Page 34 of His to Mate

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A week later,she woke up to the sound of whimpering. She knew she shouldn’t hear that sound, so she turned over and tried to find the source of the noise. She saw a small box on the floor on her side of the bed, with holes all around it. Something was alive in it, and from the sounds it was making, it wanted out.

Her heart did all sorts of flips as she pulled the tabs open on the box to reveal a tiny chihuahua puppy. Its little head poked up, curious to find out what had just happened, and then it scrabbled its way out of the box. Ann was in love at first sight. She picked up the little black and tan puppy and laughed when the little bundle of energy squirmed all over her to inspect its new place in life.

“I think you need water and to go outside,” she said to the still squirmy creature and put on a robe as best she could so she could go out to the balcony. She set the puppy down and found a small dish of water and food were already out there. The puppy inspected them but decided that exploring was far more pressing than food or water at the moment. “What am I going to do with you?”

The puppy yipped and jumped around and her little, semi-floppy ears perked. Ann had been able to hold off her squirming to note that it was a she, and she looked down at her now, more than a little befuddled. “What in the world made him decide I needed a puppy?”

The puppy yipped again and bounced around before she went back to exploring. She clambered up into the raised flower bed there, did her business, and came back and sat down in front of Ann. “That was convenient, but I don’t think that was the proper place for that.”

The puppy’s head tilted but she didn’t respond in any other way. “I’ll have to figure out how to get you down to the ground to do your business, missy. For now, what shall we call you?”

Ann picked her up, set her on the table, and they stared each other down. Ann put her face down close to the little brown-eyed girl and jumped back when the puppy licked her nose. “I think that was a hello.”

The puppy wobbled her head around but didn’t do much else.

“You’re no help with this, you know?”

The puppy stuck her head out and growled a little bit.

“Hmm.” Ann watched her but the puppy didn’t do anything but sit down and stare up at her. “I have to give you a name.”

Ann picked her up and set the tiny thing, no bigger than her hand, down on her chest. She had all of her teeth, though they were tiny, and she had brown eyes, so she was a month or two old. Old enough to be on dry dog food. She was just tiny then.

“I could call you something like Tiny, but I don’t like that. How about Katy? You look like a Katy to me.”

The newly named Katy did more squirming and exploring before she finally settled in Ann’s lap for a nap. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with you, or why he gave you to me, but I’m glad he did. You’re about as cute as you can be.”

Ann needed to do some business of her own, so she scooped the puppy up and put her in her pocket. The puppy must have been very tired because she didn’t protest or try to jump out, she just settled into the silk pocket and kept on sleeping.

Ann got through her morning routine and ordered some breakfast. She had a meeting with Skye later, and somehow, she was going to have to tell the other woman she hadn’t managed to get a health scanner from her husband yet. She’d started to experience morning sickness, or something, the day after she’d been to her mother’s and the exhaustion had started to spread into most of her day.

She now spent most of her day, and night, asleep, while the mornings were reserved for trips to the bathroom to empty her stomach. It wasn’t so bad this morning, and she hoped that was the end of it. By now, she’d settled into the idea that her period wasn’t coming and that she was more than likely pregnant. The way her breasts continued to swell and ache, along with the sickness, exhaustion, and lack of period were pretty good indicators to her that she was.

She wanted to be sure before she told Rager, and she kept meaning to send him a message about the scanner or to write him a note, but every time she started to, she fell asleep. If she could keep the puppy quiet this morning, she’d send him a thank you message and ask him for equipment for the clinic.

Ann walked around with the puppy in her pocket, and it made her smile every time she realized the weight against her hip in the square pocket on the front of her robe was the little dog. Katy, a good name for a dog. Now, she needed to figure out a name for her baby.

Her hand went over the flat of her stomach, no sign of a baby in sight yet, but she just knew. Something told her, some instinct far more than the symptoms of pregnancy she’d experienced, that there was now more in the world to protect than herself. She nibbled at some strawberries, had a sweet but plain muffin, and drank some grape juice. The grape juice was the newest addition to their pantry. She loved every drop of it.

Her smartwatch dinged, and she looked down at it. A reminder than Skye would soon be here. She went to the closet and found a long sapphire blue blouse that had similar pockets to her robe and a pair of shorts, and changed into those. The puppy stayed awake a little longer this time and stuck her head out of the pocket. When she saw Ann she yipped, and then curled back into the same position she’d been in earlier.

“Yeah, well, you might want to stay hidden down there. I expect Miss Skye is bringing the fire down on me today, for not getting the equipment we need yet.” Not that anybody had made any progress. Meg still hadn’t sorted the problem at the lab, but she had been able to give Ann’s mother an ultrasound.

Ann had been relieved to learn that her mother was fine, but shocked to find out she was pregnant with twins. A boy and a girl. Better her mother than her, Ann decided with a laugh. She wasn’t sure she could handle one baby, much less two right now. She had no clue what to do with babies, but she’d get some practice in with the twins, she hoped.

Now, if she could just stay awake today… she had to put that thought on hold as the need to get rid of her breakfast overwhelmed her. She ran for the bathroom and had just flushed the toilet when Skye showed up. “The butler let me in. Or whatever he is.”

“That’s fine. I’m sorry. Just a bit ill this morning.” Ann reached over for a washcloth from a stack on the countertop and wet it down. She wiped her face and glanced up at Skye. “Remind me not to have grape juice until this has finished.”

She stood up, brushed her teeth, and took a deep breath. “I’m not sure that’s over, but I hope so.”

“I don’t think we need that health scanner, do we?” Skye looked at Ann with a new level of pity and concern. “Maybe some toast?”

“Did your books tell you that?” Ann went out to the balcony, her gait a little unsteady, but she made it. “I’ll try anything at this point if it makes it stop.”

“It might help. And something like weak tea. Just to make sure your throat isn’t too dry.”