Page 28 of Iced Heat

That word was all it took for Xav to set my feet back on the floor and go to the fridge. That would become our routine for the next few weeks. As eager as I was to have a permanent home before we had our first kid, I wasn’t eager to give up our solitudejust yet. I couldn’t imagine when we’d have another chance to spend this much time alone together.

Only, then came the cravings. I wanted to eat everything in sight. At first, Xav was over the moon. He thought that’s just how we dragons were and that I’d finally recovered from my heat cycle. Only, I’d been back to normal for over a week by the time the insatiable hunger started. I was three days into ordering out for full course meals in between the ones Xav and I cooked together before I started putting the pieces of the puzzle into the right slots.

“Shit!” I said, swallowing nearly a whole slice of pineapple pizza in one bite.

“What? Are you choking?” Xav glanced up from the smutty book he was reading.

“No! Shit! Good shit!” I said, fanning my tongue. That cheese was scorching.

“Mate? Are you alright?” he sat his book down and slid across the room to me.

Once there, he blew an icy puff of air onto my tongue, and I sighed in relief.

“That cheese tried to murder my tongue!” I laughed.

“You gotta blow on it first, babe,” he kissed the tip of my nose.

“I know! You taught me that already,” I mock whined, and we both laughed. “I think I know why I’m eating the universe and it’s not because I’m a dragon. Well, it sort of is because I’m a dragon but not because I’m a dragon.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Xav eyed me up and down as if he’d missed something really obvious.

“I am. I think… Shit! I don’t want to get your hopes up but I think I’m pregnant or with egg or however you want to say it. Well, I’m not even sure which way it’ll be. Shit! I know there’s a healer on the island but --- How do I not have a doctor I prefer? I don’t even know who to call or what the next step is.”

“Hey now,” Xav said softly, moving the pizza box back further on the table and leaning against its edge. He cupped my chin and held onto it until I met his gaze. “You know what’s next. I run out to the pharmacy and buy a pregnancy test. That’s the next step. If you don’t want to do it that way we call the clinic and see when they can get you in for an ultrasound or we make Teddy bring over one of those sonic things they use to find out if dragons are with eggs over there. We have options and any of them can come next. Well, second next.”

“What? What’s first next?” I blinked at him.

“Eating your pizza. You’re always anxious when you’re hungry. So tell me which one you want and then finish your pizza.”

“You really wouldn’t mind running out for the test?” I asked him.

“I’ll even buy two if you want to make sure the first one isn’t a dirty, rotten liar.”

I rested my head against his stomach, and he rubbed my shoulders. I wasn’t sure whether I hoped for an egg or a live birth. I wasn’t sure about anything except I wanted to be excited. I was excited in a very literal way but also it meant the time had come that I had to get my scaley tail in gear and pack up what I needed from my London house.

***

An hour later, we were in the bathroom and Xav watched me pee on a stick. I wasn’t sure what color to expect the pixelated baby to be anymore. Medical technology moved faster than I cared to keep up with. All I needed was a yes or no. Usually, I didn’t mind all the extras but right now I needed the facts.

“Are you nervous or excited?” Xav asked, leaning over to sniff the crook of my neck.

“Both.”

“More of which one?” he asked.

“I’m not nervous about the actual baby. Not the baby who will be here, cuddly, and grow into a person. I’m worried about all the stuff we have to get done and how I’m going to be as a pregnant carrier and…” I let my words trail off. I wanted to say I was worried about everything else.

“We’ll get it all done. Even if I have to do most of it myself. I’m sure we’ll have help but if not, we’ll make do. We make pretty good partners, you know, and not just in the bedroom, either.”

I let out a long, slow breath. He was right. Of course, he was right. I blinked hard to keep from crying. Daliah had gone through this too when Rosemary got pregnant. Mum wouldn’t be here to see the babies. Technically, Nelum was here. So Mum was here but Nelum wasn’t exactly Mum.

“I’d offer to lend you mine, but she is very defective,” Xav said, trying to lighten the mood.

I laughed despite the nerves twisting around inside me. The timer on my phone sounded off and I nearly knocked the little, disposable cup with the test in it off the counter. There they were. The little pixelated baby all wrapped up in a yellow blanket. Had they circled back around to the original color when I wasn’t looking? Probably. They must have, right?

“We’re gonna be parents,” I said.

Xav pulled me into a tight hug before I rambled about everything we had to get done before the baby arrived. I opened my mouth to say our first order of business was telling my dad to hurry up with the house but he spoke before I had the chance.

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