When Constellations Form (Light in the Dark Book 4)

by Micalea Smeltzer

  Ever since we found out we’re having a girl I’ve been going crazy with plans for the nursery. I knew immediately it had to be girly and pink, because hey, that’s me.

  The crib, dresser, armoire, and glider arrived yesterday, so Xander wanted to get the room painted before he started putting things together.

  “Xander,” I plead through the door. “One small peek won’t hurt me.”

  The door flies open behind me and I fall back. “Shit,” he curses. “I didn’t know you were there.” He helps me up off the floor. “One peek, and then you’re to go downstairs and leave me alone.”

  “Fine,” I sigh, reluctant to agree to his terms but knowing it’s the best I’m going to get.

  I step through the doorway and nearly slip on the sheet he has laid over the hardwood. “Shit, Thea, be careful,” he warns, grabbing my arm to steady me.

  I look around the room, tears in my eyes.

  “What do you think?” he asks nervously.

  “It’s perfect.”

  He hasn’t done much, but it’s enough for me to tell it’s the exact right shade of pink.

  “All right, now get out.” He all but shoves me out of the room and slams the door closed.

  “You’re so rude!” I yell through the door, and all he does is laugh.

  I head downstairs and fix a glass of lemon water. Prue prances along beside me, her tongue hanging out of her mouth.

  Since Xander’s occupied with nursery duty I busy myself with more shopping.

  I still need to order her bedding. I was between two, but Xander hates the one, so I decided to be nice and veto it and go with the one we both like.

  I order the bedding and then move on to other things for her room.

  I purchase a fluffy rug and several paintings with gold accents to hang on the wall that’ll match the chandelier. I also order a cute tufted pink ottoman that doubles as storage space, and a cute Parisian style chair.

  Am I going overboard?

  Hell yes.

  But this is our first baby, and all the things are so cute I can’t help myself.

  Since I’m already shopping I go ahead and order the car seat and stroller we decided on.

  It takes a lot to have one baby. I can’t imagine having twins. I might die.

  I feel baby girl kick and I smile, pressing my hand against the spot. “Hey, sweetie, what are doing?”

  She gives two solid kicks at the sound of my voice, which makes me smile wider. I’ve definitely been able to tell that she responds to my voice, which is awesome. She responds to Xander too, which is cool. Sometimes when he’s talking she starts to move around wildly, almost like she’s dancing to the sound of his voice.

  I’m officially in my third trimester now, which is just crazy to me. This is the home stretch now. Soon, we’re going to have a baby.

  Thankfully, I finally feel … happy about the whole thing. Excited, even. I was worried I’d spend my whole pregnancy feeling miserable, but lately it’s been great. Something tells me my grace period might be over soon, though, because from what I’ve read, your third trimester can make you feel miserable. It’s understandable, too. There’s a huge baby inside you and there’s only so much room in your body.

  I have an appointment with my doctor later today. At this point in my pregnancy I have to go in every two weeks, but they said the appointments should be in and out—so hallelujah to that.

  Except I have to have my glucose test today, so this one will be longer. What sucks is I’m starving since I’m not allowed to eat before and I can only have small amounts of water.

  I finish my online shopping and Xander comes down about an hour after that, waking me up since apparently I dozed off on the couch.

  “Huh? What?” I sit up, my eyes dazed.

  He chuckles at me, covered in flecks of pink paint. “I said I was jumping in the shower before your appointment. I have all the pink coats done and it’ll have to dry before I do the rest.”

  “I can’t wait to see it.” I’m absolutely giddy thinking about the way the nursery is coming together.

  “Don’t even think about peeking,” he warns me.

  “I’ll be good, I promise.”

  He eyes me like he doesn’t believe me. Under normal circumstance I’d be up there in a flash checking it out, but at nearly seven months pregnant I’m exhausted and need a longer nap, so while he’s showering, I fall back to sleep.

  He comes down, changed into fresh clothes with his hair damp.

  “Ready to go?” he asks, swiping the keys off the counter.

