by Aspen Drake
I heard the door click but remained on the other side.
“I can’t go if you’re standing there listening,” she again yelled through the door that separated us.
I grinned and walked to the other side of the bedroom, impatiently waiting.
When she came out, I could tell she was irritated with me. “I love that you want to be here to protect me, but I need to pee alone.”
“But what if something happens? What if you slip off the toilet and hit your head?” I asked a bit more frantically than I meant to.
“Would you listen to yourself?” She laughed. “I’m not going to fall off the toilet. Trust me. I’ve been using one for years now and am pretty sure I understand how to properly place myself, even with this huge stomach.” She gently patted her belly and waddled back to the bed.
I helped her get into a comfortable position, which wasn’t easy since the bed was rather tall and she was rather short and VERY pregnant. “There you go. Safe and sound.”
She rolled her eyes. “I called Logan and asked him to come by to keep you company. Willow is gonna watch a movie with me.”
It felt like she was kicking me out. “You don’t want me here?”
Her face grew somber. “Of course I want you here, but I know you need to do more than wait on me hand and foot. Logan is bringing some guy movie for the two of you to watch. He’ll bring some food with him.”
I smirked at the food comment, wondering who that was actually for.
“Don’t you dare laugh at me, Anwell. I can’t help being hungry all the time. It’s all these babies you pumped into me.”
I burst out laughing. “Pumped into you?”
“Well, that’s kinda what happens.”
“No, I pumped sperm into you. Without your eggs, there wouldn’t be any babies. It’s not like I magically placed babies in your womb.”
“Whatever.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest and tried not to smile.
“Anwell – The Baby Pumper. Sounds like an action porno.” I laughed as I headed into the living room to clean up for our guests.
She didn’t realize how keen my hearing was but I didn’t miss the tinkling sound of her softly laughing to herself.
I loved to hear her laugh.
Our guests arrived about an hour later, and Logan took his role seriously, bringing enough food to feed a small army. “Where’s that beautiful woman of yours?” he said in his cockney accent. “I’ve brought all her favorites.”
I looked at him with one eyebrow raised. “How do you know all her favorites?”
He tapped the side of his head. “Magic, man. Magic.”
“Oh, please,” Willow scoffed as she came in behind him carrying more bags. “I told him what Lily’s favorites are.”
I took the bags from both of them and carried them into the kitchen. I was making Lily a plate when I heard her scream. I ran toward the bedroom, but all three of us created a traffic jam as we tried to get through the door at the same time.
It took a second for me to focus when I looked in on my wife and saw nothing to be concerned about. “Are you okay? Are you having contractions?”
“No, I spilled my tea on the white rug.”
I looked down and saw the tea seeping into the white fluffy rug. “Seriously? We thought there was an emergency!”
“This is an emergency.” She tried to climb down from the bed, but I held her in place. “That rug cost a fortune, but I just had to have it.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Lily,” Willow said what I was thinking but was too nice to say to my wife. “We’ll get you a new rug.”
Lily seemed to come to her senses and realized she’d scared us all to death. “Yeah, we’ll get a new one.” She scooted back against the headboard, and we all went back to doing what we were doing before the rug was so tragically murdered by the sweet tea.
The girls watched a romantic comedy in the bedroom while Logan and I watched an action flick in the living room. We all ate until we were ready to pop and were dozing off every few minutes. I asked Logan and Willow to stay the night inside of heading back into town, and they agreed, both too tired to protest.
We were all sleeping peacefully when a scream tore through the house. I jumped out of bed then remembered the tragedy from earlier. “It’s only tea, babe. It’s fine,” I mumbled still half asleep.
Then I cracked open my eyes and noticed my wife clutching her stomach.
Willow and Logan came running down the hall as I grabbed Lily’s bag from the closet. It was time, and I was scared shitless.
37
Lily
The pain was worse than anything I could have ever imagined. I wasn’t even sure how I got to the hospital because the pain had blinded me to everything going on around me. The nurse asked if I wanted medication, but I refused. I would endure the pain because I didn’t want to miss a second of this delivery. When the fourth contraction hit, I felt my hands bend the hospital bed railing, and I jumped back in shock. Did I just do that? The contractions were coming faster, and the doctor still hadn’t arrived.
Anwell was pacing the room almost in a panic. “We have to get the babies out of her. She’s not strong enough.”
“The doctor will be here as soon as she’s done delivering the pups in the next room. It seems like it’s a birth night. Must be the full moon.” The nurse busied herself getting everything ready for when the doctor arrived. Minutes turned into hours and the pain became unbearable. I felt myself losing and regaining consciousness, grateful when I was down because that was the only time I couldn’t feel excruciating pain.
