Page 48 of Harvest Moon

His eyes rounded at the mere implication of losing Claudia, and he shot up. “An abortion. We could—”

“Absolutely not!” she hissed back, glaring at him.

“I can’t—” His voice cracked, breath catching on the word, and he looked away. “I can’t do anything without you, much less raise a baby. I’m notmewithout you.”

It seemed incredibly sweet to me, his concern, but Claudia wasn’t having it. “Don’t you give me that toxic bullshit, Birch Wilson. I love you too, but you would survive without me. For the baby.”

“While I appreciate the gravity of this discussion,” Alpha Grove interrupted. “Given what we do know about the Condition, it’s not likely that we’ll lose Claudia and not the baby.”

“But if we—” Birch started, apparently having decided to try his luck with the abortion argument again.

I was probably in a sappy romantic mood, making moon eyes at every gesture I interpreted as romantic, but I appreciated it on Claudia’s behalf. She was as invested in having a baby as Birch was, so she couldn’t see that the man was offering to give up a dream to keep her with him. It was a little patronizing, sure, but his heart was in the right place.

Plus I knew damn well he’d never try to make a decision without her input. If he were that kind of man, he wouldn’t be married to my cousin.

“If she’s sick, she’s already sick,” I broke in. “You can’t go back in time and decide the pregnancy is a bad idea. We just have to be careful starting now.”

“Yes,” the alpha said with a relieved sigh, waving a hand in my direction. He was a good alpha, but even he couldn’t handle angry Claudia. Who could blame him?

“So no more danishes for breakfast and ice cream for lunch,” I told her, tone flat. “I’m keeping your phone until the doctor says you’re off bed rest.” I turned to look at him. “That’s what you were saying, right? She has to stay in bed?”

He nodded, and despite her glare when he turned to look at her, he didn’t back down. That, I supposed, was why he was the alpha. “Your cousin is completely right, Claudia. Maybe it’s nothing, but I don’t love this bloodwork, and it’s time to be cautious.”

Birch looked like he wanted to interrupt again, but he didn’t.

Whatever happened, I suspected that the best-case scenario would result in Birch and Claudia having one child, not the two they had been discussing for years. There was simply no way he would agree to go through this again, and I couldn’t blame him.

“I’ll give Alexis the link to Skye’s website. It’s got all the details on his diet—”

Claudia groaned and let her head fall back into the crinkly, paper-covered pillow. “I’m so not eating nuts and berries for the rest of my life.”

“The rest of your pregnancy,” I corrected, turning to look her in the eye while trying to channel my mother at her bitchiest. “And if the website says nuts and berries, then that’s exactly what you’re eating for the next five months.”

Linden’s lips quirked up on one side, and approval wafted off him.

Not gonna lie, I leaned into it a little. The alpha approved of me. And not just any alpha, thepackalpha.

She scowled, crossing her arms over her chest like a toddler denied sweets. Which, well... valid.

“We can invite Brook over,” I said, pocketing her phone and climbing up on the bed next to her. I had to take away the things she wanted, but that didn’t mean I had to make her completely miserable. She and Brook could help each other, if only by needing the other.

Feeling needed was important.

“We’ll eat nuts and berries and watch some television. I’m sure Brook will know something good to watch.” And yeah, okay, I knew no such thing, but he was into video games. That was the same, right? Game people liked TV. Maybe.

She sighed and leaned into me, dejectedly. “Can we at least eat the apples you guys were peeling when I came in? What was that gonna be? Pie?”

“Applesauce,” Birch corrected. “But yes. You can definitely have the applesauce. Skye eats Rowan’s apple pie all the time, so I don’t think apples are a problem. Maybe not pie all the time, but we’ll see.”

Claudia sighed and nodded, apparently ready to agree to whatever it took to fix things. There was nothing I wanted more than to make it all better, but sometimes that wasn’t the way life worked. All I could do was try.

I pulled out my phone to call Brook and see when he could stop by, but Claudia snatched it out of my hand and gave it to Birch. “If I can’t have my phone, neither can you.”

“Claud,” Birch protested, and started to give me my phone back, but I held up a hand for him to keep it. At least until we got Claudia home and to bed. It wasn’t like anyone called me anymore.

“That just means Birch is going to have to call Brook, but that’s fine. Now let’s see about getting you home and back to bed, huh?” I turned to the alpha, suddenly nervous. He’d said bed rest, but he hadn’t said she could go home. Maybe he’d meant bed rest in the clinic. What if I’d been presumptuous and he was—

Smiling at us like we were precious and adorable. “How about I call Brook and send him your way? That way the three of you can focus on getting home, and getting Claudia to bed.”

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