  I stand up and stretch. “I hope I can eat a pizza after this. I’m starving.”

  He chuckles. “Come on, let’s go.”

  He ushers me into the car and we make the short drive to the doctor’s office.

  I check in and it isn’t long until they take me back to a room to take my blood and then hand me the glucose drink. Xander sits down in the extra chair beside me while I brace myself for the super sweet liquid.

  It’s not as bad as I thought it’d be, but it’s still not pleasant. The orange liquid is slightly thick and flat tasting, like old Sunkist.

  I manage to drink it down, making a face of disgust at the end.

  Thankfully, the test only takes an hour and they take a few vials of blood throughout.

  Afterward, we meet with my doctor and everything’s good, and I have no questions, so we’re free to leave.

  Xander doesn’t bother asking me where I want to eat since I brought up pizza earlier. Instead, he heads straight to a local pizza place that wood fire grills their pizzas. My mouth is already watering at the thought of food.

  We head inside and are seated quickly in a booth that overlooks the city streets. It’s a bleak day, overcast, with a misty rain.

  “Thank you for painting the nursery today.”

  He fights a grin, his lips twitching at the corners. “Even though you wanted to kill me for not letting you look?”

  I glance down at the menu and shrug. “Yeah, even then, because soon we’re going to be holding our daughter in that room and it’ll mean more that you did all the work and not someone else.”

  He inhales a soft gasp. “I keep forgetting that she’s going to be here soon.”

  “Only about twelve more weeks or so.”

  He rubs his jaw. “That’s the blink of an eye.”

  It really is.

  Once upon a time, three months felt like a lifetime, now it’s a minute.

  I fear that once she’s born those minutes will turn into seconds.

  I want to cherish every moment, because I know it’ll be gone all too soon.

  Thea

  I gasp.

  “What?” Xander looks at me innocently.

  “What did you do?” I shriek.

  He stares at me like I’m a crazy person—like buddy, you married me, you know my ass is psycho.

  “Uh … shaved?”

  “Why?” I ask again, staring sadly at his bare face. “You look five.”

  He snorts. “Thanks, babe.”

  I wave my hand at his face. “Put it back. You look weird.”

  “It doesn’t work like that, sorry.” He begins cleaning the sink.

  “Maybe you should save those.” I point to the whiskers he’s throwing away. “Maybe you can glue them to your face.”

  He tilts his head and sighs. “Thea, it’s facial hair, it’ll be back by tonight.”

  I let out a dramatic sigh. “It better be. I love your scruff.” I frown, staring at his bare face. “But seriously, what possessed you to shave. You rarely have nothing.”

  “My mom asked me to.”

  I narrow my eyes. “I officially hate your mom.”

  He laughs. “You know you don’t.”

  “Okay, I don’t, but right now this feels a lot like hate, because my husband looks like a baby.” I tilt my head, studying his face. I reach up, grabbing his chin so I can look at him from a different angle. “Is this what our daughter is
going to look like?”

  “Thea, stop.” He removes my hand from his face.

  “You didn’t let me finish.” I pout and he makes a face, urging me to continue. “I was going to say she’d be awfully cute.”

  “Great, so now I look like a baby and I’m cute. Exactly what every man wants to hear.”

  “Hey, if the shoe fits, wear it.”

  I slip my feet into a pair of heels, and I’m finally ready to go. Wearing heels at almost seven months pregnant is insane, but there’s no way I can wear flats with this dress. I shudder at the thought. It’d be blasphemy.

  We head downstairs and Xander lets Prue run outside to use the bathroom.

  I slip my coat on and grab my purse. Xander comes back inside with Prue and gives her a treat.

  Xander’s mom didn’t want us to bring anything for the meal, but I insisted, so she ended up asking me to do the macaroni and cheese. I’d never made it homemade before, but I think it turned out okay.

  I grab the platter and look around, making sure we’re not forgetting anything.

  Xander chuckles and my gaze flicks to him. “What?” I ask.

