Epilogue 5 – Hattie
“Look at her. She’s perfect.”
Tuvo’s growling voice, right in Hattie’s ear, making her shiver. Their daughter was cradled in her arms, suckling at her breast, while she reclined back against Tuvo. He held them both with one hand, while the other was wrapped around their firstborn, holding her against his other side.
Her entire family, safe and secure in her nest. As it should be.
Giving birth on Turv was so easy. Hattie’s entire nest was packed up and taken to a birthing facility near the medical center.
She was given her own, private room with its own private hallway.
The former for her sense of peace, the latter for Tuvo’s – so her domin could patrol outside of her nest and feel secure that she was safe within it without bothering anyone else.
When labor began, a giant device – similar to the medscanner, appropriately called a birthing chamber – activated that allowed the midwives and birthing healers to control her pain and labor progress and monitor the baby.
It was a very smooth, easy process for her and, all told, it took only three marks.
Which, for the domini who only labored for a single mark, was still a lot, but for humans, it was a drastic reduction in birthing time. And most of those were just dilating her cervix to the proper size – something that was done slowly to not overtax either her body or the machine.
And after their pup was born, she remained in the chamber while her body was slowly healed over the course of a few more marks.
Hattie had already been through that process and taken a post-labor nap – because even accelerated and painless as it had been, it was still exhausting.
And now, she was watching her newborn daughter feed, enjoying the slow breathing of her first daughter at her side, and snuggling back against her mate’s chest.
Every day, Hattie couldn’t believe she could be happier, and every day, Tuvo proved her wrong.
“They’re both perfect,” Tuvo continued, gently stroking the back of both of their heads.
Canti – their elder daughter – was an excitable, upbeat child. She had completely worn herself out by running around, playing in the daycare at the facility, as Hattie labored. She barely met her new sister before she passed out, snug against both of her parents.
Hattie’s dad would be coming to get her later.
She was going to stay with her grandparents for the next day or two while Hattie healed and Tuvo was at the height of his own, anxious instincts that didn’t want anyone besides his pups near his mate and nest. Once Hattie was cleared to return home, they would bring Canti back and start adjusting to their new normal.
Which now included Silvit, their youngest daughter.
Hattie had gone into labor rather unexpectedly, so Tuvo’s parents weren’t back yet. They had made sure to return to Turv for Canti’s birth, but Silvit had been a bit early. They were going to be here in another day, and they would help Hattie’s parents with everything.
Between her incredible parents, in-laws, and mate, Hattie was never overly stressed or burdened while caring for her daughters.
She had started a restaurant – right here in Calvitorum. It served human style cooking. Kind of a niche food style, but like anything new and exotic, it was popular. And she was skilled enough to keep people coming back.
Humans were, after all, the newest and coolest thing in the galaxy. Getting to enjoy cuisine human style was a big deal.
But Hattie would be taking some time off now that she had just given birth.
Which was just fine, since she trusted her staff to run the restaurant for her.
Tuvo had worked with Hattie to make sure she only hired the finest people as cooks and managers so that she didn’t have to be overly burdened. Especially when she was pregnant.
Tuvo had big babies, and she carried every single ounce of them. Hattie had blown up each time. Towards the end of Canti’s pregnancy, she hadn’t even been able to walk very far anymore.
Being too tired to do so the other day was probably a clue that Silvit was due. She would know to look for that if they decided to have another in the future.
Now that she had two girls, she was thinking about sons.
But that was for later. For now, she was perfectly happy to rest back against Tuvo as Sivlit finished eating, already falling asleep in her arms.
Sleepy, sweet girls.
“How are you feeling, Kyrya?” Tuvo asked, petting her now.
“I’m fine,” she promised. And she was.
Medically assisted births were much easier. None of them had needed to suffer since Peony’s first. A fact that was obviously a huge relief to the guys. After Holly proved how much easier it would be when she had her first, the others relaxed a great deal.
Not that Tuvo hovered any less, but he had been free to feel more excited about his impending daughter’s birth without guilt.
And here they were now, five years later, holding their second child, wrapped up in his arms, safe and happy and healthy.
How could she ask for anything more?
“I love you, Tuvo,” she said, snuggling back into him.
“As I love you, Hattie,” he returned, kissing her temple.
She felt the heaviness of sleep pulling at her lids and didn’t try to fight it.
Holding her daughters, resting against her mate, she fell into a deep sleep.
Her happily ever after.
END