“I am not going anywhere,” I promised when we broke apart. “Rest now. I have you and I am not letting go.”
She fell asleep on my chest within minutes. Exhausted from the day and the fear and the emotional upheaval.
I held her the entire night without moving. Did not sleep even for a second because I did not want to miss a single moment of having her back in my arms where she belonged.
I watched her breathe. Felt our child move occasionally. Let myself hope that maybe we could survive this. And when the sky started to lighten with the first hints of dawn, I carefully extracted myself from under her. Left a note on the pillow saying I would return soon.
There was a hardware store I had noticed a few blocks away. The kind of place that sold tools and supplies. The owner was just unlocking the door when I arrived.
“Morning,” he said. He was an older man with kind eyes and grease-stained hands. “You’re up early. What can I help you with?”
“I need someone who can repair a kitchen. Quickly. Today if possible.”
He studied me for a moment while sipping coffee from a travel mug. “That’s a mighty tall order. Most contractors are booked weeks out. What happened?”
“I accidentally set it on fire while attempting to cook dinner for my pregnant wife.”
His eyebrows rose but he did not laugh. Just nodded slowly and picked up his phone. “Let me call someone. I’m Doc, by the way.”
“Malachar.”
“That’s quite a name.”
“It is traditional where I am from.”
Five minutes of phone conversation later, an old, rough-looking man walked into the shop. He had calloused hands and wore work clothes covered in paint stains and sawdust. His face was weathered like old leather.
“Doc told me you need a new kitchen?” he said to me without preamble.
“Yes. I burned the previous one down yesterday evening. I want to surprise my wife with a new one. Something shiny and modern and significantly safer than what I destroyed.”
The man looked me up and down. Probably noting the bandages on my hands and the faint smell of smoke still clinging to my clothes. “That’s going to be expensive. Custom work on short notice always is.”
I pulled out a substantial chunk of hundred-dollar bills from my pocket. Aurion had told me where to exchange gold for human currency in this little town the last time we saw each other. “Is this enough or do I need to get more?”
The man’s eyes widened slightly. He counted the bills carefully. Took half the stack and handed the rest back. “This’ll do just fine. Name’s Luis.”
“When can you start?”
“I can start today if you give me the address. Have it done by tomorrow if I call in some favors.”
I gave him Wen’s address and my contact information. Shook his hand carefully given my burns.
“Your wife’s a lucky woman,” Luis said as he left. “Not many men would go to this much trouble.”
“She deserves far more than a new kitchen. But it is a start.”
I stopped at several stores on my way back. Bought prepared foods that looked safe and healthy. Then I found an elderly woman working in a small grocery and approached her.
“Excuse me. What food is appropriate for pregnant women? My mate is pregnant and I want to bring her breakfast but I do not want to make her ill.”
The woman’s face lit up. “Oh, how wonderful! When is she due?”
“Not for a few weeks.”
She laughed. “Well, warm soup is always good for expectant mothers. Easy on the stomach and nutritious. We have a wonderful chicken soup right here that my daughter swears by. She’s had three babies and lived on this stuff.”
I bought everything she recommended plus additional items that looked appealing.
