“This is going to be a big baby. I might also be giving birth to some cookies too.” Luna patted her stomach. “The baby kicked.”
Beckett put out his hand and Luna placed it in the spot on her tummy. “There.”
They rode for a while in comfortable companionable silence as the truck snaked its way through traffic down the mountain. They passed a newly built but still empty guardhouse.
Beckett craned his neck looking at it as they drove by. “That's new. Part of the security program, I suppose.”
Luna said, “Thank you for this, you have a lot going on, I'm glad you could take some time.”
“My next meeting is tomorrow. While you're out on the ocean, I'll read the contract. No worries.”
“I'd like to read it too. Just to know.”
Beckett glanced at her over his driving arm. “Yeah. You should. I mean it when I say it's your land too, it's complicated right now, but I mean that.”
“I know.”
Chapter 35
Beckett pulled the truck up to the Heighton Port boat launch and Dan, Sarah, and Rebecca were waiting on the dock.
Dan yelled, “Hullo! The mountain folk descended to the coast for some fun and partying finally!” He hugged Beckett and then Luna. “Jeez, Luna, what did you eat?”
Sarah and Rebecca hugged everyone too, while Luna responded, “I'm pregnant, Dan.”
“Oh really? You sure? I was thinking lack of exercise.” He laughed heartily. “With all seriousness though, how far do you think you'll go today?”
Luna tossed her hair. “I'm going to keep it cool, like twelve miles, something like that.”
“Yeah, keep it cool. While you do, I'm going to keep Beckett company. Sarah and Rebecca need to go into the office. They wanted to say welcome and see you off.”
Rebecca said, “We're working on a new grant proposal. Another trip in September, wanna go, Beckett, Luna?”
Beckett counted on his fingers. “I think baby will be about a week old. What do you think Luna?”
Luna placed her paddle on the ground and turned to strap water and snacks to the board. “Babies really shouldn't be out on the high seas until they're at least two weeks old, so maybe next trip.”
Sarah said, “It's so good seeing you both, together. Happy. We'll see you at dinner, our house, and then dancing!”
Luna turned to Beckett with excitement. “What, dancing?”
“That was the surprise.”
“Awesome.” She lifted her paddleboard up, Beckett grabbed the other end, and they hefted it to the end of the dock and lowered it to the water. Luna dropped to sitting on the dock with her foot out holding the board. She grabbed her paddle. “Okay, I'll see you in—”
“I almost forgot.” Beckett unclasped his great grandfather's watch and fastened it around Luna's wrist. “What time will you be back?”
“Four. Sound good?”
“I'll be here.”
She crouched and stepped to the paddleboard and deftly stood, barely rocking. Then she waved goodbye and set off for the day.
Chapter 36
Dan stood beside Beckett watching her go. “Doing better Army? I haven't seen you since, you know, you were a half-crazed belligerent asshat.”
Beckett said, “Yeah, about that. Did I say I was sorry?”
“Yes, but more is good. No worries though, really. When I returned home from the Navy I hit the bars, got stupid drunk, and fought the sidewalk with my face. And I had nothing and nobody to deal with. Definitely not a baby on the way. Luna looks great.”
“She's doing really great. It's dawning on me that this whole baby thing is actually happening. Want to ride with me?”
“Sure, Sarah just took my car.” They climbed into the truck.
Dan asked, “What's the stack of official looking papers?”
“My marriage contract with a young woman named Dryden.”
“Are you shitting me? The looker from your aunt's party? Phewie, does trouble follow you, or are you actively seeking it out? What does Luna think about this?”
“She's being supportive, but it sucks she has to even deal with it. I need to sit at your kitchen table and read over it if you don't mind.”
“No problem. I can come up with something to do and we'll catch up later.”
