Chapter 144
MADDY
Shifter pregnancies only lasted seven months rather than nine months.
I was almost to the end of the seventh month.
The air was getting cold outside. Well, cold for Florida.
There was a refreshing coolness to the breeze, and I was getting excited to meet our new arrival.
I had one week left until my due date, so the baby could come at any time.
I went to the nursery to double-check my bag for the hospital. It was sitting on the changing table. Everything was exactly as it should be. I sighed in happiness as I looked around the nursery. We’d decided that Winnie the Pooh was a good gender-neutral décor idea.
Felipe, surprising to me, at least, was a fantastic artist and painted a jaw-dropping mural of a Pooh scene. It was so gorgeous that I’d have to do something to preserve it whenever our child grew tired of looking at it, which was bound to happen.
I was halfway through checking my bag when I heard the raised voices outside. Abi and Sebastian. I rolled my eyes and hurried downstairs to see what it was this time. Nico leaned back against the kitchen island. Sebastian and Abi were standing in front of him, arguing.
“I know what I saw, Sebastian,” Abi said with a smirk.
Sebastian grabbed the sides of his head and gaped at her. “Babe, you fired her, for God’s sake. Isn’t that a little much?”
I slipped up beside Nico and whispered, “What the hell’s going on this time?”
Nico leaned toward me but kept his eyes on the couple. “Just got back from their meeting with the wedding planner.”
“You were checking her ass out, weren’t you? I saw it,” Abi said, crossing her arms.
Sebastian smiled bashfully and shook his head. “Okay… so… you maybe did see me looking at her butt, except— ”
“Ha!” Abi jabbed her finger into his chest. “You admit it.”
“Let me finish, ” Sebastian growled. “So, the chick stood up and… well, I guess you didn’t see it, but she had a big smear of paint on her skirt. It caught my eye. That’s it, and that’s the truth. I seriously don’t think firing her on the spot was the best idea.”
They kept bickering back and forth. They always liked to pick at each other, but as we got closer to the wedding, they seemed to be enjoying it more than usual. The big day was two months away. I wondered how bad it would get before then.
My smile quickly morphed into a wince. I’d been having minor contractions for days, but this one was tighter and a bit more painful than usual.
Then something even more disconcerting happened.
A popping sensation deep inside me. I glanced down and saw a thin drip of water sliding down my inner thigh under my dress.
The next contraction came a moment later, clenching painfully in my abdomen. The pain was hot and sharp.
My right hand lashed out and clutched Nico’s bicep. “It’s happening,” I hissed through gritted teeth.
Sebastian and Abi went silent and spun to look at me. If I hadn’t been in so much pain, I would have laughed at the bug-eyed looks of surprise they gave me. Nico spun and put his arms under my armpits, holding me up.
“The baby?” he asked, already breathless.
I nodded. “Yup. It’s coming.”
Nico and Sebastian helped get me into the car while Abi sprinted up the stairs to grab our bags.
She tossed them into the trunk even as Nico was pulling out of the driveway.
Sebastian had called ahead, and Luis and Felipe met us in their trucks to escort us to the hospital.
Everything was happening so fast. It was almost like watching things through a flashing camera lens.
My anxiety was through the roof as we neared the hospital.
The contractions were coming faster each minute.
They were also getting a lot more painful.
After getting hustled through the emergency room and up to Labor and Delivery, the nurse gave me the bad news.
I was too far along to get an epidural. The baby was coming and coming fast.
Nico took my hand. “It’s gonna be okay, Maddy. You’re going to be okay.”
The next three hours were some of the most brutal of my life. I’d never been in so much pain or so exhausted. Nico was by my side the entire time, helping me focus, keeping me calm, and always encouraging me. If not for him, I might have gone crazy from the pain.
Finally, after two hours of pushing, I collapsed back on the bed, an exhausted breath huffing out of me as my body rejoiced in being done.
A moment later, the doctor placed my baby in my arms. It was so fast, I barely understood what was happening.
One moment I was in agony, and now a tiny warm boy was pressed against my naked chest. The moment I felt the skin-to-skin contact, I took in the scent of the baby, and an unbreakable and powerful bond formed.
I wept as I looked down at the little wonder in my arms.
Nico stepped up and leaned in to see it. His eyes were wide with awe, almost like a little boy on Christmas morning. Taking a small thin blanket the nurse had given me, I wrapped the tiny bundle and held our son up toward Nico.
Over the last few weeks, we’d decided on names.
Since we hadn’t been sure what we were having, we decided to settle on a name for each gender.
Then, whatever the baby was, we’d already know the name.
We picked Seraphina if it was a girl and Nial if it was a boy.
Nial had been Nico’s grandfather’s name.
Holding the baby out for Nico to take, I smiled at my mate. “Meet your son, Nial. Take him, Nico. Hold him.”
He reached out and carefully took the bundle.
He backed away and pressed the baby to his own chest, bouncing our son gently while he walked back and forth.
I lay there on the pillows, feeling more bone-tired than ever before but also elated as I watched my entire world standing in front of me.
Nico looked up from the baby and smiled at me, and I grinned.
Everything was exactly how it should be. We didn’t have to run anymore. All we had to do now was live our lives. And as I gazed at Nico and Nial, I couldn’t help but be excited to see what those lives would look like.
Thank you so much for reading Undeniably His Mate.