Page 124 of Omega's Refuge

“Who cares why? We should simply enjoy life together.”

“I agree.” I felt the baby kick, and Rex raised his brows.

“Was that the baby?” he asked quietly.

“Yes.” I moved his hand to where I thought he might feel the baby even better. When there was another strong kick, Rex grinned. “He’s saying hello to you,” I said.

Rex leaned forward and spoke to my stomach. “Hey, little one. We can’t wait to meet you.”

“Well, we can wait three more months to meet you.” I laughed. “We don’t want you to come visit us prematurely.”

Rex winced. “No, we don’t want that. You just stay put and cook some more, little one.”

I laughed. “Hey, maybe this is the only kind of cooking I’ll ever be good at.”

Grinning, Rex nodded. “Doesn’t get better than bringing life into the world. So what if youcan’t make a casserole. You can make a human life.”

“With a little help, yeah.”

Rex laughed. “Oh, I’m happy to help anytime, anyplace.”

“I’ll just bet you are.”

“Team work for the win, right?”

I smirked. “Team work for the win.”

****

(Eight Months Into the Pregnancy)

“What the heck are you doing, Tanner?” Rex’s alarmed voice came to me from the doorway of my studio.

I was perched on a step stool, trying to put a tote of acrylic paints on the upper shelf of the closet. “I’ve almost got it,” I said breathlessly. “Don’t distract me.”

He took the tote from me. “You’re not supposed to lift things over your head. You could hurt the babyandyou could fall off the step stool.”

“Well, you weren’t home yet and I needed to get this done,” I grumbled, stepping off the stool.

“Tell me again why reorganizing your studio is a life-or-death situation at eight months pregnant.”He knelt down to pick up a paintbrush on the ground. “What’s the story with this brush? It looks like it lost a fight with a lawnmower.”

I laughed despite myself. “Hey, that’s my favorite brush. Don’t make fun of it.” I grabbed itout of his hand and kissed the handle. “It’s okay, little brush, just ignore him.”

He smiled. “So, why are you so hellbent to organize the studio?”

“The baby will be here soon.”

“Okay, but I’m still not sure why the studio has to be organized.” He watched me as I grabbed a stack of sketch books and headed toward him. He took them from me and placed them on the shelf next to the tote of paints.

“I’m nesting.” I let out a tired breath. “Everything needs to be perfect before the baby comes.”

“Why? The baby will probably just drool and dirty it’s diapers for the first three months. I don’t think the kid will critique your organizational skills, Tanner.” He looked amused. “All the baby is going to care about is getting it’s milk. I highly doubt they’ll care about whether your color theory charts are in order.”

“Well, what if we have visitors?”

“Do we even know anyone who would visit?” He laughed. “Plus, if we had visitors, we’d entertain them in the living room, not your studio.”

“I’ll just be able to relax more if things are in order.”

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