Chapter 37
Luna pushed her paddle in and down and through and counted her strokes and raced her shadow. And sprinted against her times. She circled a buoy, then decided to go farther, to a small Outpost, that would be a fun midway point. The sun was reaching its zenith and warmed her skin. She breathed in deeply, the smell of sweat and ocean and breeze. She felt real and alive for the first time in months.
While she paddled, she explained things to the baby. “Hello love, this is what your mama does. She paddles. She's a freaking ocean goddess, and if you tell her you want to go to the farthest islands, she'll say okay. She'll paddle you there. Like a superhero.” Her paddle sliced through the water and propelled her forward.
“Your mama also can read the weather in the sky. She can predict three days away. Like right now, beautiful, but this afternoon an onshore wind will come up, just in time to push me back to land. I'll follow breeze and current, but I don't have to, because I can navigate by the stars too. I'll teach you how.”
She counted strokes in her head, “One, two, three, four, five.” Then switched sides. “One, two, three, four, five.” She dragged her paddle, spinning in a quick circle, then plowed it down through the water again, propelling herself faster, faster, faster.
It took her two hours to get to the outpost, now just two inches of a top floor. With water lapping over the edge and sea lions on every square inch. She floated on her paddleboard nearby, feet dangling in the water, eating lunch, watching the birds circle overhead waiting for a crumb or two. “The thing is baby, we won't do this much. Not like me, growing up out here. Instead we'll be living on land. I'll need to find some badass things to do there. Like maybe learning to drive a motorcycle.”
She ripped a piece of bread in two and chewed half of it slowly. “That would be fun.” She lay there for a while enjoying the rhythm of the up and down of the water, lolling. Warm skin and after a long time she stood. “But here's the thing baby, the ocean is awesome, it's always been my home, and it's nothing to be afraid of, I promise. But your dad is on land. So that's where we're headed.”
She pushed her paddle back and began the journey home.
Chapter 38
“Hey!”
Beckett waved his arms. “I missed you!”
She checked the watch. “Right on time!”
“I've been here for an hour already.”
She pulled up to the dock, stepped onto it, and stretched her shoulders gingerly. “I'm going to be feeling that tomorrow.”
“How far did you go?”
“About fifteen miles. Too far. But also, perfectly too far. It felt great.”
Beckett lifted and shoved her board into the bed of his truck. “Ready to go get dinner?”
“Famished.”
Chapter 39
Dan had cooked chili. With cornbread and a salad. Everyone served themselves buffet style because he was, “Not going to wait on you hand and foot because this was not a ship.”
They all sat around the table, in an assortment of chairs, eating, and laughing. Dan asked Luna all about her day and she regaled them with stories. The buoy, the dolphins, a seal, and there had been a big container ship headed to port that Luna had circled to prove she could.
“Those things move at a fast clip.” Dan leaned forward elbows on the table hanging on her every word.
“Well, I was faster.” Luna took a big bite of salad, swallowed it, and grinned. “For about twenty minutes. After it though I had to sit and rest for forty-five minutes. I'm a weakling.”
Dan shook his head. “If you think about it Beckett is kind of like your kryptonite.”
She giggled. “Then again, with his help I am creating a live human bei
ng, plus occasionally paddling fifteen miles. The case might be made for me getting even stronger.” Beckett hugged her around the shoulders.
“So besides Ocean Goddess, you're a Mother Goddess. I'd like to mention that I made chili tonight, you're welcome.” Everyone laughed.
Sarah said, “Dan is super excited about being Uncle Dan. It's most of what he thinks about.”
“I'm trying to decide if the baby should call me Unkie Danny or Uncle Daniel. What kind of authority figure do I want to be?”
“Maybe you let Beckett be the authority figure, and you can be Unkie, and crack jokes all the time. It's what you're suited for, and that way baby will love you a lot.” Sarah kissed him on the cheek and nuzzled into his shoulder.
“Yes, that's my strategy. Can I be godfather, too?”
Luna asked, “I mean, yes, of course, no one else is asking, but why don't you and Sarah have a baby, too?”
