“Alessa,” I moved over and tugged the sponge from her hand. “What are you doing this for?”
“My back hurts, so I want this all tidy before I lie down for the night.”
“Then lie down and let me do it. I’ll bring you dinner in bed.”
“I don’t know... You’re right,” she admitted. “I’ll lie down. You do whatever you want—”
Alessa winced and bent forward, both hands beneath her belly. Discomfort rippled across her face.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” I moved to her side in an instant.
“It’s only a contraction,” she assured me. “I’ll go sit on the sofa with my feet up until it stops.”
I stared at her, surprised by her cavalier attitude. “Are you sure? I can call the doctor—”
“No, no, no. It’s fine. We talked about this, remember? They’re only false contractions and we’ll waste the doctor’s time.”
Five hours later, it was after midnight and Alessa was miserable. I ran her a bath, and rubbed her back as she soaked, but nothing alleviated her discomfort.
One phone call to Marcy and Teo confirmed my theory — our baby was on the way.
~Alessa~
My doctor and I arrived simultaneously in puffs of jasmine-scented smoke and mystery. I didn’t care to question it since the nifty teleportation occurred while I was held captive by a particularly nasty contraction.
“It’s a pleasure to see you again, Alessa and Dante,” she greeted us kindly.
“I thought you told me the baby wouldn’t be due until almost April,” I panted out. My unborn child pressed one of its extremities into my ribs, introducing me to a sharp stab of discomfort. “Is my baby going to be okay? Is it too early?”
“By my previous estimation, I did believe you would deliver a few weeks from now, but this isn’t a typical human birth,” Dr. Thompson explained.
Marcy nodded in agreement. “I carried for eleven months, Alessa, and Javier is healthy as you can see.”
“Don’t worry. As I said before, you’ll be my third supernatural birth, but I have years of experience delivering human babies.”
I nodded and held tightly to Dante’s hand, caught in the grip of a contraction, thus unable to speak to the woman. She waited patiently until the tension faded from my face.
“How far apart are the contractions?”
“One minute now,” Dante answered.
My doctor confirmed my labor and readiness to birth, then Marcy helped me from my constrictive, itchy clothing. I was without a shred of modesty and quickly shed them on the open veranda. Teo could have marched a thousand dragons onto the serene space and I wouldn’t have given a flying fuck. Nothing mattered but acquiring a modicum of comfort.
The birthing pool awaited me at the edge of the deck near a tranquil, bubbling fountain, surrounded by green ferns and a few early blooming flowers. I heard the rhythmic sound of the ocean waves crashing against the sand a few yards away. The dawn sky was awash with pale streaks of pink and lavender.
I sank into the buoyant salt water filling the pool and closed my eyes. I opened them to find Dante standing beside it, looking helpless and at a loss.
“How do you feel?”
I spared him my honest answer. “Ready,” I answered. “Are you going to stay the entire ti—IME?” My voice cracked and rose sharply with pain.
“I’m not going to leave you.” Dante knelt beside the birthing pool with his elbows resting over the lip. “Unless you want me to go, I’ll stay right here with you. The whole way.”
“No, don’t go,” I gasped out when the contraction ended. Marcy was right; the pain had amplified once my water broke, but the warmth of the water eased my suffering to a tolerable level. I took my husband by his shoulders and clutched him, burying my fingers into the brawny muscle.
“Then I won’t go.”
“You look sick,” I whispered. The unbearable tension eased, allowing my fingers to loosen from his shoulders. I touched his lank hair and smoothed it back from his face. For the first time, I noticed the dark shadows beneath his eyes.
“Insignificant compared to the birth of our baby.”
He was so strong. I loved this man and nothing in the world could make me regret the decision to have his child. Our child.
“What happens next?” I asked the doctor.
“For you supernaturals, I like to take a hands-off approach without interference. I’ll be here if there’s distress or a problem, but for the most part, you ladies seem to have instinct telling you what to do.”
