Chatper 4
Chapter 4
Vivian stood looking up the white marble stairs toward the second floor of her new home. The idea of getting to the top and seeing for herself all the lovely things Eula had described at the front of her mind. Yet, still, she stood there, one hand cupping her huge belly, the other pressed as near to the small of her back as she could get it.
“Ehlealah?” Quin asked as he walked into their downstairs living room.
“Hmm,” she just barely answered, her eyes still pinned to the top of the stairs.
“You did too much today,” Quin said.
“Couldn’t help it. I wanted to see everything.” She didn’t look at him, instead still staring up the stairs.
“What is it?” Quin asked, coming to stand beside her and peer up in the direction she was looking.
“I wonder what it looks like.”
Quin looked at his mate, then followed her gaze once more toward the top of the stairs. “The stairs?” he asked.
“No. The rooms at the top of the stairs,” she snapped. “But I just don’t have it in me to climb up them. Your mother explained that it’s our usual quarters up there, but she turned all the common areas down here into bedrooms and a whole other apartment for us to use while the baby is little and I might want help more. I’ve seen these, they’re gorgeous. But I haven’t been upstairs yet.”
“That is not an issue,” he said, sweeping her quickly up into his arms and bounding effortlessly up the stairs.
Vivian squeaked a little as her hands grasped at him to secure herself.
“I will not drop you. You know this. ”
“Yes, well, I didn’t weigh eight hundred pounds when you picked me up before. Now I do.”
“You do not weigh 800 pounds. You weigh a bit more than before, and you’re more round — a lot more round, and out of breath more easily — even when you walk, but you’re not 800 pounds. Maybe 200 pounds,” he said cluelessly, not noticing the way she slowly, deliberately turned her face toward his.
Finally he felt her gaze on him and turned to her with a huge smile on his face. That smile faded quickly when he saw the brows on her delicate face raised dramatically and the thinning of her lips as she pressed them together tightly in her aggravation. “What did I say this time?” he asked.
“You said I was fat. You said I can’t do anything and I even have trouble catching my breath with a simple walk,” she answered, her tone terrifyingly calm as one of her eyes twitched.
“Vivi, you can’t take offense to truth. You are easily tired and you have trouble with walking too much, and you have become round!”
“Because I’m carrying a child that is probably half your size! You did this! If I’m fat it’s your fault! If I can’t breathe it’s because you put a baby in me that is practically your size and there’s no room for my lungs to work properly, and you’re lucky my heart hasn’t called end game!”
Quin stood at the landing at the top of the stairs. “I’m sorry?” he asked.
“Oh, and now you’re sorry that I’m pregnant?!” she demanded. “Put me down!”
Very carefully, even moving his body to block hers from falling down the stairs if she happened to teeter the wrong way due to her extra weight and top-heaviness, he placed her on her feet and simply stood there, waiting to see what she’d do next.
“You know that is not what I meant,” he said gently, having become somewhat accustomed to her emotional outbursts, the longer she was pregnant.
Eyes of fury turned away from his as she caught a glittering effect in her peripheral vision. She turned her back to him and took several steps away from him. Her gaze swept up and over a huge replica of her St. Christopher’s medal, complete with a chain of perfectly carved links appearing to spread out delicately beyond it to the left and the right to create an almost arch like quality as it reached from one side of the entrance to another with the St. Christopher centered perfectly. It had been carved into a relief standing out from the white marble that extended from the stairs to the grand entrance of the apartment, but to be clearly seen one had to be standing at the top of the staircase. The relief was covered in silver and glittered with the lights bouncing off it.
“Oh, my God,” she whispered. “Quin,” she said, turning to face him with tears in her eyes. “How…”
“It is no secret what your necklace means to you. My mother asked me to send her its likeness because she wanted to work it into our new home so you’d always know that you belong here.”
“And I thought she’d done so much before! I had no idea she’d gone to such measures. I have to go tell her how much it means to me.”
“She knows you hadn’t seen it yet.”
“I love this. I need to tell her.”
“She is probably sleeping, Ehlealah. You can tell her tomorrow.”
Vivian nodded, then swiped at her eyes to wipe away the tears. “I love this,” she said, crossing her arms over her belly and gazing contentedly at the carving.
“Do you want to see the rest?”
“I do,” she said, nodding and still sniffling.
“Come. Let’s explore together.”
