Chapter 6
I’m pregnant.
Of all the things that Indio thought he might hear from his soulmate when he saw her again after three freaking long weeks, those two words were not it.
He froze as his mind spun, repeating the words several times before they actually sank in.
Then joy exploded inside him.
A baby. With his soulmate? Hell yes.
The backdrop of the spinning carousel and the tinkling music should have felt more celebratory, but then he noticed the tears that spilled over her cheeks. He immediately pivoted into reassurance mode, taking the celebration down a notch.
She wasn’t looking at him, her gaze anywhere but on him, and he tucked his fingers under her chin and lifted it until she was looking at him.
“Hey, those don’t look like happy tears, sweetheart.”
“I’m…ashamed,” she whispered, her voice laden with guilt.
Internally he snarled, his elephant letting out a worried noise in his head.
Oh hell. She must think there was something wrong with what they did when they met. Which he’d been replaying in his mind on repeat ever since.
He glanced at Ginny and August. The couple who ran the carousel were looking at him in concern, and he motioned toward the ride. He’d seen Reagan walking through the park with the two young kids and had followed them.
“How about another ride or two?” Ginny called to the young boy and girl who whooped and cheered as the ride continued to spin. He waved at Ginny in thanks and gently pulled Reagan a few feet away so the music wasn’t blaring so loudly.
“You don’t have anything to be ashamed of,” he said, keeping his voice low. “I couldn’t keep my hands off you either, and I have zero regrets about that day. The only thing I regret is that I didn’t get to talk to you afterward, and I’ve been missing you ever since.”
She took in a shuddering breath and wiped at the tears on her cheeks. “I’ve never done something like that before, and I didn’t know how to deal with it. I was too embarrassed to talk to you.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t want you to think I was easy, when I literally did the easy thing.”
He let that roll around in his head for a moment. She was human, so she didn’t understand the pull of soulmates.
“Reagan,” he said quietly, reaching for her hand, thankful when she didn’t pull away from him as their fingers linked. “Nothing about us getting together was easy . It was…inevitable.”
Her eyes went wide but she didn’t say anything, so he kept talking.
“I wanted you the moment I saw you,” he said. “And I didn’t stop wanting you after you left. I kept my distance because you clearly wanted space, but it’s not because I changed my mind.”
“You’re making me feel awful,” she said, her voice hitching with emotion. “You were waiting for me all this time?”
“Of course. You’re the only one I want. But I didn’t want to push you. Seeing you again, though, is everything I wanted.”
“And the baby?” she whispered, her fingers twisting in his grip, tightening. “You’re not just saying this because of the baby?”
He shook his head. “Heck no. Seeing you again is the best thing to happen to me since I met you. You’re the one I want, but the baby is like an extra layer of sweetness that I didn’t know I wanted until you told me.”
“Blurted it out, more like,” she said, her lips twisting into a wry smile.
He chuckled. “I’m glad you did. I’m sorry you’ve been going through this alone. I wish…” He let the sentence drop, not wanting to make her feel worse than she clearly already did.
“You wish I’d reached out before,” she said. “Or, maybe not run away like an idiot.”
“Yeah.”
“Fair enough.” She let out a deep sigh and eased her grip on his hand, but didn’t let go.
“I’m sorry, Indio. I literally just found out earlier this morning about the baby and I had every intention of contacting you.
I just wanted some time to think things through.
Then my aunt asked me to bring the kids here, and I knew there was a chance I might run into you.
I still didn’t call or text you, though, and right now I feel so terribly, awfully sorry about everything. ”
“Don’t be sorry. I’m just glad to see you again. I think you’re even more beautiful than the first time I saw you.”
The two kids rushed to them, chattering excitedly about the carousel. Reagan smiled at them and said, “This is my friend, Indio. He works at the park. Is it time to head to the aviary?”
“Yes!” Jake said.
Lily, the youngest of the two, smiled up at Indio. “Do you see Tank? Every day?”
The cantankerous moose was the park’s unofficial mascot.
“I sure do. I actually work with the park’s vet and help take care of all the animals on the safari tour.
