by W. J. May
She held her breath as she remembered what she’d said back to him. “So, logically, if one day we got married and decided to have children, our child would most likely be good—look at you and me! Even if there’s a hint of my father’s genes, he or she could still be a normal, happy person.” Hadn’t she spent most of her life terrified she was suddenly going to turn into her father? To simply wake up one day and have morphed into a monster overnight?
Could that happen to their baby?
Rae shook her head slightly, focusing on the man she loved standing in front of her. The one who was going to convince her that everything was going to be all right.
But yet, he said nothing.
He was waiting for her.
When she didn’t react or say anything else, he pursed his lips and tilted his head to the side. His hair spilled across his forehead as he answered with a wordless, “Hmm?”
Okay. Baby steps. Literally.
The poor man was obviously caught in some sort of out-of-body experience, worse than the one she’d just been through.
Rae figured the least she could do was help him find his way out. “I said that I’m pregnant,” she said gently, careful not to make any sudden movements as she slowly lowered her feet to the floor. “I found out yesterday at the wedding.”
It was impossible to tell how much of this was registering and how much was lost in shock.
“You…you’re…” He let out a single gasp of laughter, then went dead quiet. A host of emotions swept across his face before coming up blank. “What do you mean?”
Rae pulled in a trembling breath, and made a concerted effort not to smile. This was going to be one of those moments they remembered for the rest of their lives. She could not go down in history as having laughed aloud while he tried to work it all out.
It’s not like I was much better…
“I mean…that you and I are going to have a baby.”
If the word pregnant wasn’t going over, the word baby was out of the question. He simply blinked twice, then stared at the mattress, looking like there was a good chance he might pass out.
How is it possible for his skin to be that white? Should I be calling a doctor?
She stood up nervously and reached for his hand. “Sweetie? How…uh…how do you feel about that?”
His head snapped up in surprise. “…Me?” Instead of taking her hand, he reached out behind him—grabbing discreetly onto the wooden dresser for support. “I feel fine about it…I feel—”
That’s when he pulled the whole thing down on top of himself.
* * *
After digging her fiancé out of a pile of clothing and broken planks, Rae guided him safely to the bed. He followed obediently, floating, as if his feet were still an inch or two off the floor.
It wasn’t until he had lain there for a moment—propped up against the headboard—that he shot her a sideways glance. “Sorry about that…I think I was in shock.”
Rae pursed her lips. She had said the exact same words after he proposed to her. “That’s perfectly understandable.”
His eyes dropped down to her belly before slowly lifting back to her face. “You’re sure?”
It was the first time he had acknowledged it. The first time he made the connection between her saying the words and something that was actually happening.
She felt her face warm with her radiant smile. “I’m sure. I used Alicia’s tatù yesterday after the wedding. I’m…I’m definitely pregnant.” Her smile softened sympathetically when Devon simply sat there, his eyes locked on her stomach. After a few seconds of waiting, she leaned down to try to catch his eye. “Rest assured…it’s yours.”
He looked up in a daze. “…what?”
She shook her head quickly. “Nothing. Bad joke.” She reached for him again. This time her fingers slipped into his open hand. “Dev, you need to tell me how you’re feeling about this. Because I’m freaking out—”
“How I’m feeling?” he interrupted suddenly. She held her breath as his eyes made the slow journey from her belly to her face. Once there, they lingered for a moment before slowly, ever-so-slowly, his face melted into a breathtaking smile. “Rae.”
Oh, thank goodness! She dissolved into instant tears. The quiet kind. The happy kind. The kind she couldn’t stop as her entire body slumped back against the headboard in unspeakable relief.
But no sooner had she leaned back than she was being moved again. Lifted gently into the air, settling safe inside her fiancé’s arms.
“You thought I’d be upset?” he asked incredulously, resting his cheek against her hair.
