Espresso for His Omega

by Harper B. Cole

  “Time to push again,” Segel announced,

  I stood there clutching Louis's hand, wishing I could do more, and hoping that if nothing else, we would come out of this with a healthy baby. We didn't even know the gender yet, thanks to the lack of portable sonogram. I forced myself to stop comparing doctors and focus on the task at hand.

  Louis pushed several more times, until at last…

  “There's the head,” Segel announced. “Let's give it another good hard push. Push. Push. Keep pushing, push!”

  Louis obeyed, and nearly broke my fingers as he squeezed my hand

  “One more good push should do it. Come on!” Segel cried.

  Louis yelled and suddenly there was a baby crying.

  “Oh my god,” Louis gasped.

  There, in Segel’s arms, was a little tiny, somewhat wet and gross looking baby. “Congratulations,” he said. “It's a healthy baby alpha girl!”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Louis

  I lay back and closed my eyes, listening to the amazing sound of a child, my child crying.

  “We have a daughter,” Cambry said, as if echoing my disbelief.

  I laughed and opened my eyes again. “We have a daughter.”

  Segel handed Camry some medical scissors and said, “Will you do the honors, Cambry?”

  He smiled and cut the umbilical cord. Then, the doctor expertly bustled about cleaning her up and handed a little wrapped bundle to Cambry. “There you go, daddy.”

  “Oh my god,” Cambry said. “She's so tiny!” He studied her for a moment, head tilted to one side. “Actually, she's really tiny. Carrick’s son was a lot bigger when he was born.”

  “She is a little small, but nothing I’d worry about,” Segel said. “In fact, she is…” He checked his notes. “Six pounds and two ounces!”

  “That is small. I thought she was supposed to be huge, given my size,” I said with a laugh.

  “Sometimes you never know,” Segel said. “Let's get you all tidied up.” He came back over to check on me. “How are you doing?”

  “I’m fine,” I said. I took a deep breath, I could feel pressure again, like another contraction. “Actually, I’m a bit uncomfortable still.”

  “Probably the afterbirth,” Segel said calmly. “This is going to be a little uncomfortable, but it will help.” He started pushing on my abdomen. I watched him and felt a pang of alarm as his eyes widened, then narrowed. He started pressing harder.

  “Is something wrong?” I demanded.

  “Not wrong,” he said slowly. “But I think you're in for a surprise… Start pushing again, please.”

  “What?”

  “Push now. Push!” he said quickly.

  I obeyed. gritting my teeth and pushing just like I had before. “Is something wrong with the placenta?” I asked through gritted teeth.

  “No,” he said. “Keep pushing.”

  Cambry was hovering by my side, clutching our daughter protectively to his chest “Is something wrong? What's going on?” he asked.

  “Nothing's wrong, I assure you,” Segel said. He still looked a little stunned, but calm. “Just a little surprise for you is all. These things do happen.” He shook his head. “I should have known when the baby came out so small.”

  “What things?” I demanded.

  “You stopped pushing.”

  With a frustrated growl, I pushed again. Hard.

  Cambry cried out. “Is that another head!?”

  “Yes,” Segel said with a soft chuckle. “Yes, it is.”

  I froze. “What?!”

  “Push please, Louis.”

  I squared my shoulders, took a deep breath, and pushed with all my might.

  “There we go. Good. Good. Good,” Segel said. And all at once. More crying. “There we are! Oh, look, a beta boy!” he said as he held up another baby.

  “We had twins,” I cried.

  “Oh my god,” Cambry said, looking stunned twins.

  “Good thing we didn't find out the gender,” Segal said with a laugh. “You would have had to come up with a whole new list of names! Now, the umbilical cord again, if you please.”

  Cambry moved our daughter with what looked like ease, into one arm. I suspected he had a lot of practice with his cousins’ children. He cut the cord once again and the doctor picked up our second child, and went about cleaning him up.

  “There we go. Six pounds, four ounces.”

