Chapter Twenty-Three
Kendrick
September
“Thanks for coming to lunch with me,” I told my mom and Keegan. Kacey bounced in the seat next to me, anxious for her hot chocolate to cool enough to drink. Kieran had been left in the safe hands of Pops, who had opted to stay home today. “I needed to get out of there. It was too much.”
“Nik refuses to read directions,” Keegan nodded in understanding, taking a bite of his sandwich. “Dad is just as bad. Kris and Bal read all the directions, from start to finish, before even starting. It’s a problem when they all get together. Lots of alphaness and arguing.”
“Well,” Mom gave me, and my very large belly, a look, “I’d say they are getting that crib put together just in time. You look about ready to pop.”
Running a hand through my hair, I sighed. Harry, our server, came over and refilled my water with a smile, asking if we needed anything else.
“I think we’re good, thanks Harry.”
I actually loved living here in the village. At first, I thought I would miss my old life, miss teaching, but I really hadn’t. I loved being able to just enjoy my pregnancy, not having to worry about much of anything.
Bal and I had moved into a larger cottage just two weeks ago, and while a bit stressful, the move had gone fairly well. Today, Bal, Nik, Kris, and my dad were putting together the nursery furniture. That had not been going well.
After listening to them all snipe and yell at each other for three hours, the crib still laying in several pieces on the carpet of the baby’s room, I had begged my mom and Keegan to meet me for lunch at the village restaurant.
“Maybe they’ll be done by the time we get back,” Mom sounded hopeful.
Keegan shook his head, holding his phone out to both of us.
“Nik just sent this. I don’t think so. Maybe we should do a little shopping first?
Pops won’t mind getting Kieran all to himself for a few more hours.
” The crib was still in the same number of pieces as it had been when I had left the house.
“Walking sounds good,” I nodded. “At my appointment two days ago, Doc Timmons said there was absolutely no sign of me going into labor anytime soon. Which, considering my due date is tomorrow, was not what I wanted to hear. Maybe walking will get this little one in gear.”
We finished our lunch and stood to get our coats on. Because even mid-September in the village meant cold temps and snow.
Mom watched me zip my coat. “You look like you’ve dropped though since last week when I saw you.”
“I feel like this baby is sitting on my bladder all the time.” I moaned, feeling a cramp tighten my stomach. “I have to pee a thousand times–oh!”
My body popped, and warm liquid gushed out of me, wetting my pants all the way down the legs.
“Your pants is wet, Uncle K,” Kacey informed me, pointing.
“Are,” I automatically corrected her grammar. Glancing down at myself, not that I could see much, thanks to my large puffer coat, I cried, “I think my water just broke!”
“I think so too,” Keegan told me calmly, gathering up Kacey’s things and zipping her coat for her.
Pain suddenly radiated across my stomach, and I gasped, holding on to the table tightly. “Owwwww.”
“Breathe,” Mom instructed me quietly, her hand on my cheek, as I tried to breathe through an alarmingly uncomfortable contraction.
“I guess when this baby decides to do something, they aren’t messing around,” I panted.
“Let’s get you to the clinic,” Mom’s voice was so calm, like nothing out of the ordinary was happening, as she shuffled me out of the restaurant. “Can you make it that far?”
“Damn village with no cars,” I mumbled, one hand planted on the gigantic red and white striped candy cane that flanked either side of the restaurant’s doors.
“I called Bal,” Keegan told me, holding tightly to Kacey’s hand. “He’s on his way.”
Then he was there. Striding towards me, his long hair blowing behind him, wearing no coat and grinning like a loon.
“I’m in labor,” I gasped.
“So your brother said.” He picked me up into his arms, like I weighed nothing.
“My pants are wet.”
He started towards the clinic that sat on the edge of the village. I’d been very thankful to learn there was an actual clinic, and a place I could give birth. Keegan might like home deliveries, but they weren’t for me.