Right before I blacked out completely, I heard Anwell’s frustrated voice speak up. “Oh, fuck this waiting shit. She needs help now.” He raised his claw and sliced my stomach open.
That was the last thing I saw before I passed out.
I awoke to the sound of two people arguing. It sounded like Anwell and Jessica, the doctor who had been overseeing my pregnancy. “You can’t just do that, Anwell. What if you had hurt her or one of the pups?”
“She wasn’t going to make it! I had to do something, and there was no one else around to help her.”
“I couldn’t be in two places at once, Anwell.” Jessica huffed at the insinuation that she’d not done her job. “You could have caused a serious infection or worse.”
He didn’t seem apologetic at all. “I did what had to be done.”
“I know you think you did, but she would have made it until I got her. Then I could have performed the c-section myself.” I opened my eyes and saw Jessica washing her hands and Anwell looking pissed at the world until he saw that I was awake. He came rushing to my side.
“It’s okay, babe. You made it.” He lifted my hand to his mouth and kissed it, holding on to it as if we hadn’t seen each other in years. “You’re going to be okay. There’s a lot of stitches, but you’re okay. The babies are all perfectly healthy as well despite the early birth.”
I sighed in relief. “Can I see them?”
Anwell let go of my hand and wheeled over a crib filled with five gorgeous babies. “There are three boys and two girls.” He handed me each baby, one at a time. Somehow, I found a way to hold all of them at once. My eyes filled with tears at the beautiful sight in my arms.
We’d done it.
A fairy and a werewolf had come together and made a family. I was no longer fae, but we did what others had failed to do because they believed it was impossible.
“Our family will change this town,” I said to him as I cuddled the babies closer to me.
“Lily, our babies will change the world.”
Epilogue
Lily
It had been six months since the babies were born, and I was still amazed at how quickly they were growing. The early birth hadn’t been a problem at all. The babies were developing right on pace for their kind and were just perfect.
As for me, I was still a little smaller than the average female werewolf. While I had grown consi
derably since my days as a fairly, I was much smaller than most. No one knew why, but it seemed like my fae bloodline didn’t want to give in completely to the change.
I watched through the kitchen window as Anwell chopped wood for the fireplace. I still couldn’t get enough of him, but we didn’t make love as often as we did before the babies came along. That bothered me a bit because I knew things would only get worse as the kids got older.
Still, I wouldn’t change our lives for anything.
In the living room, the babies were all playing with toys that helped to build their hand-eye coordination, even though they already seemed well beyond human children. Anwell explained that werewolves relied on the skill much more heavily than humans, and it came more naturally for them.
We named the pups Lyla, Lillian, Andrew, Alexander, and Angus. We both took turns caring for the children, and I was surprised when Anwell didn’t seem bothered by changing diapers or cleaning up vomit. I, on the other hand, had a weak stomach when it came to both.
During the days, Anwell worked on the books for the restaurant and club from his home office, only going in one night a week. It was nice that we were both able to work from home. It allowed us to both be hands-on parents.
There had been two other women who gave birth the same night I did, and we formed a mom’s group of sorts. We met once a week for girls’ night, and once a week, we go the babies together for playdates. We were all determined that our children would fall in love one day, and we’d be one big happy family. I wasn’t sure how realistic that was, but when you considered that we had a total of fifteen children among us, there were bound to be some relationships forming over the years.
I hoped that whatever happened, we all stayed friends. Our husbands were all friends as well and got together for poker once a week. Having a group of new parents to hang out with was important, but we hadn’t forgotten about Willow and Logan. We still got together with them a couple times a week to have dinner and watch movies. Those two seemed to be getting closer and closer. But if things were heating up, neither was talking.
Anwell and I decided to step out of it and let things take their course.
I was wiping down the kitchen counters when I saw a vision. It was something that seemed to take place years into the future. The kids were running around getting ready for some sort of trip. But one child was missing. I gripped the countertop as her location was discovered.
Her pale skin told the story that she was gone.
I felt Anwell shaking me. “Lily. Lily!”
I came back to the present with a gasp. I tried to convince myself it was only a delusional nightmare. All parents had them. We all worried that something might happen to one of our children, but this felt so real.
Anwell took the rag from my hand and pressed his lips to my forehead. “Why don’t you go lie down and rest. You’ve been working too hard lately.”
That was the last thing I wanted to do at that moment.
I took the rag back and gave him a reassuring smile. “I’m fine. Plus, I’m almost finished.” I wiped down the last counter and went to play with the kids. I loved cuddling them and watching their faces light up when I tickled them. Soon, they would be grown and out on their own.
Eighteen years might seem like an eternity, but even an eternity would never be enough time with my precious family.
Also by Aspen Drake and Ever Coming
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