“Okay.” Distress. The doctor’s words echoed in my mind, a terrifying notion.
“Do I do anything?” Dante asked. “What can I do to help?”
“Exactly what you’re doing now for her,” Marcy said. She touched his shoulder with one hand and brushed a few strands of hair from my face with the other. “Just rub her back and stay with her. I’m gonna go talk to Teo and let him know all is well.”
“Okay,” I gasped on the next contraction. I was stuck on repeat, a broken record too overwhelmed by the events taking place to create intelligent discussion. To my surprise, the misery never worsened, allowing me to find enjoyment in the natural surroundings.
The next hour happened in a haze. My agony ended abruptly, flooding me with intense relief. I reached beneath me to gather the newborn, only to find my tiny gift was already floating upward to greet me.
A girl. I had a little girl. She cried a strong, healthy wail when she reached the surface, and with Dante’s help I gathered our baby close to my bare breasts. Tears streamed down my face as I peeked down at tiny wisps of dark red hair and murky, cloudy gray eyes. Would they become blue eventually like Dante’s or stormy gray like mine?
“You did great,” Marcy said in a quiet voice, giving us some space. She and the doctor allowed us a few private moments to bond with our daughter.
After the doctor wrapped my baby girl in a fluffy white towel, she moved to the table nearby. Dante helped me from the bathing pool and into a thick terrycloth robe, my legs trembling and shaky. Marcy tucked me into a prepared guest bedroom while Dante carried our pink, surprisingly docile and calm baby back to me.
“I thought babies were supposed to scream,” I whispered.
“The doctor said she had an easy transition and is perfectly healthy.” Dante sat beside me on the bed and lowered our newborn into my hold.
“Do you think Phoebe fits?” I asked him. With her returned to my arms, a mellow cloud fell over me. I lay sprawled in the bed with her held, studying her features.
“It is a beautiful name,” Dante assured me. He leaned close to kiss my forehead, and with one hand, he wiped the single tear sliding down my cheek.
“Will you call my mom for me?”
Dante got ahold of my cell phone and made the call to my mother. She panicked at first, and after Dante assured her that we were fine, swore she’d be on the next plane.
“She’s so alert. Look at her. She’s watching me.”
“She’s breathtaking,” Dante told me.
I thought Dante would leave while Marcy guided me through nursing for the first time, but he hung by my bedside, intrigued. Marcy snapped a few candid photographs for my album then stepped out with promises to see us soon for more pictures.
We didn’t remain in Teo’s home for long. According to the doctor, I’d had the easiest, most stress-free birth of her career and I was free to continue my recovery at my own house. She’d check up on me later, and a nurse would arrive once or twice over the coming days to make sure I needed no assistance.
Friends and family offered all kinds of help, but in the end, the only thing I truly wanted was Dante and our little girl.
Chapter 13
~Alessa~
Spring arrived in the blink of an eye, and with it came the return of Dante’s herd. They didn’t arrive a moment too soon — he couldn’t conceal his exhaustion anymore, and the ocean had ceased to help him. He spent days in the bed, listl
ess and without an appetite, awakening only to chat with me or hold Phoebe close during her nap times.
I tried to convince him to let one of the other paranormal creatures return him to his people, but he refused.
“They’ll be here soon. I need to wait for them.”
And he was right. One sunny, spring afternoon just after he’d begun to come around again, Dante exhibited an unusual burst of energy, dragged himself from our bed and disappeared into the water for a swim. Unable to sleep, I stayed up late nursing Phoebe and worrying over him. Evening came and went, but my mate didn’t return that night or the next. Teo sent Kekoa to patrol the water for signs of him, but there were none.
Three days passed before someone laid on my door buzzer. I’d never met the man in person before, but Dante had described his father’s human guise in detail. It also helped he wore Dante’s swim trunks, the pair he kept hidden in Abuelo’s boat by the docks in case of emergency.
“Where’s Dante?”