  “Twins,” I murmured in disbelief.

  Segel bundled up our son and went over to Cambry. “Can you manage two?” he asked.

  Cambry looked slightly panicked, so I held out my arms. “Do I get a turn?”

  He laughed. “Of course, my love.”

  He came over and gently set our daughter in my arms. She was so precious and tiny. I held her and looked down with a smile. She opened up a pair of brilliant green eyes and made an adorable little coo.

  “Oh,” I breathed.

  She turned her head and started nuzzling against my chest.

  ”She's ready to nurse,” Segel said.

  “What do I do?” I said, suddenly feeling wholly overwhelmed.

  “She knows what to do. Luckily you're in a large shirt. Just pull down right here.” He tugged the loose neckline of the shirt down, until it hooked underneath one of the small one of the small man boobs I had developed. Our little girl nuzzled a bit more, mouth opening and closing like a little bird.

  “May I?” Segel asked. I nodded, and he gently guided my nipple to her mouth.

  “Ah,” I cried out, as she latched on hard.

  “It's a bit uncomfortable at first,” Segel said. “But you'll get used to it.”

  Soon she was eagerly sucking. He showed me how to hold her and in a moment I was sitting there, holding our daughter, while Cambry held our son.

  “Congratulations,” Segel said.

  “How did we not know we were having twins?” Cambry asked, still looking quite stunned.

  “I'm afraid that's my fault,” Segel said. “I haven't delivered twins in a long time. And my portable equipment isn't very sensitive. Depending on the way they were laying in the womb, it was impossible to hear the second heartbeat when we were checking for it and, to be honest, I wasn't really listening for it.”

  “Twins,” Cambry said again, dazed.

  Our son started wiggling and nuzzling him.

  “Ready for number two?” Segel asked me.

  I felt a wide smile cross my face as I held out an arm for my son.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Cambry

  I heard of the now familiar clink of the mail slot opening.

  “Looks like we got some mail,” I said watching the letters fall to the ground.

  “Thank you,” Louis called.

  “You're welcome,” came back a muffled voice.

  We had the louvers on all the windows and the door wide open, and a beautiful spring breeze was coming in. I could just smell the salty ocean air. It reminded me a lot of Half Moon. Sometimes I felt really at home here. Other times I found that I was missing the island. I smiled at my mate. He was nursing Torrin, cradling the little boy gently in his arms. The twins had already put on so much weight since being born, they were healthy and happy, in spite of the somewhat lacking checkups.

  I turned my attention to our daughter, Riviera. She was nestled snugly in my arms, sound asleep. Moving slowly and carefully, I eased myself to my feet, and gently set her down in a nearby bassinet. I rocked it for a moment while she stirred, and smiled as she fell into a sound sleep. Then, I headed to the door.

  “Did they really change last night?” Louis asked me, referencing the full moon.

  I nodded. “They changed into cats, just like us.”

  “Amazing.”

  I started sorting through the mail and spotted a letter with my aunt's familiar handwriting on it. Something from Aunt Verona,” I said, tossing it aside. I picked up another letter and swallowed nervously at another set of familiar handwriting. “And…
something from the mystery benefactor.”

  “You're kidding,” Louis said, turning to look at me. “What is it?”

  I swallowed nervously. “I don't know, but it's strange. I usually don't get gifts so close together. He only just sent money for the café. He typically sends things a few years apart.”

  “Open it,” he suggested.

  I sighed, I might as well get it over with. I sat down the rest of the mail, which looked like mostly bills and coffee supply catalogs, and opened up the mystery benefactor’s envelope. As always, there was a single piece of paper, with just one sentence.

  “For your baby,” I read softly. I dropped the piece of paper on the table and shrugged helplessly at Louis. “He knows my mate has a coffee shop to save, and apparently knows within a couple of weeks that you gave birth. Unbelievable.”

  “Did you say baby though? Singular?” Louis said.

