Page 21 of You Otter Know
“You ready for cake, babe?” He asked, coming to stroke Bohdi’s hair off his face. Those poor eyes had big, dark bags under them. But Bohdi was smiling, and everyone was just looking happy with life.
Sometimes River couldn’t believe this was his to have, that he got this, that this omega loved him and wanted to stay with him and have his babies. It made him feel like thumping his chest like his dad always did and saying, “I’m the luckiest of otters.”
“I would love some. Can I have a little bit of both?”
“Of course you can, son.” Bohdi’s mom bustled over to cut cake, and River squeezed in on the couch next to Bohdi, just wanting to hold his lover close.
They each got a plate with two small pieces of cake on it. River could have eaten three or four times that, but he wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it. He went to have more later.
Bodhi picked at his cake a little bit, his eyebrows knitting together as his lips pursing.
“What’s the matter, baby?” River reached over to tilt Bodhi’s head around, so they were looking right at each other.
Bodhi raised his eyebrows. “What are you doing?”
He squeezed Bodhi’s cheeks in right at the base where they met his mouth. “Loving on you. Now, what’s wrong?”
“Mydummyawittle’set.” Bodhi couldn’t quite move his lips like he was supposed to, so the words came out in a jumble.
“Your stomach’s upset? You haven’t had tummy troubles since…” he trailed off, thinking about it. Well, Bodhi hadn’t had any nausea or anything for quite a while. His morning sickness had been pretty short-lived, but he’d had a lot of heartburn and stuff lately. Been pretty acidy.
Bodhi shook his hand off. “It’s not quite the same thing. Like I don’t feel heartburn; I just feel kind of like if I eat too much, it’s gonna make me sick.”
“Hmm, maybe we should ask the moms. They might have an idea on how to make it better.”
“Would you rub my back a little bit?” Bodhi gave him a pleading look. “It’s really bothering me right now, too, even with all the pillows.”
Oh shit. He pondered that because his mom had told him what to look for once Bodhi went into labor, and it was a feeling of fullness in his tummy and cramps in his lower back. General discomfort all over.
He knew Bohdi’s water hadn’t broken, but maybe he was in the early stages of?—
Bodhi gasped because a rush of fluid came out of his body and flowed down onto the floor.
Looked like maybe he’d spoken too soon about the water breaking.
“What do we do?” Bodhi stared at him, eyes wide, his face pale.
“Hey.” He grabbed Bodhi’s hand. “We’ve been over this with the midwife, and the moms are here. We got this, baby. Let me get everybody mobilized to clean up, and we’ll get you changed. And then you can have your cake, okay?”
Bodhi nodded vigorously. “Uh-huh, sure, I can do this. I just freaked out for a sec.”
“Good man.” He leaned over to kiss Bodhi’s cheek and then got up to find the moms, trying to hide the fact that his heart was racing and he was freaking out. But it was his job to make Bodhi understand that everything was going to be just fine.
As soon as River got the moms’s attention, there was a flurry of activity - everybody rushing around to get towels and stuff to clean the floor. He got Bodhi up and got him to the bedroom so they could redress him in some nice, loose clothing. Somebody, he thought, called the midwife.
By the time Bodhi was ensconced on the newly dry couch with a blanket over top of everything and eating his cake, they had all calmed down some because it was going to be a while before this baby or babies showed up.
Bodhi licked cream cheese icing off his fork. “Is it all right that I’m a little freaked out, babe?”
“God, yes. This is the first time for both of us. I mean, look at the moms. They look calm as fuck, but you and me, we can be running around like chickens in our brains.”
That made Bohdi laugh, his eyes lighting up, and River felt ten feet tall because he had calmed his lover down just enough to smile and actually have it be real and happy and good.
“Right. First time for both of us.” Bodhi nodded firmly, squeezing his hand. Like we could totally do this. We’ve got this.
River sure hoped they did, but he had no idea how they were going to get through this. He was just going to have to wing it.
Bodhi was goingto kill something. Most likely, it was going to be River.