The soaking wet man frowned at my abrupt greeting. “My son wanted to return to you, but he lacks the strength. I came in his stead.” His father had a thick, almost unrecognizable accent, but I recognized hints of Dante in the way he spoke.
“Is he going to be okay?”
“In time. He needs time under the water.”
Instantaneous relief surged over me, a wave so intense my knees almost buckled. I caught myself with one hand on the door frame and let out a ragged sob. Strong hands supported me beneath my elbows, surprising me as much as my uncontrollable tears.
“He loves you very much, Alessa. Enough to fight our request for him to recover.”
I tried to nod, hating the terrible sounds coming from me. “I thought... when he didn’t return.” Another breath shuddered in and out of my lungs, then I wiped my eyes quickly with the back of my hand. “I’m sorry. Come inside. I mean, would you like to come inside?”
“May I see my grandchild?” he countered.
“She’s sleeping, but yes, of course.” I gestured for him to enter and didn’t balk at the trail of water he made, accustomed to cleaning up after my husband whenever he returned from the water.
Adon followed me to the nursery where Phoebe slept, blissfully unaware of her father’s absence. Bright copper-red curls covered her head.
My father-in-law leaned against the crib railing and gazed down at her through peaceful, blue eyes shared by my daughter and husband. “She is precious. I see you and my son both in her features.”
“She’s going to have his eyes, I think. Your eyes, I guess. They get bluer with every passing day.”
A smile touched his lips. Adon stepped away from the crib and left the room, so I followed behind him curiously. “I will leave you without further interruption to your day, but I promise Dante will come back to you soon, well and whole.”
“Please tell him I love him.”
He nodded his head in understanding. “I will pass him your words.”
Instead of opening the door to let him out, I stepped forward and threw my arms around the shifter in a tight hug. “Thank you.”
Adon hesitated. His entire body became rigid in my hold, but I sensed it was from shock, rather than revulsion. “For what?”
“For giving us this chance. Thank you for listening to your son.”
Seconds later, his strong arms surrounded me. I soaked in the warmth of a father’s love for the first time in over a year since my dad’s death. We stood together for countless seconds, maybe even minutes, my cheek against his still-damp shoulder.
“I loved his mother. Her black tail and coat never represented misfortune to me. In my eyes she was special. Beautiful. The moment I laid eyes on her I knew she was destined to be mine.” Adon released me and held me at arm’s length to look at me. “Much like you and Dante. When mates are fated, the bond is twice blessed, but when one is lost to early death...”
“He told me what he remembered about his mother,” I ventured.
“I only know a human murdered her. A human took my beloved from me and stole Dante’s mother. When he came of age and showed interest in returning to this world, I handled it poorly.” Adon sighed. “I can never regain the lost years, but I can make it right between us now. Perhaps I should be the one to thank you, Alessa. You brought us together again.”
After a few minutes of talking, Adon excused himself and prepared to leave.
“Adon?”
“Yes?” He paused at the door and looked back.
“There’s a man out there who claims he saw a hippocampus twenty-five years ago. He... he’s looking for you guys now, and he’s a bad man. A really bad man.” I frowned. I had a terrible suspicion about the identity of the diver who had killed Dante’s mother. Was it safe to share it with them?
“Teo warned us. We are keeping close to his island.”
Dante showed up at the door five days later with unshelled scallops and a bouquet of flowers. He barely dropped his gifts in time to catch me; I’d leapt into his arms and peppered his face with kisses.
“You look so much better,” I admired between our soft kisses. “I was so worried.”
“Forgive me, Alessa.”
“Already done. I’m just glad you’re all right again.”
Sometime after I tired of kissing my man, I collected my net of scallops and placed my bruised bouquet in water. Dante wandered in with Phoebe in his arms.
“She has grown so much in a week,” he marveled. Phoebe squirmed in his hold, gave him a gummy smile, then promptly filled her diaper.
“Here, I’ll go change her,” I offered while giggling at Dante’s bewildered expression. “In fact, I’ll get her into the bath while I’m at it.”
