Page 48 of Used By the Unicorn

I stand, holding the dress against my bump.

Kalli gasps. “You are! You look so beautiful. I’m going to make you so many cute maternity clothes! Oh, my god. I foundthe cutest fabric the other day for a little dress. Only, obviously, I don’t know if we’re having a boy or a girl. Rin says a girl, but I can’t tell if he’s just fucking with me, or if he actually knows.”

We talk baby clothes and pregnancy cravings, and by the time we’ve finished our first iced lattes, I’m wondering why I ever waited. We order the next ones decaf, which hurts my soul a little bit, but I’m going to be a good mom.

“I think I’d better start advertising,” Kalli says. “We’re going to need more staff at Oniero.”

“Sorry.” I look down into my cup feeling another surge of guilt.

“Don’t be sorry. Your job will be here when you’re ready to come back to work. It had to happen eventually. I’m looking at it as expanding. We’ll find a way to make it work.”

Stirling calls out as soon as I enter the house.

“How did it go?” He trots into the entryway and scoops me into his arms for a firm hug.

“I was worried about nothing,” I admit.

“Told you.”

I scoff. “You’d see sunshine and roses in a graveyard, Stirling.”

He shrugs. “Graveyards are pretty.”

“Well, Kalli was lovely, and actually, she had news for me.”

“Oh, really?”

“She’s pregnant, too!”

I fill him in on all our gossip as we walk into the living room. Bliss is on her belly, cooing softly. She looks up and smiles when I come in and I get the same rush of excitement I get every time.

I’m about to bend down to tickle her cheek, when a sudden cramp makes me wince.

“What is it?” Stirling’s hand on my back reminds me how much he’s been fussing lately. He insists on making alicorn for me, even though I feel guilty drinking it. I’ve been saving the powder. I figure I’ll keep it, in case I really need it. Or if Sapphy gets pregnant again. Not like I can make alicorn. I’m the weak link.

“Nothing.” I breathe deep and the feeling passes.

I get down on the ground to play with Bliss and forget about the cramp. Just another shitty pregnancy gripe. One of many. I’ve lost count of the number of things bugging me about being pregnant.

That night the cramping returns. It’s really not even as bad as menstrual cramps I used to get as a teenager. So, I suck it up and don’t say anything to Stirling. I don’t want him to worry.

I’m sure it will pass by morning.

TWENTY

Jade

I’m woken bythud thud thudfrom the front door. I groan and reluctantly open my eyes to squint at my phone. What the hell? It’s one am!

“The spare key is under the rock, Boaz,” Stirling mumbles, half asleep.

I shake him. “I don’t think it’s Boaz.”

He sits with a long intake of breath, his mane all rumpled. “Who the—”

The pounding starts up again along with a niggling feeling deep in my gut. Pregnancy hormones, right? Weird nausea can usually be put down to that.

I twist and slip out of bed, then go to the bedroom door to look down the stairs. The porch light is off. From down the hall, Boaz groans. “If they wake Bliss again—”

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