“No.”
A second cupcake appeared in Oscar’s hands, and Lethe grinned. “I’ll give you two.”
The deal interested me, of course, but I had already eaten two, and she was offering me two more. That meant I would have had four. She never ordered less than a dozen, so there were eight more cupcakes hidden somewhere in the house.
Hmm.
Oscar could be bribed with a new Nerf Blaster to bring me the rest, and then I wouldn’t have to move. Not moving was nice. I enjoyed it. So much it was my new favorite hobby.
A joyful zing through my bond with Woolly distracted me from my plotting, and my pulse skipped a beat.
“You made it just in time,” Neely said as the back door shut. “I was starting to worry.”
The rest, that he would have to wrangle the cranky pregnant lady alone, went unspoken.
Linus bent over the back of the ridiculous chair, brushed his cool lips across my bare shoulder, and chills skated in their wake.
Heart fluttering, I tipped my head back and stared up at him. “Hi.”
Tonight, his dark-auburn hair was gathered at his nape, a sure sign he had been working and didn’t feel up to fussing with it. Meanwhile, my fingers itched to slide off the elastic and run my fingers through the silky length. As if reading my mind, he smiled, crinkling the corners of his dark blue eyes, and I was lost.
“Hello,” he breathed in my ear. “Are you excited?”
The baby chose that moment to jump on my bladder like its own personal trampoline.
“So excited I could wet my pants.” I wriggled to emphasize my point. “Help?”
Linus circled around to the front of the chair, and we clasped forearms. He hauled me to my feet in a practiced move, and I was tempted to rise onto my tiptoes to smooch him until I remembered my ankles were swollen, and my ability to stand on tiptoe abandoned me around the seven-month mark.
After a brief trip to the little necromancer’s room, which also required Linus’s assistance since Woolly’s original toilets were shorter than modern ones, I allowed him to dress me in the downstairs salon while Lethe fed me the two cupcakes she owed me.
Oscar had vanished while I was distracted by Linus, taking all hope of more cupcakes with him.
Ah, well. Might as well save room for the main course. That cake in the kitchen wasn’t going to eat itself.
The outfit Neely had chosen was a maxi dress with the most flattering drape possible when you’re nine months pregnant and showing every hard-earned pound of it. Even the print made me smile. Dozens of baby rattles in all shapes, sizes, and colors speckled the fabric.
We didn’t put much stock in the whole pink or blue thing—I was a fan of purple myself—but it did simplify the big reveal portion of the evening.
Prepared for the worst, I scrunched up my toes. “You might as well show me what misery lies ahead.”
Given Neely’s affinity for fancy toe prisons, I worried about my swollen feet’s imminent incarceration.
All that stress bled from my soles when Linus unboxed a pair of leather ballet flats in a sunny yellow.
“Brace on the wall,” he said, “and I’ll slide these on you.”
For the last two months, I hadn’t been able to see my feet over my belly. Forget bending or pulling on real shoes. I had given up on those altogether and embraced a maternity in Crocs. They made my feet happy, I could take them off and put them on by myself, and they came in a variety of colors that made me weirdly giddy as I added to my collection.
Hormones.
What can you do?
The flats weren’t Crocs, but they would do nicely.
“Knock, knock.” Neely called from the other side of the door. “How’s our girl?”
“Decent,” Linus told him. “You can come in.”
“Oh, Grier.” Hand to his mouth, Neely entered the room. “You’re gorgeous.”
“You’ve outdone yourself.” I smiled at him. “I feel beautiful.”
I had wanted my curves back, and now I had miles of them. Just not exactly where I had pictured them.
“You’re always beautiful.” He rushed over and gathered me against him for a lingering hug. “Always.”
“You’re so good to me.” The backs of my eyelids stung. “You’re the best guy friend a girl could ask for.”
We clung to each other, sobbing openly, while Linus and Cruz, used to our outbursts, reached for the mini packets of tissue they were never without these days.
Neely was a sympathetic crier. One tear from me and his floodgates gushed open. He and I bawled together at least once a day for no particular reason, but it felt great having someone to sniffle with instead of being the hormonal pregnant lady in the room all the time.
“Break it up.” Lethe pried us apart. “The guests are arriving. I hear cars pulling in the driveway.”
Official hosting duty should have fallen to Linus, but he didn’t stray far from me these days. Our proxy for the evening was Cruz, who was pretty if not personable, and more than qualified to act as doorman.
