I almost called Raiel to run out and drive us home because there was no way I could let go of him until he felt better. He was pregnant, sad, and afraid. I could kill anything or anyone I needed to in order to protect him, but I couldn’t wake up his mother.
Nic stepped out of the car to be hugged as properly as his big pregnant belly would allow. We stood there on the side of the road holding onto each other for a long time. He was close. Almost any day now close by the smell of him. Our time to solve his problem before our baby was born was running out.
“Can we call Edna?” I asked and my heart leapt into my throat.
His water hadn’t broken yet but he knew more about his body than I ever would. He was the one who had lived in it for decades. I pulled out my phone, a gift from Raiel so I quit snatching his, to call her but Nic stopped me.
“My back hurts but I’m not in labor,” he chuckled, wiping at his teary eyes with one hand. “I want to know more about the baby. I think I have to stop waiting for her to wake up to be there too. I don’t think she’d want me to miss out on things because she’s asleep.”
“Okay,” I nodded we can do that too. “We can do whatever you want. Whatever it takes to make you feel better.”
“I think that’s a start,” Nic said, and I helped him sit back down inside the car.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Nic
Moonscale London
Edna was more than happy to squeeze us in that afternoon, and I wanted to see her more than anything because last time she was able to help me stretch my lower back out to take some of the pressure off it and my hips. Normally, I refused the comfy wheelchairs and the special entrance they had at the side of the building for carriers further along in their pregnancies but this time I let Beal put me in one and wheel me inside. I probably had about ten days left but couldn’t imagine being this achey and twitchy for that long. Pregnancy could be hard but surely there was something Edna could do for me. Maybe it was stress. Perhaps I should’ve taken her up on one of those carrier meditation classes she was always going on about.
Her eyes grew huge as soon as she met us in the corridor.
“Oof,” she let out a surprise sound. “Let’s take a look right away.”
“Is something wrong?” I asked, looking from the midwife to my mate behind me.
“No,” Beal and Edna said at the same time as she led us down the corridor.
“Guys?” I snapped and my dragon roared inside his inner sanctum, forcing me to wave away a ring of smoke that shot out of my nose before it reached Edna. The smoke never seemed to bother Beal but Edna didn’t ask to be smoked and raccoon lungs were so little. I wanted to cry. I could’ve hurt her.
“We’ll just take a little look if you can get him up onto the table for me, Beal,” Edna said. “I think we may be a little further along than we thought. Let’s see what the kitten’s up to today.”
Beal lifted me from the wheelchair and sat me down on the examination table. I didn’t want to let go of him. Stress was bad for babies? Had crying hurt the baby? Had I made our baby so upset that something went wrong?
“No” Beal said, wiping away my tears and helping me to recline back. “That’s not how it works. You’re allowed to be sad even if you’re pregnant.”
“He’s right,” Enda said, holding up her wand at the ready.
I glanced at the monitor. I hadn’t looked since the first time since I wanted the sex of our baby to be a secret until my mother woke up. A little kitten took up most of the screen no matter where she moved the wand to. There wasn’t a view of the right parts to let us know. It was as if my baby was taking a nap with their little kitten head on their tiny little kitten paws. The wand moved and they rolled over onto their back as if we’d woke them up, revealing that it was a little boy we were expecting. That surprise might’ve been ruined but he had a better one in store for us.
“He’s turned right and he’s close to descent. We’ll check in a minute, but I suspect that pain Beal mentioned on the phone is probably the early stages of labor,” Edna said, and my heart skipped a beat. “Nothing to worry about. We’re always ready here.”
“What about Neal?” I spat out the first question that came to mind.
“Raiel has him. I’m sure Crilus will understand if he takes one night off from work because you’re having a baby,” Beal said.
“I’m not having his baby, though,” I said, trying to swallow down a sob.
“Do you want to?” Beal asked, trying to hide a chuckle.
“No! But what if Crilus makes him go to work and leaves my mum and Neal all alone? Neither of them can cook and Neal is so spoiled that he won’t even eat the cat food anymore!” I sobbed.
“I’ll send a nurse over, if you like. One you know, of course. I’d offer to go myself but it’s you having a kitten and not Neal. I think my hands would be put to better use here. Or I could call Crilus. Perhaps, he’d take a call from a midwife seriously.”
“Please,” I sobbed and couldn’t stop.
What was wrong with me? Was I dying? Was this just everything catching up to me or did everyone lose a bit of their sanity when it was time to give birth? I grabbed onto Beal’s arm and didn’t let go. Not even when they moved me into one of the cozy birthing rooms we’d toured not long after my first appointment with Edna.
