Chapter 11 Mable
Mable
“Is this your first sonogram?” the tech nurse, who smelled like freshly cut grass, asked as I lay on the medical table in the doctor’s office.
The clinic didn’t have many available appointments, so I had to wait a few weeks, but it was finally time for me to see my baby.
From what I understood, most clinics had technicians who operated the sonogram machine and then doctors who gave the results.
But because of the nature of omega pregnancies, there were nurses-slash-sonogram technicians who could do both, and I was seeing one of them.
Emotionally, I had been on a roller coaster—one minute, I was totally at peace with the idea of becoming a mother, then an hour later, I would be freaking out.
Having a baby was a significant change. More than anything, I wanted to call my mother, but I knew news of my pregnancy would stress her out.
Her health hadn’t been the best over the last few years, so I wanted to choose my moment.
If it hadn’t been for Pack Pucked, I probably would have gone insane from the lack of people to discuss my pregnancy with.
I had briefly considered calling Bethany, a sort-of friend I used to work with, as she had recently had a baby, but I didn’t want to disturb her.
She was freshly postpartum and probably needed all the rest she could get.
“It is.” I nodded.
“How far along are you now?”
“Fourteen weeks and three days!” I smiled as I lifted my T-shirt.
“Do you know your date of conception?” she asked curiously.
I nodded. “It’s pretty obvious, considering the only time I’ve had sex in the last few years was during my heat, fourteen weeks and three days ago.”
The sonogram tech laughed lightly. “Well, that information is always good to know, but that is not exactly how we calculate pregnancy. We actually calculate based on the date of your last heat cycle. If you conceived during your heat, though, then your calculation is probably quite accurate. The first thing we’re going to do today is take a few vials of blood. Is that okay with you?”
“I’m not exactly a fan of needles, but I understand that they are necessary,” I said with a grimace.
“Just wait until you get to the glucose test, that was my least favorite part when I had my own babies!” As she spoke, she pulled out a small tray with a few empty vials for my blood and needles.
She asked me a few other basic questions, such as what my diet was like and my sleeping habits, if I was having any bizarre symptoms, and she seemed satisfied with what she was hearing.
Thankfully, the blood draw was over quickly, and she was so skilled at it that I barely felt a thing.
“All done!” She smiled brightly at me.
“You are magic,” I whispered, staring at my arm in disbelief.
“I’m just very good at what I do. Now, how about we get you onto the exam table and we can take a look at your baby?”
“Yes, please!” I said, hopping out of the small chair and heading toward the exam table.
The Doppler jelly was cold, but I was still smiling as the sonogram machine powered up. A baby appeared on the screen; it was small and not completely proportional, but it was clearly a baby, curled up with little arms and legs.
“Oh my,” I whispered.
“Looks like a good chunk! Gosh, I would say they’re almost big enough for their anomaly scan, but you won’t need that for another month or two. Everything looks good,” she said as she watched the screen intently, moving the Doppler every now and then over my tiny bump.
The appointment finished with some routine questions, and the nurse even printed a few of the sonogram images for me to keep. I couldn’t stop staring at them as I walked out of the office.
There was no denying this was very real, and even though I was nervous, excitement bubbled to the surface.
My childhood home was just an hour’s bus ride away from campus. My mother still lived in the small duplex where she had raised me.
“Hey, Mama,” I greeted warmly as I walked into the house.
Marrianne Presley stood by the stove, stirring a pot of something that smelled delicious. The familiar scent of homemade fudge hit my nose, and I immediately knew I was home.
“Mable! You didn’t tell me you were visiting!” she cried, pulling me into a warm hug before stepping back to look me over.
My mother was no longer in peak health. Her hair was beginning to gray and her body was becoming frail.
She was only in her late thirties, but she’d had a hard life and it was taking its toll.
As a child, I had zero appreciation for how hard she had worked to keep us afloat, but as an adult, I could see with clarity.
Her life had been far from easy, but she had done everything so I could have the best of the best.
And I was about to tell her that I was potentially throwing all that away by making the same mistake she had.
“I missed you, and I had a light class day,” I said, hugging her back tightly.
“Well, do you want some coffee?” she asked as she turned off the burner, pouring the fudge into a tray to cool.
“Actually, can I have some of that lavender tea you used to make for me at night? I’ve had the wildest craving for it.”
