Page 25 of Courted by the Sabertooth (Mori’s Mementos #3)
Nic
Moonscale London
Edna was more than happy to squeeze us in that afternoon, and I wanted to see her more than anything because last time she was able to help me stretch my lower back out to take some of the pressure off it and my hips.
Normally, I refused the comfy wheelchairs and the special entrance they had at the side of the building for carriers further along in their pregnancies but this time I let Beal put me in one and wheel me inside.
I probably had about ten days left but couldn’t imagine being this achey and twitchy for that long.
Pregnancy could be hard but surely there was something Edna could do for me.
Maybe it was stress. Perhaps I should’ve taken her up on one of those carrier meditation classes she was always going on about.
Her eyes grew huge as soon as she met us in the corridor.
“Oof,” she let out a surprise sound. “Let’s take a look right away.”
“Is something wrong?” I asked, looking from the midwife to my mate behind me.
“No,” Beal and Edna said at the same time as she led us down the corridor.
“Guys?” I snapped and my dragon roared inside his inner sanctum, forcing me to wave away a ring of smoke that shot out of my nose before it reached Edna. The smoke never seemed to bother Beal but Edna didn’t ask to be smoked and raccoon lungs were so little. I wanted to cry. I could’ve hurt her.
“We’ll just take a little look if you can get him up onto the table for me, Beal,” Edna said. “I think we may be a little further along than we thought. Let’s see what the kitten’s up to today.”
Beal lifted me from the wheelchair and sat me down on the examination table. I didn’t want to let go of him. Stress was bad for babies? Had crying hurt the baby? Had I made our baby so upset that something went wrong?
“No” Beal said, wiping away my tears and helping me to recline back. “That’s not how it works. You’re allowed to be sad even if you’re pregnant.”
“He’s right,” Enda said, holding up her wand at the ready.
I glanced at the monitor. I hadn’t looked since the first time since I wanted the sex of our baby to be a secret until my mother woke up.
A little kitten took up most of the screen no matter where she moved the wand to.
There wasn’t a view of the right parts to let us know.
It was as if my baby was taking a nap with their little kitten head on their tiny little kitten paws.
The wand moved and they rolled over onto their back as if we’d woke them up, revealing that it was a little boy we were expecting.
That surprise might’ve been ruined but he had a better one in store for us.
“He’s turned right and he’s close to descent. We’ll check in a minute, but I suspect that pain Beal mentioned on the phone is probably the early stages of labor,” Edna said, and my heart skipped a beat. “Nothing to worry about. We’re always ready here.”
“What about Neal?” I spat out the first question that came to mind.
“Raiel has him. I’m sure Crilus will understand if he takes one night off from work because you’re having a baby,” Beal said.
“I’m not having his baby, though,” I said, trying to swallow down a sob.
“Do you want to?” Beal asked, trying to hide a chuckle.
“No! But what if Crilus makes him go to work and leaves my mum and Neal all alone? Neither of them can cook and Neal is so spoiled that he won’t even eat the cat food anymore!” I sobbed.
“I’ll send a nurse over, if you like. One you know, of course. I’d offer to go myself but it’s you having a kitten and not Neal. I think my hands would be put to better use here. Or I could call Crilus. Perhaps, he’d take a call from a midwife seriously.”
“Please,” I sobbed and couldn’t stop.
What was wrong with me? Was I dying? Was this just everything catching up to me or did everyone lose a bit of their sanity when it was time to give birth?
I grabbed onto Beal’s arm and didn’t let go.
Not even when they moved me into one of the cozy birthing rooms we’d toured not long after my first appointment with Edna.
While the birthing staff and Beal helped me settle in, the midwife called to ensure Raiel could remain with Mum and Neal while I had the baby.
“We haven’t thought of a name!” I sobbed as Beal held me as tightly as he could. “We don’t even have a name for the baby because I kept putting it off! How am I supposed to raise a baby when I can’t even name them!”