She wanted to pull back to see him, to watch the continued transformation light up each of his handsome features—one by one. But she was too content just to be held. She didn’t realize how much she’d needed to be held until that very moment. She thought about the conversation in his dorm room and wondered if he remembered. She smiled. “We’ve never really talked about it,” she murmured, gripping his arms. “…just the hypothetical treehouse conversation. I just didn’t…I didn’t know if that’s something you ever thought about. Something you’d ever actually want.”
“Of course I want it.” He squeezed her tighter. So tight that she could feel every pounding heartbeat in his chest. “I’ve always wanted it.” A sudden tremor ran through his body, and he pulled back with a nervous laugh. “I’ll admit, I never planned on having one quite so soon…”
Rae laughed as well, pushing herself upright as she smoothed down her hair and wiped the remaining tears from her eyes. “Yeah, that’s kind of where I’m at, too.”
But Devon was no longer present. His entire attention was focused on something else.
His fingers twitched, and he made a compulsive movement towards her before instantly stopping himself. His eyes flashed up and he looked almost shy as he quickly retracted his arm. “I’m sorry…may I?”
It was only then that she realized what he was trying to do. “Devon, of course you can.” She rolled up her shirt with a smile. “It’s your baby.”
He took a second to absorb that, then reached toward her, moving with the speed and caution of someone worried about frightening off a wild animal. Like the tiny human might sense him coming, and run for the hills. Rae bit her lip again, determined not to smile.
He hesitated a split second, hovering half an inch above, then stretched his hand carefully across her stomach, warming her through and through with the very touch. “My baby,” he repeated under his breath.
There was a strange possessiveness in the way he stressed the word my. A quiet pride in the way he lightly caressed her skin. A flicker of light danced in his eyes before settling into one of the most beautiful smiles Rae had ever seen. Something borderline…paternal.
He is going to be an amazing father.
But all at once, all those warm and tender feelings disappeared. It was like she could actually feel them leave his body. Rushing out with a single breath, leaving a rigid terror in their wake.
“Samantha.”
It was softer than a breath. Whispered to himself the way someone would reaffirm a nightmare. Reminding themselves it was real. Reminding themselves it was still coming.
Rae’s heart tightened, and her hand clamped down fiercely upon his wrist. “It’s going to be fine. We’re going to find her, take care of her.” When she got no response, she squeezed his hand hard enough to bruise. “Devon, it’s going to be fine.”
He glanced up for a second, looking not fine at all, then nodded quickly.
With a visible effort, he pushed the nightmare temporarily away. Locking it in some dark corner before turning back to her with a genuine smile.
In a blur of sunshine and speed, he kissed her.
Kissed her stomach. Kissed her lips. Kissed her hands. Kissed every available bit of skin he could find before falling back on the mattress with a bark of euphoric laughter.
Rae gasped at the blinding assault, still trying to catch her breath. “That w
as more of the reaction I was hoping for.”
She bit her lip with a grin as he tilted her gently back onto the sheets, propping himself delicately above her. Her shirt was still halfway up her ribs, and it quickly reclaimed his attention.
“I still can’t believe this is happening…” He closed his eyes and pressed his lips against her stomach, sending a host of shivers sweeping through her from head to toe. When he opened them again, he was a changed man. “I never knew I could be so happy,” he murmured, skating his fingers over her skin. His sparkling eyes flashed up to meet hers. “I never knew one person could make me so happy.”
It was all Rae could do to keep herself together. With all the emotion swelling her heart, she thought the thing might burst. “Not one person,” she corrected teasingly, “but two.”
He leaned back a bit as he considered this, his eyes glassing over as they locked on the bed.
“There will be three of us,” he mused. “You, me, and the…the baby,” he said the word slowly, trying it out for the first time.
Although he had yet to become fully aware of it, his entire world had just flipped upside-down. And, unlike his fiancée, he didn’t have the ability to stop time to work it all out.
“That’s right,” Rae gushed, unable to contain her excitement. “I’m going to be a mom. And you’re going to be a dad.”
