Chapter 22
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Iago stretched, rubbing his belly as he did. He felt like he was as big as a house. He really didn’t do anything anymore but sit and sleep.
And pee.
Thanksgiving had been wondrous. Xander had cooked a huge feast for everyone at the hotel, and it felt as if the entire town showed up.
The supper was amazing — turkey and dressing and all the fixings.
It had been perfect because everyone but them chipped in money to cover the meal, and Xander had outdone himself.
He’d chopped a lot of veggies sitting on a stool…
Also, there had been a generous gift card for Xander at the end of it with a note to only spend it on himself.
Yesterday had been running all over for deals at the big box stores, and so they’d been in the car all day.
The gift card had gone to a video game system, so Xander had something to do when he was taking midnight feedings.
He had had a blast, and normally he would take today to rest, but today was baby shower day.
He patted his belly again. “You see all that to-do, little girl? It’s all for you.”
There was an immense amount of people coming in and out of Gent’s house — all carrying boxes and bags and balloons.
He couldn’t miss this.
Everybody was coming — even Hank and Tim and Jack and Chase were driving up from Secret Springs, and Thierry the medium had shown up in his goofy-assed travel trailer just for this.
It was going to be so much fun.
Iago just wished he was a little less sleepy.
“You okay, baby?” Xander asked on the way by, carrying a big cake carrier, which Iago couldn’t see the innards of. Apparently Xander had gone to the bakery in Secret Springs and got Matthias and Dan to make something custom.
Iago sat ensconced in a giant old wingback chair that was super comfy.
The purple velvet upholstery was so nice against his skin.
Gent’s house looked like something out of a Victorian pleasure palace, like the place in Brighton where the Prince Regent had gone to take his vacations.
The wallpaper in the great room looked like it was flocked and it was shades of gold and green and black on a white background with palms and stylized somethings he couldn’t figure out.
It all came together to be really beautiful against the dark green of the wainscotting.
The library table where the gifts for his shower were set up made him salivate. They needed one of those. He’d ask Mrs. Clinton to keep an eye out for one at the Crapitorium.
“Just so sleepy.” He yawned so wide that his jaw actually cracked. He rubbed his belly. “She’s taking up most of my energy today.”
“You’ve had a pretty busy weekend so far,” Xander sympathized. “But I think it was a good idea to have the shower during the holiday weekend. Everybody’s here.”
Well, except Xander’s folks. They’d sent the car seat and their well wishes but said they were saving their time off to come and see the baby in person.
It wasn’t a terrible drive to come out or anything, but Iago kind of thought that they were letting this be about them and their friends. It was kinda sweet.
Gent came in and grinned at him. “You look like a pasha.”
“Yeah, a big round one.” He chuckled. “Can I come in yet?”
Gent shook his head and wagged one finger at him. “Not yet. We’re still getting ready. You want to hang out with Abby? She really wants to help.”
“Sure, no problem,” he chuckled.
Gent disappeared and less than a minute later, Abby came in, wandering. “Your belly is so big.”
Huge. He knew. “I know, right? It’s like I swallowed a basketball.”
“Like you swallowed ten basketballs. Is it moving?”
Ah, from the mouths of babes. “The baby? She is. Her name’s Diana.”
Abby considered that. “Diana’s a pretty name. Can I feel?”
“Yes.” He put her hand on his belly where he’d felt Diana last. She’d been kicking hard, so he waited for a second, and there it was.
Bang!
Her eyes went wide. “Whoa.”
“Pretty cool, huh?”
“Well, yes, a little weird.” She gave him the hairy eyeball. “Does it hurt?”
“No. It’s just…well…a little weird.”
“That’s what Daddy said too.” Abby climbed up in the chair across from him with great effort. She looked like something out of Alice in Wonderland in the great big green Bergere monstrosity. She let out a heavy sigh. “More babies.”
“You don’t like babies?” She had complained a lot about having a sibling and had wanted to put the baby in the trash at the truck stop.
“No, I don’t. I don’t like to be replaced.”
“Baby girl, no one could possibly replace you. You were the first. You’re the one we all want our babies to be like.”
Abby puffed up a little, beaming. “Promise?”
“Cross my heart.” Iago matched the actions to his words.
“Babies are just cute.” Abby shook head, her raven ringlet bobbing. “I’m pretty. I’m not cute; I’m pretty.”
“You are pretty.” She was dressed in a purple velvet party dress, dark curls tied up with a big bow, shiny MaryJane’s on her kicking feet.
“You’re awfully cute too. You know, I’m gonna need a lot of company when the baby’s new, and I’ll need a bunch of help.
It’s hard to be with a baby, and I know that you were the best big sister… ”
She nodded firmly as if to say, ‘Of course, I am the very best. There has never been a better big sister’ Papa told me that.”
That sounded just like something Colton would say.
“Well, I know your papa thinks you’re the bomb.”
She nodded again, just as happy as a clam. “Did you know he got hurt really bad, and he couldn’t come be with me when I was a baby? As soon as he could, he said, ‘I’m coming to live with my Abby and her daddy’.”
“I did know that. I actually was right up at the hotel the day your papa met you.”
Her eyes — which matched Colton’s exactly — went wide. “Did I meet you then?”
“Yes, you came up to the hotel, and we met there.”
She bit her lips, swaying back and forth. “But I didn’t get hurt?”
“Nope, no. We had coffee and played. I think we drew a picture together.” Iago wasn’t one hundred percent sure he remembered, but that didn’t matter.
What mattered here was that he didn’t mention that he’d come out to help with Bastian’s ghost problem.
He didn’t know what her dads had told her.
“So you know, you and I have been friends for a long time.”
“That’s good. I love Xander and Xavi, but we needed new friends, too, and Gent’s house is so cool, and now you’re marrying Xander.”
Sometimes it was a little tough to follow her conversations, but Iago went with it because her patterns were adorable and kind of like following a flock of birds around the sky.
“Okay, now we’re ready for you.” Xan walked over to hold out both hands and help Iago out of his chair. That was great, because otherwise he was never going to get out of this thing. It was swallowing his ass.
He eased himself up with Xander’s help and headed into the dining room.
Iago stopped dead in the doorway and stared, because this was above and beyond.
Besides the gift table, which had been moved in and decorated in candy like their nursery, the place looked like a haunted house cartoon had taken over.
White and silver and black streamers and matching balloons covered the walls, with the ghost shaped arch made out of something recyclable, maybe tissue paper and those expandable paper ball things, welcoming him in.
It looked decadent and weird and wonderful, and everything had goofy, cute little ghosts, up to and including the sign that said “Ghost Hunter To Be” on the wall in glitter. There were even…
“Are those EMF reader stuffies? Seriously?” He couldn’t stop laughing.
“Yep.” Law beamed at him. “And Gent found her a stuffie camera, a flashlight, and an REM Pod stuffie too.”
“Wow, wow, you guys, you really did amazing!” He glanced over at Xan, who was notoriously not great about this whole ghost hunting thing. “Cool, huh?”
Xander shrugged his shoulders, holding his gaze as he smiled.
“Why fight it?” Xander winked at him. “This baby’s going to grow up around ghosts.
After all, that’s what her dad does for a living.
Fortunately for her,” he told the crowd, looking around, “her other dad works locally and has a flexible schedule, so when her omega dad has to travel for work, her alpha daddy will have her back.”
That was quite a declaration from his ever-stoic —and somewhat grumpy about him working the way he did— fiancé.
Iago decided it didn’t matter what kind of gifts were on that table. Xander was giving him the best one just by being him.