Chapter 16 Ambrose
AMbrOSE
My poor mate was at the miserable stage of pregnancy.
His belly was huge, his ankles no longer definable, and his back constantly ached.
He couldn’t get comfortable—not sitting, not standing, not lying down.
I felt horrible for him, but the doctor assured us everything looked great and that he’d have the baby in the next two weeks.
Two weeks. That might as well be forever in his current state. I didn’t know if he could make it that long with all his suffering. What I wouldn’t do to be able to take any of that away from him.
This morning, I tried to cheer him up, shifting for him as we walked through the woods…
walking because the doctor said it was a good way to induce labor.
We meandered slowly, weaving through the trees back toward the river, never straying too far from the house.
The further along in the pregnancy he got, the more he liked to spend time with my beast.
As he walked, he always kept one hand on me, and he’d talk and talk and talk—sometimes about the pregnancy, sometimes silly antics about Mistletoe and Tinsel, sometimes something he saw online that tickled his funny bone.
It was a nice, calm, relaxing time for us, and that was what I hoped to give him today.
He waddled beside me, his hand stroking me gently, but today he wasn’t speaking. There were no anecdotes, no ponderings, not even a commentary about an animal we saw in passing. He was just silent.
I trusted him to tell me if he needed to turn back.
We’d gotten great at our communication. At first, he preferred not to let me know when things were physically hurting, not wanting to worry me.
But we both figured out quickly that it was heavy on both of us…
him, because he didn’t like to keep it from me, and me, because I could always tell something was up.
We reached the river, and I looked to him to see what he wanted to do next.
“Frolic,” he said, his smile glowing on his face for the first time since we left.
He knew my beast loved the water. I ran through it, splashing him with my nose, loving the way he laughed and laughed as he attempted to splash me back, his fingertips barely reaching the water.
And then he righted himself. “Let’s go back.” That was all he gave me, but it was enough.
I climbed right out of the water, and we walked, or rather I walked and he waddled, to our cabin.
I’d once teased him that I wanted to get a saddle so he could come out with me, riding on my back.
He had rolled his eyes and asked where we could actually get a reindeer saddle.
I responded by asking him not to dare me because I’d do it.
Now that it was coming close to the time we would meet our baby, the idea kept fluttering through my head.
Yesterday, I’d looked it up. They existed, and in the back of my mind, I was going to get one.
Not for Wyndham, he’d never attempt such a thing even if I had one, but for our child.
We didn’t know if they were going to be a reindeer or a human.
There was speculation, but until that first shift, it was never set in stone, and regardless, I thought a saddle would be a good way for us to connect.
I shifted back as we reached the clearing for our house. It was unseasonably warm, and the grass felt great under my feet. I took my mate’s hand and intertwined our fingers. “How are you feeling? Did that get labor going?”
He rolled his eyes. “I’m sure our little one is going to take every single minute of those two weeks.”
The sun was high in the sky. We’d been out there longer than I realized.
“What do you want for lunch? I’ll make you whatever you desire.”
“You can’t want that, because what I want, what I really, really want is a hot turkey sandwich from the diner.” He licked his lips. He didn’t just want one; he was craving it.
“Should we go out to lunch?”
“I don’t fit in the booths anymore.” A fact I’d forgotten about. “I don’t want to go there until I do. You can go.”
“I don’t want to leave you.” Not with him this pregnant and the diner being nearly half an hour away.
“Go.” He pointed in the direction of the road. “Go and get my turkey sandwich and pie… coconut cream if they have it. Oh, and if they have any of their chili...”
“Is baby hungry?”
“Yeah, oddly enough. I haven’t been for a few days, so maybe that’s a good sign. Please?” He gave me his puppy dog eyes, the ones he reserved for when he wanted something badly.
“Fine, I’ll go. Don’t go into labor while I’m gone.”
“I promise.” He held up two fingers. “No labor until you return.”
I let go of his hand and started walking around the house to the truck.
“Mate, you need to put some clothes on!”
Oops. I ran in the house, got dressed, grabbed my keys and wallet and another set of important items for the trip. After he settled on the couch with the two now-cats… although technically, probably still kittens, and started scrolling through the movie options for later that day, I left.
The diner was packed. I had no idea why. It wasn’t a holiday, they weren’t running any specials, and it was a little past normal lunchtime, but they were full. It took forever to get my order, and by the time I drove back and pulled into our drive, it was nearly an hour and a half later.
“I got your food!” I called, shutting the door behind me. I didn’t see my mate but heard the shower running. I set the food on the counter and went in to let him know I was back and see if he wanted any help or possibly company.
“You’re gonna be mad at me,” he said before I managed a word. He was leaning against the shower wall, looking absolutely miserable.
“Why’s that?”
“Because I promised you that I wouldn’t go into labor. And guess what?”
“You’re in labor?” I shouldn’t have gone. My poor mate had been dealing with this on his own.
“Yeah.”
“I’m so sorry I wasn’t here. Do you want me to call the midwife or take you to the hospital?” I asked. He had multiple birth plans, deciding that we would do whatever felt right at the time.
“Actually, I... I don’t know. Maybe after the shower and some food, I’ll figure it out.”
The human doctors were adamant… no food after labor started. They never really explained why. The midwife, who specialized in shifter births, didn’t have any such rule, so I wasn’t going to argue with what he asked for. Whatever my mate needed or wanted, he could do.
He stayed in the shower til it ran cold. I helped dry him off and blow-dried his hair. With only a pair of pajama pants on, he sat at the table with the chili, the pie, and the turkey sandwich spread out in front of him.
“I’m starving.”
He took exactly one bite of each before deciding he was full. The pregnant life.
“I’ll pack this up for you.” He’d probably want more in ten minutes. It was a common pattern lately.
I put everything away and nearly dropped it all as I was setting it in the fridge when I heard my mate cry out my name.
I ran to him and rubbed his back as he continued to wail.
When he was done, he straightened up. “Well, that was a bad one.”
He’d had some contractions, but I only knew because he’d mentioned that he was getting one and then kept his eyes closed through it. This was the first one where he made any noise.
From that one on, they got worse and worse. I offered to call the midwife multiple times, and finally, he caved.
Thankfully, she was close by. By the time she finally walked in the door, Wyndham was begging to push. I didn’t understand that, the asking, but the midwife seemed to think it was pretty normal and said, “Just a minute,” as if they could stop it. Or maybe they could. It was all so much, so fast.
He held onto my arm, gripping it tightly as the midwife guided him through his pushing.
The entire time, I gave him the best support I could, telling him how proud I was, wiping the sweat from his brow, not complaining as my arm felt like it was being torn from me.
Because even if he did tear it off, it was worth it if it gave him any comfort.
And then a scream rippled through the air, only this time it wasn’t my mate. It was the cry of our newborn son.
The midwife had me help cut the umbilical cord, and then she settled him onto my mate’s chest for his first meal.
“He’s so perfect,” Wyndham whispered.
I settled myself beside them on the bed. “So perfect. Thank you for making me a dad, omega mine.”
“No, thank you, alpha mine. Thank you.”