Page 39 of Vawn
“What?” Ice-cold dread filled every part of my body. “But he’s not due yet.” When I hoped our baby came soon, I hadn’t meant this soon. I never expected them to be born today.
“Well, your baby decided to come early, then, but you need to go with Vawn to a medical center, now.” He tugged my arm again.
“But, where…and how…?” I couldn’t think straight, had no idea what I needed to do, where I needed to be.Stars.I wasn’t even sure of my own name.
Ret laughed at me. “Your child is as cocky as you, thinking you’ll leave an important event for them.”
The opening. I couldn’t leave everyone here, but I couldn’t stay, either.
Rolling his eyes, Ret shoved me in the direction Utahn was trying to pull me. “Go. Genj and I will entertain your guests until this event is over. I’m sure they’d much rather see actual racers than a retired one.”
I ignored his snark, instead following Utahn to my mate. When I reached Vawn, he was squatting with both his hands on the wall next to the door. His breaths came out heavy, yet steady, like he’d been taught in the birthing classes we’d attended together.
I bent down behind him and rubbed his shoulders. “What can I do for you, my mate?”
“Don’t touch me,” he growled, sweat pouring down his face. “You were the one who got me into this mess. Didn’t want to use mesodenka.”
I looked up at Utahn, concerned. Vawn had been fine earlier in the day. And he hadn’t been angry with me. Heck, moments ago, he’d been laughing and happy. Why did he suddenly hate me?
His friend chuckled at me. “He was like this with Enif, too. He’s in a lot of pain. It came on very quickly. We need to get him to a medical center now, or your baby is going to be born right here.”
“Oh, okay.” I scooped Vawn into my arms, ignoring his objections as I followed Utahn out the door to his waiting hovercar.
Vawn shoved me away as soon as I placed him in the seat then let out a strangled cry.Shit.I wanted to take away all his pain. All the classes we took hadn’t prepared me for this moment. They never warned me childbirth would come on this fast.
I sat beside my mate as he seethed in deep breaths before huffing the air back out, each time his face contorting with agony. Yet, when I tried to comfort him, he yelled at me.
Utahn left the spaceport and headed toward the medical center. I’d never seen him drive so fast, and wondered, for a moment, why he never aspired to be a racer.
After shoving me away all the time, Vawn changed his tactic, choosing instead to fist the front of my shirt and yank me toward him. “Baby coming now.” He no longer sounded angry but scared and tired, ramping up my panic. “Help me.”
Stars.I had to get him through this. I could handle the unexpected as a space racer, and now I had to do the same as a father.
I rubbed my arm across my forehead then tapped Utahn on the shoulder. “Pull over. Our time’s up.”
As soon as the hovercar stopped, I had Vawn lie across the back seat. Utahn helped him remove his pants and fitted a blanket underneath him. I shimmied in behind my mate, wiping his forehead with a wet cloth and rubbing his shoulders as he pushed.
“That’s it, love. You’re so strong. You can do this.”
Nothing could have prepared me for seeing Vawn go through the distress of childbirth, and, only moments later, experiencing the joy of admiring our newborn daughter as she rested against my mate’s chest.
I wiped away a couple of tears as I tried to process everything that had just happened. I was now a dad. My beautiful mate had given birth to another precious little girl. On the same day I’d opened my racer training school. A couple of star cycles ago, I hadn’t thought this was possible and definitely not what I’d wanted. Yet, I couldn’t imagine what my life would have been like if I hadn’t met Vawn. Didn’t want to.
An emergency hovercraft met us on the side of the road. They examined Vawn and our daughter before transporting us the rest of the way to the medical center.
My mate and baby girl came home the next day. We had a quick naming ceremony before her uncles and Ilam left for Eurebly. Holding my daughter in my arms, I introduced her to our guests as Gitta.
***
“Ojo! There’s a video call coming in for you.” Vawn passed me the comm unit before picking a sleeping Gitta from my chest. Enif slept curled into my side but didn’t move when I answered the call. “Hi, Ilam! How are things going?”
I hadn’t seen or heard from him since he’d left for Eurebly several weeks ago. And when I’d contacted Ret to find out how Ilam was doing, he’d told me tryouts were still happening, that I had to be patient.
“I made it!” Ilam’s excited smile filled the screen. “I’m going to be a space racer for ORIXA. Ret announced his pick to the finalists today.”
I couldn’t hide my grin. “I’m happy for you. I never had any doubts you’d make it.” Even if I’d waited very impatiently for this news. Ilam was the best trainee I’d seen in all the years I’d been a racer. And I was glad to have helped him get to this point.
Vawn sat beside me, on the opposite side from Enif, and leaned against me. “Congratulations, Ilam! And let me know if either of my brothers give you a hard time. I’ll take care of them if they do.”
