A Tiger's Tale

by Lisa Oliver

  *****

  Ra pulled his phone from his pocket. Simon. Accepting the call, he winced as all he got was a bunch of static. “I can’t hear you,” he growled.

  “Seth….” More static. “Angry…. Not here….”

  “I can’t fucking hear you, what’s this about Seth?”

  All he could hear was crackling and then it went silent as the call dropped. He looked at the top of the screen but he was showing no signal and he cursed, causing Ella to laugh.

  “Don’t worry about Seth. He’s got two men with him. He’s not going to come to any harm.”

  “Simon said something about Seth being angry,” Ra ran his fingers through his hair.

  “Pff, he’s probably just bored and angry because you went out without telling him. For goodness sake, I told you he’s bound to be a bit hormonal right now. You’re doing the right thing by giving him some space. I tell you, I drove my poor husband mad when I was pregnant with my lot.” She smiled at Charles who was driving the car.

  “But what if he does need me for something?” Ra fretted. His tiger hadn’t been happy since he left the house but he’d put that down to their mating bond. Now he wasn’t so sure.

  “He will always need you for something.” Ella patted him on the leg. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure whatever it is, it will all be over by the time we get back and he’ll be thrilled with the deal on the flowers I got for us this morning.”

  “I still think we should have shown him the pictures or asked him about them first. I don’t know if he even wants flowers. He didn’t seem that interested with the bower I’m making.” Truth be told, Ra was getting increasingly uncomfortable with the way Ella had taken over their wedding plans. Seth explained he wanted a small affair; just family. To be held at home, with Brutus officiating. Caught up in Ella’s enthusiasm, Ra agreed to a lot more guests, the ceremony being held at the town hall and while Brutus was still the one who would perform the service, Ella had pointed out so many additional things that just had to be part of the wedding, Ra’s head couldn’t keep track of most of it.

  “If Seth has got his head in his silly book, he’s really not going to notice. You’re doing him a favor, giving him time to be creative. I’m sure you’ll be in for big kisses when he sees how much work has gone into his special day.”

  “I’m not so sure.” Ra wasn’t keen on Ella’s dismissive attitude about Seth’s writing either, but he didn’t want to upset his mother-in-law until after the wedding.

  “Trust me,” Ella smiled. “I’m his mother and I’ve known him a lot longer than you. Now stop fretting. You can call him when we get to Jackson if you must, but honestly, you’re worrying about nothing.”

  If there’s nothing wrong, then why does my tiger want out? Ra fumed in silence, willing the car to go faster.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “Seth, I really wished you’d brought Ra with you,” Farriday said, leading Seth into the examination room. “This concerns the both of you.”

  “Ra’s in Jackson with my mom, buying flowers for the wedding.” The drive into town hadn’t lessened Seth’s anger.

  “Whose wedding? Yours?” Farriday frowned as he waved Seth towards the bed.

  “Yeah, Ra proposed. He wants us married before the baby’s born. It’s being held next Saturday.”

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Farriday picked up Seth’s wrist and checked his pulse.

  “Oh, I’m not allowed to do anything. Apparently, all I have to do is show up. But Mom’s taken over the planning and from the bits Ra shared, it’s going to be a huge event.”

  “Not what you wanted, I presume. Your pulse is too fast. Lie down, I want to feel your abdomen.”

  Seth lay back, the metal creaking, the paper cover sheet crinkling as he tried not to rip it. He lifted his shirt and stared at the ceiling, thinking it could do with colorful posters or a mural. The plain white paint wasn’t helpful in diverting his thoughts that fluctuated between hurt, angry and worry. The doctor’s hands were cool on his skin although the clicking noise Farriday was making with his tongue against his teeth set Seth’s nerves on edge. He bit his lip as Farriday listened for heartbeats and clenched and unclenched his hands as he waited for the doctor to speak.

  “I’m going to be blunt,” Farriday said, moving across the room to a large steel box Seth hadn’t noticed before. “Going through a big wedding at this stage is not a good idea for you.” The steel box rattled as he rolled it across the room.