“I don’t think you’re going to need them,” Bal told me with a wink, and I laughed, holding onto him tightly.
“Probably not.” The contraction had ended, and I felt relatively normal again. Except for wet pants, and the crowd that seemed to be gathering on the sidewalks as Bal carried me through town like some hero in a romance movie.
The next few hours passed in a blur of contractions and waiting. While labor had come on with a bang, this baby decided to still take their own sweet time. Seven hours later, I was panting, exhausted, and pretty sure the epidural was wearing off.
Doc Timmons grinned at me, after checking my progression, patting my arm. “Looks like you’re ready to push.”
“Thank fuck!” I cried, shoving up on my elbows, ready to get this baby out. Bal’s strong arms supported me, and Hazel, the nurse, counted as the next contraction hit, and I pushed with all my might.
Balfour
I had a son.
I stared down at the tiny, sleeping baby in my arms, marveling that he was actually here. He was real. With his adorable button nose, tiny pointed ears, and thick shock of bright red hair.
Evan was quite simply the most beautiful baby ever created.
Yes, I was slightly biased. No, I didn’t care.
For the fifth time, I counted his tiny fingers, then unwrapped him from his swaddle to count his tiny toes.
Hazel, the nurse, quietly entered the room, smiling at the sight of me holding my son. I hadn’t a clue why she was smiling that widely; I wasn’t the first new father to hold their child and I wouldn’t be the last.
Efficiently, she moved to take Kendrick’s vitals. He didn’t even stir, proving his exhausted state.
“Thought I’d let you know, the natives are getting restless,” she told me quietly, tapping on the laptop beside the bed. “The waiting room has never been so full. And, your parents are here.”
“My parents are here?” I repeated, sure I had misunderstood her. They seldom ventured into the village itself, much preferring to stay in their house, located nearly in the next realm.
“Yes,” she came to peer down at Evan, giving my shoulder a squeeze. “I told everyone you were firm on waiting until Kendrick was awake.”
“I’m awake,” Kendrick whispered from the bed, and I glanced over to see him blinking his eyes open. His hair was a mess, his face still too pale for my liking, and dark circles under his eyes told me he needed more sleep. He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
Well, Evan was a close second.
“I’ll give you about ten minutes, shall I?” Hazel questioned. “Then I’m gonna start letting them in. Our little waiting room can’t hold that many people.”
Moving to the bed, I looked at her horrified, while I placed Evan in Kendrick’s grabby hands. “How many are there?”
She waved a dismissive hand. “The Kringles, The Santa and his husband, Kendrick’s parents, your parents, and a passel of your siblings.”
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I sighed loudly. “Of course there are.”
Kendrick kissed the top of Evan’s head, snuggling him close. “Stop it. They’re just excited. And he’s your mom and dad's first grandchild.”
I snorted. “He’s not, I’m telling you. Besides, I wouldn’t be surprised if Birch has one or two kids he hasn’t bothered to tell anyone about.”
“Stop being grumpy,” Kendrick ordered, as I carefully sat on the bed, resting my back against the headboard and pulling him into my chest.
“I’m not grumpy,” I huffed, kissing the top of his head. “How can I be when we have this miracle?”
“He’s really gorgeous, isn’t he?” Kendrick fussed with Evan’s blanket. “I mean, I know all parents think that, but he is.”
“We did good,” I agreed. “Well, you did good. You did all the heavy lifting.”
The door opened then, and the room erupted in talking, laughter, and many congratulations. Evan slept through it all, until he got tired of being passed around and wanted his dinner. To which he let everyone in Santa’s Village know his outrage, loudly and at the top of his lungs.
“Has Bal’s temper,” my dad joked. At least I thought he was joking.
“Well, you know what they say about redheads,” Merv joined in, running a hand through his own graying red hair.
“I do not have a temper,” Keegan defended.
“That you don’t, Sunshine,” Nik wrapped an arm around his husband's shoulders, pulling him close.