Quin took her from room to room, where she remarked and oohed and ahead over every little detail Eula had painstakingly added to their home. She touched all the delicate decorations. Laughed delightedly when she found a second nursery upstairs with full wall murals of depictions of Earth and Earth’s wildlife, did a little dance when she found their upstairs personal kitchen stocked with apple juice, peaches, actual cornmeal, and best of all cheeses and pepperoni from Earth. “Where did she get all these?” Vivi exclaimed.
“Bart. He sent them so that you’d have some of your favorite things from Earth.”
“I’ll have to thank him, too. I’ll holovid him tomorrow. I think. Can I do that? I don’t have Vennie to connect me at will anymore.”
“Of course. I’ll show you where the communications office is and introduce you to the officers who man it tomorrow. You can contact anyone you like. The only exception may be if Father is in the middle of an address or an important meeting. You’ll have to wait until he’s done.”
“Oh, well yeah. Even I know that.” She looked around at the personal touches Eula had put on their home, even down to the foods she’d love and appreciate because they were from her home planet. “You arranged all these things for me so that I’d feel more at home. Eula took care of it all, but you planned this,” Vivian said.
Quin smiled indulgently at her. “I did. I wanted you to feel safe and welcomed and that this is your home, too.”
Immediately Vivian’s expression went from one of delight to one of deep sadness and regret. “And I yelled at you. I’m so sorry,” she said, as tears streamed down her face. “I don’t mean to yell at you. I don’t know why I yell so much. I never did that before! I don’t know why I get so upset so easily,” she said, throwing herself into his arms and crying as he did his best to soothe her.
“It’s alright. I understand, my Vivi. You are growing a whole being inside your body. You have many emotions all at once. It is not your fault.”
“But you’d think I would still be nice to you, even if I was mean to everyone else.”
“You are not mean. You are easily upset. You are kind and good and loving, and almost ready to have our youngling. You cannot help the changes it forces on you.”
“But I’m not fat! Or round! And I can’t help that I get out of breath easily! ”
“You are not fat. You are expecting. And you are so beautiful. You are full of life and strength and power and soft and nurturing all at once. I love you more each time I look at you. Only a female could bring new life into being. If a male had to do it, we’d have all died out thousands of years ago.”
“I know! That’s what I said!” she exclaimed, her tears drying almost immediately.
“I heard you. And I was offended, then I realized you were right.”
“I was, wasn’t I?”
“Without a doubt.”
Vivian yawned deeply, her eyes squeezing closed with her yawn.
“You are exhausted. Let’s go to bed.”
“Can we sleep up here?” she asked.
“Of course. The downstairs bedrooms are for after our youngling is born so we and our nanny will have an easier time reaching the nursery to care for it. Once her services are no longer needed during the night, we will move back up here. Until you have our youngling, we can remain up here if you prefer.”
“Okay. I just really want to go to sleep right now.”
“Whatever you say, Ehlealah,” Quin said, taking her hand and leading her back toward their bedroom.
“Don’t we need to lock the door downstairs?” she asked.
“It is locked. And our guards are in place.”
“I’m used to having Missy to do those things for us. I guess I’ll adjust to not having that convenience.”
“You will. Here, let me help you undress,” he said. He stepped closer to her and gently kissed her forehead as his strong, steady fingers began unbuttoning her blouse. She yawned again twice more before he finally got it off her. Taking note of the level of emotion and exhaustion that had quickly overtaken Vivi, he wondered exactly how much more time would pass before she gave birth. “Can I get you anything, Ehlealah?”
“I just want to sleep.”
“Then that is what we’ll do.” He tossed her blouse toward the foot of their bed, then removed her bra and her skirt, tossing them on top of the blouse. Once she was standing there in only her panties looking small and unbelievably fragile, the fear he’d lived with since learning their attempts to get pregnant had been successful, overcame him once more. “All will be well, Vivi. You know that I will make everything right, don’t you?”
“I do,” she murmured as he pulled back the covers and lifted her into his arms to tuck her into bed.
“I will return with creams for your belly.”
Vivian nodded. The skin on her stomach was stretched so tight that it had become their routine for him to massage soft, moisturizing creams and lotions into her skin at night.
“I’ll be right back.”
She nodded again but had already closed her eyes and started to drift off.
Looking down at his mate, he wondered if there was anything else he could do to help make her more comfortable that he hadn’t already done. She was valiantly forging ahead, trying to ignore all her discomforts, but he knew how she suffered, her tiny body pushed to its limits. He pressed a kiss to her temple, then turned and left the bedroom, turning off the bedroom light as he went.
