Page 24 of The Fall Before the Heat

“That is your baby,” Doctor Lee agreed, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Misdiagnosing my mate’s pregnancy in front of my boss and educator wasn’t anywhere on my bucket list.

“So tiny,” Del said, his eyes misting over.

I leaned down and kissed his forehead. I had to. I needed to touch more of him. We were starting a family, and everything was about to change. Now, I just had to ensure everything changed for the better.

Chapter Seventeen

Del

In the week that followed my ultrasound, Rex threw himself into his makeup class work. I missed him while he was gone making up labs and assignments that couldn’t be done at home. His major was more demanding than mine, but I understood his drive. A doctor who landed a decent placement could more than provide for a baby. I’d still work after the baby was born. I was still going to be a teacher if I could find a placement in the same area as Rex, but if I couldn’t I’d make do until something opened up. Being with him was more important than anything. I could use my degree and tutor students across the world via the internet. In some ways, I had more options than he did.

Still, I missed him while he was gone. The first few days, I filled the empty hours in by doing all my catch-up work. I had less than him, but needed to catchup, nonetheless. Then I filled the hours browsing websites that sold baby stuff I wasn’t sure we could afford. Before the war, when I lived back in London, my parents would’ve sprang for whatever we needed. Heck, it might’ve been cheaper than paying my Hemlock Academy tuition.

When the cost of living stressed me out too much, I called my carrier or my brother. Sometimes I called Lost if they were both busy. All of them were excited for the newest member of our family. My carrier cried almost every time I talked to him. This wasn’t a new development. London was burning down. No one was sure the war was ever going to end, but now he cried because he’d soon be a grandfather. Even if London burnt down to cinders that were swallowed by the sea, our family would go on. I hated it when he spoke like that, but he was right. Therewas no way of knowing when the war would end. Even as Yule approached neither side showed any sign of slowing down. If anything, everyone seemed more intent than ever on fighting harder.

The Yule season was a welcome distraction. While we didn’t have the money to shower each other with gifts, that didn’t stop me from baking holiday treats from scratch or signing us up for a Yuletide tree to decorate inside the apartment. I really wanted to get Rex a puppy, but puppies cost money to keep healthy and happy. We had enough and eventually we’d have more than enough once we both pursued our chosen fields, but it just wasn’t the right time. Apricot crossed his mind more as the holiday grew closer. Just another reason I wanted to kick the whole war in the balls. The war took and took like an ever-hungry mouth determined to devour everything and everyone in its path.

My carrier used to tell me and my brother about how vivid his dreams were whenever he was pregnant. I’d forgotten until I awoke from a nightmare in which the starring role went to a beast with a muzzle large enough to swallow the sun. It had rows upon rows of teeth and it drooled and snarled. There was no escaping. Yep. Somewhere between my fears and my hormones a beast that personified war was born. It visited me at least a couple times a week as our first Yule together passed and we hunkered down for our final exams.

The nightmares stopped after Yule. There wasn’t much left to fear once the witches had gathered in number and magically rained down every spell known to shifterkind on the hate group. The Academy postponed finals from the first week of January to the second, but by then everyone was still celebrating.

In the middle of everything was our baby. My carrier also used to say he always knew he was having boys before the ‘big’ ultrasound. I liked to think I inherited his intuition. From themoment I imagined my and Rex’s baby, I imagined a boy. A little wolf pup with his sire’s amber eyes. It turned out I only inherited half my carrier’s intuition. Only I didn’t know that until ‘the big ultrasound.’

Lee made another house call just for me and I was grateful. My belly had grown and grown. It seemed to grow any time I looked away from it or closed my eyes for a second. My morning sickness had come in two weeks after my first ultrasound. I was fortunate that it only hung out for about a week then disappeared back into the nefarious void from which it had risen. My ankles hadn’t swollen up and I wasn’t any more emotional or angry than usual. I was ravenous and craved salty food around the clock. If I wasn’t mated to a doctor, I might’ve eaten salt straight from the shaker. Only because of his knowledge I knew that wasn’t a great snack for me or our little one.

Life had spun in circles since the night of my first heat, but everything came to a standstill when the day of the big ultrasound arrived. The night before I lay awake, too excited to fall asleep, listening to Rex’s soft breathing. I wondered who our baby would be. Not so much their gender or what they might shift into. I wondered what their favorite song or color would be. Would they like comedies or action movies? What would their first word be? Would they ever see London how I saw it?

The answer to the last question was most likely a resounding no. London had fallen down and even after its reconstruction it wouldn’t be the London I grew up in.

Thankfully, I managed a few hours of sleep before Lee arrived. As usual, Rex had beat me up. The smell of frying bacon and eggs filled the apartment. Thankfully, my morning sickness didn’t rear its ugly head. I’d heard one too many stories of it showing back up on some poor unexpecting pregnant person torelax my guard too much. The aroma drifted into the bedroom, making my stomach growl.

Getting up and out of bed was a feat of wallowing around until I got close enough to the edge to swing my feet off it and onto the floor.

“Need help?” Rex called, hearing my grunting all the way in the kitchen.

“I think I have it, mate,” I said, but he was already in the doorway.

“Thanks,” I sighed, as he took my hands and pulled me gently to my feet. “I’d give you a really big good morning kiss, but your spawn is bouncing on my bladder, I think.”

“Need help?” He asked.

“I swear, that’s your favorite sentence these days. I love it, but no, I think I can take a wee on my own,” I laughed and waddled off to the bathroom.

A few minutes later, in the kitchen, I ate most of the bacon Rex cooked before he ever had a chance to plate up our food. He fed me scrambled eggs straight from the pan, blowing gently on each bite before offering it to me. Most of our meals were a sit-down occasion. Breakfast was the exception. Overnight, the baby and I grew too hungry to wait. So, we usually ate at the stove.

Lee arrived just as we finished washing and drying the last of the dishes. If Rex had his way, I wouldn’t have done much more than lay around eating like some fat old king. I was never good at being still and pregnancy hadn’t changed that.

“Where’s your machine?” I asked, when he walked in empty handed.

“I’ll grab it in a minute. I have an internship for you!” Lee squeezed my shoulder hello, but he was looking at Rex.

My mate’s amber eyes lit up and sparkled.

“Here?” He said sprinting through the archway to join us in the living room.

“Afraid not. In Heartville. Dara – he’s the doctor there who worked at the London Moonscale Hospital before the war. He’s offering up a place to work alongside him in the village there. It’s not a huge hospital and you probably won’t see many emergencies, but it’s a family medicine practice. It’s a paid internship and yes, Clarence has agreed to it. He can’t hold you to your part of the scholarship contract if he doesn’t have a hospital for you to be at,” Lee said, in a gush of words before either of us could interrupt him. “I’ve already sent your resume and transcriptions over. Also,” he turned to me, “they’ll need a teacher soon and since you two are a package deal Dara and the leaders there are rather keen on the idea.”

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