  “It’s only one day.” True to form, while Seth hated the idea of a big event, he couldn’t bear to disappoint his mom or Ra.

  “That may be the case, but natural rabbits can’t handle stress and have been known to kill their young if they feel threatened or in an unsafe situation. Now, I know you’re not about to do that,” Farriday said quickly as Seth’s mouth dropped open in shock, “but everything I have read and learned suggests stress, shocks, and unfamiliar environments can be upsetting and your rabbit is struggling with your mood swings as it is.”

  “I’m doing my best,” Seth blew a lock of hair from his eyes. “My rabbit wants Ra. Ra’s running around with a freaking maniac organizing the wedding of the millennium.”

  “Don’t you mean like a freaking maniac?”

  “No, I was referring to my mom. Those women in the Bridezilla shows have got nothing on her,” Seth said more bitterly than he intended. “It’s like, I don’t get any time with my mate at all. I accept he’s a tiger and not one for romantic gestures. The first time he proposed he fell over drunk. I’m not asking for a fairy tale. I just want my mate by my side, sharing his day with me and being here for doctor appointments. I don’t think it’s too much to ask.”

  “You’re right, it isn’t.” Farriday unlatched the box. “And he’s going to kick himself he’s not here today. I managed to get the loan of an ultrasound machine. I can only have it a few hours or my friend at the human hospital will get into trouble. But I thought it was worth it. Do you want to see your babies?” He pulled a length of cord out of the box, plugging one end into a machine that resembled an old computer and held up the other end that looked a lot like a plastic version of the skipping rope handle Seth had as a child.

  “There’s more than one?” Seth smiled, his first real smile of the day. “I thought, I wasn’t sure, but I thought there were.”

  “I’m thinking triplets, but this machine will let us know for sure. This gel is a bit cold, but it will warm up.” Farriday dabbed lube, or at least it looked like lube to Seth, on the end of the handle and ran it over Seth’s stomach. He was right, the gel was cold, but Seth was busy watching the screen. All he could see was a mass of gray and black lines moving around as Farriday drew pictures on his stomach.

  “What am I looking at?” He asked. He thought when Farriday said, “see your babies” he’d be looking at miniature versions of what a baby looked like born. Tucked up around each other, maybe one of them sucking his thumb. All he could see was a mass of swirls.

  “Your babies are here, all right and there are three of them,” Farriday offered a rare smile. “See here,” he pointed to a darker spot on the screen surrounding a patch of gray. “There’s number one.” He clicked some buttons on the machine and red lines appeared on the screen. Seth scrunched his eyes, but he was still seeing gray swirls.

  “This is number two.” That gray blob was lying next to the other one. “A bit bigger than the first one,” Farriday muttered as he did more button pushing and clicking. “Now the third, this one is shy.”

  The handle on Seth’s stomach was pushed and dragged across his skin. It didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t pleasant and Seth felt a niggle in his bladder. “This won’t hurt the babies, will it?”

  “No, Nature is surprisingly helpful when it comes to protecting young pups, cubs or kits. Now where, oh there you are.” With the blunt stick pressing on an angle towards his pelvis, Farriday pulled up the image of a third blob. “Smaller still. Not surprising, though,�
�� he said, tapping and clicking again.

  Seth stared at the screen. It’s not as though he’d ever seen his insides before. That’s life inside of me, he thought, watching the blobs that would grow into children. One of the blobs moved and he blinked, staring harder. There. The little blob moved again and it was nothing to do with Farriday. There are living beings inside of me. Seth felt his eyes fill. Oh Ra, you should be here.

  Watching the screen, Seth understood truly for the first time, he was going to be a parent. A wave of love and warmth spread through his body along with a strong dose of protectiveness. These were his children, his, and yes, while they were Ra’s as well, Seth knew in that moment his life had changed forever. Nothing would ever be more important than looking after his blobs.

  “Are they developing okay?” He asked, his voice trembling with emotion.

  Farriday smiled. “They’re doing fine. Look, can you see here?” He pointed on the screen to what looked like a line of white dashes. “This is the first one’s spine. See how it curves up to the head, which is the dark patch here. There’s one of his eyes, he’s lying on his side, can you see? And those bobbles there are his little legs.”

