Chapter Sixteen
Boen
I loved our new home, the furniture fitting it perfectly. We could see the bed-and-breakfast but still feel like we had some privacy. And because it was such an enclosed space, I could scent my mate everywhere.
One thing I noticed about being pregnant was my sense of smell was amplified. While foods came and went as to what smelled good to me, my mate was a constant love. I wanted to roll around in it and, more than once, I looked up how to make perfume, as if there was a magical way to harness his scent. It had gotten to the point that I’d pulled one of his shirts out of the hamper just to hold it close to me and smell him when he was out fixing something and I couldn’t be by his side. In the early days of my pregnancy, I even put them on, but now I was far too large for that.
I opened the door to the nursery, the one I kept closed to hide that I hadn’t gotten it put together yet. I wasn’t sure how many cribs to get, but now that I knew that the egg thing hadn’t been Gertrude being flaky or silly or—I didn’t know what I was thinking—I really needed to. But that wasn’t why I was there. I felt the need to finally piece together all the items we bought.
When we moved in, I had my mate toss them in the nursery to get them out of the way, but also to kind of push it out of my mind. At the time, every single thing we bought made sense, but now it looked like I went on a drunken bender to a dragon festival and was about to have some serious buyer’s remorse. But when I opened the door, all the pieces fell into place.
I grabbed the rug and dragged it to our bedroom and straight into the walk-in closet. It didn’t fit perfectly, but the space was large enough that it did fit with little trouble. Then I tossed all the hanging clothes on the bed and plopped all the shoes in the corner. Thankfully, neither one of us had a lot of clothing in there, so it didn’t take long. My mate had actually been surprised when I wanted a walk-in closet, but I had been adamant at the time.
Back then, I didn’t know why it mattered, but now I got it. I needed it for our nest. I needed a place that was safe and private but close to my mate and our bed. I didn’t need anybody looking in the window and seeing us, but I also needed the light. It was perfect.
Once I laid down that rug, having the space empty beside it, everything fell into place; the cushions, the blankets, everything had a place. I lined up the books on the shoe shelf closest to the opening. They fit perfectly.
My dad always read to me, and my favorite book had been blue. That was my only guess as to why those were my focuses at the time. I was going to read to our little ones even before they were born. I was going to be the best dad I could, and knowing that Cyrus was their other father, I was confident that we had this. I couldn’t think of a better man to be the father of my children.
Feeling accomplished, I grabbed the empty bags and tags and brought them out to the dumpster before heading inside the bed-and-breakfast to see if I could give anybody a hand. It was a slow but not a dead day. We had about an even number leaving as coming. It would be busy enough on the weekend, but midweek tended to be calm like this, and I appreciated it.
One of the things I loved about my job was that I could do it at any time. So, on days like this, when things got slow, my mate and I could sneak away and have a nice meal in town. Or, if it was busy, I could come in here and help. It was perfect.
“Have you seen my mate?”
Gertrude looked up from her knitting. “Think he’s in the basement, helping with laundry. Why? Do you need me to go get him?”
“No, I was going to offer to help, but stairs sound absolutely dreadful today. My back’s not doing the best.”
I didn’t tell her that I had just moved a rug. The blankets were not as big a deal, but the rug was probably not my best idea. I didn’t need the reprimand.
“Ah, it’s getting to be that time. Well, sit down and grab a ball of yarn. Let’s make some baby booties.”
“I’ll take a ball of yarn, but how about I knit up some washcloths. I can do squares. I can do rectangles. Booties are a few steps past my skill set.”
The only reason I knew how to do that much was because she insisted on teaching me anytime I helped her at the front desk. I didn’t think she so much wanted to impart wisdom on the younger generations as she loved working with the fibers, and, if I was doing it, it gave her a good excuse to do it too.
“Tell me about your back. What kind of a pain is it? Like you pulled it, like you fell, like you’re 1000 years old?”
“Well, I’ve never been 1000 years old, so likely not that. I probably just worked too hard—”
“Stand up a second.” Gods, she could be bossy.
I did, and she put her hands on my belly and pressed down round and round and round.
“You didn’t feel them turn?”
“Turn? No. Should I have?”
It had been difficult for me never feeling our baby kick. Every paternity group I was in was filled with dads talking about how wonderful it was. I just needed to remind myself that our baby was protected by a shell and was probably kicking up a storm in there. But now, hearing they turned and I didn’t feel it, maybe I wouldn’t have felt their kicks either.
“They do that, yeah, and usually people feel it?” She crooked her finger. “Let me see your mark.”