One time, Tank tried to push me out of the maintenance shed so he could eat all the carrots on the worktable. And he almost did! He’s a big guy.”
“Wow!” Lily said. “Reagan, can we get a stuffed moose at the gift shop? I want to name it Tank.”
“I’m sure we can,” Reagan said. She looked at Indio and smiled. “Would you like to walk with us to the aviary? And maybe you could stay? Unless you’re working…”
“I’d be happy to walk with you.” More than happy, actually. His elephant was trumpeting in his head like it was the Fourth of July.
The day he met Reagan was the best day of his life, clouded by her running away. But seeing her again and knowing that she was carrying his baby meant everything to him.
She was clearly wrestling with a lot of conflicting emotions, but she was here.
She hadn’t come to see him, but they’d run into each other because fate was clearly once more on his side.
He would show her that he was the right male for her.
He wasn’t sure how he’d do it, but he would.
Because she was everything to him. Her and her baby.
Their baby.
After the avian show, which he hadn’t seen in a few months due to being so busy, the kids asked for snacks and she invited him to stay with them, so he was happily tagging along.
“What are you in the mood for?” he asked her.
“It’s really weird,” she said.
“What is?”
“My cravings. I’m just a few weeks along, but I am having the strangest cravings.”
He knew from what he’d learned from the females in his parents’ memory that pregnancy brought about strange cravings early on. But he couldn’t tell Reagan that her cravings were due to carrying a half-elephant, half-human child.
He would just indulge her.
“What kind of cravings? If I can get it for you, I will.”
“Cotton candy and peanut butter.
He paused, looking down at her curiously. “Together?”
“Yeah, and I think a pickle too. One of the big dill ones.”
“How about you guys?” he asked, looking at her two little cousins.
They both asked for flavored waters and colorful candy popcorn.
After getting them settled at a picnic table in the sun so the early afternoon chill wasn’t quite so bad, he hurried to collect their items. It took a while longer for him to find peanut butter without going down into his house, but he found some peanut butter packets in the employee cafeteria for use with the morning bagels and toast, and he brought all their things to the picnic table.
“Oh! You’re so sweet, thank you, Indio,” she said, beaming at him. After the kids thanked him, they tucked into their snacks, talking animatedly about the bird show and the gift shop stop on their way out.
He watched her take alternating bites of the cotton candy, dill pickle, and peanut butter, eventually putting them all together.
And he found it adorable.
She laughed as the kids talked about the bird show, and he loved the sound of it.
When the snacks were finished and the kids had picked out matching moose stuffed animals from the gift shop, she said, “Would you like to walk out to the lot with us?”
“Sure.”
The kids darted ahead, making moose sounds and waving their stuffed animals like they could fly.
“They’re great kids,” he said.
“Yeah, I like hanging out with them.”
“I’m really glad you hung out with them today.”
She hummed and gave him a half-smile. “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to keep apologizing, Reagan.”
“I can’t help it. You’re so sweet and I was such an idiot.”
“You’re not, I promise. We can put it behind us and move on from this point forward.”
“I’d like that.”
They stopped in front of a four-door sedan and the kids got in the back seat. “Bye, guys, nice to meet you,” Indio said, waving.
The kids said bye and shut the doors.
“So,” Indio said, “I’d like to call you. If that’s okay.”
She cleared her throat. “I’d actually like it if you maybe came over tonight? If you’re not busy.”
“That would be even better.”
He jotted down her address in his phone’s note app and smiled down at her.
She looked freaking radiant. And happier than when he’d first seen her at the carousel, when her whole body seemed strung tight. She seemed more relaxed now, and he liked how she’d touched him periodically, like she couldn’t believe he was with her.
“Six?” she asked. “I can make dinner for us.”
“Perfect, see you then.”
When she sat behind the wheel, she gave him a sweet smile. He shut the door and waved, watching until the car was gone from the lot.
He had just a few hours before he was going to be back in her presence again, and he couldn’t freaking wait.
But first, he needed to tell his Uncle Alistair—and the memory—that his soulmate had come back to the park and he was going to be a dad.