Page 47 of Call Don't Fall

“I’m the territorial one. My wolf isn’t keen on having anyone inside the den.”

“Well, tell him unless he wants to give birth in a makeshift den at the hospital, I’m coming in.”

Chasten grumbled and I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. He’d let her in of course because he wanted to give birth at home. We’d already bought a birthing pool and installed it. I didn’t blame him at all for not wanting to be at a hospital at the mercy of so many staff members for one of the most painful and beautiful experiences of his life.

“Ready?” Doctor Dreala asked Chasten, holding up the handheld machine.

“Peer inside me, oh mighty doctor,” he said, a smile pulling at the corners of his lips.

As soon as the machine came on, I couldn’t look away from the monitor. There our baby was in almost real-life color – little fists curled up and toes stretched out as if they might take off and swim any second now. The wand moved revealing that if Chasten’s statistics were correct our probability of being peed on while we changed diapers were drastically lower than it might’ve otherwise been.

“A little girl!” Chasten announced, his eyes shining with happy tears.

His scent burst into joy at seeing her there on the screen. I squeezed his hand and kissed it. Then I kissed his forehead or at least tried to but he dodged to keep watching the monitor.

“Delanie?” he asked me.

I thought about it for a long second before I said anything. We didn’t know the Delanie who went through her door after the accident. We’d never know if she’d find us using her name flattering or theft. She was beyond all that now if all the lore and modern stories about the Other World were to be believed. Still, she was the one who reminded us how important each tiny second was in our lives no matter how insignificant they felt in the moment.

“Delanie,” I nodded.

“Delanie Hope,” Chasten said.

“I like it,” Doctor Dreala chimed in. “You can take all the time you need. I’m going to print out your sonograms and update your file. I’ll email you an appointment date for when I’ll swing by to check out the birthing room. I’ll do my best to do it in time for you guys to have time to make any changes that might be needed. Keep doing your stretches, please and thank you.”

“I don’t know how she says all that without taking a breath,” Chasten laughed once we were alone.

“She’s a dragon. Probably doesn’t have to breathe all that often,” I laughed and stole a kiss.

“She’s beautiful – Delanie Hope.”

“The most beautiful girl in the world,” I said and stole another kiss.

“If you keep kissing me she’s gonna get a roommate.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works,” I laughed.

“Well, I think it might,” he teased and reached down and grabbed my ass.

We shared a long, slow kiss before he righted his clothes and sat up.

“I can’t wait to find out who our baby is. I feel an ache here,” he said, tapping at the hollow of his chest. “I miss her even though I’ve never met her. I didn’t even know that was possible.”

“She’ll be here before you know it.”

“She better, but if she has my sense of timing she might run late.”

“Well, we’ll just have to wait for her then, huh?” I smirked.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chasten

We left the lot without buying a truck. I was starting to think maybe Kirk was too picky for his own good but as long as he was willing to drive my car around, I wouldn’t rush him too much. After all, we’d already had one of the backseats fitted with a newborn car seat.

“What are you looking for really?” I asked him as we pulled out of the lot.

“I’ll know when I see it. It’s an important decision. I don’t swap out vehicles all the time. I find one and stick with it. So whatever I buy we’ll have to like for a long time. Both of the ones I liked didn’t have much leg room in the back and Delanie Hope won’t be a tiny baby forever. She’ll need leg room eventually. Plus, by three she’d be able to kick the shit out of the seats easily if we went with either of them. The van was nice but had kidnapper vibes. Imagine pulling up to preschool to pick her up in a van like that.”

---