Page 65 of As The Shifter World Turns

65

CHOICES

Ivor

We’d made this journey before. From Sunshine Manor to the clinic. But this time was different. We’d gone back and forth on finding out if the baby was a boy or girl. On the one hand we wanted it to be a surprise but on the other, there’d been so many upheavals in our lives recently, I wanted some certainty.

And so we decided today was the day. It was exciting and scary but I decided that was adult life. There were always bumps in the road and I had mixed emotions going forward which was kinda silly. I blamed it on hormones as I did most things during my pregnancy.

“Here we are again,” Ryder announced. There was an edge to his voice.

I took his hand and squeezed. “We don’t have to do this.”

“You mean we can run off and order pizza and ice cream instead? Take the day off? Tell the boss we’re sick?”

“No. And besides, you are the boss, remember?” I too had a boss and it wasn't my mate. We’d put the discussion to bed regarding me going back to my old job. At least I hoped we had. Ryder had been disappointed but it was best for us.

“Oh right. It slipped my mind.”

He was more agitated than I expected and I had to give him an out. “If you’ve decided against finding out if we’re having a boy or girl, that’s fine. We can wait until the baby’s born. It’s not a big deal.”

“No. We decided and I’m fine with that.” He helped me out of the car, the bump making it more difficult to heave myself up. “Remember the first time we came here. You were terrified.”

“Gee thanks for reminding me. You know how to make your mate feel good.” Before that initial visit I’d gone over all the worse-case scenarios. It felt as though if I did that, then they wouldn’t happen. Like many parents-to-be, I worried the baby, as small as they were at the time of the first scan, wouldn’t be growing as they should or the heartbeat was irregular. None of which turned out to be the case.

“Sorry. Well, now it’s my turn. I know you have a baby in your belly. Of course, I do. But finding out that the little one is a son or a daughter. That’s unreal.”

“The bump keeps it real for me.” He placed his hand on my belly and the baby kicked. “There you are. Our little one is telling you they’re okay.”

“Yeah.” He took a deep breath.

The technician, a different one than on our first visit, greeted us and we did the gel on my belly and all the usual things. The grainy black and white images appeared and the reassuring heartbeat that slowed my racing pulse. Even though I’d been trying to calm my mate, I was also tense but that pounding had me whispering to the baby, “Good job.” I hoped hearing the heartbeat was having the same soothing effect on Ryder.

The technician did all the clicky clicky things while we stared at the screen. She pointed out the baby’s head and legs and then asked if we wanted to know if it was a boy or girl. We both nodded and she explained it wasn’t an exact science but was determined by whether she could see a penis or not.

“Okay,” I said as I peered at the screen, uncertain if what I was looking at was an arm.

“I’m pretty sure your baby is a girl.”

A girl we were having a girl. Ryder and I shared a glance. Our little family. Him, me and our daughter. We were the parents of a girl. Growing up there hadn’t been many girls in our neighborhood or at school. I was hit with the realization that I knew nothing of dresses and dolls, but caught myself. Thinking like that was how our ancestors had treated girls. Our daughter might prefer wearing pants and racing monster trucks.

“You know what us having a daughter means?” I pointed out to my mate that evening as we sat in bed reading.

“I have to immerse myself in all things girls.”

I giggled. That sounded adorable. “Names. We have to choose one.” I’d searched girls’ names during my lunch hour. “I like the name Rica.”

Ryder gave me a look. “That means a powerful wolf.”

“You’ve been researching baby names too.”

“Of course.” He showed me his phone where he’d bookmarked various sites. “Ivor I love you but assuming the baby will be a wolf is a big leap. What if our daughter’s a deer? I like Dyani.”

He was right. Me being a wolf and carrying our child, I’d automatically gravitated to a wolf name. It would be sensible to bring that up with my therapist during my next visit. “You’re right and I’m sorry. As we won’t know for ages, maybe we should choose a neutral name. Neither wolf nor deer.”

He gave me a peck on the lips. “That’s probably best. I don’t want to be sleeping on the couch because we’ve been arguing about names for our daughter.”

Archer

“Fuck, what the hell is this shit?”

I raced toward my mate, thinking he’d stood on one of Elune’s toys with his bare feet or Patch had had an accident. He was a good pup and always let us know when he wanted to go out, but… “What is it?”

“The deal. It’s gone south.”

He had the phone tucked under his ear while he scanned the computer screen and typed frantically as he responded to an email. He and Daire had agreed to the sale but there’d been a lot of back and forth on the details. My mate was fed up with the amount of paperwork required and the incessant phone calls, messages and emails.

“Why?”

But Daire answered the phone and the grizzly shifter yelled, “I just saw. What the fuck?” which had Micah taking the phone away from his ear and cringing. It was late evening and Micah had shut down the computer for the night not expecting a business-related email to arrive, considering the company was in the same time zone as us.

“They didn’t even contact the lawyer but sent the email directly to us,” Daire yelled so loudly I was worried he’d wake Elune. “Or give us a detailed explanation as to what happened.” All they’d said was that they were going in a different direction.

“Not much we can do tonight. Let’s go for coffee early and we’ll call the lawyer. I figure we’re going to need a lot of caffeine.”

Neither of us slept and by the time dawn broke, we were up and showered waiting for Elune to wake.

“This is a first,” Micah noted. “Normally our daughter wakes us bright and early.” She must have sensed us hovering near the crib and she woke soon after. Thirty minutes later we were seated at a coffee shop, Elune in a high chair eating her baby cereal but with her gaze fixed on my chocolate croissant.

Daire was on the phone to the lawyer as I sipped my coffee and offered my daughter a tiny piece of my pastry. Even though Micah had been saying, “Anything can go wrong. Don’t count the money until it's in our account,” we’d been planning what we’d do once the deal was finalized.

We could take a vacation, maybe buy an investment property, and take our time as to what we wanted to do regarding work. We could have my dad, Ron, back in the basement apartment if he wanted, and afford a full time carer. He’d chosen to stay at the aged care facility after my father died as he’d made friends and his health had declined recently. There were so many options—or there had been.

Daire got off the phone. “They’re being evasive but look like they over extended. They’ve got a loan due and some property in the center of town they’d expected to sell and haven’t. It’ll be made clear in the coming days but the deal is definitely off.”

Even Elune stopped whining for more croissant as the news sank in.

“The good thing is we know what our company is worth, which we didn’t previously. Or should I say what people are willing to pay for it,” Micah said. “So, maybe we should have the lawyer put out feelers and see if we can find another buyer. Because I’d love to work less than I do now.”

Daire’s gardening videos were bringing in excellent money and he had little free time. “I vote for that,” he said.

“Archer?” Micah asked. Even though technically it was his and Daire’s business, I was his mate—and I worked for the company— so I got a vote.

“I agree. Let’s find someone willing to buy us out.”