The words rang out in the quiet room, layered with decades of implication. Devon’s smile faded, and he paled so drastically she thought he might pass out on the spot.
Baby steps…
* * *
“What the hell is wrong with you?!” Julian exclaimed, struggling to keep his balance as he and Molly were manhandled into the room. Luke and Angel followed curiously behind, watching as their lovers were essentially kidnapped before their very eyes.
“Devon! Take it easy!” Julian barked, his weight resisting against his best friend.
But Devon was a man on a mission. He wasn’t going to let his best friend slip away into the future. This was the kind of news he wanted to share himself.
Unfortunately, his ways of keeping Julian in the present left a lot to be desired.
“Hey! OW!” The psychic threw up his hands as he was shoved into a wall, but no sooner had he landed than he was being dragged forward again, thrown carelessly onto the bed. “Seriously?!”
Rae had collected Molly with more dignity, but she was no less excited. Even though Rae tended to avoid it, Riley’s cheetah tatù slipped to the surface and she found herself bouncing from foot to foot at a near blinding speed.
“Will someone please tell us what the heck is going on?” Molly demanded as she was pushed down next to Julian. “And why you felt the need to interrupt my afternoon meditation.”
“You were watching infomercials,” Luke countered with a grin as he leaned against the wall by the doorway, clearing content on sticking to the easiest route of escape if needed.
“Precisely.”
The edges of Julian’s eyes began to automatically whiten, but Devon struck him on the back with enough force to shatter stone. “Oh, no you don’t!”
“Wait a minute.” Molly shrank back on the bed, brandishing a hairbrush like a weapon. “Is he possessed again? Angel, freeze him! Rae, check him for a knife!”
“I’m not possessed,” Devon assured her quickly. “I just…we just have some news.” His eyes flickered to Rae, who stopped bouncing and stared back, trying to stop a smile that kept trying to break through.
“What,” Julian sulked, examining a new tear in his jacket, “she’s pregnant?”
There was a pause.
“Damn it to hell, Julian!”
Julian’s dark eyes flashed up to Devon in shock. “I was kidding! I didn’t actually…Wait.” His mouth fell open as he glanced between them, unable to believe it was true. “She is?” His head shot back and forth like he was watching a tennis match. “You are?” Head swung again. “Devon, so help me, if you’re kidding...” Hair flew to the right. “Rae, if he’s taking the mick—Wait, you’re actually…pregnant?”
There was an ear-splitting shriek as Molly clapped her fingers over her mouth, then abruptly fell quiet. Staring with impossibly wide eyes.
“As a matter of fact…”
Rae and Devon stepped forward at the same time that Julian and Molly pushed shakily to their feet. For a moment, the four friends simply stared at each other.
Then Rae’s hand slipped down to her stomach with a radiant smile. “I am.”
It was quiet for only a moment. Then came the explosion.
“WHAT?!”
In a streak of ivory and crimson Molly flew across the room like she had wings, tackling her best friend with a force that made both of the expectant fathers in the room cringe with automatic concern. They tumbled into the remains of the broken dresser, shrieking breathlessly all the while.
“You’re pregnant?!” she gasped, trapping Rae in a kind of chokehold. “I can’t believe it! How far along are you?! How long have you known?!”
From there, she dissolved into one of those signature Molly monologues. Talking only half to Rae, and half to the baby. Doing so at a pitch so impossibly high that the puppy—who had just wandered into the room—bolted right back out of it and down the stairs.
Julian and Devon were only slightly more dignified.
They locked eyes for a moment before coming together in the kind of embrace that made Luke laugh out loud and Angel shake her head, muttering, “I knew it,” with a resigned expression.
“Devon…” Julian gasped, still in complete shock, “that’s just…I mean…”
“I know.” Devon spat out a mouthful of dark hair, grinning ear to ear. “It hasn’t even sunk in yet. Rae’s acting so calm about it, but I’m just…”
Neither one seemed particularly able to complete a sentence, but it didn’t matter. In moments such as these, they had always shared a strange kind of telepathy.
