Chapter 28
Jade
Guardians of Glitter Bomb Territory
Beryl was lighter after talking with his dad.
I had only half kept an open ear on their conversation in case things went south.
The last thing anyone needed was those two dragons getting into a fight at Sandy’s.
No one would ever hear the end of it. Only, they hadn’t fought.
It went well, all things considered, and he came back with a family medical history that went twelve generations back.
There were some blank spots and missing people but twelve generations were more than enough according to Doctor Lawngry.
The morning of my baby shower I woke up feeling more pregnant than I ever had before.
I’d taken selfies every morning since finding out for sure I was pregnant and the timeline of the last month and a half showed me growing bigger and bigger.
That morning my stomach hung heavy, and I didn’t want to get out of bed.
Jondi was already up in the kitchen with Beryl asking him questions about Delin.
He was happy to meet his granddad and to Beryl’s credit he wasn’t discouraging him or saying shitty things about him.
“Do I need to carry you to the bathroom?” Beryl appeared in the doorway. “We’re making burgers for breakfast. You dreamed about them last night. Don’t worry, I’m grilling fish sticks for the baby too.”
“I think I can manage,” I grinned, “but I want a good morning kiss first.”
He leapt onto the bed and kissed me as if it was our first time.
His tongue probed between my lips and swirled around my tongue before disappearing.
We had to keep things short when Jondi was home, but we managed to sneak in our quiet moments together.
Despite saying I could manage, I was grateful for Beryl’s help sitting up.
I liked to sink really deep into the bed even when I slept on my side and that habit made it more than a little bit difficult to crawl out of bed now that my center of gravity had plummeted.
My parents came by to set up the baby shower decorations and extra seating.
Then Eran and his family arrived. His puppies and kittens now crawled all over the place and whined to get out of the basket if they were left in there for too long.
Eran had brought over their playpen and, thankfully, Jondi thought it was fun to run around after his little friends so that they didn’t get hurt.
To my surprise, it was Volex and Delin who arrived before the other guests.
Volex carried a big box on his shoulder and for a moment I thought he might’ve brought a crib.
I cringed because we already had one and the offer of several more that we had to politely decline.
I was relieved to see the box was loaded down with food, not baby supplies.
I didn’t expect many of our partygoers to accept that our incoming baby had most, if not everything they’d need.
We asked for things like wipes, binkies, and diapers of all sizes because those things were always handy and easy to pass along if you didn’t get through them in time for the most part.
Volex set up his snacks with a folding table he produced from the box and Beryl introduced me and Jondi to Delin.
Jondi was all giggly and kept saying ‘grandpa.’ To his credit, Delin didn’t run screaming when Jondi hugged his legs and Beryl kept the dirty looks to a minimum.
I shared my mate’s worry that Delin might get Jondi used to him being around and vanish back to the Other World, but if we avoided good things because they might end at any second we’d all have to live alone in windowless rooms with nothing good in our lives.
So, I sat back and smiled as Jondi ran around the get-together ensuring everyone knew that he had a new grandpa and they should be nice to him.
Beryl stayed by my side, an arm around my shoulders as partygoers circled around us, coming and going.
Mostly everyone stuck to our gifting requests and some of our friends and pride members gave us gift cards and little homemade coupon books for things like ‘Good for one afternoon of catching up on your laundry’ and ‘Good for a week of meal prep so you don’t have to cook when the baby gets here.
’ In a community that had resources, time and energy were the best gifts.
Of course, it also ensured they’d get to see the baby often.
I wasn’t sure whether or not I wanted to tell everyone to stay away for a few weeks.
I wanted my parents and Eran to visit for sure and I wanted anyone Beryl wanted to visit to be able to once we settled into having a tiny little lion cub in the house.
Though, I wasn’t sure how my lion would react.
I didn’t want to eat anyone right now but I figured that feeling could show back up at any minute.
Sermon and Gaia came halfway through the party because of travel delays and adhered to our gifting wishes by handing over a little bank book where they started what they called ‘a getting life started’ account for our unborn baby.
Sermon and Eran would be the baby’s godparents.
I knew it was traditional to have one omega and one alpha but sometimes traditions didn’t fit your life and when that happened it was time to change them or toss them out of the window.
Traditions were supposed to make you feel warm, secure, and cozy, not panic when you strayed off the beaten path.
Diamond and Bree were the only ones missing, but with Bree having laid her egg the night before that wasn’t a surprise.
Beryl was over the moon at the thought of our kid growing up with his younger sibling.
I hoped that made Pras Lavender happy. I thought about him a lot while I was pregnant.
How he’d given everything to ensure his eggs had a chance in the world and whenever I thought about it too long, I sobbed into Beryl’s shoulder.
He wouldn’t be in my life at all without Pras’s sacrifice.
Even from beyond the grave, he gave his old friend a shove to come meet Beryl.
I gave myself a good mental shake and decided that I shouldn’t think about him anymore in a house full of people.
The others played party games, but I mostly watched because I felt too fat to do anything.
Beryl stayed by my side as people guessed what the sex of the baby might be.
It wasn’t my favorite activity because babies are babies and beyond health concerns and which diapers to buy, it didn’t really matter.
I preferred the game where people lost points every time they said the word baby.
The little kids also played pin the tail on the lion.
It was funny to watch them spin in circles and break out into laughter when they saw how far away from the lion’s butt they were.
As the party winded down, Volex pulled out a water slip ‘n’ slide and set it up outside for Jondi and the other kids who were still there. Of course, Jondi convinced Delin to go down it and due to his size he totally wiped out much to the kids’ amusement.
That night, laying in bed, I replayed those happy scenes over and over. Beryl had dozed off for a few minutes, but yawned and turned to face me, grinning.
“Was I thinking too loud?” I asked him.
“Nah. You smelled so happy that I woke up,” he chuckled.
“Do you think anyone would get mad if we named the baby after Pras if it’s a boy?” I asked him, turning onto my side.
“I don’t see why they would. I’m just as descended from him as anyone else. What if the baby’s a girl?”
“Lavender,” I said without missing a beat.
“I know you don’t like it when I cry and I know a lot of people died to get rid of them, but he did it knowing that it could only end that way and then he was trapped and…
It just feels like that deserves more than a little chapter in a memoir.
Like I never knew the man but if he didn’t do that you might not be here and I don’t want to think about that life.
It’s like so many people who came before us went through hell to make things good and…
” a sob tore from my throat and Beryl pulled me close.
“I will build the dragon a damn museum if it’ll make you happy,” Beryl whispered. “We met because of him too. I came here because it only felt right to see him off.”
“I love you so much,” I cried and hated myself because I couldn’t stop crying. “I love you so much and I don’t want to ever live without you.”
“I’m not going anywhere, mate. I’m here to stay,” he said and kissed the top of my head.
Eventually, I cried myself to sleep. Pregnancy made everything a crying affair for me, even falling asleep.