I ducked down.
“Huh. The glitter’s a little flakier. I’m guessing today is the day.”
“The day?”
“Yeah, the day you lay those eggs.” She always acted like we knew what the rest of her thoughts were and then blurted them out like this. I didn’t mind most of the time, but when it came to this pregnancy, some clear communication would’ve been nice.
“It can’t be. I’m not due for another two months.”
“You’re thinking in terms of human time again. Two months in the eggs after they’re out. Did you not listen to my discussion at all?”
“Discussion? You mean lecture.”
She shrugged.
“And at the time, I kind of thought you were kidding.”
She set her knitting down. “Come on. Off you go back home. I’m getting your mate. How long has your back been hurting?”
“Maybe an hour. But I did kind of move some stuff around.” She didn’t need to know it was a full-ass rug.
“By moving stuff around, do you mean getting your nest ready?” She pinched the bridge of her nose. Maybe if she didn’t talk in riddles, I’d have known what to tell her or not tell her.
“Yeah, that’s what I meant.”
“So, it means your body was telling you the babies are coming, and now your body’s still telling you the babies are coming. So go home, wait for your mate, and probably quarter past dinnertime, we’ll have some beautiful eggs.”
I didn’t argue with her. This didn’t feel like any kind of labor I knew, but the only labor I knew was from television and had to do with humans giving birth to humans, not people giving birth to eggs. So, what did I know?
I waddled back, and my mate got there before I did.
“Did you run?” I kissed his cheek.
“Of course I did.” He opened the door for me. “Let’s get you ready. This comes pretty quickly when it’s time. We didn’t get the nesting done, so what do you think about using our bed?”
“Look in the closet.”
I walked behind him as he made his way into the bedroom and stopped as his gaze fell to the bed. He didn’t say a word about the mess there, instead heading into the closet.
“Well done, mate.”
That was the first time I felt the cramping. I bent over, wishing it was the worst it was going to get but knowing very well it wasn’t.
“Do we need to call the midwife?” What was the protocol with eggs? I was so confused, and everything I heard was no longer retrievable in my brain for some reason.
“You’ll be fine without…unless you want them here.”
“Not really, I don’t think. I only wanted to make sure the babies were okay when I thought they were in baby form. I’m not even sure what they will know what to do with an egg. In fact, I was fairly confident they won’t know what to do at all.”
“Let’s get you undressed and ready.” He was such a good mate. “Did you want to take a shower first? Because it’s going to be a while before you take another.”
“I can take one after.”
He shook his head. “Once these babies come, you’re not going to want to leave this space for anything.”
“Is that why I wanted all the water bottles?”
“Probably. That way, you won’t have to worry about getting up to get a drink.”
“Gonna need to get up to use the bathroom.” How hard would it be to hit the bathroom? I was fairly sure my mate was exaggerating, but then again, why would he?
“And trust me, the first few times, you’re going to be mad at me for making you go—at least that’s how it was with my cousin.”
Before I could ask him for more clarity, another cramp hit. It was getting close.
I went into the bathroom and did as he said, getting in the shower for one last time before they were here. He joined me, helping me clean off, washing my hair, holding me up when the cramps got worse. He was the best.
From there, everything went rapidly. And as bad as the cramps were, the actual laying of the eggs wasn’t horrible. There was an initial burning, but then it was fast for the first one. Then the second one—not so bad as even that. And the third? It was the easiest by far. Thank the Goddess I didn’t discover how different a fourth would feel. Three babies at once was one more the set of hands than we had. We were already outnumbered.
The eggs were stunning. They shimmered, a glimmer similar to the mark on my neck, and I curled around them. I don’t know what I expected, but I didn’t think I would feel this way toward the eggs. It was like they were calling to me, like they needed me right there with them.
“Good thing I have my books.”
“Yeah, good thing. And I have a present for you.”
“A present?”
He covered me with a blanket and then left the closet. When he came back, he had a box. He meant a present-present. I pulled the bow and picked off the lid, expecting it to be some sort of jewelry, a large piece, based on the size. But when I opened it, sitting inside was a scale, a scale the color of my mate’s.
“Explain.”
“Every dragon, on their first shift, loses the scale. The scale is to remind them of who they’ve become, and it’s their prized treasure. But now, my family is my prized everything, and I want you to have this as a sign of that.”
Tears flooded my eyes, my heart so filled with love, I was officially at a loss for words. But I didn’t need them. My mate knew. He snuggled beside me, whispered in my ear.
“I feel the very same way, mate. The very same way.”