Page 17 of Double Bind (Cosmic Mates #6)

Two months later

Too nervous to eat, Amity pushed her near-full plate away and pressed her hand to her churning stomach. She should have skipped dinner altogether.

“You’re not eating much,” Marshall said.

“Not that hungry tonight.” She retrieved her plate and forced down a nibble. She might not feel hungry, but her body needed nourishment and fortification. She peeked at her husband. I have something to tell you, and I don’t know how you’re going to take it.

“Well? What do you say? Do you want to go? The four of us? It will be a double date.” Faith looked at her expectantly.

“Go where?” she asked. Faith and Bragg had jabbered nonstop. Wrapped in her own concerns, she hadn’t caught so much as a word of their conversation, just managing to insert an “uh-huh” at appropriate intervals.

“To the hot spring I’ve been talking about all through dinner!”

“The hot spring?” She glanced from Faith’s avid face to Marshall’s bewildered one. He hadn’t been listening either. In fact, he’d seemed distracted, too. Anxious, almost.

“Aren’t we sitting on one? There’s a heated aquifer underground,” he said. “That’s how we get hot water in the cabin.”

“This is a pool in a grotto. We can soak, maybe swim. It’s like a huge natural hot tub,” Faith said.

“Uh…” No. Definitely not. But Amity couldn’t tell her why. Not yet. “Um…”

“We’ll have to get back to you on that,” Marshall answered for her. She shot him a grateful smile. She could always count on his support. He was so good at reading her. But I bet he didn’t read about this. He had a surprise coming.

She had no idea how he would react. Please, be happy.

“Are you ready to leave?” he asked.

“Yes!” She jumped up.

“You guys haven’t finished eating.” John eyed their mostly full plates.

“Sorry to cut out, but we have important stuff to do,” Marshall said.

“Like what?”

“Stuff.”

“You’re not going to eat your dessert?”

“You take it,” Amity said.

“I hoped you’d say that.” John snagged their dessert plates. “You want one?” he asked Faith.

“No, you go ahead. One is enough for me. Are you all right?” She looked at Amity.

“I’m fine. A little tired. Long day.” She forced a smile.

Marshall took her hand, and they left the mess hall. At the entrance, they ran into Chartreuse and Lucento.

“All good!” Lucento flashed a thumbs-up and winked.

“Great!” Marshall replied.

“What was that all about?” she asked as they crossed the compound.

“What was what about?”

“The thumbs-up.”

“Oh, you know, they like using human gestures. It makes them feel bilingual or something.”

It was true. The aliens of Artisan’s Loft had picked up the thumbs-up hand signal from their little group and used it at every opportunity. “Good thing we didn’t teach them how to flip the bird.”

He laughed and tucked their clasped hands into his pocket. She slipped her other into her own pocket, not wanting to break contact to put on her gloves. Refuge had entered its not-quite-so-cold season, so the wind didn’t bite quite as hard, but the sun had gone down, dragging the temperature with it.

“Actually…” He paused. “I fibbed about the thumbs-up. I have a little surprise for you. Chartreuse and Lucento helped me out. They gave me a thumbs-up to tell me they were done.”

“What is it?” she said.

“You’ll find out when we get to the cabin.” He practically jittered with nervous excitement.

“It’s not my birthday.”

“I know.”

“You got me a present?”

“No hints.”

“I have a surprise for you, too.”

“What is it?” he repeated her words.

She chuckled. “See? It’s a natural question. You’ll have to wait to find out until after I get my surprise,” she said as if making light. In truth, if she went first with her news, it would derail anything he had planned. He was obviously excited about his gift to her, and she didn’t want to spoil it.

They turned down their street. Their cabin windows glowed with welcome. The significance took a moment to register. “We didn’t leave the lights on.” Was there someone in their cabin? She craned to her neck to try to see.

He leaped behind her and covered her eyes with his hands. “Don’t look!”

“What? Why?”

“Lucento and Chartreuse delivered the surprise while we were at dinner. That’s how they helped. I don’t want you to see it through the window. You walk; I’ll guide you. Don’t worry. I won’t let you trip.”

She hung on to his wrists and shuffled forward. It seemed to take a long time to reach their unit. Finally, he said, “The porch is in front of you. Step up.”

She took a step.

“One more.”

Another step.

He guided her forward. “Keep your eyes closed while I open the door. No peeking until I say, okay?”

“Okay,” she agreed, curious and amused.

He removed one hand from her eyes. She heard the door open. The scent and heat of their cabin wafted around her. “Move forward.”

She entered. The door clicked shut behind her. He covered her eyes again. “On the count of three,” he said. “One…two…three!” He dropped his hands.

She opened her eyes. “Oh my god, it’s a sofa,” she squealed. Positioned against a wall was a generous-sized, padded wooden love seat.

“I made it,” he said. “With a little help.”

“It’s beautiful. Amazing! You’re so talented.” She kissed him then trailed her hand over a smooth, flat wooden arm then across a blue cushion. It’s even padded! She sat, bounced, and sighed with comfort. Mentally, she rearranged the furniture, moving the bed to put the sofa next to the stove so they could snuggle and read next to the heat source. She leaped to her feet and hugged and kissed him again. “I love it. It’s the best surprise ever. Thank you.”

“Darmaine sewed the cushions for me on trade,” he said, and she widened her eyes. She’d missed the significance of the blue cushions. “My dye! My fabric!” I was the special customer! Amity had found a way to bleach and then dye horniger fabric. She’d finished one bolt of blue when Darmaine had reported she already had it sold to a “special customer.”

“You guys!” She fanned her face as tears welled in her eyes.

“I modeled the couch after an antique sofa called a futon . The back folds down, so it’s multifunctional.” He demonstrated. “If we ever need to sleep another person, we’ll have a bed for them.”

Can’t expect a better segue than that. “Funny you should say that. About my surprise for you…maybe you should sit down.”

“I can do that. We have a sofa now,” he joked.

She didn’t laugh. Her stomach had tied itself into knots again. I hope I don’t throw up. She pressed a hand to her abdomen.

“What’s wrong?”

They’d talked about so much, but not this . “Marshall…I’m…pregnant. We’re going to have a baby.”

They’d taken no precautions. She’d had a contraceptive implant at one time, but, after a long sexual dry spell, never bothered to recharge it. Birth control had slipped her mind when she married him. Given her age, she’d figured the odds of getting pregnant were slim, so when she skipped a couple of periods, she’d assumed she was entering the change of life.

Instead, she’d been creating life.

His jaw dropped. “Are you sure?”

“The doc confirmed it this morning. I saw the embryo on the bio-scanner.”

He let out a whoop, grabbed her, and swung her around. “A baby! Our baby!” He kissed her then pulled back to gaze into her eyes. “You are happy about it, right?”

She broke into a huge smile. “Thrilled.” Given her poor relationship track record, she’d been certain she’d never get to be a mother. She was almost too old. But, almost didn’t count. Her grin widened. “But I worried you might not be. We never talked about kids.”

“I love you. Having a family, a child, is like the cherry on top. A cradle will be my next project.”

“I’ll make the mattress for it. We’ll have to turn the futon into a toddler bed,” she said happily.

“But in the meantime, we can use it ourselves.” He drew her onto the futon and kissed her.

“You’re right,” she said afterward. “It works quite nicely as a bed.”

* * * *

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