  I glanced down to letter. “Yes. Baby.”

  Louis turned to me with a somewhat triumphant grin. “So, that's a clue,” he said eagerly. “The mystery benefactor doesn't know we had twins!”

  “No,” I said, picking up the letter again. “For your baby. No… he doesn't know we had twins. Unfortunately, it's not much of a clue. Nobody knows we've had twins, except the doctor.”

  “But,” Louis said. “That means that the mystery benefactor isn't, I don't know, watching us or anything. If he was, he'd see that we had two babies. Whoever the mystery benefactor is, he's not here, following you. He's somewhere else.”

  “Yeah…” It was actually kind of a comforting thought. I was forever glancing over my shoulder, waiting for a stalker of some kind.

  “What did he send?” Louis asked. He stood slowly, still cradling Torrin gently.

  I pulled out the receipts and looked at them. Baby places. A couple of different ones for a grand total of… I shook my head. “Five thousand dollars worth of baby stuff.”

  Louis shook his head as well. “And you got one from your aunt?”

  “I did,” I answered, glad for the distraction. That was a bit unusual. She preferred the instant gratification of knowing if I was all right, and how I was doing, in calls and emails.

  In fact, on the phone call with her this morning – checking in on me after the full moon – she hadn't given any indication that she sent me a letter. Then again, I was careful to keep the post-full moon conversations brief and succinct, since I didn't want anyone to know yet about Louis and the twins. I couldn't wait to see my family’s reaction. And I honestly couldn't imagine what Aunt Verona would think when she found out that Louis had suggested naming the twins after my parents. I tried to insist that we use his mother's name for our daughter instead. But he was confident we'd have another daughter to honor his mother with, so Riviera and Torrin it was.

  I opened the envelope and was surprised to see a card, rather than a letter. I opened it up, wondering in alarm if she somehow knew about the twins.

  “What is it?” Louis asked, noting my curious frown.

  “It's… an invitation,” I said, as I slowly studied it. I read over it a couple times, to be sure. “It looks like it's sort of a double-wedding reception for Carrick and Brooks, Rion and his mate Elliott, an almost first birthday party for their daughter.”

  An event this big, especially considering half of the family wasn't allowed to come for Christmas because of the hunter, was sure to be huge. I had a feeling the whole extended family would turn out for this one, as well as half of the shifters on the peninsula that Half Moon was situated off.

  There was a little handwritten note at the bottom. ‘PS.” I read softly. “Nobody knows I've sent this. It would be a wonderful surprise for everyone if you could come. We miss you. All my love, Aunt Verona.” My lips tightened as I closed the card and set it back down.

  “You should go,” Louis said.

  “I want to,” I admitted. “But it's my year away.”

  “The only issue is if people see you, right? We could rent a car with tinted windows or something. Go straight to your aunt and uncle's place. And as long as there aren't any humans at the party, it'll be okay. Right?”

  “Yeah,” I said. It would work as long as no humans saw me. I drummed my fingers against the table. I did kind of want to go. And I knew that. If I took too much longer the surprise of seeing my true mate and our twins would be overshadowed by how concerned everyone was about me. I couldn't stay away without telling them the good news for much longer.

  And of course, it was a celebration for Carrick. Out of all of my cousins, he was the one who felt most like my brother. He was my best friend. Practically my twin, which is what we thought we were for years. I knew he was hurt that I left Half Moon so soon after Wane was born. Even if he didn't know I was invited, there was no way I could miss this party. It was in two weeks, which considering the café was closed anyway, was more than enough time.

  “Let’s do it,” I said. surprised by how excited I felt about the idea. “Let's do it!”

  Riveria started fussing, and my mate looked over in her direction. “Someone's hungry,” he said.