“Yeah. I can imagine.”
They held on for a moment longer before pulling away at the same time. Each with the same look of wide-eyed euphoria. Each with something pressing they had to say.
“Congratulations—”
“You have to be the godfather,” Devon interrupted in a sudden rush, like if he didn’t say it that very moment he might somehow lose his chance. “Please.”
Across the room, Rae looked over and caught his eye. The two of them hadn’t even discussed it, but as she peered over Molly’s shoulder they shared a knowing smile.
Of course Julian would be the godfather. It wouldn’t be anyone else.
And on that note…
“Molly,” she said softly, slipping into a strength tatù. It was the only way to escape the girl’s impossible grasp. “Would you do that, too? Would you be the godmother?”
The high-pitched sermon came to a screeching halt as Molly stared up at her with a pair of enormous, watery eyes. She didn’t answer. She simply collapsed into a fit of tears.
At that point, Luke peeled himself off the wall and moved forward with a gentle smile. “She’s been doing that a lot lately,” he explained kindly. “Blame it on the hormones.”
He lifted her up like a small child but she reached out for Rae instead, wrapping her arms tightly around her neck with a strangled sob.
“Yes, of course I will! You know you’re going to be the godmother to mine!”
It looked like she wanted to say more, but the tears overtook her again and the others were forced to merely wait, locked in a comical embrace. Luke holding Molly. Molly hugging Rae.
After a few seconds of awkward silence, Luke caught Rae’s eye through the waves of scarlet hair, and offered a quiet, “Congratulations. You’re going to be incredible.”
“Thanks,” she whispered as they took alternating turns patting Molly’s back. “I still can’t believe it’s all happening.”
He flashed her a knowing smile. “That doesn’t go away…”
It was a rather extreme reaction, but on the
other side of the room Julian seemed beyond words as well. He simply stared at Devon in shock, nodding with a shy smile. “…I would be honored.”
There was a beat of silence then Devon let out a burst of laughter, clapping his friend on the back. His eyes twinkled as the intense emotional moment shattered on the spot. “You’d be honored?”
Julian flushed defensively and shoved his arm away. “That’s what people say, isn’t it? What did you want me to—”
“Just say yes, Julian.”
“Fine. Yes,” he snapped. But it only took a few seconds for his glare to lighten up into a brotherly grin. Then a curious one. “Why did you try to beat me up on the way in here?”
“I know you have a hard time trancing out when you’re in pain,” Devon replied cheerfully.
Julian blinked. “You could have just asked me not to.”
A look of surprise lightened Devon’s face as he considered the notion for the first time. “I honestly didn’t think of that.”
Rae watched the entire exchange from the other side of the room, and snorted with muffled laughter. She was about to put in her two cents when a pair of slender arms wrapped around her waist. By the time she even registered the embrace, Angel was already pulling away.
“So I’m guessing you’re not going to tell Gabriel about this either?”
A little chill ran up Rae’s arms, and she bowed her head with a sigh. The two of them had almost the exact same conversation when Rae got engaged just a few months before. When they were living in the safe house in Scotland, about to battle Cromfield once and for all.
But it isn’t the same thing, is it? I know we’re gearing up for Samantha, but Gabriel’s with Alicia. This kind of thing shouldn’t upset him anymore.
“Why wouldn’t I?” she asked lightly. “I can tell him and Allie together.”
Angel flashed her a look, and she fell silent.
It was easy to say the words. But deep in her heart, Rae knew they weren’t exactly true. And one look from his sister confirmed it. “What am I supposed to do, Angel?” she asked softly. “I mean, I don’t want to tell a lot of people—certainly not my dad, or anything like that. But it’s not like I can hide it forever. I’m going to start to show before long. Am I really supposed to wait until after Samantha—”