“Plural?”John asked.
“We’re going to have a nursery over here too, for when I need to work in the gallery,” I told him.
“Smart,” he said.“I’ll let you get back to the detectives.Call me if you need me.Otherwise, I’ll be back again in a couple of days.”
“Perfect.Oh, wait.”I ran to the kitchen counter and pulled a plastic sleeve out of a drawer.Hester had told us that people were buying multiple cookies at a time and she needed a proper bag to put them in.I loaded a dozen peanut butter chocolate chip cookies into a tower of goodness for him and twisted the top closed.“I was thinking about you after your last visit and made your favorite.Actually, these are Frank’s favorite too.Did you know you were cookie buddies?”
He stared down at the cookies a moment and blinked.“I didn’t even know that was a thing.Thank you, starfish.I haven’t had one of these in quite a while.”
“I’ll need to fix that, won’t I?”I replied, pretending I wasn’t choked up by his surprised appreciation.
We walked him out and found Osso, Hernández, and Kaknu sitting back on this side of the deck.Uncle John pulled a cookie out, took a bite, and waved as he went through the gate.Declan and I sat to find out what more they wanted from me.
“Everything all right?”Osso asked.
“Yup.”I knew Osso knew, but he refused to say anything until I officially announced it.I supposed it was time.“My Uncle John is a healer.He was here to check on me.”
Hernández was instantly on high alert, worried something was wrong.
“It’s nothing bad,” I told her.“I’m having a baby.”
“We’rehaving a baby,” Declan corrected.
“What he said.”
Osso relaxed and almost smiled.He finally got to stop pretending he didn’t know.
Hernández’s worry ratcheted up a notch.“Is everything okay?Areyouokay?”
I nodded.“I have two healers in the family and my dad.All three say she is strong and growing quickly.It’ll be a fast pregnancy.”
Osso glanced over at Hernández.“Shifter pregnancies often mirror our other natures.Black bears in the wild gestate for about seven months.My wife was pregnant seven to eight months with our kids.”He turned to Declan.“What is it with wolves?”
“About two and a half,” he responded.
Hernández’s eyes went wide as she stared at my midsection.“Two and a half months?”
“It won’t be that fast with me,” I assured her.“Uncle John was guessing maybe two more months, but it’s still too soon for a good estimate.This is only the second time he’s checked on me.He’ll need a few more checks to chart the baby’s progress.”
“Will you go to a normal doctor?”she asked.
Osso’s brow furrowed as he clearly took exception to thenormalcomment, but I understood she was nervous for me and hadn’t meant to be offensive.
“Healers are normal for us,” I told her.“My Uncle Robert is a neurologist at a human hospital, but both my uncles are very skilled healers who can do more for us than human doctors can.I’m in good hands.”
“Oh.”She breathed out a sigh of relief.“Okay.Good.”
I toed off my shoes and crossed my legs under me.“I feel like I should tell you about the first two visions before you ask me to read whatever’s in Kaknu’s pocket.”
Kaknu pulled out his phone while Osso and Hernández took out their little notebooks.I stared at the phone a moment.He nodded and returned it to his pocket.
“Wait a minute,” Declan said.“We haven’t eaten and she’s already had two visions.”He looked at me.“Are you hungry?”
My stomach growled on cue, and he was up like a shot to get us food.
Hernández glanced at the open door to my studio and whispered, “Are you happy about this?”
Again, Osso looked annoyed, but I got it.Hernández was a girls’ girl.She was making sure this was my choice, and I appreciated it.“I am.Thank you for asking, but I am.Also, even if the door was closed, Declan would hear us.”