  I started to put down the invitation to go help, but Louis was quickly becoming adept at swapping the twins. He gently put Torrin down, with a little bit of a protest and scooped up Riveria from the same bassinet. By the time he was back to his chair and comfortable, she was already latched on and happily nursing. I smiled as I watched him. I felt like I was positively bursting with joy. My wonderful mate, my twins, and now the whole family was going to know. And somehow, I felt like with every passing moment, I was even more excited to get back to Half Moon to see everyone.

  ~~~***~~~

  As we drove across the long bridge that led from the mainland to Half Moon Island, I felt a strange sense of coming home that I wasn't sure I had ever felt before. Maybe it was something about returning to the place I had always known with my true mate. Maybe being with him just made anywhere feel like home.

  “Here we are,” I said. I realized there was a little bit of pride in my voice and smiled.

  We reached the island and turned down Main Street, heading to my aunt and uncle's private island. Even though I was carefully watching the road for pedestrians and crossing ducks, I knew each and every shop as we drove by it.

  “That’s Tessa’s bakery,” I said as we drove by, narrating as we went. “My aunt and uncle's restaurant, Rion tends the bar there.” I slowed down, since there was no one behind us. “And right here…”

  Louis just happened to be looking out the wrong window at the gazebo and beautiful water beyond it. “Wow, what a great view.”

  I chuckled. “Especially when you look to the other way.”

  He turned and gasped as he saw my café. “There it is,” he breathed.

  “That's it.”

  “I love it already.”

  “I’m glad. Unfortunately…” I eased my foot back down on the gas pedal and slowly kept going. “I can't risk any of my human employees seeing me.”

  “I'm sorry,” he said softly. “I shouldn’t have urged you to come back early, I didn’t think about you having to see your café from a distance.”

  I shook my head. “You didn’t have to convince me, I wanted to. And I haven't seen anyone I recognize yet, so I think we're okay.”

  We turned on to a couple of back roads and then drove up another bridge. I pulled up to the gate across the middle as Louis looked around curiously. I punched in the code on the keypad and the gates slid open.

  “You weren't kidding when you said they have a private island,” he said.

  “Yeah,” I chuckled. “Where else are you going to have a bunch of wolves running around every month?”

  He laughed. “Don't the Half Moon residents suspect anything?”

  “Luckily, the same shifter magic that wipes me from their memories after a year away works for that too. Supposedly, they forget any howling they may hear pretty quickly. And just in case they don’t, we spread the word that the island is a n
ature preserve. There are a bunch of endangered birds and things that breed here. And everyone's under the impression we have a pack of dogs to guard the island and chase away geese and stuff.”

  “Clever.”

  As I nodded, we pulled up into a familiar driveway, absolutely packed with cars.

  “Damn, there sure are a lot of people here,” I said. “Not that I’m surprised.” I spotted a Louisiana plate and grinned. “Oh great, Lysee is here.” No sooner had I said it, when I saw two cars with New York plates. “Looks like, Uncle Gavil, cousin Dovar, and my grandfathers are here too.”

  “So, I'm about to meet your entire family,” Louis said, with a disbelieving laugh. “I feel like I should be more nervous than I am. But really, I'm just kind of excited.”

  “I am too,” I said, realizing that I meant it. “I am too.”

  ~~~***~~~

  We parked and I grabbed Riveria, while Louis grabbed Torrin. They were both sleeping but transferred easily into our arms. I shuffled her onto my shoulder, while he cradled our son in his arms. We smiled at each other and walked into the house together.

  “Wow,” Louis gasped, as he took in the ground foyer.

  “Aunt Verona doesn’t do anything halfway,” I chuckled. “I'll give you the grand tour later, they're probably all out back.”

  He nodded and followed me through the house into the great room and adjoining kitchen.

  “This is amazing. I guess you weren't kidding about the whole you have money thing.”

  I laughed. “Nope, not exaggerating.”

  It felt good to be here, I realized.

  Louis sniffed. “Something smells great.”

  I nodded toward the array of pastries on the table. “Tessa's work. Probably Ford’s as well. They typically go overboard for, well, everything.”