Chapter Nineteen
Bram
I worked later than I wanted to last night, covering a shift for someone whose little one wasn’t doing well, and I was feeling it this morning.
But we weren’t going to be here much longer, and I didn’t want to waste any of that time sleeping—not unless it was in my mate’s arms, and they were already up.
I rolled out of bed and into a shower. I kept the water intentionally cool in the hopes of startling my body into being fully awake. It worked-ish. When I came out, my mates had breakfast on the table for me.
“You didn’t need to do this,” I said, kissing each one before taking my seat.
“We didn’t need to, but we wanted to.” Seth put a cup of coffee in front of me, and I bit back a yawn. “You should go back to bed.”
“We have plans.”
“There’s no set time.” We were going to pick up our art today. “They’re open all day.”
I scooped up a forkful of eggs and put them in my mouth. The taste wasn’t quite right, but I didn’t say anything. They went out of their way to make it for me, which made it the best scramble ever.
“Yeah, but…” I ate only half a piece of toast before I couldn’t manage another bite.
“I must have eaten too many fries last night.” It was true.
I’d gobbled quite a few of them. For some reason, I couldn’t get enough.
Every basket I dropped, I held a few aside for myself.
It wasn’t normally like that, but the night before, I couldn’t get enough of the greasy, salty goodness.
“Do we have any other stops today?” I brought my plate to the sink.
“No, I think just the one.” Indy came up behind me. “I got this. Why don’t you go finish getting ready?”
When I came back out, the dishes were done, and my mates were kissing at the sink. What was an omega to do but stand and watch? It took them a while to notice I’d walked in, or maybe they knew I was enjoying the view. In either case, I was glad.
We drove the short distance to the public lot, parked the car, and started toward the little shops. We stopped in one that had been closed last time we came by, and I took one step in before my stomach wanted to revolt.
“I’ll see you guys outside.” I left, breathing the briny air and willing my stomach to settle. They came right back out with me.
“No, go look around. There’s just… Something smelled not right in there.” I hadn’t stuck around long enough to determine what.
“They had a candle display.” Seth brought my hand up to his lips for a sweet kiss. “Better now?”
“Yeah, I’m better.” Remarkably so, which was great because for a half a second, I feared it might’ve been the eggs. The last thing I wanted was for my mates to feel responsible for my discomfort.
Three shops down, we were able to see our completed art for the first time. I loved how hard it was for Indy not to crack up when he saw my unicorn.
“I wasn’t basing it on anybody I knew,” I assured him.
Just like I thought it would be, the colorful sunflower was gorgeous. Wherever we settled, it was going to need a proper place on the wall.
“Want to check out the rest of the row?” I asked, and off we went.
The three of us went from shop to shop, looking at the little touristy trinkets everyone was selling. There were some really cool bracelets, a whole lot of overpriced T-shirts, and enough chains for all the house keys in the country. Maybe not that many, but there were a ton of them.
By the time we were ready to cross the street, I was dead on my feet. “Could we sit for a minute?”
“Of course.” Seth pointed to a bench, and the three of us sat down. As we decided what to do next, I fell asleep. Not like a little asleep…sound asleep, to the point where they ended up waking me up a half hour later because they were starting to get nervous.
“Let’s just get you home. You worked too hard.” Indy gave my thigh a squeeze.
Only that wasn’t why I was so out of it. This wasn’t “I stayed up too late” tired. This was bone-deep exhausted. “Do you think I’m getting sick?” I buckled my seat belt, my eyes already closed.
“Do you think you’re getting sick?” Indy sat beside me.
“No, I don’t think sick, but my unicorn has an idea,” Seth said.
“Your unicorn? What?” I didn’t have the energy to look at him.
“Just go to sleep. We’ll be home soon.”
I didn’t know how soon “soon” was, but when we arrived at Animals, they woke me up…again. They had a bag from the pharmacy with them as well as our art.
“Did you get me some medicine?”
“Something like that.” Seth scooped me into his arms and carried me in. Normally, I wouldn’t be all about that, but this exhaustion was intense. Once inside, they took out their purchase. It wasn’t medicine at all. It was a pregnancy test.
“My unicorn thinks you’re pregnant. His unicorn is unsure,” Seth said, thrusting the test at me. “Go find out.”
I was still groggy and went through the motions of taking the test, the impact of it not quite hitting until we stood together watching one line becoming two.
My mates’ arms wrapped around me, both of them telling me how happy they were that we were going to be dads.
“I’m going to be a father,” I whispered, putting my hands on my belly.
“You are, omega ours,” Indy said, kissing my cheek. “And we couldn’t be happier.”
I couldn’t be happier, either, but if pregnancy meant being this tired all the time, I was going to miss most of it sleeping. And how did I get ready for a baby when I was unconscious?