If I thought Galileo's exclamation was loud, this one shook the forest. Everyone--my dads and my cousins--all freaked out with excitement. There was a flurry of hugs and kisses and questions. Kamari looked stunned but in a good way. He fielded it all like a good sport, even though by the blush on his face it was obvious he wasn't used to being the center of attention.
"How'd you find out?" Pops asked. "Did Nautilus tell you?" He stopped, then said, "Wait, did youfindNautilus?"
In the chaos of excitement, he must've forgotten the reason he sent me on my quest in the first place. I laughed. "Yeah, we did. It's a long story so we'll explain later, but the coast is back to normal now. And Nautilus was the one to confirm Kamari's pregnancy."
Pops blinked slowly. "I'm going to be grandfather." He whirled on Dad with a laugh. "Remmy, we're going to begrandparents!"
"It still feels like Zak was only born yesterday," Dad murmured, his voice thick with emotion.
I blushed. "Come on, not in front of everyone..."
Dad smirked and pinched my cheek. "You're my kid and I'll gush about you as much as I want."
As Kamari laughed, I smiled at him. "Do you believe me now?"
"I see what you mean," he said. "By the way, Zak, about the... you know."
I remembered the second cabin and figured I should probably bring that up sooner rather than later. "Oh, right. Uh, hey, Dad? Pops? Cousins?" They all looked at me expectantly. "So, about our housing situation..."
21
Kamari
A few months later...
The beadof sweat rolling down my brow turned into a trickle. I frowned and ignored it. There were dishes that had to be done.
At least, I tried to ignore it. But the initial pang of pain, which I hoped didn't return, did.
I stood in the middle of the kitchen with a frown. My belly was huge, way bigger than I expected it to be. Zak remarked on it constantly, telling me how beautiful and sexy it was, which was honestly the only thing making it bearable. There were times where I had to grumble and push Zak away because he was always trying to worship my body while I was in the middle of doing chores.
I blew out a breath and focused on the plate I was holding. Zak insisted I stop doing chores this late in my pregnancy, but screw him. Just because I was pregnant didn't mean I had to sit around doing nothing. I wasn't that kind of guy.
A gasp ripped from me as another shockwave of pain hit. I bit my lip but it wasn't enough to control myself. The plate slipped from my hand and fell to the floor, shattering. I swore through my teeth.
"Kamari?" Zak's panicked voice came from the bedroom. He ran out a second later. "What are you doing? I told you to just relax!"
"Can't," I ground out through my teeth.
Zak groaned as worry flashed in his face. "Are you in pain right now?"
I nodded stiffly.
"Shit," Zak said. "Okay. Are you in labor?"
I hesitated. I'd never felt anything like this in my body before. It made sense that they were contractions, but in the moment, the idea of giving birth seemed like a distant concept. It was dawning on me now that it was real and happening.
"I think so," I admitted.
He carefully led me out of the ring of plate shards, shoeing them aside to deal with them later. "Okay. What do you want to do?"
I closed my eyes and exhaled. In my mind, I saw dark waves. The water was calling to me. I knew immediately what I wanted.
"Water," I murmured. "This baby wants to come out in the water."
"Okay." Zak nodded. "There's no way we can walk back to the coast in this state, but I have an idea."
Zak led me outside and sat me down on the wooden bench by the door before he ran off to the main cabin. I tried to steady my breathing as I waited. A few moments later, he returned with Ashe, one of his cousins.