  “I was just thinking …” He rubs his jaw, still laughing slightly under his breath. “I doubt we’ll get out of the house this easy once we have the baby.”

  I pause, thinking, and laugh too. “I guess you’re right. It’ll be a lot harder to leave on time and we’ll probably always forget something important.”

  He comes up to me, pressing his hand to my stomach. In the beginning, his hand swallowed my stomach whole, now not so much. “I can’t wait to see her, though, and finally hold her.”

  “It’s not much longer now,” I breathe out.

  I still feel scared when I think about the baby actually being here, but it’s more the fear of the unknown and less a fear of her.

  Xander removes his hand from my belly and steps back. “We have to go.”

  “Right,” I mumble.

  We load into the car, leaving Prue behind. I can hear her barking through the door and I feel bad for leaving her.

  I gasp and Xander looks over at me before backing out of the garage. “What?” he asks. “Did you forget something?” He hits the brakes as I shake my head.

  “No, but what about Prue?”

  “What about her? She’s fine. She just went out, and I gave her food and water.”

  I shake my head again. “No … with the baby,” I hiss. “What is she going to do with the baby? What if she hates her and is mean?”

  He snorts and finishes backing out of the driveway. “Prue doesn’t have a mean bone in her body.”

  “Now,” I agree. “But she’s never really been around babies before. What if she thinks it’s some sort of strange puppy and tries to get the baby in her mouth.”

  Xander laughs at me.

  “Stop laughing at me,” I whine. “I’m being serious here. She could try to bite her.”

  “Thea,” he says sternly, “you’re worrying about nothing. Prue will be fine. You’ll see.”

  “Ugh,” I groan.

  I hate it when he dismisses my worries like I’m being silly. There are horror stories of dogs being mean to babies—yes, I know most aren’t, but you never know. We’ve had Prue for three years, and it’s always only just been her, so what if she has some sort of … oldest child syndrome and wants to take out the weakest link. Weakest link equals the baby, obviously.

  We arrive at Xander’s parent’s house and find that we’re the last ones there.

  My mom and James are joining us here, but Cade and Rae are spending the holiday with her family. Jace and Nova were invited, but they opted to do something just the two of them. But it’ll still be a larger crowd with both Xander’s parents, his sister, and his brother in for the holiday.

  Xander doesn’t bother knocking since his mom gets mad when he does. He swings the door open and waves me inside first, even though he’s holding the heavy macaroni dish.

  I scurry inside and out of the cold.

  It’s going to snow soon—I can feel it. It’s like something in the air changes, and you can’t help but know that a big snow is coming.

  “Ah, there you guys are,” Sarah ushers us inside. “Oh, good, you shaved,” she says when she sees Xander, standing on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “I asked your little brother to shave too and he didn’t listen.”

  “Yeah, because I didn’t want to look like a fetus!” we hear Xavier yell through the house.

  Xander shakes his head. “Where do you want me to put this, Mom?” He nods at the dish in his hand.

  “Just put it on the island on the counter. We decided to do buffet style this year. We figured that was easier than passing at the table.”

  Xander heads off with the food and I stay in the hall with his mom. I shrug out of my coat and she gasps at my belly.

  “Oh, my God, look at you. Can I feel it?”

  “Sure.” I shrug. It’s not like she’s a stranger—though some strangers have no problem touching my belly without asking. A baby being in there doesn’t suddenly give everyone the right to feel me up, but they do it anyway.

  She presses her hand to my belly and smiles at me. “Wow. I can’t believe I’m going to have my first grandbaby. I bought her something. Wait here.”

  “You didn’t need to do that,” I protest as she starts up the stairs.

  She pauses and looks back. “Nonsense. She’s my first grandbaby, and a girl at that. I have to spoil her rotten. She’s a little princess.”

  She hurries up the last of the steps and I wait patiently at the bottom.

  Xander comes back into the foyer, his brows drawn together.

  “What are you doing?”

  I point up the stairs. “Your mom said she had a gift for the baby.”

