Page 88 of The Howling
“If you hadn’t noticed, you’re in the Yeavering now,” she says. “Nothing is as it was beyond the veil.”
I expand my fingers over my stomach.
“I thought Reavely was maybe joking with me. He said he was one of four.” My voice is a little hoarse.
“There’s no way you’re fitting four in there.” Bessie chuckles. “You’re far too small.”
“But what if she does?” Lilburn says, far more dramatically than she really needs to. “I think you’d pop,” she adds unhelpfully.
“There’s one way of telling.” Bessie has a mouth full of pins which she deftly deploys in rapid succession around my middle.
“An ultrasound?” I query.
Lilburn and Bessie look at me sharply.
“Okay, no strange beyond the veil technology. How then?”
“Have you got one?” Lilburn asks Bessie.
“My neighbour does.” Bessie stabs in the last pin, and before I can say anything, she’s left the room.
“What is she going to get?”
“You’ll see.” Lilburn grins. “Are you hungry?”
“Always, but if I eat anything, this dress is going to need letting out again.”
Lilburn shrugs. “If I was full of Barghest, I’d be eating all the time.”
I furrow my brow and shake my head at her, at the same time eyeing the plate of freshly baked scones Bessie has put out. “That sentence is wrong on so many levels,” I grumble.
Bessie comes back into the room, something clutched to her chest. She picks up a reel of thread and unwinds it before she slips a gold ring onto it.
“Is that…someone’s wedding ring?”
“My neighbour’s, and she wants it back, so we need to be quick,” Bessie says. “Hold out your hand.”
“You’re joking, right?”
“Why would I joke? Do you want to know how many pups you’re having or not?” she demands fiercely.
I mean, there’s not much I can do about it if there are four inside me, but I suppose it would give me a heads up on what to expect.
I hold out my hand. Bessie takes it and dangles the ring on a string over my palm. Lilburn leans in, watching intently.
“Isn’t this supposed to tell me what gender my baby is?”
“Why would you want to know that?” Lilburn asks. “It doesn’t matter if you have a male or female.”
I shrug. “No, it doesn’t.”
Because whatever gender or genders I have, they’re all going to be loved the same, by me and Reavely.
“Hold still,” Bessie says.
I hold my breath instead.
Infinitesimally slowly, the ring starts to swing on its own. I’m watching Bessie’s hand, but it’s absolutely steady as a rock.
