Chapter 20
BLAKE
Denise, Ollie's family's birthing assistant, lived south of Chicago.
Her country home was an hour's drive from the cabin, most of it highway.
When she led us around her back porch to a set of cellar doors, I tried not to panic.
The stairs were wide and clean, and the tile floor at the bottom gleamed.
She motioned me to the raised examination table. The walls were painted a light blue, and the table itself was the modern type with all the clamps and restraints tucked away when they weren't needed, but from all the closed drawers on the side, I worried they would make an appearance.
"It's going to be fine," Ollie whispered against the back of my head, rustling my hair and sending a shiver across my skin. The basement air was cooler than the warm spring sunshine, but it wasn't unpleasant.
I swallowed hard and hopped up onto the table. Denise and Ollie exchanged a look. "Have you told him?"
"Told me what?"
"Let's take a look and see how many heartbeats we find."
I blinked. "Heartbeats?"
"You could be carrying twins, or triplets."
The floor suddenly seemed very close, and Ollie's arms came around me, holding me upright on the table. "It's all right." He rubbed my back. "My mom had twins and a set of triplets."
"Then she had one more." Denise chuffed a laugh. "Your mom was a dream client. She put my kid through college."
"Seven kids, but only four pregnancies," I reminded her.
"Four pregnancies is a lot for a shifter," Denise said. "Most get their two-in-one pregnancy and call it quits."
Yes, I was on board with that. If I was having more than one kid at once, I would certainly look into permanent birth control.
"Did your family have multiples?" Denise asked me.
"My cousins are fraternal twins, two girls. They're the only ones I know of."
She nodded. "That would explain it. It's far more likely for a shifter to have multiples than it is for a human, but it's not unheard of."
Ollie helped me to lie back on the table, and Denise prodded my belly with her stethoscope. "I hear two strong heartbeats. I'll take a look on the ultrasound to make sure they've attached to the womb. If they haven't, we'll have to monitor more closely for the next few months."
"Why? Is something wrong?"
She patted my shoulder. "Let's not worry about it until we know for sure."
The gel she spread over my still-flat belly was cool and thick. She turned on the monitor, and I followed her every move as she pressed the wand to my flesh. It was so strange to see inside my body that way, with nothing more than sound waves.
"There's the first one. They're attached, which is wonderful." She waved the wand around until it picked up the sound of the second heartbeat. "And the other is attached, too. Fabulous. But …"
"But?" As nice as her basement office was, Denise was pulling out all the stops to make this trip into a horror movie.
"Let me check for another heartbeat."
"Three?" I risked a glance at my mate. His lips parted in a sweet smile. He was already over the moon about this pregnancy. All I could think about was the two of us trying to feed three babies at once, or change their diapers while they were screaming for food, or …
"False alarm. Two babies and one healthy papa." She wiped the gel off, and I tugged my sweater back into place as Ollie helped me sit up.
Back on my feet, I couldn't move fast enough toward the stairs.
"Let's talk on the porch," Denise said to Ollie behind me.
The old farmhouse had a deep front porch. Thick wooden posts supported the house above it, and a cool breeze blew through the open area. I sank into the chair closest to the edge of the porch, ready to bolt if she told me any more disturbing news.
"You're about four months along," Denise said. "Humans might go the full nine-and-a-half, or you might go as early as eight. Ollie's family usually goes early, so we could be looking anywhere from the end of August to the beginning of October."
She said more, but my brain was already racing ahead, making a list of everything we would need for two babies. Would two cribs fit in the nursery? Did I have enough time to build them before my belly became too cumbersome?
"Blake?" Denise's voice cut into my list planning.
"Hmm?"
"He'll be there," Ollie answered for me. "I'll make sure of it."
"I'll be where?" I asked once we were back at his truck.
"Your next appointment."
"Okay. Yep. Sure."
He reached across the bench seat to take my hand in his. "I know this is a lot to handle all at once, but—"
"It'll work out."
He beamed at me and nodded. "It will."
For the first time since I'd heard two distinct heartbeats, I believed it.
The weekend after my second appointment with Denise, Ollie's parents showed up with a truckload of baby furniture.
I loved his mom immediately. She was petite, but her presence expanded to the entire room.
She hugged me close and whispered to my belly, "Hello, little ones," before stepping back and offering me her hand.