“Sadly, we can't afford to, the tax is too high.” Dan kissed the top of Sarah's head.
“The tax?”
“It's the amount you have to pay the government to allow you to have a baby. It's a small fortune. Number one reason why you're the only pregnant lady for miles around.”
“Oh.” Luna turned to Beckett. “You never mentioned any tax.”
“Oops man.” Dan shrugged. “I didn't mean to get you in trouble.”
“I just assumed Chickadee had told you.” Beckett squeezed Luna's hand. “Apparently she paid the taxes the first month.”
Luna sighed. “There are so many rules to living on land, I can't get used to it.”
Sarah said, “Speaking of giant outlays of cash, Dan tells me you're having legal troubles, Beckett?”
“Yep. My insane and violent Uncle Jimmy saw fit to sign me contractually into a marriage while I was away on the Outpost.”
Rebecca said, “Sorry, I phased out for a bit, too much talk about babies. Your uncle arranged a marriage for you?”
“And he died before I could kill him for it.”
“Oh my god Beckett that's the worst.” Sarah patted the back of Luna's hand with a frown.
Rebecca asked, “To who?”
Beckett said, “Some girl.”
Luna said, “Dryden, that girl from Aunt Chickadee's party.”
Rebecca pretended to jump from her chair. “Oh no she doesn't, I'm going to kick her ass.”
Sarah laughed and shook her head. “Beckett, what are you going to do?”
“Roscoe is going to fight it. I'm pretending like that will work. But I was reading through the contract today and Uncle Jimmy gave away half of everything I own. I'm not sure I can get away without losing a lot.”
“All that land, you could lose half of it?” Dan shook his head and pretended to wipe his eyes. “I was getting used to the idea that you were the richest guy around. Now you're only half as rich.” He dramatically sighed.
“Want to hear the ironic part? I could have bought my way out of the service, but no, I wanted to save the land, the entire tract, all of it, intact.” Beckett scowled. “It's my biggest priority.”
Dan said, “Well it definitely needs to be.”
Chapter 40
Luna yawned, in the middle of the dance floor, a big gaping yawn of epic proportions. Beckett grasped her hand, spun her to him, and said into her ear, loudly, over the music, “Do you need to go back?”
“Not yet. Three more dances.”
Beckett grinned widely and spun her out and back in. “You've gotten really good at this.”
“That's good because literally everyone is watching, It's like they've never seen a pregnant woman before.”
Beckett scoped the room, the other dancers were giving them a wide berth. Nearly everyone was noticing, whispering, watching. Plus, since they arrived, everybody, from the doorman to the bartender, to the waitress, and many of the other club goers, asked, “Are you pregnant?” With follow up questions like, “How?” or, “For how long?” and, “Are you really going to have a baby?”
Luna answered with a smile and a yes and explanations to their concerns, but she had been doing that all night. Without much practice on land, in people, around Stiffnecks. While pregnant, plus dancing. “Many of them haven't seen a pregnant person before, or not up close and personal.” Beckett kissed her temple. “Definitely not so effortlessly.”
“Am I making this look effortless?” Luna wiggled her hips. “Because there's a lot of yawn stifling and mental counting for me to stay awake while dancing.”
“I'll sit with you.”
She said, “Three more.”
_____________________
A half hour later she and Beckett piled into the booth beside Sarah and Dan. Beckett asked, “Where's Rebecca?”
“Dancing with some cutie.” Sarah pointed at the dance floor. “She'll probably be out much later tonight.”
“Ah.”
Luna put her head against Beckett's shoulder and curled her legs under herself.
“Luna, you look tired,” said Dan, “but I have to dance a bit more before we go home.”
She nodded and yawned as Dan and Sarah headed for the dance floor.
It took about two minutes before Beckett felt Luna go limp with sleep. She lolled forward, so he pulled her across his lap, draped on his chest, and held her while she slept. She was sleeping so deeply that she began to snore.
