Page 90 of Grave Curse

An hour later, the IV bag was flat, the prenatal horse pills were down my gullet without choking me to death, and the OB/GYN specialist had come and gone, with a scheduled office visit two weeks from now already locked into my phone. A little bottle of orange juice was on a bedside tray table while Tyr got to drink coffee. No more caffeine for me, at least for the next nine months, but that was cool. Any sacrifice at this point was no sacrifice at all.

“How are you feeling, Snap?” He hadn’t let go of my hand throughout much of the time we were there, though thankfully the freaked-out look had slowly melted away while an expression of stunned amazement took its place. I had no doubt I looked the same way. A baby. An actual baby. It had been an abstract concept before, but now it was real, and all at once the excitement and anticipation of bringing our little one into the world and starting our family was so dazzling I couldn’t stop smiling.

“I feel like I could fly.” I just couldn’t stop beaming as I turned to him, dangling my legs off the side of the gurney while we waited for my discharge papers. “We did it, Tyr. We made a baby.”

“We made a family.” He set aside his drink to frame my face in his hands, and tenderly guided my lips to his. “What do you say we go ahead and make it even more official and get married?”

I caught my breath, shocked. Hopefully I wouldn’t screw up this perfect moment by fainting again. “Married?”

“Yeah. A quick civil ceremony or a hugely extravagant affair fit for a warrior goddess, you decide. I’m good with whatever.”

“But… people from our world don’t usually get married.”

“I know my parents weren’t married, and neither were Audrey and Hades. But Romeo and Shy are married. Misty and Lasso are married. Same with Zee and Ana-Sofia. Come on, say yes. You’ve already got my baby—or babies—so take my name. Take me as your husband, to have and to hold for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part. Say yes, Snap.”

“Yes,” I whispered, while my eyes stung with all the burgeoning joy in my heart. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Tyr. But let’s make it a quick civil ceremony, if that’s okay. We’ve got a ton of things to do now that we’re pregnant.”

He blinked. “Like what?”

“Like, I don’t know… Get a house, maybe? All I’ve got is the loft. You’ve got your cinderblock bunker in the Gravedigger compound. Neither place has walls. Shouldn’t a kid have their own room? Shouldn’twehave our own room so we can have the privacy to make more babies? I wouldn’t know, I’ve never done this before.”

“Marriage first,” he determined with a resolute nod of his head. “Then a new house. Trust me, Snap, Come hell or high water, I’m going to find our new little family the home of our dreams.”

*

Six months later

“Three heartbeats. Three babies. Three boys. And no house.” As Tyr and I sat together at the kitchen island, I stared at the listings on my laptop in growing despair. “I’m beginning to think this is hopeless. But hey, the loft is fine, right? Five people, no bedrooms, one and a half baths. It’ll be fine, yeah? What could go wrong?”

It had been a wild ride since I conked my noggin in the hospital cafeteria. Creating brand-new humans was a big deal, and it took a ridiculous amount of my energy as I’d worked on redoing the interior of Vixen’s Den with Roxie’s invaluable help. Somewhere in there, Tyr and I had also exchanged vows in the County courthouse, with all my girlies, his brother Loki, and all the Gravedigger officers in attendance. Come to find out, the judge who officiated our civil ceremony recognized Ashtray as someone he’d sentenced to three months in jail for a bar fight he’d had several years ago, and they hit it off like two old high school buddies. Loki brought his entire family, and his kids—Cyrus, Alexander and Catherine—were as rambunctious as any ten children under the age of six. My favorite photoof our ceremony was the moment Tyr and I sealed our union with a kiss, with Roxie, Misty, Shiloh and Mabel beaming, Loki clapping and Romeo and Ashtray cheering, and Loki’s boys playing chase while Loki’s wife Alice tried to catch the boys in the foreground. It was a moment of pure chaos, so naturally I had it blown up as large as possible and had it framed.

Now I just needed a freaking wall to hang it on.

“Snap, listen to me.” Taking my hand, Tyr pressed a kiss first to my knuckles, then the cup of my palm. “I don’t want you to stress about this, all right? Remember what the doctor said—at this point, the most important thing for you to do is avoid huge mood swings and upheaval, especially stress.”

“See, that’s why I wanted to have us moved by now. The third trimester is supposed to be the most difficult for multiple pregnancies, so stress was one thing I was trying to avoid.”

“Okay.” With the air of a man determined to just get shit done no matter what, Tyr turned to my laptop, read a few listings, then clicked on one. “What about this one? Central location and it’s a good price, well within our budget.”

“I liked that one, too,” I said, smiling. It was good that our tastes were so similar. “It’s on the eastside approach to O’Hare. Go on Reddit and you’ll find it’s the noisiest neighborhood in Chicago. Also, I don’t like being that close to where the old Chicago Gravediggers used to be.”

“Department of Chicago Aviation bought up all that land from Red Flag to make it into airplane hangars and possible expansion for O’Hare. Rooster Juice, the Chicago Gravedigger hangout, the Rumpus Room… all of it is gone now, baby girl. Done and dusted.”

Not in my mind. “The noise level is something I’d like to avoid, though, so maybe another neighborhood?”

“How about this?” He clicked on one, and another familiar listing popped up. Seriously, I loved being so in sync with myman. “Check it out, it’s got four bedrooms, two baths—we could always look into installing a third bathroom as the boys get bigger—and it’s built on a half-acre lot. And it’s in Hyde Park, which is where Loki lives, so he and Alice would only be a shout-out away.”

“My biological father moved to Hyde Park about three years ago. I’ve made sure I know where that asshole lives, so I never run into him on accident,” I added when he looked to me with raised brows. “After all, that bastard did warn me to stay the hell away from him or he’d call the cops on me, and since he called me a mistake to my face literally minutes after I told him my mother was dead, I never want to see that guy again.”

“So we’re just never going to go to Hyde Park?”

“We can visit Loki and Alice, sure. But I’d never stop to get gas there or go into a neighborhood grocery store on the off-chance I’d run into Brody McSwain. He’d call the cops on me in an instant, pissy little bitch that he is.”

“Brody McSwain.” Tyr’s upper lip curled. “Fucking guy even has a douchey name.”

“Yeah, so Hyde Park is a no-go for me.” I yawned suddenly, then rolled my eyes. Ever since I got pregnant, it was insane how often I just straight-up fell asleep wherever I was. When I’d literally fallen asleep at the kitchen island while chopping vegetables for dinner, Tyr made me promise to get horizontal whenever I felt the need. “Babe, I think it’s naptime. I’m sorry, but can we talk about this later? I’m sure there’s a house out there that’s big enough, has the right amount of bathrooms, is in a good neighborhood with the right schools, and in our price range, but right now I can barely keep my eyes open.”

“Sleep is good, stressing is bad. You can’t stress when you sleep, so I’m all for you napping.” He got to his feet, then took my hands to help me slide off my stool. My baby bump—which was seriously impressive even at just six months—brushed historso as he leaned down to kiss me. “I’ll keep looking while you snooze. Don’t worry, Snap, I’ve got this.”

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