Page 74 of Instant Bond

We’d been waiting to announce the pregnancy, to be sure we were in the safe zone, but after two doctor appointments proclaiming me and the baby to be in glowing health, it was time. We planned on telling Farrah and Tracey today at the party, along with the fact that we were engaged, but it was important to us that Ty knew before anyone.

“Are you ready?” I asked, covering his fingers with mine once the counter was set up.

“I am,” he confirmed. “My parents have been blowing up my phone with messages since I told them we had some news to tell them at the party later.”

I winced, chuckling a little. “They probably think we’re engaged, right?”

We technically were engaged, but that was definitely not the biggest news we had to share. Part of me worried they’d be a little put off that we hadn’t been together long enough to reasonably be having a baby, but I hoped the fact that we’d successfully completed a mate bond would ease any of their would-be concerns.

“That seems to be the primary guess right now,” he said. “They haven’t predicted the right thing yet,” he added, meaning they hadn’t even considered that I’d be pregnant.

“Can we start now?” Ty asked impatiently.

“Actually, we have something we want to talk to you about,” I said. “Let’s sit down for a minute.”

I would have knelt down to talk to him like I sometimes did during an important talk, but I was already struggling with my energy levels and increasingly cumbersome body. With Ty, I’d barely shown at all, even in the later weeks. I’d worn a loose hoodie around town and no one could tell a thing. But as the doctor had warned me would probably happen, my second pregnancy was proving to be way different.

My normally flat belly already had a slight bump, a subtle slope that Karter had already taken to kissing and running his fingers over, kind of possessively, when we were in bed together. When I’d whined about how my body was going to be ruined with stretch marks, he’d only scoffed and told me not to be ridiculous.

Obediently, though not without a bit of disappointed groaning, Ty marched over to the couch and plopped down.

Karter and I glanced at each other again, and I felt unsure of how to start. We’d kind of vaguely and roughly planned the conversation, but there wasn’t exactly a script for me to follow.

“So, you know how in our old apartment, Mrs. Ramos next door was pregnant for a long time, and then she had a baby?”

“I remember,” he said. “She got fat and had to be really careful on the steps.”

I frowned. “She didn’t getfat,” I corrected him. “Being pregnant isn’t the same as being fat. And we don’t comment on anyone’s weight. It’s rude.”

“Well, it looks the same,” he said. Karter cleared his throat, but I saw he was trying not to smirk at my offended tone.

“You know that’s how all babies are made, right? Including you,” Karter said.

“I know,” Ty confirmed, nodding. “I wasn’t trying to be mean. Santa and Mrs. Claus are fat,” he added thoughtfully.

I sighed. “The thing is… I know I don’t look like it yet, but I’m going to have a baby, too.”

“You’re having a baby?” He repeated, his eyes widening, before darting directly to Karter. “You made the new baby with Dad,” he determined. “So it will be yours, too.”

“That’s true,” Karter said, sinking down onto the couch next to Ty. “But actually, about that, there’s something I want to ask you.”

“Me?” He echoed, blinking in surprise.

“Yes. You know you’ll be a big brother to the baby.”

“I’ll take really good care of it and be nice to it and everything, if that’s what you wanted to ask,” Ty said.

Karter smiled, but gently shook his head. “No, I had a feeling you would do that already. What I really want is for you, me, your dad, and the new baby to all be a family together. I really want to adopt you.”

Ty stared at him for a few moments, unblinking, before turning to face me where I was standing at the end of the couch. “I don’t know what adopt means,” he hissed at me, with a bit of urgency.

“Oh,” I realized. “Adopting someone means you want them as your kid,” I explained.

His head whipped back to Karter, who was waiting patiently for his response. “You want to be my dad, too?” He asked, sounding so precious and awed that my eyes welled up with tears. Stupid pregnancy hormones.

“Yeah, buddy. I do. Do you think you’d like that?”

“Yeah!” He answered immediately, without even having to think about it. “And we can still play together and watch movies and everything?”

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