A while later Dan and Sarah returned. “Well, she's out.”
“Sleeping like she's on land.”
“Do you think you can wake her to go home?”
Beckett whispered, “Luna, wake up, Luna?” Her head lolled and she nestled in even more. “Okay then.” Beckett wriggled out of the booth, pulled her up into his arms, and carried Luna out of the club to the car.
Chapter 41
The following morning Luna was beaming at Beckett from the passenger seat of the truck as they drove home from Heighton Port. “That was so much fun, everything, from the paddling, to seeing Sarah, Rebecca, and Dan again, to the club. That was awesome. If you want to surprise me like that again, you get to. Anytime.”
Beckett smiled over his driving arm. “I wish we could have stayed for a leisurely breakfast, but I'm worried about traffic, and my meeting starts in...” He checked his watch. “Four hours.”
“At least it's at your house this time.”
“Yes, you're okay with staying clear? I just don't want to complicate the negotiation.”
Luna turned and looked out the window, her face less animated than before. “Yeah.”
“It's for ease. Dryden's dad is being pretty anti-migrant. I don't want him to—”
“Sure. I'll just read in my room.”
They rode in silence for a few minutes. “How's baby doing this morning?”
“Kicking like crazy, here.” She guided his palm to her lower belly.
“Wow.” A bulge rolled from one side to the other. “You're really pregnant?”
“Truly.”
“How does one take care of a baby, I wonder?”
Luna giggled. “I think it begins with a splash.” She reached into the floorboards and pulled up a stack of books. “Also reading these books Dr Mags got for me.”
“Read me some titles.”
“Giving Birth, Baby's First Weeks, 1-2-3 Everything Baby. I guess by the time I read these I'll know what I'm doing.”
“How long did you say we have?”
“About six weeks I think?”
“Six weeks. I've got to get this land thing taken care of. Argh.”
Luna squinted her eyes appraising his expression. “This is an interesting thing about you that I'm learning.”
“What's that?”
“You say one thing, but you mean another. Are all Stiffnecks like that?”
“What the—well first of all, I thought we determined that the term Stiffneck is derogatory, so I get to be called a land-based animal. It suits me better.”
Luna raised her brow and half-joked, “If you're acting like a St
iffneck, you get called a Stiffneck.”
“Enlighten me.”
“You say, to everyone, that the land is your number one priority, but it's not true.”
Beckett pulled the truck to a stoplight and looked at her. “What about that isn't true?”
“It's not your number one priority, ever.”
“I'm not getting you. Of course it is, what else would it be?”
“Me. Your number one priority has been me. In everything. You make sure I'm okay, often at great expense to yourself. But that's the truth. Yet you won't admit it.”
The light turned green. Beckett slowly followed the stream of cars. Traffic was terrible. They weren't even at the entrance to the highway yet. He was right to leave early.
Beckett's brow darkened. “Yes, I know, it's a failing.”
Luna's eyebrow arched incredulously. “A failing? Putting me first?”
“It's a little boy move. I need to start behaving like a grownup, looking at the big picture, the end game. I'm going to be a father soon, and I have to be responsible.”
Luna scrutinized the side of his face. “So saying that a piece of land is your first priority is growing up?”
“Yes, taking care of you and the baby. Having land is the most important thing. To keep you safe.”
Luna watched the buildings and the sidewalk crowded with people as it slowly crept by the window, most of the pedestrians going faster than their truck. Luna thought about how if there was water here, she could paddle home quicker than this. And that there would be water here soon enough. She craned her head to see — they had risen about a foot over sea level. Would there be water here? The scientists measured the rise by inches but it filled in spaces by tides and storms.
And hadn't it been a long time since she thought of that, the water rise, because she had been on the mountain, safe, for six months. Safe. Because of Beckett.
Deep (Luna's Story Book 3) Page 10