Chapter 44
Chapter
Forty-Four
Five and a half months later
ANSEL
Standing in the art gallery tonight as a family member to an artist, I’m filled with pride. Bellamy has several of his pieces up for sale tonight at the show, and people keep stopping at his paintings to enjoy them.
I thought Bellamy was going to pass out from the anxiety and excitement on the way here, but he’s doing much better now. Abbott is walking with him and Mr. Duvall as his mentor introduced Bellamy to people in the community who have come to see his art.
I’ve learned that being an artist is about making connections. However, Bellamy wants to make it on his own, so he won’t accept any help from us. I suppose I can accept that.
“Don’t brood,” Cassidy says quietly as she walks slowly beside me.
Her belly is round and I swear that our son has dropped over the last day or so. Now, when I say “our”, I mean the pack’s baby. We decided that it doesn’t matter if the baby is Bellamy’s, Abbott’s, Shiloh’s or mine.
As long as he’s healthy, we’re good. The odds are pretty good that the baby is Bellamy’s or Abbott’s though.
“I’m not brooding,” I grumble under my breath. My voice has never recovered from being quite so close to going feral, and I don’t think it ever will. When I speak, I command attention. I still have to get used to it.
“Mmmhmm,” Cassidy says, taking a careful breath as she rubs her stomach.
“Cass?” I ask, watching her carefully.
Technically, she and Winter are about a week out from their due dates. Winter is still working and yesterday she was working on theater costumes. There’s a theater company that saw that she’s a seamstress and hired her to work for them for their next production.
I think my girl is still walking on air over that exciting decision.
Things are going very well, everyone is happy, but I am still watching and worrying that something will happen. We have more men than usual at the art show, our friends are here tonight, and security is iron tight.
So why do I feel unsettled?
“What would you say if I told you I’ve been having contractions on and off today, and so has Winter?” Cassidy asks calmly.
“I would say that it makes me want to paddle your ass,” I growl.
“Pfft,” she says, waving my words away. “First children are usually epically late, and none of the contractions are close enough to time.”
“The baby has dropped,” I finally tell her.
“Oh, you noticed that?” she asks.
Her dress is a black gauzy thing with a train that she keeps close to her as we walk. Her breasts have grown, and her cleavage is incredible in this dress. Cassidy was smart and has on lower heels, but I remain close by in case her feet hurt.
We have a system, and it always works.
Her blonde curls tumble over her shoulder, and her red lips twist as pain hits her.
“Fuck,” I mutter, my eyes already searching for Winter.
She’s standing next to Shiloh, and seems alright for now. However, I can feel pain coming from her and Cassidy when I search through our bonds. As the months have passed by, our bonds have gotten stronger.
It’s definitely come in handy when I’m not close enough to smell Winter’s pain.
“Bad girls,” I sigh.
Bellamy and Abbott rejoin us, and I stay quiet about what I’ve learned. If there’s one more rough contraction, I’m picking Cassidy up and sending Abbott for Winter to head to the hospital.
Their bags have been packed for the last week and remain in the trunk of our vehicle at all times, and I’m definitely the more paranoid one out of our pack.
“I sold a painting!” Bellamy hissed excitedly, making me grin proudly.
He’s been taking a couple of personal commissions over the last few months, but this is a very big deal for him.
“Congratulations,” I say warmly.
Winter and Shiloh are talking to each other as they sidle up to join us, and we hang out together until we see Nina and Ethan walking toward us to celebrate Bellamy’s achievements.
While Winter and Bellamy have hung out with Pack Thornefield a few times, we’ve been too busy to arrange much more outside of get-togethers with our core group of friends here and there.
Instead, we catch up with Nina and her pack when we go running a few times a week while our omegas sleep in. We’ve increased our run club meet ups recently, though Cassidy took a break from running once she hit her thirty-four week mark.
We didn’t tell anyone until she and Winter started showing at about seven months. It’s amazing what flowing outfits can hide. We got to enjoy the pregnancies completely, and there was no one to tell my girls what they couldn’t or could eat. They already knew because they researched it.
There was also no one to offer weird and intrusive advice. God, it’s been wonderful.
“Hi,” Nina says with a grin. “Bellamy, your paintings are beautiful. You must be so proud.”
“Thank you,” Bell says with a bashful smile. Compliments are hard for anyone to accept, but especially for him. He’s too critical of his own work.
“I also wanted to see how you and Winter are doing,” Nina says to Cassidy. “If you need help with your puppy or anything when you have your babies, I will pet sit.”
“Dad will love that,” Ethan says with a chuckle.