“Except when he’s in labor,” I muttered, still traumatized from being with him when he had been in labor with Kacey, before Nik got there. “I honestly thought he was possessed by a demon.”
Thankfully, I had made sure to stay far away when he had been in labor with Kieran.
“Evan Garrick is such a…” Mom paused, as if searching for the least offensive words she could use, “human name.”
“He’s half human,” It gave me some pleasure reminding her of that fact. “And I picked the name Evan.” We had both agreed we had no desire to carry on the K tradition his family had started, and Keegan had continued.
Hazel appeared with a bottle, and I took Evan from Pops to feed him. Sitting in the rocker glider next to Kendrick’s hospital bed, I saw my mom frown when Evan started sucking the formula down.
Before she could get wound up, because I knew her, I gave her a stern look. “Don’t say one word. We decided bottle feeding was the best for us, and we don’t need anyone’s opinion on the matter.”
“It’s just–”
“Not our business,” my father told her quietly, giving me a wink and a smile, as he led her and about ten of my siblings from the very overcrowded room.
“Well,” Kendrick sighed, “I didn’t earn any points with her today, did I?”
“Who cares?” I put Evan on my shoulder and carefully patted his back to burp him.
He was so tiny, I was a little terrified I was going to hurt him.
“The only opinion that matters about you, is mine. And I love you. My mom will get over it, or not. She has very strong opinions of what new parents should do, and she is not afraid to voice them. Even when people don’t want to hear them, or she is not even asked. ”
Honestly, I had never realized there were so many things that we had to decide before Evan was born. Like chest feeding or formula? Disposable diapers or cloth? Even the type of bottle and nipple had been a two-day discussion, before Kendrick had finally picked the one he wanted to use.
None of it made a bit of difference to me. I was happy doing whatever Kendrick wanted to do. If he wanted to chest feed, fine. If he wanted to bottle feed, fine. I was happy to be able to help out with feedings, though, and I had told him as much.
But I wouldn’t stand for anyone, including my own mother, trying to shame him for our decisions, or make him feel bad about them.
Hazel announced visiting hours would be over in ten minutes, and the remaining family members started giving out hugs and promising to stop by tomorrow.
“They’ll be heading home tomorrow,” Hazel informed everyone, “so best just visit at home. Once they’ve gotten settled, after a day or two.” She gave me a quick wink and a sly smile as she left the room.
I was pretty sure the clinic didn’t have any actual set visiting times, but bless the woman for seeing Kendrick was tired, and I was done with people for the day.
Scooping Evan up, I carefully settled on the bed next to Kendrick. He fussed with Evan’s blanket, before putting his head on my chest, his jaw cracking with a yawn.
“How’s your pain?” I questioned him, happy with one arm around my omega, and the other holding our son.
“I’m good,” he whispered, his eyes closing. “I’m sore, but whatever Hazel gave me was nice.”
“Sleep then.” I kissed the top of his messy red hair.
“’kay,” Kendrick mumbled.
“Love you,” I whispered, seeing his lips curve up into a smile. “Thank you for our son.”
Balfour
Past…
Nemesis: My brother reads porn.
Me: Excuse me?
Nemesis: He gave me these two books of his. Said I had to read them, because they were sooo good. And he wanted to be able to have someone to talk to about them.
Me: And they were porn?
Nemesis: Straight up porn. The things the alpha did to the omega…I fucking needed a cigarette after I read them and I don’t even smoke. Romance, my ass.
Me: Really? Your brother? The smiley, always happy one?
Nemesis: Well, now we know why the fuck he’s always smiling. I’d be smiling all the damn time if some alpha dicked me up like in those books. Smiling all over the place.
Me: I’m getting uncomfortable with the turn of this conversation. What were the names of those books? Purely to make sure we have the proper age listed on them here.
Nemesis: *laughing emojis* You’re soooo going to read them, aren’t you?