“Let’s hustle then.” Neely dabbed his eyes then guided me to a salon-style chair. “We need to get your hair up and brush on mascara and lip gloss.” He showed me a bottle with an unbroken seal. “This brand swears not to budge for twenty-four hours.”
Among other latent talents, I had discovered during my pregnancy that I could cry off waterproof mascara, regardless of its guarantee. Neely was awed by my skills and had set out to test all the top brands on me for future reference before I regained control of my emotional seesaw.
Flexing my fingers, I waited for Linus to thread his through mine then exhaled with relief at the small contact. The baby, who had a knack for knowing when his or her daddy was near, kicked me hard enough to leave a dent.
“Does anyone have any eviction notices?” I massaged my belly with my free hand. “I’ve got an unruly tenant on my hands.” I paused. “Actually, on my bladder.”
Just like that, I had to pee again.
“You’ve got two weeks to the day,” Lethe reminded me through a cloud of dry shampoo Neely massaged into my roots. “Then it’s bon voyage, baby.”
Thanks to cephalopelvic disproportion, I had a C-section penned on my calendar. Basically, my obstetrician believed my pelvis was too small for the bun in my oven to fit through the door. Probably because it was overbaked and not all that interested in leaving the oven when it had a direct line to all the cupcakes I had been eating.
Seriously, I loved this kid already.
Cletus materialized in a swirl of black cowl and shared an ominous glance between Linus and me.
I didn’t have to search my bond with the wraith to know what he meant or to appreciate the warning.
“Your mother’s car has arrived.” I squeezed Linus’s fingers. “Why don’t you get her settled?”
The Grande Dame was to blame for the photographers invading my home and for the interview I was expected to give later in the week to accompany the glossy magazine spread. She was also the reason I was having an official baby shower tonight with her friends and an unofficial one next week with mine.
Any of that might be the reason I was kicking my feet to avoid falling into line. I didn’t appreciate manipulation, and she was a master of the art.
“Mother knows Woolworth House like the back of her hand.” He kept his hold on me. “She’ll be fine.”
“You guys are so adorable,” Neely cooed. “You’re going to make great parents.”
Linus and I shared an I hope so look, our doubts and fears written plain across our faces.
The lights flickered, Woolly alerting us to another guest’s arrival, and Lethe poked her head out to see.
“Your doctor is here. I can’t tell if he brought a date or a nurse.” She cocked her head. “Or a snack.”
“Dr. Rogers?” Regret tasted oddly of lemon chiffon cupcakes. “Why is he here?”
“I don’t know.” Linus knit his brow. “He wasn’t on my half of the guest list.”
For sure, he wasn’t on mine. What few names he and I were allotted had gone toward ensuring Lethe, Hood, Neely, and Cruz could attend. That meant his mother had extended an invitation on our behalf.
Oh joy.
“He’s very serious.” Neely noted while he finished getting me ready. “Does he ever smile?”
“Only when he checks my weight and warns me to slow down on the carbs.”
Dr. Rogers had no idea, none, how hard I worked to gain enough weight for a healthy pregnancy. I never stopped eating. Thanks to my peculiar biology, I struggled to keep my ribs from showing through my skin pre-baby. The thirty-five pounds I had gained over the last nine months were a miracle.
The fact I had taken to nibbling on Linus to get a direct shot of Vitamin L to my system was beside the point.
Hand to his heart, Neely sucked in a gasp. “That bastard.”
“I want to fire him, but Linus says no.”
“He’s the top obstetrician in the world.” Linus repeated his argument for the hundredth time. “The fact he’s a vampire, with centuries of experience, only bolsters his resume.”
And I was pregnant with a…we didn’t really know what you got when you crossed a goddess-touched necromancer with an Eidolon. That was the only reason Linus had yet to terminate him with extreme prejudice, and we both knew it. But to admit that was to confess to his fear, and he didn’t want to add to mine.
“Last checkup, he made Grier cry.” Lethe growled. “It took two dozen donuts to calm her down again.”
“I would have cried and eaten those donuts anyway,” I confessed, “but I would have savored them rather than eaten them out of spite. The flavor was definitely ruined. I can’t stomach chocolate-glazed donuts after that. Unless they have filling, preferably raspberry, but I accept strawberry as a substitution. Cream isn’t as good, but I could force those down if I had no other choice.”
“See that?” Lethe clucked her tongue. “The man ruined chocolate-glazed donuts for her. He’s clearly a monster.”