We were going to the doctor, which, for any other situation, would require a trip into town. But Cael, being who he was, of course, had everything available to us at the manor. The man didn’t like to travel into town if he didn’t have to, so he had a whole suite of rooms converted to a makeshift medical facility. That facility had not included an obstetrician until this week. I didn’t know if Nym realized that or not.
He and Preston had been staying at the house for a week now. Each night we shared dinner and lovely conversation. Then at the end of our evening, we took a walk outside in the gardens. Sometimes we shifted together, sometimes we walked in our human form. Always, I returned him to his room and gave him a kiss on the cheek. I would not rush my mate.
“Do you have a regular doctor that you see for the baby?” I asked.
Nym winced. “No. I mean, I know that I should have been speaking with someone, and I’ve been doing my best the past few months to eat healthy. I suspected I was pregnant even before I began to show, but I didn’t actually do a test until a few weeks ago, and then Preston and I immediately made plans to come here.”
“I’m sorry that I wasn’t there.”
“You’re here now,” he said. “We’re putting the past behind us, Dain.”
Goddess bless, I had the most forgiving mate. I would do everything in my power to make sure that he never had to worry again.
I laced my fingers into his as we walked through the hall. We took the main staircase to the fourth level.
“I can’t get over how big this place is,” Nym said.
“I know. I’m not even sure if I’ve seen all of it. I know for sure that Cael has not. He sticks mostly to his office and his rooms.”
“Where are those?” Nym asked.
“His whole suite is on the fourth floor of the east wing.”
Inside the medical suite, the OB smiled when she saw us. “Ah, you must be Nym and Dain. Come on in. I’m Dr. Ryan.”
“Thank you for seeing us so quickly,” Nym said.
She laughed. “Well, when a man like Cael calls and throws the amount of money around that he has, one does not say no to the opportunity.”
“I suppose not,” Nym said.
“So I didn’t get a lot of background about you. Can you tell me about yourself? Is this your first pregnancy? Who has been your primary physician so far?”
Nym settled on to the exam table, while I sat in the chair next to it.
“This is my first pregnancy. I don’t have a primary physician. I’m five and a half months along,” Nym explained.
“And you haven’t taken any prenatal vitamins or had any visits at the clinic? Any sicknesses or symptoms you experienced early on?”
“I take a multivitamin each day. I didn’t have a lot of morning sickness. Just some nausea. I ignored it.” Nym bit his lip, and I gave him a reassuring smile.
“That’s fine. Our bodies have a way of taking care of the children growing within us. We’ll do a quick ultrasound to see what we’re working with, and then we can talk about future plans. I have plenty of material for you. I even went ahead and grabbed some books from the store. And of course, you can get ebook versions, if that’s more your speed.”
“Thank you,” Nym said.
I stood and held his hand while he laid back on the table. I wasn’t sure what I was really helping with, but I would be there every step of the way.
Dr. Ryan pulled out a tiny machine. “Eventually, I’d like to get you into the actual office and have a real ultrasound done. Unless, of course, Cael wants to buy one for the house.”
I chuckled. “Don’t put that idea in his head. He probably would.”
“Considering you have an X-ray machine here, it wouldn’t surprise me.”
Given that we were shifters and we healed quickly, the X-ray machine was actually rather necessary in cases where we broke bones and they needed to be set correctly before they healed in the wrong way. Which could happen if we were interrogating Cael’s enemies in the basement. Breaking your knuckles on some asshole’s face and then having them set wrong was the worst.
Within a few minutes, Dr. Ryan had the screen on, and Nym and I were both entranced by what we saw. His breath caught, and he squeezed my hand when the basic outline of a baby filled the black-and-white screen. The little legs kicked and arms waved as if he or she was just as excited to see us.
“There’s your baby, fully formed. And since you’re so far along, he or she actually looks like a little baby. Looks like we’ve got all four limbs. I’ll take some measurements, make sure we’re on track. You’re sure about how far along you are?”
