Dad had been right. I’d needed to take my paternity leave during Kyle’s pregnancy. This time together was precious. We needed to celebrate it. After the kids came, everything would change.
I looked forward to the future. But now was amazing, too, as the three of us solidified our bonds and got ready for the next stages of our beautiful, evolving family.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Kyle
For three days, I’d been having to pretend that I didn’t know Falkan’s parents were throwing us a baby shower. It wasn’t easy. The way they made an elaborate ruse, including a “flight dinner” to discuss some new venture and asked leading questions to help with their planning had me nearly giving my knowledge away multiple times. I didn’t want to ruin this for them.
They were so excited about becoming grandparents that I was going to give them this. At least the day had finally come because it meant I wouldn’t have to focus on my acting skills anymore, skills that honestly weren’t that great.
I came into the house after a walk, something the midwife encouraged me to do frequently, and was a sweaty mess. “I’m gonna grab a quick shower,” I called out to Griffith and Falkan, who were hunched over Griffith’s computer. I didn’t know if it was for Falkan’s work or Griffith’s, but they were both quite focused, to the point I wasn’t sure if they heard me.
I took the world’s quickest shower. My belly was the size of a freaking house, and my body had been running hotter than hot for weeks now. This wasn’t the first or the second shower I’d take today, and it probably wasn’t going to be the last. I hadn’t been prepared for this always-sweating-all-the-time part of my pregnancy and was ready for it to be over.
At first, I thought maybe there was something wrong with me, but apparently, that was just par for the course, especially for my beast. So, I might as well get used to it. I never minded the showering or taking a bath, but drying off was turning into an acrobatics routine. Griffith found me some really long towels, and that helped, but I’d still nearly lost my balance twice today,and it was about time to accept that I shouldn’t be doing this on my own anymore.
It was funny, all the things that pregnancy impacted that I had no idea were going to be a thing, like having difficulty tying my shoes, drying myself, and the dreams…oh, the dreams.
There were dreams of weird foods. There were dreams of sexy times with my mates. There were dreams about kittens—so many dreams about kittens. I wasn’t a cat lover, making it extra odd. I didn’t mind them, but they weren’t the critters of my dreams. Only now, they were.
And of course, there were my mood swings. My mates deserved a Medal of Honor for dealing with them. One minute, I could be happy as could be, and the next, I was sobbing as if the world was coming to an end.
Pregnancy was wild.
I didn’t want to look like I was dressed for my shower, but I also wanted to look nice in my pictures and to have the clothes fit, and that was a challenge. I ended up with a button-up paternity shirt over my favorite paternity jeans. It looked nice enough and wasn’t too uncomfortable. I’d rather have been wearing joggers, but thirty years from now, when trying to embarrass our kiddo as they brought home their mate for the first time, I didn’t really want the pictures of my shower to be of me in joggers.
I went downstairs to meet my mates so we could walk over to the meeting place. When everyone jumped out and said, “Surprise!” I squeed as if I had no idea it was coming. Maybe I did deserve an Oscar, after all.
Everyone launched straight into congratulations, followed by the games, my favorite being “Name That Scale,” which was all about matching which color scales belonged to which flight members. I got them all right. I paid attention when we had flight run, loving their magnificent beasts. The game reallyhighlighted all the different colors my flight encompassed, and the prize was an art piece that incorporated all the colors, representing the flight welcoming in our new addition.
Next came cake followed by gifts. Opening the gifts in front of other people always made me feel weird, and today was no exception. I didn’t help matters by acting oddly. I’d open up a blanket and feel like I had to keep it with me. A teddy bear went behind my back. A lovey for the baby? Yep, that was sitting on my lap. Anything soft or cushy, I couldn’t let go of. Then, just as my alpha father-in-law was announcing the next game, I had to get out of there with all of those items that were piled around me.
I had to give my family credit, both my immediate and my flight, because no one made a comment about how peculiarly I was acting.
“I think it’s time we go,” Falkan said to his alpha father.
“Do you know what’s happening, Son?” he whispered low, but I could hear, being right next to him.
My mate shook his head.
“He’s nesting. We’ll send the midwife over.”
I heard the words, but I didn’t grasp their meaning until we got home and I’d had them moving most everything out of the spare bedroom, leaving a big open space where I started piling blankets and pillows on top of each other.
The midwife came in and said, “There might be some nesting happening.”
“No, I’m just sorting presents.” And the messed-up thing was, I believed that response. I was unaware of what I was doing, even as I began barking orders, asking for more pillows or blankets or one mattress from other rooms. When my stomach started to cramp, the entire room looked like a flipping giant pillow fort.
“I ate too much cake,” I said, holding my side.
The midwife looked at me. “That’s not cake.”
“How about we help you get ready?” Griffith rested his hand on my lower back.
“What are you talking about?” I was so confused.
And that was when they had me sit down, holding my hands and making me not only listen to the midwife but repeat the words back to them. Apparently, I had been told numerous times what was happening, but none of it registered, my focus solely on the nest…the one I didn’t realize I had built.