  “Can you tell how far along I am?” Seth couldn’t tear his eyes from the screen. Now he knew what to look for, he could see the spine and what looked like arms on the second blob, although blob three was only showing his back view.

  “If this was a human pregnancy, based on development, I would have said you were just shy of the halfway point. As it is, these little ones are fully developed.”

  “They’re so tiny,” Seth whispered.

  “They have a lot of growing to do. But the hearts are all beating regularly, their spines show no sign of deformity and their head circumference is normal for this level of development. I’ll give you some snapshots of the screen to show Ra. Now, say goodbye, you’ll be seeing them in the flesh soon enough.” Farriday held the probe against Seth’s stomach for a few moments more, before putting it away. Seth blinked as the images on the screen stopped moving.

  Handing him a cloth, Farriday clicked more buttons and recorded his findings while Seth cleaned the goop off his stomach. “You can cover up and sit up now,” Farriday said. “We need to try and work out when you might have gotten pregnant so I can work out a due date.” He pulled over a stool and sat by the bed. Seth managed to sit up, hating the crackle of the paper underneath him.

  “I think it was the first night, the night Ra claimed me,” Seth said quietly. “I’d never had sex before, but when I got the talk from Dad he never mentioned anything about my body getting so hot, like more than you would when you’re sharing a bed. I thought it was just because it was claiming sex and maybe Dad didn’t think I needed to know, but it hasn’t happened since.”

  “A heat brought on by the mating, that makes sense.” Farriday nodded. “That gives us a clear timeline too, which is really helpful. How long was it, between when Ra claimed you and you came to me after you fainted?”

  Seth tapped his fingers as he tried to work it out in his head. “Two weeks. I remember because Cam said a lot of the locals hadn’t seen me for a month and I’d been on the run two weeks when Ra found me.”

  “And that was,” Farriday checked a clipboard sitting on a table by the bed. “Thirteen days ago, so you’ve been pregnant twenty-seven days.”

  “But I’m barely showing,” Seth looked down at his mostly flat stomach, although his pants were tighter than they were yesterday.

  “You will get noticeably bigger by the day from now on,” Farriday said kindly. “I did say I thought this pregnancy would be about sixty days. However, because you are carrying triplets, they may come sooner.”

  “We haven’t got anything ready for the baby. Ra’s busy running around organizing the wedding. He bought me a new suit yesterday.”

  “The wedding’s in ten days. You are not going to fit your suit by then and I meant what I said before, I don’t think the stress of a big wedding will be good for you.”

  “Ra’s going to be crushed. He’s put so much work into making the day special for both of us,” Seth said sadly.

  “Show him these,” Farriday said kindly, handing Seth the scan photos. “Explain to him, if he doesn’t get it himself, that you need him by your side, plenty of food and rest. Go for a short walk at least once a day and above all, stay calm.”

  “What about the wedding?” Seth looked up from the photos.

  “Short service, nobody but family and make sure you eat plenty of greens.”

  “Greens, right.” Seth looked down at his photos again, tracing over the largest blob.

  “Seth, you will only be pregnant a short time, and the good news is, you won’t go into heat again for at least a year after the birth. Come and see me again next week. You should be considerably bigger by then and I’ll track the growth from today and see if I can’t make a more accurate estimate on your due date.”

  Climbing off the bed, Seth’s stomach rumbled. “And get some food into you,” Farriday laughed. “To be healthy, those little ones are going to suck all the nutrients they need from your body, so make sure you’re eating at least five times a day. Three main meals and plenty of snacks in between. Healthy snacks, none of that fried rubbish. Come and see me if you notice your ankles swelling, if you have trouble walking or if your dizzy spells get any worse. I am not happy with your heart rate, it’s far too fast. Rabbits are prone to preeclampsia as well and I don’t want to have to perform an emergency c-section. I can’t explain this strongly enough. Being a rabbit, too much stress will kill your babies. You need to look after yourself. Promise me.”

