Tanner rolled his eyes. “I’m kidding. But maybe after Candrin’s given birth, we can go on holiday and I’ll pilot the plane.”
That night as I lay in bed, Tanner on one side, Huston on the other and Oberon curled around my head—who slept like that?—I placed a hand on my belly. Maybe there was more than one baby in there because based on what I’d read, I shouldn’t be showing yet but my tummy was already rounded.
Not wanting to disturb my mates, I slid to the bottom of the bed and walked along the hallway to the old nursery. This was where I’d slept when my dads brought me home from the hospital. It needed an update because it looked as it had all those years ago. And even though it was near to our huge bedroom, I was going to have the decorators put a connecting door so we could walk fromour bedroom into the nursery.
I sat in the rocking chair my omega dad had sat in and imagined him with me over his shoulder, rubbing my back. I wished both my fathers were here to see their grandchild or grandchildren.
There used to be a photo sitting on the dresser. Pulling open a nearby drawer, I took out the photo of me and my parents. Charles…no…Bobby would have destroyed it if he’d found it. It had to have been Molly or Saul who put it in there.
Much as I loved this room, it was time to banish the past. I pulled the curtains aside, and the light from a new day peeked in. Opening the windows, I took a deep breath and placed a hand on my belly. “You’re going to love this room, my darling or darlings.”
36
TANNER
It ain't donuts
I watched as my stubborn mate tried on one shirt after another in the hopes of covering his belly. In fairness, he was huge. I was smart enough not to even consider saying that word in any context around him, but it was a fact. He was growing every day and was at the point where he needed to buy more paternity clothes.
He refused. If I thought for half a second it was about the money, I’d at least understand where he was coming from, but it wasn’t. After his experience with losing everything to that fake grifter, my mate was careful with money even though he was rich.
But Candrin just didn’t want to admit that he needed to size up. And it was getting to be absolutely ridiculous.
“I think these got put in the dryer on hot.” He grumbled and threw the last two shirts into the pile of ones he’d decided were too small.
They’d been hung on the line to get the “crisp awesomeness” he loved. They hadn’t been anywhere near the dryer. I wasn’t going to be the one to tell him though.
“What can I do?” It was a much easier route to take. A safer one anyway.
“Make these bigger?” He choked on his words and came over to me, sinking into my embrace. It was a side embrace because his belly prevented any other kind, but it was the best I could do. Pregnancy was rough on a good day and when your clothing didn’t fit, that wasn’t a good day in anyone’s book.
“I wish I could make them bigger. Want me to get you some new ones?” I braced myself for his ire. None came. Instead he looked up at me with tears in his eyes.
“Would you? I can’t… I… maybe we can getthe same ones?”
“And this time we won’t shrink them.” I kissed his forehead. “Let’s find a shirt that’s good enough.”
It took a bit of doing, but we eventually found one he was comfortable leaving the house in. It fit pretty much the same as it did yesterday—not at all—but today it bothered him and today I planned to do something about it.
“I know a place.” I assured him as I helped him buckle his seatbelt. He was at the stage in his pregnancy where everything was more difficult. Even brushing his teeth was harder, his belly getting in the way as he tried to rinse.
The last time we got him new clothes, my brothers and I ordered a bunch online and snuck them into his dresser with his other clothes. He’d not been impressed, sure that he was fine in his regular clothing, and he was for a half a second. We didn’t regret having them there for him when he needed them, but it was going to be nice for Candrin to be able to select his own clothes today.
“How far is it?”
“It’s about an hour. But before you get grouchy about it we are passing Mrs. Piper’s Donuts along the way.”
It was his universal pregnancy craving, the only one that was there from nearly the beginning and all the way through. It wasn’t like the dreamsicle craving phase. That fun time currently had our freezer packed with the ice cream on a stick and Candrin no longer wanting any part of them.
“It’s forbidden donut day,” he squeed. “It’s forbidden donut day.” Forbidden donuts being the shop’s name for a chocolate cake donut with chocolate frosting and chocolate sprinkles. Why they named it that they refused to say, but they sold out every time they had them, which was only twice a week. “You need to drive faster.”
“I’ll drive at a speed that keeps my mate safe.” And I had already placed the order via their app when Candrin used the bathroom right before we left. I knew better than to show up there and have none of his favorite donuts waiting for him. Candrin was a forgiving man, but I doubted him forgiving that one.
“If they don’t have my donut…” he didn’t finish his thought. Instead he reached for the radio and skipped from channel to channel, not settling on any of them the first go through and eventually stopping on a song about goats.
“Is he singing about a goat?” I asked.
“Yep. Apparently the lead singer has a pet goat and it got sick while they were writing their album. The goat got better and they have a hit song.” He started to sing and then turned back to me. “And I am assuming you aren’t taking me on a fool’s errand regarding the donuts.”
