausea struck.

Tommy grabbed a drink from one of the buckets of ice, and we headed upstairs.

I didn’t know why he was following me, but we probably needed to talk more, I imagined. Thankfully, I’d made the bed again after my nap, so everything looked neat and tidy. I sat down on the floral comforter and took a steadying breath.

Tommy stood by the door, clearly not wanting to overstep the mark on my personal space. “Can I stay for a moment?” he asked.

“Sure,” I said, gesturing to the armchair in the corner of the room. “It looks like Nancy is happy to allow me to stay here for a while, which is nice of her.”

“It is,” Tommy said, before passing me my soda and sitting down. “Can you tell me more about your situation, Stacey? I mean... I love that you came all this way to tell me about our baby face to face, but do you have to leave again at some point? Do you have family waiting, or anything to get back to?” he asked.

I shook my head, then took a sip of the refreshing beverage. “No, nothing like that. My parents are elderly now and can’t really help me. I was working on a casual basis, but as soon as my pregnancy became obvious, I was no longer needed.”

I raised my gaze to meet his eyes and my anxiety came flooding back at what I had to admit next. “I was married,” I stuttered, tripping over the words. “He wasn’t very... nice to me, so I ran away. And that was the night I met you. I was hiding, looking for somewhere safe to stay for a while and wandered into the hotel to book a room.”

Tommy chuckled. “And you literally ran into me in the foyer,” he recalled.

I gulped and nodded my head. “You... you saved my life in a lot of ways that night, Tommy.” I’d wanted to tell him so many times, so I paused to make sure I got it out right. “I’d managed to pack everything I needed in my car, but my ex is, well was very persistent about getting me back at the time, and I was afraid. But that night we spent together? You showed me what passion could be and what kindness was. I... could never go back after having experienced that. That’s why I set out to find you.”

Tommy stood up and moved over to my bed. He sat down next to me and put his arm around me, not speaking, just offering me his physical strength and silent comfort as my past haunted me.

I dropped my head onto his shoulder as if it was the most natural thing in the world and closed my eyes. It had been a very long, very tiring six months of travel and fear. But if I was lucky, if I could accept all this... “perfect pairs” business, it was beginning to look like I’d finally reached my destination.

My baby and I are finally safe.

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