Page 24 of No Room at Dragon's Landing

“I’ll take a ball of yarn, but how about I knit up some washcloths. I can do squares. I can do rectangles. Booties are a few steps past my skill set.”

The only reason I knew how to do that much was because she insisted on teaching me anytime I helped her at the front desk. I didn’t think she so much wanted to impart wisdom on the younger generations as she loved working with the fibers, and, if I was doing it, it gave her a good excuse to do it too.

“Tell me about your back. What kind of a pain is it? Like you pulled it, like you fell, like you’re 1000 years old?”

“Well, I’ve never been 1000 years old, so likely not that. I probably just worked too hard—”

“Stand up a second.” Gods, she could be bossy.

I did, and she put her hands on my belly and pressed down round and round and round.

“You didn’t feel them turn?”

“Turn? No. Should I have?”

It had been difficult for me never feeling our baby kick. Every paternity group I was in was filled with dads talking about how wonderful it was. I just needed to remind myself that our baby was protected by a shell and was probably kicking up a storm in there. But now, hearing they turned and I didn’t feel it, maybe I wouldn’t have felt their kicks either.

“They do that, yeah, and usually people feel it?” She crooked her finger. “Let me see your mark.”

I ducked down.

“Huh. The glitter’s a little flakier. I’m guessing today is the day.”

“The day?”

“Yeah, the day you lay those eggs.” She always acted like we knew what the rest of her thoughts were and then blurted them out like this. I didn’t mind most of the time, but when it came to this pregnancy, some clear communication would’ve been nice.

“It can’t be. I’m not due for another two months.”

“You’re thinking in terms of human time again. Two months in the eggs after they’re out. Did you not listen to my discussion at all?”

“Discussion? You mean lecture.”

She shrugged.

“And at the time, I kind of thought you were kidding.”

She set her knitting down. “Come on. Off you go back home. I’m getting your mate. How long has your back been hurting?”

“Maybe an hour. But I did kind of move some stuff around.” She didn’t need to know it was a full-ass rug.

“By moving stuff around, do you mean getting your nest ready?” She pinched the bridge of her nose. Maybe if she didn’t talk in riddles, I’d have known what to tell her or not tell her.

“Yeah, that’s what I meant.”

“So, it means your body was telling you the babies are coming, and now your body’s still telling you the babies are coming. So go home, wait for your mate, and probably quarter past dinnertime, we’ll have some beautiful eggs.”

I didn’t argue with her. This didn’t feel like any kind of labor I knew, but the only labor I knew was from television and had to do with humans giving birth to humans, not people giving birth to eggs. So, what did I know?

I waddled back, and my mate got there before I did.

“Did you run?” I kissed his cheek.

“Of course I did.” He opened the door for me. “Let’s get you ready. This comes pretty quickly when it’s time. We didn’t get the nesting done, so what do you think about using our bed?”

“Look in the closet.”

I walked behind him as he made his way into the bedroom and stopped as his gaze fell to the bed. He didn’t say a word about the mess there, instead heading into the closet.

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