With a deep breath, El dialed her dad’s number and waited.He answered on the second ring.
“Shawn?”he answered, the fear in his voice shocked El a bit.
“No, Dad, it’s me,” she replied.
“El!Oh, thank goodness, El.It’s good to hear your voice.I knew you were back, but when I saw Shawn’s name pop up, I got nervous something new had happened,” he rambled.
It wasn’t like her dad to ramble, so it was a bit heartwarming.
“No, today was pretty mundane.”
“That’s good, real good, El.”
“I actually wanted to call to throw you a curveball.”
“Okay?”
“Mom’s here.Persia, whatever her name is, she’s here.”
Silence filled the phone line for what felt like hours.El felt her dad go through an array of emotions, and she felt bad having sprung the news on him.
“Does she want to see me?”her dad finally asked.
“I’m leaving that up to you.I didn’t tell her I was calling you, and if you don’t want to come, that’s totally up to you, but I thought for once I wasn’t going to let her make the decisions.I won’t tell her you know, either.”
Once again, her dad fell silent.For once the silence between them didn’t feel awkward; it felt natural, just a dad and his daughter having a heart to heart.El wished she could have a thousand more, and her heart once again ached for that time she wouldn’t get.
“Thank you, El.No matter what I decide with your mother, I will be over to see you soon.”
“Sounds good,” El responded.
They said their goodbyes and hung up.Trip and Ryan sauntered up just as Marcus came outside with her cup of tea and her favorite throw blanket.He sat down on her other side and covered her up.She didn’t deserve how amazing her mates were to her.Trip sat on a chair across from her, and Ryan wedged his large body in front of her.She leaned down and ran her fingers through his mane.
“I always liked the name Lorelei,” she said.
“That’s not strong enough,” Trip said.
“What about something like Blair or Sloan?”Marcus added.
“I don’t mind them, but they don’tfeelright,” El replied.
Their conversation went on like that for over an hour.Ryan snarled if he didn’t particularly like a name, and they all laughed at some of the ones Shawn found online.El’s constant yawning called a halt to the conversation for the night.She kissed them all goodnight and made her way to her room.She knew eventually one of them would join her.
Chapter 38
El
Days turned into weeks,which faded into months.And before they knew it, El was ready to deliver the baby any day.The fact that they still had no way of keeping her alive had become an unspoken thing in the house.They had searched far and wide and brought healers in from all over the world, and none of them could guarantee a thing.El was at peace with it.
Once Willow had recovered, she and El had started teaching the men all about baby care.Willow specifically taught them about raising their chimera child.The things Willow knew about El’s unborn child fascinated El, but apparently, it had all been a part of Willow’s training.Some days, El basked in the glory of having all that information, other days she curled up in her bed and cried herself to sleep before noon.
Today, they were all taking a break from the constant lessons and were going to paint the nursery and finally put together all of the furniture El had ordered.El had just finished up eating a snack and was headed back upstairs where the guys had just got done carrying all of the paint cans.
“You know you shouldn’t be subject to paint fumes during pregnancy,” Marcus told her for the eighteenth time since she had told him she wanted to paint the nursery.
“We have fans and we’ll open the windows.”
“You’re stubborn.”