“Cooper will deal,” Nina says, blowing him a kiss.
“Funny thing, now that you mention it,” Winter says softly. “I’m pretty sure my water broke a few minutes ago when I went to the bathroom.”
“Winter,” Bellamy groans. “I knew there was something weird happening. My stomach won’t stop hurting.”
“Labor is going to be really interesting for you, huh?” Ethan asks, wide eyed. Pack Thornefield knows that Winter and Bell are soul bonded, as it’s difficult to hide when you’re around them for long enough.
They’re also all observant bastards.
“Being a guy isn’t going to save me from feeling the effects of childbirth," Bellamy sighs. “Hospital, Winter?”
“Yes,” Cassidy says, answering for Winter. “My contractions are getting closer too.”
“Shit. Okay, I’ll ask Henri to call you about pet sitting,” Abbott decides. “He’ll bring you Bruno.”
Bruno is our labradoodle, and is such a good boy. I fucking love our puppy. He also needs lots of walks and cuddles, which means that Pack Thornefield will have their hands full.
“Thank you,” Winter squeaks out, her eyes closing in pain.
“You’re getting a ride out of here, Beloved,” Bell says, lifting her into his arms.
“You’re wonderful,” she says softly, her brow wrinkling in pain.
“Go, go,” Nina says. “Good luck!”
“Thank you,” I say.
As a pack, we begin walking toward the door, and the guards we brought with us begin to peel off from their unobtrusive spots at the gallery.
It’s only when Mr. Duvall calls out Bellamy’s name that I realize we forgot to tell him our emergency.
“You’re leaving?” he asks, his concern growing as he sees Winter curled up in Bellamy’s arms.
Winter stifles a whimper and Mr. Duvall’s lips open into an “oh”.
“I see,” he says immediately. “I will facilitate the process of selling the rest of your paintings if that’s alright with you? It seems that you’re going to sell out of all the paintings you brought to show tonight.”
“I…really?” Bellamy asks, jaw dropping.
“They’re beautiful, and filled with emotions,” Mr. Duvall says. “Go take care of things. I’ll field questions as necessary.”
“Thank you,” Bellamy says gratefully. “Goodbye, Mr. Duvall.”
We drove today due to our very pregnant omega and alpha. Cassidy and Winter still walk for exercise, but they’ve both been really exhausted by eight at night. They took naps so they wouldn’t fall asleep on their feet today, and now I’m glad they did.
Henri opens our doors, while Greig gets behind the wheel of the vehicle that’ll follow us.
“Oh. Will you be sure to call Ethan Thornefield, Henri? They’re going to take care of Bruno,” Abbott explains, getting behind the wheel.
“Of course,” he replies, shutting the door and jogging toward Greig.
Abbott has a heavy foot on the accelerator as he drives, which we all ignore as Winter buries her face in Bellamy’s shoulder and whines. I rub her back, watching as Cassidy breathes through a contraction.
Fuck. The hospital walked us through what to expect when we gave birth, and we reserved a double occupancy room for ourselves. Something told us that they would go into labor together.
Abbott drives right up to the lobby of labor and delivery, and I jump out of the car with Shiloh to ask for wheelchairs.
“Can I help you?” the nurse asks in a bored voice.
“We need wheelchairs, please. We have two women in very active labor,” Shi says.
“Well, what does that mean?” she asks.
“Regular contractions and one has her water broken,” I say in a guttural growl. “Now move.”
Jumping up as she hears how on edge I am, she and another person hand off wheelchairs.
Things move quickly as we wheel our girls into the hospital, while Henri takes care of our SUV for us. Intake happens with their presence because we already did all of our paperwork earlier, and thank fuck for that.
I would not have the patience for it, and even Abbott is growly as we get Cassidy and Winter into their hospital gowns.
“I don’t want to lay down!” Winter moans. “Please.”
“I got you, Beloved,” Bell says, his arms wrapping around her as he sways with her in a circle.
They’re so linked, it’s beautiful to see. I’m not jealous, I’m simply happy that Winter is getting what she needs.
“I do want to lay down,” Cassidy admits. “I have a feeling that this is going to take longer. It’s just pain and then a release.”
“Rest,” Shi suggests, helping her into the bed.
Moving behind her, I rub her back, happy to see that it helps as she relaxes into my hand. I refuse to stop even as her breathing gets deeper and slower. My eyes move to Abbott who is watching everything, and he shakes his head when he glances at Cass.
Good. She’s sleeping.
And so that’s how we continue on for the next few hours. Winter’s contractions get stronger, and her noises become more guttural as she slowly stops speaking as much.