My mother chuckled, shaking her head. “It’s not even midday, and you want the tea that made you sleepy? Well, I can’t say I understand it, but for you, my dear girl, I will make it.”
I sat at the kitchen table as she bustled around the room. I tried to get up and help her, but she waved me off, insisting I sit down.
As she made the tea, I bit my lip, trying to figure out how to break the news to her that I was pregnant.
“Here you go, just the way you like it.” She beamed as she placed a mug in front of me, taking a seat opposite me with her own mug filled with coffee.
“You know, I need to tell you all about our neighbor. She has been absolutely obsessive when it comes to her flowers lately. She almost lost her mind when the puppy from across the street decided to sniff her beloved petunia bush. Then again, I thi—”
“Mom! I need to tell you something!” I rushed to say. Usually, I could handle chitchat and gossiping about neighbors, but I felt like I was going to explode if I didn’t get my news off my chest soon.
My mother’s eyes widened, and she looked at me with concern. “Are you okay? Mable, honey…”
“I’m pregnant,” I blurted out, my stomach cramping painfully with nerves as I did so.
For a moment, my mother simply stared at me, blinking in surprise. When she finally spoke, she wasn’t able to say much.
“What… I mean, how? No, not how—who?”
I took a deep breath, tears gathering in the corners of my eyes.
“A few months ago, I went into heat. It was a surprise, and I was in public. A really nice guy helped me out. He got me through the heat spike. He was a complete gentleman, and he wrote his number on my hand. Then I went home and showered without thinking about it. So, I lost his phone number…”
My mother’s eyes were wide as saucers. “Your heat?”
I nodded. We had discussed my heats briefly, but considering she was a beta, we had never really gone into depth about the topic.
“Yeah, it was out of nowhere. There were no warning signs, and I was so surprised I didn’t even think about protection.”
Actually, as I started thinking about it, I wasn’t even sure they made condoms for alphas, because the knot would make it break. Any omegas I’d spoken to over the years who used protection used a hormonal-based birth control method.
Maybe I should look into that.
Actually, no, there was no need for me to look into that because I was already pregnant, and I had no intention of going near another penis for a very long time.
“Oh my…”
“There’s more,” I admitted. My mother and I weren’t the kind of people to keep secrets from one another, so I decided to tell her the whole story and let her get over her shock in one go.
“After I had sex with that alpha, I went back to my dorm but realized I had none of my supplies because it was a surprise heat. I thought I was lucid and went to a grocery store and ended up hooking up with another alpha who put his phone number into my phone, and I was going to call him after, but I accidentally put my phone through the washing machine and lost his number as well. So, this baby could be either of theirs… And I have no idea how to contact them.”
“Mable… that is… you’re pregnant?” she asked, rubbing her forehead absentmindedly.
“Yeah…” I trailed off helplessly.
I watched her face intently, looking for any sign of anger.
“Do you have a plan? Do you have any idea what you’re going to do? How far along are you?”
“I’m about fourteen weeks,” I admitted as her eyes somehow widened even farther.
“So far along? When did you realize you were pregnant?”
I grimaced. “About a month ago. I’ve been waiting to find a good time to tell you, but then I realized there would never be a good time.”
I’d mentally prepared myself for many reactions from my mother—anger, disappointment, tears—but I hadn’t expected her to burst into laughter.
Giggles emanated from her chest as she wiped away tears from the corners of her eyes. “Oh, my word, you sound exactly like me. I spent a stupidly long time trying to figure out how to tell your grandfather that I was pregnant.”
Considering my grandfather had kicked my mother out and wanted nothing to do with her when she was pregnant, I thought my stress was somewhat justified.
“Well, he was an ass…” I shrugged.
My mother nodded enthusiastically. “That, he was! My dear girl, oh gosh. How history repeats itself.”
She pushed back her chair, scraping it on the kitchen tiles as she stood up, striding over and pulling me into a forceful hug. The moment her arms wrapped around me, the floodgates opened and I started crying big, ugly tears.
“You’re not mad?” I asked through sobs.
“I think that would make me a hypocrite, considering I was seventeen when I got pregnant with you!” She laughed.
Pulling back, she wiped my damp face. Knowing she wasn’t angry at me lifted a huge weight off my chest, and the last remnants of anxiety fled me.
My mother grinned warmly at me, a look that reassured me that everything would be okay. “So…what’s the plan?”
I burst into laughter. “I have no idea!”