“She bought the conception of a baby,” Delin said. “No, she didn’t know why I was over there. She only knew I knew of her family and that genetically I was pretty solid. It was so important to her that you had the best start you could. To be fair…. This is going to sound shitty of me. I’m not even really into women and I think she isreallyinto women. I know there’s talk of her sleeping with guys and that…”
“Mom is bisexual. You don’t get to change her label because she loves Bree,” I said, trying to keep my tone as nonconfrontational as I could.
“You have her temper,” he grinned. “That comes from Pras. Hell, maybe it comes from Volex himself.”
“It’s okay you’re gay,” I added on because him not liking women wasn’t the reason for the awkward silence between us.
He laid a folder on the table between us. It was old and battered and impossible to tell which color it originally was. He opened it up onehanded.
“I wanted to show you this. This is my copy of the original contract of your conception. Have you seen it before?” he asked.
“No,” I shook my head, “and I’m not sure I want to.”
“You don’t have to read it. I highlighted and pulled to the front the one clause that’s important.”
If the carrier/mother of the child (DIAMOND MAGNOLIA MOONSCALE) is to perish before the child (BABY MOONSCALE) the custody of the forementioned minor child is to be granted to the sire (DELIN HEATH McCOMBS) immediately.
“I didn’t want you to be alone or in the system or something if something were to happen to Diamond,” he said when I finished reading it. “I wasn’t ready for a kid. I wasn’t sure I ever wanted a family. I’m still not. Though, I felt I owed it to my parents to carry on the bloodline somehow. This side is my will. I mailed your mother a copy of it as soon as I reached Earthside. Well, after the fight, because I wasn’t sure you’d open anything mailed from me. You don’t have to read it, but if something happens to me, all the wealth I’ve accumulated on Earthside and in the Other World is to be divided between you and your brothers. As far as I know, you’ve never met them.”
“I haven’t. I think I’d know because of the family link,” I said, my brows furrowing together. I didn’t want his money. I didn’t…
“Then put it in a trust for your kids,” he said, picking up my thoughts over the family link. “Look, I don’t plan on dying but if I do I want you and your brothers to be taken care of. It’s the least I can do. Most of this money is family money. It’s what my parents would want. If I ever meet my true-mate and have kids, I’ll adjust the will to include them. If I die and you don’t want anything to do with the money divide it between your brothers. They’re not any more at fault than you are.”
“Thank you,” I said, because at least he was thinking of us now.
“Are you set with everything for the baby?” he asked and I almost told him to mind his own business.
“Jade has been shopping like crazy and everyone has all this stuff that never got used when they had their last babies because of how much support goes on here. We’re having the baby shower this weekend and I’m lowkey dreading it but my friendsare coming in and… Do you want to come? Is that strange to ask you? You don’t have to bring a gift or anything. You don’t have to come at all… I just—”
“Glad to come,” he nodded.
We ate our food in silence, when we were finished and about to leave, Delin insisted on paying for the food and the tip. I let him, because I couldn’t imagine a time when I’d let even a grown-up Jondi cover the tab.
“For what it’s worth, my parents would’ve been thrilled at the very idea of you and your brothers. I was an only child because my carrier had such a hard go of it, but they always wanted tons of grandkids to spoil.”
I nodded because for some reason that did help. Plenty of my friends had been pressured over the years by their parents to have kids. I couldn’t imagine trying to live up to a dead mom’s expectations. She never rushed me on anything but still it would’ve been hard.
“Are you planning on staying in town?” I asked.
“Yeah, for the foreseeable future, at least,” he nodded.
“Cool. Volex knows where we live and he’s coming to the baby shower,” I said and shook his hand.
Chapter 28
Jade
Guardians of Glitter Bomb Territory
Beryl was lighter after talking with his dad. I had only half kept an open ear on their conversation in case things went south. The last thing anyone needed was those two dragons getting into a fight at Sandy’s. No one would ever hear the end of it. Only, they hadn’t fought. It went well, all things considered, and he came back with a family medical history that went twelve generations back. There were some blank spots and missing people but twelve generations were more than enough according to Doctor Lawngry.
The morning of my baby shower I woke up feeling more pregnant than I ever had before. I’d taken selfies every morning since finding out for sure I was pregnant and the timeline of the last month and a half showed me growing bigger and bigger. That morning my stomach hung heavy, and I didn’t want to get out of bed. Jondi was already up in the kitchen with Beryl asking him questions about Delin. He was happy to meet his granddadand to Beryl’s credit he wasn’t discouraging him or saying shitty things about him.
“Do I need to carry you to the bathroom?” Beryl appeared in the doorway. “We’re making burgers for breakfast. You dreamed about them last night. Don’t worry, I’m grilling fish sticks for the baby too.”
“I think I can manage,” I grinned, “but I want a good morning kiss first.”
He leapt onto the bed and kissed me as if it was our first time. His tongue probed between my lips and swirled around my tongue before disappearing. We had to keep things short when Jondi was home, but we managed to sneak in our quiet moments together. Despite saying I could manage, I was grateful for Beryl’s help sitting up. I liked to sink really deep into the bed even when I slept on my side and that habit made it more than a little bit difficult to crawl out of bed now that my center of gravity had plummeted.
