She refused any help with it, and built and rebuilt the nest, making it ready for our baby and herself, stepping back to check her work and dismantling it over and over.
“Millie, isn’t it okay for now?” Tyrone asked, two hours or so into the process. “I think it’s beautiful.”
“It’s beautiful,” she agreed. “But it’s not right.” Once again, it was taken apart. Each arrangement was beautiful, and I couldn’t imagine what was wrong with it, but then, finally, Millie smiled. “It’s done. Do you see now why I had to do it so many times?”
“It had to be right.” Cannon nodded. “Worth every minute.”
I had to agree as well. Not because I had a sense of style or color that told me it was right but because our omega’s beaming face made it worth every minute, every dollar spent, and every bit of construction to prepare the space for her nest. I’d do anything just to see her smile.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Millie
I was so ready to not be pregnant anymore. Approaching forty-one weeks, I looked like I was about to birth a toddler. The midwife disagreed and said I was a perfect size, as was the baby. I still wasn’t convinced our child wasn’t going to come out ready to run around the living room.
I trusted our midwife but found it hard to believe I was the “perfect” size when I couldn’t even wear my maternity clothes anymore. And feet? If I had them, I wouldn’t know. I hadn’t seen them in forever and then it was only by lying on the bed and raising my leg as high as I could this far along.
I pushed myself up from my seat and waddled to the door. I was wearing Tyrone’s T-shirt that I was never going to be able to give back to him because it was so stretched out. I had Cannon’s sweats on, but rolled down so they were under my belly. And because my feet were so swollen, I was wearing Felix’s shoes. I was dressed like my mates, which was kind of how this whole thing started, wasn’t it? They gave me their clothes so I could get my hair done and not be embarrassed. Kind of funny how life worked sometimes.
They’d all be back ready for lunch soon, but I wasn’t wanting to wait. I missed them and decided to go see what they were up to.
It was Saturday, and none of them were working-working, but they’d been outside all day completing some secret project. I was nosey and wanted to know what it was. How I managed to stay inside that long was honestly shocking.
I followed the scent in the air to an outbuilding that functioned as the sleuth workshop.
“What are you guys doing?” I held my belly, our little one squirming.
“Well, it was supposed to be a surprise,” Felix said. He came and took me by the hand, leading me to what looked like just a random dry-erase board.
“You’re gonna have to explain this to me. I’m seeing a dry-erase board.” If that were the case, there wouldn’t be anything super-secret about that. I’d told them I wanted a new one, the one I ordered not nearly as large as I thought it would be despite seeing the measurements.
“It’s a dry-erase board, yes, but not just any dry-erase board,” Cannon explained. Then he tapped the bottom of it, and up it went, revealing another behind it.
“Oh, that’s pretty handy.” I could already see a lot of ways that would be helpful.
“We thought you could use the one and then move it up for the other. We wanted you to go without having to erase between.”
“That’s actually really cool.”
“Wait, there’s more.” Then he pulled it away from the wall and pushed back again, flipping it over.
“That’s amazing!” I was seriously in awe. Altogether, they’d managed to make it so that in the space of two dry-erase boards, there were four.
A lot of the online teachers had been using projections and computer displays, and that was great and all, but my niche was more old school. That’s why many of the parents signed up for me in the first place.
“I love it.” And I did. “How did you ever come up with this?”
Felix started to tell the story, but I felt a yank…no, a tear in my abdomen. It hurt bad, and I missed all of his words.
“Hey, hey, Millie, what’s wrong?” Tyrone was in front of me, squatting down until he was at eye level.
“It felt like something tore on the inside.”
“That’s it.” Cannon scooped me up, and suddenly I was being carried back to the house. Tyrone was on the phone with the midwife and Felix was rushing ahead, saying he’d make sure the door was open and that there was a place for me to sit down.
I didn’t think I had to worry nearly as much as they did, but I wasn’t going to argue with them. If it was just me, sure. But I was carrying our child. If there was a chance there was a reason to worry, it was best to get the midwife there and not do anything until she did.
She arrived only ten minutes later. Luck was on our side in that she wasn’t out of town for another birth or busy with an appointment.