Flipping on the light in the cleansing room as he entered, it took him only moments to figure out the creams he wanted weren’t there. He left the light in the cleansing room on so Vivi would be able to see if she awoke and headed down the stairs to search for her creams.
The moment he set foot on the floor of their downstairs quarters, he scowled, realizing he’d need to speak to the palace staff about what they were and were not allowed to do. They’d obviously been inside the suite in the brief time they’d been upstairs and tidied it quickly and before leaving, turning off all the lights as they went.
That couldn’t happen. Vivi still couldn’t sleep in complete darkness, and likely never would. And it wouldn’t do to have anyone wandering around in their private quarters, regardless of their reasons for it. He’d thought he’d made it clear to his parents that no one would be allowed in their quarters, not even servants without the express permission of Vivian or himself, each time they wanted to enter. There would be no one darting in for any reason at all without prior permission.
Walking through the darkness he paused beside a lamp on top of a decorative side table against the wall and switched it on. Every room needed at least a faint illumination to make sure she could see if she needed to go into it. She’d bravely made the choice to move to the palace and stand beside him so that he could assume his father’s position of Sovereign, but he knew that any kind of change from that which had represented safety to her since her initial rescue, caused her a great deal of strife. He knew it figured heavily into her being emotionally off balance, easily upset, and jumpy. Only a portion of her outburst was a result of pregnancy hormones, the rest was trying to acclimate to a new reality. It was a reaction to a situation that most wouldn’t understand, or have survived for that matter. But she had survived. And she’d trusted him implicitly. And he’d never give her a reason to be uncomfortable because of him, especially if all he needed to do to give her a bit of security was to leave a light on.
After turning on a lamp in each room of the their downstairs quarters, he finally searched through the stand alone cleansing chamber, but still didn’t find the creams he wanted. Standing just outside that cleansing chamber, he looked back and forth from one room to another, trying to decide if they’d even been put away yet where they’d been put. His eyes landed on the door into their downstairs bedroom and he smiled, believing he’d figured it out. Quin entered the bedroom and stopped in his tracks, shaking his head at the sight of the large, dangerous feline sleeping upside down, all four legs splayed out in the air in different directions. “Kitty!” he said sharply.
Kitty opened one eye and looked at him from his upside down position.
“Why are you not with Vivi?” he asked.
Kitty continued to lay upside down, regarding him with one large open eye .
“Fine, stay down here. It will be good not to have to make room for you.”
Quin went to the left side of the bed, which was customarily the side his mother slept on, so figured it would be expected by the servants now assigned to their quarters that Vivi would do the same, and opened the shallow drawer. He grinned triumphantly. At least half a dozen jars of Vivi’s creams and lotions sat waiting for her to use. Picking out two of her favorites, he closed the drawer and headed back out of the room. He paused at the doorway and looked back at the shraler still lying upside down, but no doubt watching every move Quin made.
Quin huffed a laugh. “Are you coming?”
Kitty didn’t move.
“If you aren’t there and Vivi wakes, she’ll worry.”
Kitty rolled over and stretched, yawning as he opened his mouth wide, all of his deadly teeth clearly on display. He smacked his jowls a time or two, as his mouth opened and closed lazily.
“Do you want her to worry?”
Quin walked away, leaving the shraler to follow when he was ready.
He was halfway up the stairs when Kitty finally darted past him. By the time Quin reached the landing and made his way through the upstairs living room toward the bedrooms, Kitty’d already peeked into each room, quickly determined which one Vivian was in and was curling up on her clothes on the foot of the bed just as Quin entered the bedroom.
“You know there’s a cushion for you on the floor,” Quin said.
Kitty completely ignored Quin and continued making a nest for himself with Vivian’s discarded clothing at their feet.
Quin left the jars of cream on Vivi’s bedside table and made short work of his own clothing, stripping out of his shirt and trousers as he went and throwing them at Kitty as he went by. Kitty hissed batting away Quin’s clothes as Quin snickered and quietly got into bed, sliding over toward Vivian and pulling her into his arms.
Vivian sensed Quin near and settled into his hold the moment he reached for her. She sighed deeply and stretched out a leg, relaxing only when she felt Kitty inch up the bed toward her and lay his heavy head against her foot. With Quin’s arms around her and Kitty’s head against her foot, her breathing evened out, signaling that she was once again very deeply asleep.
“Goodnight, Kitty,” Quin said, thankful for anything that gave his Vivi a sense of security, even if that security came in the form of a two hundred pound shraler.
Kitty hissed softly at Quin, but didn’t move away from his human mom.