Chapter Seventeen
Zac
It was an odd feeling going from care provider to patient, especially when the person providing my care was someone I worked closely with.
It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Tyrus. I did, immensely.
I wouldn’t work with anyone I didn’t. But it was difficult seeing where the boundaries were and not overstepping them.
Not in an I know better than you way but more of a jump-the-gun way.
Instead of waiting for him to tell me how he felt about an exam, I’d start peppering him with questions, that kind of thing.
But I told myself that today, I wasn’t going to do that. Instead, I was going to sit there and listen and not say a word. We’d have to see how that went.
Edris had just come back from his trip to the city a couple days ago with his condo officially on the market.
We’d spent last night and the morning unpacking his personal items and swapping out one of my chairs for his recliner.
It wasn’t until I sat in it and used the auto button to recline that I saw how brilliant his idea was to bring it here in a U-Haul.
Every pregnant omega needed one despite my initial thought something this fancy wasn’t worth the trouble.
I was at the point in this pregnancy where every little bit of comfort helped, and this thing was made of magic.
My alarm went off, signaling it was time to do what I’d been dreading, chugging the water.
I couldn’t say how many patients I’d told to do that over the years and remembered each and every one of them complaining.
I’d slap on a happy face and say it was best for the scan, which it was.
But that didn’t stop me from suggesting to Tyrus that I wait a couple of weeks to do my ultrasound, so I wouldn’t need to.
He was firm, saying he didn’t feel comfortable with that, which had me a little on edge. Something had his nerves on high, although when I asked him straight out what it was, he said it was nothing. I knew him better than that.
I stared at the glasses of water. It really wasn’t that much.
Thirty-two ounces was our center’s norm, but our glasses just weren’t that big, making it look like a ton.
I could stick with one at a time, but I knew myself well enough to recognize that if I didn’t have it all ready to go, it was going to be hard to pour that last glass.
“You okay, love?” My mate came up behind me and kissed my shoulder.
“Yeah. I just don’t want to.”
“I know. How about this? I’ll drink just as much as you. We can suffer together.”
“That’s ridiculous.” I drank one down. “See? It’s no big deal. There’s no reason you should have to deal with this too.” I drank another, and another. I was officially going to drown myself in all this water. “See? Perfectly fine.”
“Okay,” my mate said. “If you insist.”
The drive to the birthing center was short, but I had to pee when we pulled into the lot, and it wasn’t even close to time for my ultrasound yet.
This was going to be bad. I checked in then went through some of my notes and messages, wanting to stay on top of work without coming in more than I was scheduled.
Finding that balance had been difficult, but it was important.
And then finally, when I wasn’t sure I could make it anymore, Tyrus came in, a smile on his face. “Let’s do this thing.” He clapped my shoulder.
“Let’s do it quickly.”
We all followed him into the ultrasound room, and I climbed up onto the bed, lifting my shirt, ready to go. I had a much better appreciation for what my patients went through now because I was already uncomfortable, and he hadn’t even put any pressure on my belly yet.
My mate held my hand as Tyrus explained everything, not to me, the way it would normally be done, but to my mate. And that’s when I saw it on the screen. I blinked, making sure I wasn’t seeing things. Nope. I wasn’t.
“That’s why you didn’t want me to wait for my ultrasound.”
My mate’s hand tightened. “Wait? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong. It’s just… You did a really good job putting a baby in me. A spectacularly good one.”
“Huh?” He looked at me, confused.
“There’s two in here.” I looked down at my belly.
“Not so fast,” Tyrus said, keeping the wand going. “Just as I thought,” he whispered. “Three.”
“Three? We’re having triplets.” Two had me shocked, but three? I did not look three-babies big.
“How are we having triplets?” My poor mate.
“We just are.”
Edris bent down and kissed my forehead. “I guess I’m just that good.”
Tyrus broke into full-on laughter. He was super professional and, had it been anyone but us, he’d have held it inside. I preferred this. “I’ve heard a lot of reactions to multiples before, but nothing quite like you two.”
He took all the measurements, and from my angle, everything looked fine. The second he was done, I bounced off that seat and ran to the bathroom. When I came back in, he and my mate were talking about Tyrus’ family. They’d waited for me.
“Everything went as expected,” Tyrus told me, giving me the numbers I knew from screen watching. But then he said something I didn’t like but should have suspected was coming, even though I probably should have. “I want you to slow down. Maybe give me your on-calls until the babies are here.”
“I can’t give you all my on-calls. You have a family too.”
“I do, but I’m not growing triplets. You can make up for it and take some of mine when my little one comes.”
“They’re going to come before mine do.” His mate was already past due. Did he think I would forget that?
“Why do you have to be so logical?” He rolled his eyes. “Just let me take the on-calls. And if there’s ever a time I can’t keep one, I’ll let you know. Deal?”
“Deal,” my mate answered for me, and normally that would have irked me, but he was right. Also, he mouthed he was sorry when I side-eyed him. I had the best mate.
“Deal,” I conceded. “As long as I can be there for your mate so you can be dad during delivery.”
He agreed.
One more trip to the restroom, then we were back in the car.
“Homeward bound? Or do you want to stop somewhere?” my mate asked.
“I want chicken. Lots of fried chicken. And then maybe we can go watch the sunset up on the hill while eating all of it.”
My pregnancy food moods were weird. Some days, it was all I could do to force myself to eat and others, like today, I was starving. In this case, starving for greasy, crunchy goodness.
“Sounds like a plan.” He stopped by, bought the fried chicken, and drove up the hill.
“This is much better than our first date,” I teased.
“How so?”
“Oh, you know. Chicken.”
“Silly me. I thought it was because we are mated, living our dream life together, and growing our family by not one, not two, but three little ones.”
“All of that, too,” I said, my mouth full, and I didn’t care. “I love you, alpha mine.”
“As much as you love Fred’s Fried Chicken?”
“Even more than that.”