Page 28 of Spirit Island

Terro’s goldenmask on his face now made perfect sense. His father’s mask wasdistinct, and it was no wonder that everyone who saw Terro knew hisorigins.

The soft knockon her door told her that he was there. She got to her feet andwalked to answer it. She opened the door and pressed a finger toher lips. “He’s napping.”

Andreux noddedand lifted a huge bouquet of flowers to her. “I think if I grovelenough, I might be able to convince you it wasn’t on purpose.”

“He’s adelightful accident, and I had friends who knew what to do so thathe made it here without too much trouble.”

She thanked himand took the flowers, snagging a crystal vase from the ether andfilling it with water. She tucked them into the receptacle andsmiled. “Very pretty.”

He wasstanding, and she finally said, “Can I get you something to eat ordrink?”

“No. I wasgoing to ask you to go out with me, but can I see the video thatwas mentioned?”

She looked athim and nodded. “They pulled snippets together, but the labour anddelivery videos are there. Nora and Luna really pulled methrough.”

She gesturedfor him to take the larger seat, but he settled on the couchinstead. She cast the video to the television, and he leanedforward to watch every minute of it.

It started witha picture of the stick. The two blue lines were unmistakable.

She had done avoiceover that explained the situation.“Coming back from aconference with a bit of swag that I don’t rememberacquiring.”

Andreuxchuckled.

They saw herselfies outside of clinics. The first internal scans of the tinybubble that would be their son.

At the end ofthe first trimester, she had issues. This is where the book clubentered the video, and from then on, it was women giving herenergy, even if some of it was stolen from Elite.

“What are theydoing?”

She saidgently, “Your job. Giving me extra energy to keep growing thelittle guy without him taking all I had.”

“Ah. I am sorryI wasn’t there.”

“Don’t worry. Iwill bring the ladies here, and you can pay them and their familiesback with a few good meals.”

He smiled. “Youare planning to stay?”

“I work forSerin, so yes.”

“How soon can Ipropose?”

She blinked andlaughed as the images progressed to her being near-term.

“Now we get tothe labour and delivery.” She felt something against her hand, andhis fingers sought her out, squeezing her hand gently as a fewminutes of every hour were captured from her checking in to herstanding and rocking on Luna with Nora rubbing her back.

A contact fromher other side heralded Terro’s arrival, and she sniff-checked himbefore letting him climb on her lap. So, they all sat connected asthey watched her moaning in pain before gritting her teeth whileNora encouraged and Luna caught.

Tenec shiftedas he saw her holding their son with his little mask from the dayhe came into the world.

“Oh. You lookso tired.”

She chuckled.“I was, but the rest of the draining part could be shared withothers, and I had plenty of friends to help. Orla is amazing withhim.”

The rest of thevideos were the baby shower, holidays, and first birthdayparty.

Terro crawledover to Tenec and sat on his lap. He sighed and curled against hisfather. Tenec looked to Jane. “Does he do this a lot?”

“He’s veryscent-driven right now. He recognized you.” She smiled.

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