“Okay. I’ll start shucking the scallops.”
“Silly girl,” I cooed. I cleaned her while the tub filled.
“Dad told me you guys had a long talk!” Dante called from the kitchen.
“We did. I’ll tell you everything about it when I’m out.”
Soothing water surrounded my ankles once I stripped and stepped in the foaming bath. I cuddled Phoebe close and squatted to dip one wrist into the water. Perfect. We both lowered into the warm suds, and I settled her against me.
“Isn’t this nice, Phoebe?”
My red-haired baby splashed and flailed, kicking up water against the cream-colored tiles and over the edge of the tub. I tried to hold on to her without success as she became a slippery mass of wriggling limbs. And tail. Seal fur and sleek scales. She dove away from me toward my toes and I screamed.
“Dante! Come here!”
My shrieks called Dante to us. His footsteps thundered through my living room floor and he burst into the open doorway, his eyes wild with worry.
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
When he saw her, his features transformed from terror to astonishment. Wonder filled his handsome features as he stepped forward to kneel beside the tub. We watched together as Phoebe barrel rolled in the water and tested out her flipper like front legs. Her little tail splashed.
Thank God I used the sensitive bubble bath, and not much of it, I thought, suddenly worrying for my baby’s scales. Her scales. My baby had scales. All along, we knew there was the likelihood of her changing at some point and taking her non-human body, but I’d thought she would be older.
She’d gone from a helpless infant, completely dependent on me, to an energetic and eager water foal. I cried. Tears of happiness and sorrow, an odd contrasting mix of my welling emotions, fell down my face while I watched her explore the water and eventually return to me. Big, blue eyes gazed into my face with recognition and love.
“She’s radiant,” Dante murmured. He’d been so silent beside us I almost forgot he was there.
His observation drew attention to her tail. Golden scales faded to fiery-red streaked with purple at the end of the fan like a magnificent sunrise. A tiny tuft of red mane decorated her graceful neck before and behind her sparkling dorsal fin.
“
She’s much smaller than the foals born in the water, but I think she’ll be ready for the ocean soon. Maybe ready in time for our departure this year.”
And with his words, my heart broke. I was no more ready to let her go than I was to see my new husband leave.
Chapter 14
~Dante~
Phoebe took to the water as if she’d lived in it since birth. Her natural instincts kicked in, but I had to convince Alessa to allow a practice trip to Teo’s island without the boat.
Her solution was to snorkel beside us, and together we frolicked under the waves while chasing colorful fish. Phoebe delighted in all manner of play favored by our youngest foals, but she especially loved our cuddles and the kisses we gave her along the way. The amazing transition between cooing infant to semi-independent foal amazed both of us.
Her thoughts came as childish babble to me, incoherent syllables that would one day form the basic components of our native language. I talked back to her as was common among our kind, while Alessa swam on oblivious to our chatter. I watched both of them as my heart welled with pride.
It took us a little less than a half hour to reach the shallow waters bordering Teo’s Island. Alessa scooped up our wriggling foal, and as I emerged, I caught sight of Marcy and Teo picnicking on the beach with their son. The trio greeted us with enthusiastic waves.
“Oh my God. But she’s so young!” Marcy exclaimed. “How did this happen?”
Alessa explained while I sprawled across the shore and allowed Teo’s son to crawl onto my back. I’d been giving him rides since he was old enough to clutch my mane. Remaining in my hippocampus form, I chuckled and pulled my large body across the gritty sand.
Phoebe squirmed until Alessa released her to join me. She watched at first but appeared eager to emulate my actions. She tried to keep pace on her slender forelegs and delicate flippers while the tropical sun warmed our wet bodies.
“I wonder if her ability to change coincides with the herd’s return,” Marcy murmured.
Teo stroked his chin. “It’s possible. If we had placed Javier in a challenging situation, he may have changed at a younger age.”
Making Waves (Mythological Lovers) Page 13