  Seth nodded. “And try not to worry,” Farriday added. “Worrying isn’t good for those little ones either.”

  Maybe you should have thought of that before you told me I could end up killing my kids before they’re even born. His mind a whirl, Seth left the office. He planned to eat out, but now all he wanted to do was curl up in the bed he shared with Ra and try and make sense of everything he’d been told. Fuck, Ra, come home soon, please. I need you.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Ra stormed into the house, his patience with Ella close to breaking point. He dropped the buckets of flowers he was carrying on the floor and immediately looked around for his mate. “Where is he? Where’s Seth?”

  “He’s in your room. Ra, we tried to get in touch with you. The doctor wanted to see you both. When Seth got home, he wouldn’t say anything, he just grabbed some food and shut himself away.” Brutus glared at him and Ella who’d come in behind him carrying more flowers. Ra could understand his friend’s concerns; he’d been feeling it every inch of the way home and Ella hadn’t helped one bit.

  “Oh, he’s probably being a mopey bucket, because we were back later than I thought we’d be. I’ll go and see him,” Ella said cheerily.

  “Ella,” Charles warned.

  “I’m his mother, Charles. I’ll have him out of bed in no time.” She grabbed an armful of the flowers, from one of the many buckets. There were at least a hundred buds in all and Ra knew they’d stink up the living room in no time. Ella didn’t seem to care, though, clacking down the hallway, Ra hot on her heels.

  “Now don’t coddle him,” Ella warned as she stopped outside the door. “He’s pregnant, not ill.”

  Ra growled and Ella’s smile slipped slightly as she opened the door. Seth was sitting on the bed, looking at photos although Ra couldn’t see what they were of. “Seth, darling,” Ella cried. “Look what we bought you. A hundred perfect blooms from an absolutely amazing little shop in Jackson. They’re perfect for your wedding.”

  “There’s not going to be a wedding,” Seth said woodenly, looking up and Ra could see he’d been crying. “Ra, I need to talk to you. Alone.”

  “Alone, what nonsense, and what’s all this about not having a wedding. We’ve been working for days to make this the biggest event of the year,” Ella protested.

  Ra pushed past her and climbed on the be
d, ignoring his mother-in-law. “What have you got there, sweetness?”

  “Pictures of our babies,” Seth’s lips trembled. “Doc was able to get an ultrasound on loan, which is why he had to see us today. He ordered it in special from a human hospital contact he had.”

  “Babies?” Ra carefully picked up one of the pictures and studied it closely. He couldn’t make head nor tail of anything.

  “Three of them, look.” Seth pointed out the head and spine and the tiny little legs and arms. “Ra, we’re having triplets.”

  “Oh wow, babe, that is simply…” scary, terrifying, a hell of a lot of work… “amazing, so amazing.” Ra held out his arms and Seth snuggled into them. “Maybe three little blonds just like you.”

  “I think that one will be like you,” Seth pointed to the bigger blob. “Doc says that one is bigger than the other two. And one of them is shy. See, how he or she is hiding in the back?”

  “Seth. What’s all this nonsense about not having the wedding?” Ella’s strident tone lacked all the warmth and cheer of seconds ago. “So, you might be a little fat, just wear your shirt over your pants and no one will notice.”

  Seth took a deep breath. “I’m not supposed to get upset,” he whispered to Ra before addressing his mom. “Mom. I know what type of wedding you’ve planned and it’s not going to happen,” he said as calmly as he could. “I…”

  “Not going to happen? Now you listen to me, Seth Carmichael, I called in favors from the mayor, invited all my friends, got the catering ordered….”

  “That’s not what I wanted,” Seth yelled. He closed his eyes, one deep breath in, and slowly letting it out again. When he opened his eyes, Ra saw them fixed firmly on him. “I love you,” he said quietly, “and I want nothing more than to be married to you. But Farriday said the stress of having a big wedding could harm the babies. It could kill them. Our babies, Ra. Look at them. Do you understand?”

  Oh, Ra got it all right. He looked down at the photo he was still clutching in his hand, marveling at how shades of gray, black and white could make his heart pound stronger and his tiger roar in his mind.