"I'm Nora Beaman, and you must be Blake. "
I didn't know if I was supposed to shake her hand or kiss it, so I went for professional. "Nice to meet you."
Like Ollie's, the corners of her eyes crinkled when she smiled. "Yes, it's a delight to meet you, too, Blake. You're feisty. I like that."
"Feisty?" I glanced at Ollie over the top of her head and stage whispered, "What did you tell her?"
"You can't tell her anything," Oliver Beaman said, coming up behind his wife and offering me his hand. "She has this idea that our other sons-in-law are boring, and I can't talk her out of it. Boring isn't bad, you know. I'm boring."
"You are dependable." She nudged him with her shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around her. Their casual display of affection reminded me of my parents, and my eyes stung at the corners.
I turned and grabbed the screen door, adjusting it so it would stay open while we brought in the furniture. By the time I'd finally gotten the fickle metal piece where it belonged, the three had emptied the truck bed of its contents and were on their way inside.
"There's a pile of blankets in the cab," Nora said as she passed me.
I needed something to do to feel useful, and she didn't have to tell me twice. I bounded off the porch with nervous energy. When I returned, they already had the double crib and dresser set up in the spare bedroom.
"Follows directions the first time," Nora said, making a checkmark sign in the air.
"These little performance evaluations might be why Dan and Michelle are afraid of you."
"Psh. They're cowards if they're afraid of me." Nora met my gaze. "You're not. I like you."
She reminded me so much of my own mom with her no-nonsense attitude. I grinned at her, and a trickle of moisture escaped my eye.
"Come here. You haven't had a good mom hug in a long time, have you?" She held her arms out, and I fell into them with a sob.
"It's the hormones, I swear."
She rubbed circles on my back, and then Ollie's warmth soaked into me as he joined our hug. His dad piled on behind Nora, and I noticed he was shorter than Ollie by a few inches.
"No need to apologize," she said. "Nothing will replace your parents, but you'll always be family to us."
"Family she happens to like," Mr. Beaman, Oliver, added. I struggled to call him Oliver, even though Ollie was named after him.
Once I had a moment to wipe my eyes, Nora dragged me to the kitchen. "Show me how to bake these cookies of yours."
"Mom, it's too hot to bake cookies!" Ollie tried to protest.
"It's never too hot for cookies," we responded at the same time.
Nora laughed. "You're perfect for him." Under her breath, she said, "Dan's too much like Zander. I worry they'll bore each other to death at some point, but for now, it's working. And don't get me started on Michelle. A mountain lion with a bear? They're lucky their little girl isn't a chimera."
"Does that happen?"
She shook her head. "I shouldn't be talking about it with a human. Did you even know shifters existed before you met my son?"
"Hadn't even guessed the stories were true."
"Chimeras aren't real, but we hear stories sometimes, no different from the human stories about cryptids."
Those stories were a little more believable, now that I knew shifters existed.
"I want what's best for my boys." She sighed. "I also need to remember it's not my choice. They insist they're in love, and that's what counts."
Love. Fuck. Everything had happened so quickly between Ollie and me, I hadn't even stopped to think about my feelings for him. We were fated mates, and it seemed silly to resist fate.
Nora homed in on my doubt. Her gaze narrowed. "Do you love my son, Blake?"
"Yes." The word popped out of my mouth. I didn't need to journal about it. No pros and cons list needed. Ollie was smart, sweet, and so much fun to be around. The sex was amazing, but it was so much more than that. He was more than a friend, and more than a lover.
Life with him had been so easy, right from the start, even when everything else had sucked.
Now, my life was starting to match our relationship, not always easy, but simple.
We didn't have any huge complications or distractions.
We could be quiet together, or as loud as we wanted in the bedroom.
We fit together exactly as fate had planned, and my life was better for it.
My vision blurred. "I love him so much."
She patted my hand. "Good. He loves you, too, in case he forgot to tell you. He's never been the best at expressing his emotions, but I can tell from the way he talks about you over the phone and seeing him with you today … never doubt for one moment that my son loves you, too."
"Mom!" Ollie burst through the door from the living room and crossed his massive arms over his chest. In his tight black t-shirt, the display had my mouth watering before we'd even sorted the cookie ingredients. "Are you ruining my big reveal?"