Chapter Fourteen
Casey
It was far too early in this pregnancy to be this big. I tried to pull on my mate’s sweatpants, but they wouldn’t go over my belly—not even close. I didn’t look like someone who still had months to go before delivery. I looked ready to pop.
“I think we should call in the midwife,” I said hesitantly. I hated suggesting it—we had an appointment in a couple of weeks—but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Wasn’t I supposed to feel the baby moving by now? And how many babies were in there, because if there was only one, I was going to be giving birth to someone the size of a preschooler at this rate.
And really, given I was a beagle, it was realistic to expect I was having a litter. But that brought me back to feeling them kick. I hadn’t even had the butterfly sensations I read about on the internet. I was beginning to get scared.
After my mate confirmed that I wasn’t in immediate danger or actively dying, and that there wasn’t some other crisis to deal with, he left to go find the midwife. I thought it was odd he didn’t just call them, until I found out later, the midwife lived in a dead zone. No cell service at all.
Not exactly convenient, considering his job, but I had to admit, it sounded kind of dreamy. A quiet little escape from all the noise and chaos of life. I couldn’t live that way with my job, but as far as a fantasy life went, it sounded delightful.
Nolan came back with the midwife only a few minutes behind him. He introduced himself as Oscar, even though his name was Theodore, and was quite the character. If I hadn’t been so worried about my pregnancy, I’d have asked him for the story about his name. But I was nervous and wanted to move along quickly.
Oscar was seventy, if he was a day, with a bright-green polka-dot tie that looked like it stepped straight out of a St. Patrick’s Day frat party. He wore it completely unironically, paired with a button-up shirt and old, well-loved shoes that had definitely seen better days. No one would meet him and not remember. That was for sure.
“So,” he said, peering at me over his glasses, “you think there might be a problem with this pregnancy?”
“I’m not sure if problem is the right word…” I hesitated. “But look at me. I’m huge.”
Understatement of the year.
“Not huge,” he replied. “That’s pretty normal for someone close to delivery.”
I shook my head. “I’m not close. Not at all.”
He motioned for me to sit on the bed. “How far along do you think you are?”
I told him the timing of my heat, and he nodded, confirming that I wasn’t as far along as he suspected, which only made things worse. Because that meant I was officially ginormous and that my worry was legit.
“Okay, let’s see what we’ve got going on here.”
He started with the usual stuff—questions, blood pressure, heart rate. Then he placed the little doppler doohickie wand on my belly, the one that listened for the heartbeat.
Slowly he ran it over my belly from left to right and up and down. Silence. And didn’t find a single thing to listen to. Static, static, and more static.
My blood ran cold. There had to be a heartbeat. I was too far along for there not to be. But the midwife didn’t look worried, and I tried to embrace that feeling.
“Remind me—you’re a beagle?” He sat down beside me.
“Yeah. I’m a beagle.” But beagles had hearts, so why did that matter? I was so confused.
“And your family? Beagles too?”
“Hardly.” I wasn’t sure how that hadn’t come up before when he was asking me a thousand questions. It felt need to know, for sure. “They’re all wolves. At least as far back as we know. I mean, obviously, someone along the line wasn’t, but yeah—wolves.”
“So…no egg layers?” He wrinkled his nose then stood up and pressed on my belly.
Hard.
It didn’t hurt, but damn it was uncomfortable.
“No,” I said slowly, not wanting him to see my discomfort. “No egg layers.”
“Huh.”
I didn’t like the sound of that at all.
“And your mate’s family is all dragons?”
“He’s a dragon,” I said.
“My family comes from a long line of dragons. If there are any other shifters in the mix, we don’t know about them.” My mate filled in the rest.
“Well,” Oscar said, straightening up. “I’ve got good news. And…weird news.”
My stomach dropped. At least it wasn’t bad news. Weird I could handle. Probably.
“The good news is,” he continued, “you’ve got what appear to be three healthy babies.”
Three. We were going to have three babies. I’d have relaxed, but I could sense a “but” was coming. I could feel it.
“But…”
And there it was.
“They’re…well. They’re in eggs. That’s why I couldn’t get a heartbeat. You’re going to have a clutch.”
My mouth opened. Then closed. Then opened again. I had so many questions. And I asked all of them, everything from How is this even possible? to When do they come out? to How can I keep them safe? To the scariest question of all, How will I get them out?
And Oscar, bless him, answered every single one. Patiently. Thoroughly. Including the part where he told me we were getting close to “egging time.”
I turned to my mate and pointed an accusing finger at his face. “You. You did this to me.”
He grinned and joined me on the bed, settling his hands on my belly.
“I did, and I will be happy to do it again.”
The midwife chuckled.
“Let me know if you need anything else or have any questions.” Oscar stood up. “I know it’s a lot to take in at once, so don’t feel bad if suddenly you have a thousand more things to ask me. You can even stop by for tea, if that makes it easier.”
I was glad Oscar had been our midwife pick. And really, it was less us picking and more that he was the one closest to us, but still, I felt comfortable with him, despite the questionable fashion sense.
My mate walked him out the door and came back to me with a cup of juice in his hand.
“You’re going to be amazing,” he said softly. “Now drink up. Babies want their vitamin C.”
I wasn’t sure how true that was, not with them all cozy warm in their eggs, but I needed the nourishment and sipped it slowly.
“I don’t know how to do this egg thing. None of it.”
“You’ll do just fine.” He took the glass from me and set it on the nightstand before cuddling in behind me and holding me close.
“Thanks. I really needed to hear that.” He snuggled into me. “You’re exactly what I needed in my life.”
He pressed a kiss to my shoulder. “And you are exactly what I need. It’s almost as if Fate knew that.” He chuckled against my skin.
“If only.”