“Shhh…. The baby will have a name. They will have the best name a baby has ever had,” Beal cooed to me. “It will be a name that all of your friends will be envious of because they didn’t think of it.”
“No they won’t,” I cried.
“Ducky, what’s with all the tears?” my mum’s voice carried in from the corridor. “People change their minds all the time about baby names! Of course, the baby will be fine! They don’t know that you don’t have something to call them yet.”
“Mum?” I croaked as she made her way into the birthing room. “Am I imagining stuff too now?”
“Ducky, did you really think I’d miss this? I just needed a little nap!” she said, and Beal moved away so that she could hug me.
Things progressed and halted on and off all day.
EdnFya assured us that was the way with first time carriers but once things revved up, they didn’t slow down again.
I cussed and hollered and at one point threatened to burn down all of London if someone didn’t get my kitten out of me right then and there.
“I’ll start with Moonscale Manor and then Clarence will never chase after my family again! Then I’ll burn down that –”
“Push, love!” Edna said, ignoring all my threats. “You can’t burn down the city and be a medieval dragon with this baby part of the way out. It won’t be good for his posture. So, grab ahold of your big cat and push.”
I roared and fire shot out of my mouth. Mum’s hand flew between me and Beal, catching the fire so that it extinguished on her hand scales. I opened my mouth to apologize but another fiery scream came out instead. No one complained that labor had morphed me into an undeniable asshole.
“One more, Nic. One more.”
“I’ll one more you!” I roared.
“Well, get on with it. One more me,” Edna said.
A nurse laughed and was immediately sent from the room.
This wasn’t a laughing matter. Moonscale London would never be the same when I was finished with it.
Edna knew I wasn’t playing around. So, I gave her one more and then one more – one more for the last time and my baby’s mews filled the air.
I tried to turn and snatch up my baby, but she was clamping the cord.
“We’ll wait the cord out like we talked about?
” Edna asked and I nodded, resting my forehead against the pillow and focused on not burning it down.
My baby was a kitten, and they weren’t supposed to breathe smoke.
I breathed in and out and Beal rubbed my back with the hand I wasn’t clutching to my chest for dear life.
“Ready to cut the cord, Beal?” Edna asked and I let go of him.
I needed him to stay with me but the baby needed him more.
It hadn’t stopped mewing yet. I watched it between my legs as I took big, deep breaths trying to come to terms with the reality that my baby who hadn’t only known my womb as a home was no longer safe within the confines of my body.
Beal cut the cord, and the kitten was whisked away to be cleaned up and vaccinated against all the cooties that might try to harm his little immune system.
“His,” I whispered.
He smelled like a boy at least.
“His,” Edna agreed and carried the kitten to the bedside.
I turned to lay on my side. Our kitten was a tiny little guy like a domestic cat would have.
He was nearly as large as a full-grown domestic tom cat and even furrier.
He was still damp from his bath and already nosing around for milk.
His little eyes weren’t open yet. I cried again.
He was beautiful and precious, and his grandma was here to see him.
“Antonio,” I whispered to him as if someone from the great beyond had whispered his name to me.
“He’s beautiful, ducky. You did so good,” Mum yawned and curled up in the armchair in the corner of the room. I didn’t know it then but she’d fallen back into her dragon sleep and Beal would have to carry her out to the car when we went home.
I murmured my thanks and stroked the soft fur on my baby’s head.
“She’s right. You kicked ass, mate,” Beal whispered and kissed my sweaty forehead. “And even found his name.”
“I’m not going to burn down London until after I have a nap.”
The room didn’t fall quiet as I dozed off with my baby.
Nurses came and went, cleaning me and the bed up.
I’d be able to go home in a few hours after my draconic genetics healed me up a bit.
When everything was clean and Edna gave him the all clear, Beal climbed into bed behind me and spooned me so gently.
“I love you so much, Nic,” he whispered in my ear.
“Love you,” I whispered back and finally slept well and hard, believing that the world was on its way back to normal or at least a new and better normal.