Page 20 of You Otter Know
And he had a theme. Bohdi had chosen the theme for the baby’s room, and so that was the same stuff he’d used for the party. Turtles. Bohdi had chosen turtles in purple, green, and yellow. They were so cute too.
Bohdi was still asleep, piled up on body pillows in their bed, trying to relieve his pressure points. River figured if they didn’t do the baby shower this weekend, they never would. Bohdi was going to have that baby or babies in a matter of days, he thought.
So he made sure everything was ready. His mom and Bohdi’s both helped him out — setting up things like the prizes for the games and the table full of gifts and piling pillows on the couch so Bohdi could preside over the whole thing in extreme comfort.
What do you think,mãe?
Meu filho. I think you’ve done a wonderful job.
His mom nodded happily. “I think this is amazing,”
“Thanks. You guys have been a really big help. I appreciate it.”
“Don’t forget your dads have been sitting around drinking wine. That helps.”
And because Bohdi’s dad had thrown himself wholeheartedly into his own dad’s wine obsession, they were really enjoying trying out all sorts of vintages together. He thought they were going to be besties for the rest of their lives. He glanced at the dads, who were sitting over a chessboard, a glass of red in front of Bohdi’s dad, a glass of white in front of his.
His mom rolled her eyes. “As long as it keeps them out of our way, I don’t care.”
The doorbell rang, and he knew it was the first of their guests showing up, so River went to open it up.
“Jane! Hey! Good to see you.” He recognized her from Zoom meetings even though he hadn’t met her in person, and he held out his arms. She tucked the gift she was carrying to one side and came to give him a kiss on the cheek as he hugged her.
“Hey, River, so glad to see you too. I’m so excited for this.”
A lot of both of their co-workers wouldn’t be allowed to come to this because they were humans and didn’t really know about shifters and alphas and omegas and pregnancy and that sort of thing. But Jane was a badger shifter, and she got it.
“Me too, and I know Bohdi is excited to see you. He’s napping right now, but he does that a lot. Don’t be offended if he drifts off while he’s talking to you.”
“Oh my god, the last three weeks of my first pregnancy, I fell asleep every five seconds.”
She made her way inside to go put her gift on the table, and before he could close the door, Bohdi’s other old co-worker Rickcame trundling in. The man was a deer shifter, and he was tall and lanky with great big dark eyes.
“Hey, River, thanks for inviting me.”
Such a cute omega. He shook hands, then took the gift. “It’s good to see you, Rick. We really appreciate you coming.”
He closed the door so all the cold air in the house didn’t escape and headed back inside with the two of them.
River made all the introductions to the family and then went back to get Bohdi. It was time for him to take his pride of place. There were still some siblings who would straggle in, but it was good to start now before it got too late in the day and Bohdi’s feet swelled up any more.
He put a hand on Bohdi’s back once he got to the bedroom. His lover was laying on his side, his belly propped up with a body pillow.
Those dark, bright eyes blinked open, and Bohdi smiled at him. “Hi, babe. Is it time?”
“It is. Come on and let’s get you settled on the couch.” He opened his arms, and Bohdi got up on his hands and knees to crawl into them so River could carry him. He was just that much bigger than Bohdi that he could accomplish such a thing easily.
“Oh,” Bohdi moaned a little bit. “Go easy on me today. I feel very heavy.”
“I promise I’ll be gentle. Do you need to hit the bathroom before we go out and see the fam? Oh, Jane and Rick are here, too.”
“Please, that way I don’t have to hop up and run to the bathroom as soon as I sit down.”
So he took Bodhi to the bathroom and then out to greet his adoring public. He settled Bodhi on the couch, and his mom and Bodhi’s mom fluttered around making sure he had a footstool with pillows on it as well as a drink and maybe a little bowl of pretzels. And more people showed up—brothers and sisters, acouple of their neighbors who were also shifters. It just turned into a really neat thing.
Bohdi was yawning again by the time he opened presents, which were mostly little onesies and socks and washcloths. He had a feeling they would need a ton of them. There were also bottles and nipples, a diaper service for the first month, and a bunch of other fun stuff like toys for both baby otters and baby humans. And then they all played the most ridiculous games.
River didn’t blame Bohdi at all when he refused to try the baby food flavor guessing game. That was totally gross.
