“Ah.” A pause. “Lyssa Louisa? Or Louisa Lyssa?”
“Think for a moment, bro. Try saying those names out loud together.”
“Lou—oh. Gotcha.” He chuckled. “Lyssa Louise? Call her LeeLou for short.”
Dewi started to object when she thought about it. “That’s… That has potential. Let me ponder that.”
“And ask your mate, perhaps?”
“Ken genuinely has no preference.” And he didn’t. He’d already told Dewi if he hated a name she came up with that he would speak up, but unless she directly ordered him to pick a name he was fine letting her decide since she was the one literally doing all the work carrying their baby.
The nice thing about her Prime power was that she could tell he meant it.
He was so adorably happy to become a dad that he honestly didn’t give a crap what they named their daughter. Only that she, and Dewi, were both healthy once she was born.
“It really doesn’t matter if her name is the same as someone else’s, Dew. She’ll have a nickname growing up. You can even name her Chelsea after Mom. We’ll know who we’re talking about.”
“Trent and Asia might take umbrage at that. Not to mention Chelsea.” Trent and Asia had named their only daughter and soon-to-be formerly-youngest child after Dewi’s mother. Their eldest son was named after her father.
“Chelsea isn’t exactly an uncommon name, sis. We have several of them in our pack. Most of them older than our Chelsea, because they named their daughters after Mom. Lots of Charleses, too. In the two years after it happened, we had a bunch of kids born with those names. Name your baby whateveryouwant. You don’t even have to name her after someone else, you know. You and Ken pick a name you both agree on and want.”
Her hand came to rest on the swell of her belly. “This sounds stupid, I know, but I hope in some way they’re able to see what’s happening. That they’d be proud of us all.”
“Who? Mom and Dad?”
“Yeah. And Grandma Louisa.”
Peyton had a way of sighing that Dewi knew meant that the still waters few ever saw ripple at the surface were currently concealing violent rip currents at depth. “I don’t know, Dew. We talk about the Goddess but I’m not sure how much I truly believe,” he said. “I do know they would want us to be happy. Which is why I circle back to you pick a name you’re happy with and don’t worry about anyone else. You and Ken are the only ones with valid input here.”
“And we’ll be the ones she hates about her name when she’s older?” she snarked.
He laughed. “Well yeah, that, too.”
When she got off the phone with Peyton she went in search of Ken and found him upstairs putting away clean laundry.
She slipped her arms around him from behind. “Thank you,” she mumbled against his back. “For calling Peyton. I really appreciate it.”
His hands came to rest over hers. “I’m still terrified, babe.”
It practically radiated off him.
“I know. That’s why I appreciate it even more, because I know you’re trying because of me.”
He turned in her arms, wrapping his around her. “Can youpleasemake a point of slowing down? I know that’s a foreign concept to you, but maybe if you slow down you’ll be less clumsy, and I’ll feel less nervous.”
“I’ll try. How’s that?” She looked up into his brown gaze, his love once again washing through her.
He nodded.
He was her perfect mate. Maybe outsiders saw Ken as nothing more than a grazer geek, but he washergrazer geek and she loved everything about him.
Even his sometimes restrictively overprotective nature.
“We need open communication,” she added. “I will try to slow down but you can’t make end-runs around me to Peyton about stuff. I mean, go to Badger or Da if you honestly think I’m not listening to you and ask them to talk to me before you run to Peyton. Please?”
He nodded, smiling. “Deal.”
Then he slanted his lips over hers and if she didn’t have a ton of work still to do that afternoon she would have tackled him onto the bed.
