Chapter 35
CANDRIN
Losing sleep
“He’s dying.”
“Lower your voice, he’ll hear you.”
“He’s not a shifter so no he can’t hear what we’re saying.”
“He’s not dying, he’s just pregnant. This is what the first trimester looks like.”
“What vomit?”
“And how do you know what happens in the first trimester?”
“The internet.”
Gods, why don’t they stop talking? I pulled a pillow over my face to drown out their voices but gave up. “I’m right here listening to every word you say.”
“Told you he could hear you.” That was Tanner.
My three mates burst into the room as I lay on the bed, a sick bucket beside me—an empty sick bucket.
My mates either helped me to the bathroom or emptied the damn thing each time I threw up.
I was lucky I had three mates, one or more who were always hovering round me.
No pregnant omega should be dealing with morning or all day sickness and not have anyone to wipe their face or empty the vom bucket. I was so fortunate.
“I didn’t mean you were actually dying.” Huston shuffled his feet, his expression one of remorse.
“Then why did you say it?” hissed Oberon.
“Mates!” I got up on both elbows and wished I hadn’t as the room spun around me.
I flopped back and beckoned my mates closer.
“I love you all and I know you’re trying to help but this is the reality of the first three months—for me anyway.
” After reading how some omegas sailed through the first trimester with no throwing up or exhaustion, I was envious.
“Molly is making me some clear broth, but how about one, two or three of you go to the store and buy peppermint tea and maybe ginger candy.” I’d read both peppermint and ginger settled queasy tummies and helped with morning sickness.
Three hands shot up and they charged out of the room, almost colliding with Molly who was bringing in a tray.
“How did you get them out of the house?” She grinned as she helped me sit up before placing the tray in front of me.
My mates adored me and they loved Molly and Saul but they’d been pestering Molly about when she had her two kids, who were now grown up. And when my mates found something online, Saul was often sent on errands to buy a particular pillow or blanket or anything they thought I needed.
“Shopping. Sorry if they’re bugging you. They mean well.”
“It’s fine. I’d much prefer that to you-know-who.”
“Mmmm.” Neither of us wanted to use his fake or real name, trying to banish that period from our memories.
My phone beeped. My mates can’t have been out of the house yet. Were they checking up on me already? Molly held up the phone as I cautiously took a mouthful of broth. My belly didn’t complain and I slurped another one.
I read the preview. Is peppermint the same as spearmint?
I had no idea. Molly told me to say yes so I gave her my password and she typed my answer. She sat beside me while I finished the soup and nibbled on a slice of toast. The nausea had subsided and I hoped we were reaching the end of that stage.
Molly removed the tray and told me to rest as I sank back onto the pillows and snuggled under the covers.
I dozed off, only waking when my three bears “tiptoed” into the room.
I wondered how their bears would fare if they were wild and depended on stealth to snare a fish though they wouldn’t starve ‘cause they loved berries.
My mates leaned over and peered at me as I squinted at them with one eye.
“Hi. Whatcha got?”
They pulled out peppermint cookies, candy, canes and ice cream.
“No tea?” I queried.
“Ta da.” Huston proudly waved a box of tea bags.
“And now for the ginger,” Oberon announced. He produced hard candy, tea, a packet of crystalized ginger and more cookies.
I thanked them and said I needed to shower. All three helped me into the bathroom and hovered outside the glass shower enclosure while I washed.
“Are you going back to bed?” Tanner asked.
“No, I thought I’d go downstairs. I’m tired of looking at these walls.”
My mates looked at one another and then at me. “Did you remember that there are three of us?”
I sipped water from my bottle and wondered where Tanner was going with this. “Yes, there are three of you. One, two, three.”
Huston took up the story. “Sometimes babies come in threes.”
“Guys.” My hand went to my belly. “Let me have this baby first and we’ll think about a second and then a third.”
Tanner took my hand. “Our uncles are triplets.”
“That’s nice for them.” I wished I’d had siblings growing up. “I’d like to meet them sometime.”
“Triplets in our family aren’t a one off,” Oberon told me. “If you look at our family tree, there have been many sets of triplets.
I didn’t like the sound of this. Not that what they were telling me was bad, just intimidating. “Are you saying—”
“Yes.
“Yes.”
“Yes. You might be carrying triplets.”
I grabbed a chair and plonked myself down. Three mates and three babies.
“Are you sure?”
My mates squatted in front of me. “No. Not until you have your first ultrasound.”
Did shifters have those? I guess I’d find out. “What if we had a fourth baby, a girl and she was human, not a bear and she liked porridge?”
I was met with three mates whose bears had taken over their gaze.
“Porridge, meh.” Tanner turned up his nose as though he’d smelled something bad.
“There was a weird rumor at work among the humans about bears and porridge. I never did find out how it started and by whom.” Huston rubbed his jaw.
I opened my mouth to say something but Tanner put a hand on my arm and shook his head. They didn’t get the connection between what I’d bought at the market that day and the fairy tale.
“Yeah bears don’t like porridge. It’s kinda gross,” Oberon said as he glanced at his brothers.
I backtracked. “Ignore me. Pregnancy brain. Tell me again about shifter ultrasounds.”
Obviously the Goldilocks story was a human fairytale and had nothing to do with my mates. If I told Oberon and Huston the tale, they may want to find Goldilocks and give her a talking to. Do not mention fairy tales, I told myself.
“You can have one at eight weeks.” Tanner scrolled through his phone.
“How do I know when that is?” I’d probably passed the eight-week mark ‘cause I’d been sick for what seemed like forever. Had the doctor at urgent care given me a date? Maybe Huston recalled.
“But that’s for humans.” Oberon was reading over his brother’s shoulder. “Maybe it’s different for shifters.”
“Newsflash, guys. I’m human.”
A look of horror flashed over Oberon’s face and his brothers nudged him. My poor darling mate. I lifted his chin and kissed the end of his nose. “I love that you forget I don’t have an animal inside me.”
I stood. “I need fresh air and so does the baby. Let’s go for a walk in the grounds and Oberon you can show us what you’ve been doing with the garden.”
“And when we’re done, I’ll show you how I’ve reorganized your father’s library downstairs,” Huston said.
Tanner put his hands on his hips. “And when I fly tomorrow, I’ll do loop de loops over the house and wave at you.”
“Is that safe?” Oberon asked “Won’t the passengers be terrified at being upside down?”
Tanner rolled his eyes. “I’m kidding. But maybe after Candrin’s given birth, we can go on holiday and I’ll pilot the plane.”
That night as I lay in bed, Tanner on one side, Huston on the other and Oberon curled around my head—who slept like that?—I placed a hand on my belly. Maybe there was more than one baby in there because based on what I’d read, I shouldn’t be showing yet but my tummy was already rounded.
Not wanting to disturb my mates, I slid to the bottom of the bed and walked along the hallway to the old nursery.
This was where I’d slept when my dads brought me home from the hospital.
It needed an update because it looked as it had all those years ago.
And even though it was near to our huge bedroom, I was going to have the decorators put a connecting door so we could walk from our bedroom into the nursery.
I sat in the rocking chair my omega dad had sat in and imagined him with me over his shoulder, rubbing my back. I wished both my fathers were here to see their grandchild or grandchildren.
There used to be a photo sitting on the dresser. Pulling open a nearby drawer, I took out the photo of me and my parents. Charles…no…Bobby would have destroyed it if he’d found it. It had to have been Molly or Saul who put it in there.
Much as I loved this room, it was time to banish the past. I pulled the curtains aside, and the light from a new day peeked in. Opening the windows, I took a deep breath and placed a hand on my belly. “You’re going to love this room, my darling or darlings.”