Page 121 of Breeding Clinic

“Then you’ll have everything you want,” Liam says, pulling his phone from his pocket. He stoops over me for a kiss, then brushes a hand over our daughter’s head and dials our favorite delivery place.

Waffles follows us into the room, sniffing curiously. He hops up on the side table next to my chair and stares at Holly. I pull the edge of her swaddling cloth down so he can see her face. “Here’s your new sister. What do you think?”

Waffles purrs, sitting regally, and watches me nurse my daughter. I like to think that means he approves.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

GABRIEL

“I got the cabbages,”Matthew says, showing off the round green heads of cabbage he bought. They’re not to eat. The cold leaves go in Kat’s bra to dry up her milk. Her supply dropped when we added solids to Holly’s diet so we’ve decided to supplement with formula and go ahead with making baby number two. Holly turned six months two days ago. It’s breeding time. “Do you really think this works?”

“Who knows?” I say. “But it can’t hurt.”

“Do they go in the fridge or freezer?” he asks.

Uhhhh… Hmm. “Let me look it up.”

Liam pokes his head into the kitchen, a giggly baby girl on his hip. “Oh, good. You got them.”

“The internet says they go into the fridge until she’s ready to nurse, then the leaves go in the freezer for after,” I say. “It should dry her milk up in a few days.”

“And then how long before she goes into heat?” Matthew asks.

I think about it. “Hmm. Two to four weeks. Her body will be ready to breed again once her hormone levels drop. Omegas are hyperfertile.”

My groin tightens in anticipation. It’ll be her first heat with all three of us. I can’t wait to breed her.

“Are you excited?” Liam asks.

“You know I am,” I answer with a grin.

“Now, we have a very important task to get back to, don’t we, Holly? Those bubbles won’t blow themselves.” Liam carries her back to the living room.

Holly babbles at her Daddy, as if she’s answering his question. I follow them and watch. Liam dips the bubble wand into the bottle and blows them over Holly’s head. She grabs at them, her movements slow and uncoordinated. When she finally manages to catch one and it pops, she giggles with delight.

“I’m home!” Kat calls from the entryway. Waffles runs through the house, meowing and his tail quivering with excitement. He’s joined a minute later by our dog, Syrup. A good name for our rescued Golden Retriever. She ruffles the dog’s fur. “Hi, Waffles. Hey, Syrup. Did you two have dinner yet?”

“He did!” Matthew yells from the kitchen. “Don’t let Waffles convince you he needs a second dinner. I’m putting him on a diet.”

Waffles meows, as if in protest. But Matthew is right. The cunning cat has gotten a bit chubby. With four people to lie to and convince he hasn’t gotten fed yet, he’s sneaking extra meals from us. We need to hang up a flippable sign or something. Syrup sits and lets out a soft woof as if she agrees.

Kat picks Waffles up and pets him, then joins us in the living room. She kisses Holly’s cheek. “Hi, baby. Did you have a good day with your daddies?”

Holly babbles in response, reaching for her mommy’s loose hair and getting a good fistful of it. She’s been grabbing at everything she sees lately. Being handed something to hold is the new favorite game. I root through the baby’s toy box and find her plastic keys, then jiggle them to catch her interest.Holly drops the hair for the toy and promptly brings it to her mouth for gumming.

“How did your writer’s club meeting go?” Matthew asks, greeting her with a kiss.

“It was great!” she says. “There was a new writer there. We talked about marketing for a bit, then everyone hung out and wrote. I didn’t get much done, the bookstore was kind of noisy, but it was nice to meet someone new.”

Waffles meows and fidgets so she puts him down. I pull her in for a kiss and wrap an arm around her. “That’s great,meu docinho. We got the cabbages. Are you ready?”

She pulls a bottle of pills from her purse and rattles them. “I called Dr. Fugo and picked up the prescription on my way home. I get blood work done in three days, and then he said it’s okay to start the next cycle right away. He also said it should be an easy cycle since my hormones are already primed.”

I can’t wait.

When Kat startsto have trouble sleeping, her body becoming restless, we know it’s close. It starts on Friday so we stay home and wait. Make sure we have everything ready. Even before her temperature spikes and her face flushes with the hormone swing.

Auntie Jen takes Holly for a few days. The fridge is stocked with omega protein water. The nest is freshly laundered. And we all have a week of heat leave scheduled with our jobs.

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