  He grins at me. “That was sweet of her.”

  He wraps his arm around me, drawing me into his body. It’s hard to get as close as I used to with this big belly in the way, and I still have three months to go so I’m only going to get bigger.

  Great.

  Sarah comes down a moment later. “Oh, good, you’re here.”

  She holds out an ornate decorative box. The box itself is a lacquered shiny off-white finish with pink and gold detailing.

  “Open it,” Sarah pleads, absolutely giddy.

  Xander and I lift the lid together and I gasp, bursting into tears, because hormones.

  A ballerina spins around to a song that I think is from The Nutcracker.

  “This is beautiful.”

  “I ran across it in an antique store, and I had to get it because my grandmother gave me something similar when I was a little girl. It only seemed appropriate that I give my granddaughter something like it.”

  “It’s perfect,” I breathe, handing the box to Xander so I can wipe away my tears. “Can you put it in the car so we don’t forget it?” I ask him.

  “Sure thing. I’ll be right back.”

  He grabs the car keys and dashes outside into the cold.

  “Come on.” Sarah tugs me toward the kitchen. “Now that you guys are here, we can eat.”

  An hour later, we’re all stuffed and don’t want to move.

  “The dinner was delicious,” I tell Sarah, helping to gather dishes.

  “I don’t know,” Xavier interjects with an impish grin. “It could’ve been better.”

  Alexis smacks the back of her brother’s head. “Don’t be a dick,” she scolds him.

  “Kids,” Sarah groans. “Can’t you get along for one day. That’s all I ask.”

  “No,” they answer simultaneously.

  Sarah sighs and shakes her head. “I tried.”

  Xander stands and helps me gather the dishes and together we carry them to the kitchen to start watching them.

  “No, no, no, you guys are guests. You don’t clean the dishes,” Sarah cries, running into the kitchen. “And you’re pregnant.”

  “Exactly,” I snort. “I’m pregnant, not handicapped. I want t
o help.”

  She sighs.

  “Mom, it’s not a big deal. It’s just dishes.”

  “Yeah, let my servants take care of it,” Xavier jokes, carrying in some more dishes. “Thea, you know you’re supposed to get the water in the sink not on the floor.”

  “What?” My brows furrow at his joke. “But we haven’t even started washing dishes yet. Oh.”

  That’s when I feel the trickle between my legs and I look down to see a puddle of water on the floor.

  My horrified eyes fly up to meet Xander’s. “Did my water just break?” I ask him stupidly.

  He stares open mouthed from the puddle to me. “I … I don’t know. I guess. Are you having contractions?”

  “No … I don’t think so. What do they feel like?”

  Sarah snorts. “Trust me, you’d know if you were having contractions.”

  “But … what is that?” I ask. “It has to be my water, right? But it’s too early! Xander,” I beg, panicking now, “it’s too early.”

  “Calm down.” Sarah takes my face between her hands, forcing me to look at her. “In my honest opinion, as a woman who’s given birth to three children, I think you just peed yourself.”

  “What? No, that can’t be it. I just peed not too long ago.”

  She shakes her head. “Trust me, something similar happened when I was pregnant with Alexis. I’d just peed but she kicked my bladder or something and I peed my pants in the middle of the grocery store.”

  Xavier busts out laughing. “Oh, my God, Thea peed her pants. This is great. I have to get a picture.”

  He whips out his phone and snaps a picture before any of us can blink. “Delete that,” Xander tells him in a deathly calm voice, his eyes fire.

  Xavier frowns. “It’s not like I was going to post it.”

  “No, you were just going to save it to whip it out at every family occasion from now until the end of the time.”

  Xavier sighs and fiddles with his phone. “It’s gone.”

  “Thank you.”

  Sarah grabs my hand. “I think you guys should go to the hospital for piece of mind, but I really don’t think your water broke.”

  “What’s going on in here?” my mom asks. “Is everything okay? You all disappeared.”

  “Thea peed her pants,” Xavier tells her with a snicker.