Chapter Forty-Four
Laurie
I entered the driveway, the front gate retracting out of the way smoothly, allowing me to continue up to the house itself.
“What the hell?” I muttered at the line of cars parked outside Rip’s house.
Our house. I need to start thinking of it as ours.
It was technically the property of the Tidal Clan, but being as he was their prince, and I was now their princess, that made it de facto ours.
And boy, wasn’t that part taking some getting used to.
Rip had wasted no time in sitting on the throne, proclaiming himself the prince, and announcing me as the princess.
That was five months ago, and it was still a shock every time I thought about it.
Me? Royalty? Yeah, right. I was nobody special, even if my parents would disagree. But that was special to them.
Royalty was special to several thousand dragons. Literally superhuman creatures who could transform from human form to flying scaled beasts of legend. And I, little ole Laurie Stiller, was their princess.
Gulp. No pressure, right?
Luckily for me, most of them were good people.
Very good people, and they took a liking to me almost immediately.
I’m sure it helped that Rip was near-universally liked, but I’d been doing a lot of reading to try to ensure I was good to them.
My duties were light for the moment, given I was both new to their society and also increasingly pregnant.
My belly was quite large now and growing with every week.
But the baby was healthy, and just yesterday we’d found out it was a girl!
We’d waited a long time, given the cross-compatibility of the two species, to make sure there were no oddities with the pregnancy.
But so far, our human doctor hadn’t noticed anything different, which was good.
No wings or snouts or anything, which was a vast relief!
“Eb,” I said, getting out of the car as the elderly attendant came out the front door. “What’s going on?”
“Um,” Eb said with a shrug, taking the keys. “I’m not at liberty to say, princess.”
“Oh, for the love of … please, call me Laurie? That’s just so awkward. I need friends, Eb. Not servants or whatever you want to call yourself.”
“I am your friend, princess.”
“If I thought punching you would do anything, I would hit you so hard in the arm right now,” I grumbled.
Eb chuckled. “Go on in, then,” he said. “Rip is waiting for you.”
“Yeah, that’s kind of what I’m afraid of,” I mumbled. “What the heck has he been planning? Why are all of his cars out here?”
There was no response from Eb, just an increasing crinkle of his face as he smiled wider.
“Very well. You’re an excellent secret keeper, Eb,” I said.
“Thank you,” he replied, then got in the car to move it.
Warily, I approached the front steps. The doors were closed, preventing me from seeing what was inside. When I pushed it open, Rip’s broad frame greeted me. He stood in the hallway, hands clasped behind his back, looking like a puppy dog who’d just done something it knew was really bad.
“You’re up to something,” I said wryly, shaking my head. “I can see it on your face!”
“Am not,” he denied, coming to me and extending a hand as I removed my coat.
“Are too!” I countered, handing it over to him to be hung. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He swiftly hung it in the nearby closet, then hurried back and dropped to his knees to take off my boots before I could.
“I can do that myself, you know,” I said. But I didn’t try to stop him.
“Yeah, but I like to help. You’re doing the hard work of carrying our child. The least I can do is make the other parts of your life easier.”
“You make everything easier,” I told him, getting up on my tiptoes for a kiss, arms around his neck, my belly forcing him to curve overtop of me.
“Even you,” he teased, reaching down to grab my butt.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said, following it with a light whistle proclaiming my innocence.
Pregnancy hormones had left me … well, raging horny was a phrase that came to mind. Rip was the beneficiary of that desire.
“Okay, come on, let’s go,” he said, pulling away before I could initiate things right then and there.
“What? Why?” I pouted, wanting him inside me so very badly, to the point I started stroking his cock through his pants while fondling my breasts over my shirt.
Yeah, pregnancy was making me very easy. But it was so fun!
“There’s something I want to show you,” he said, tugging me along.
“Is it in your pants?” I joked.
“No, but I’ll make sure you get that later, don’t worry.”
“I like the sounds of that,” I said as he led me to the study. “Your coc—”
“Surprise!” shouted the assembled room as Rip flung the door open.
“—coughing fits are getting annoying,” I finished in a stammer, drawing some strange looks from the nearby guests. “What is this?”
“A baby shower,” Rip said proudly. “A surprise one.”
“You certainly surprised me,” I said as my mom and dad, sister, brother, and friends rushed forward to give me a hug, ask about the baby, and generally distract me.
It was a whirlwind of a time, and I knew my cheeks would be sore from smiling, but I couldn’t help it.
Everything about it was so unexpected. All the important people to me were there.
Even Gisele had come all the way from the Bastion to hang out among the mostly human crowd!
My mother got to gush all about her upcoming granddaughter, and my father beamed with pride as he talked to Rip.
There were food and drinks, balloons, streamers, and signs.
Cupcakes in blue and pink, and a board where guests filled out their names and guessed what we were going to have.
I’d never been big on a baby party of any sort, although I’d never voiced my thoughts to Rip.
While I would have been just fine not doing it, the excuse to get my family and friends together was welcome.
“Rip,” I said, hauling him aside at one point as I noticed something else in the room.
“What is it? Is something wrong?” he asked.
“Everything is amazing,” I said, kissing him.
“It really is. The effort you went to, I’m beyond flattered, doesn’t even cover it!
But, Rip, I told you I didn’t want anyone buying me baby stuff.
I don’t like other people spending money on me.
We don’t need it, and not everyone is as lucky as you or I are. ”
“What do you mean?”
I glanced to one corner, where, hidden by the tablecloth, I saw a huge pile of presents occupying all the excess space. “What are those, then?”
To my surprise, Rip’s face turned red, spreading from the cheeks and even down his neck a bit. In all the months together, I couldn’t recall ever seeing him blush. I hadn’t even known he could.
“Ah, those,” he said, clearing his throat awkwardly. “Well, you can rest assured that they aren’t from the guests. All they were asked to do was bring a card and write a memory of you in the form of a message to our baby girl.”
My lower lip trembled at the sheer thoughtfulness of asking for such a simple yet heartfelt gift. But there was still one question left unanswered.
“Then … who are they from?” I asked. Had my parents gone against my wishes? That would be like them.
“Ahhhhhh,” Rip said, looking anywhere but at me.
“Rip?”
“They might be from me,” he finally copped.
I glanced at the pile of wrapped presents. The large pile of it.
“All of them?” I asked.
“What can I say? I love you.” He shrugged.
“Good grief,” I mumbled. “How in the heck did you keep this all from me?”
He grinned. “Hey, a guy has to have some secrets, my love.”
“You do?”
“Yup. Speaking of which …” He turned away from me and raised a hand to the crowd. “Excuse me. Everyone. Everyone, excuse me!”
The group all turned to look at us.
What the heck are you planning now?
“First off, thank you all for coming. I think it’s safe to say that we ‘got’ Laurie.”
“And good!” I added to a chuckle from everyone.
“But, there’s one last ‘gotcha’ I’m hoping to do today,” Rip said, turning to look at me.
“And what’s that?” I asked suspiciously. “What more do you want?”
“You. I want you,” he said, reaching into a pocket and pulling out a black velvet box. He flipped the top open to reveal a glittering diamond. “For life. Laurie Stiller, will you marry me?”
There was only one appropriate answer. So I gave it.
“Yes.”
***
***
Thank you for reading Prince of Tides!