A few minutes later and they were pulling into the parking lot at the doctor’s office; everything was so close together in the little town. Valerie got out and stood beside the car, looking at the building that housed the doctor’s office. Maia got out and walked around to Valerie’s side. She wrapped her arms around Valerie, hugging her, and Valerie hugged her back. “I love you, Maia. You know that, right?” Valerie asked.
Maia smiled shyly at her, “Well, I hoped.”
Valerie tilted her head, holding the girl out at arm’s length to look her in the eye, “I couldn’t love you more if I’d given you life myself. You’re my daughter.”
Maia, tears in her eyes, sniffed them back and beamed a beautiful smile at Valerie, “I love you, too.”
Valerie turned and looked at the building again, then, “Well, let’s go see if you’re going to be a big sister.”
They checked in and found a seat in the waiting room.
A short while later, the door opened, and the nurse called out, “Valerie McCullen.”
Valerie stood, “That’s me, I’m here.”
She handed her purse to Maia and said, “I’ll be right back.”
Maia smiled at her, squealing a little, “I’ll be right here.”
About ten minutes later the door opened, and the nurse said, “Maia? Honey, your mom wants to know if you’d like to come back.”
Maia grinned ear-to-ear, grabbed her purse, a little leather backpack styled purse, and Valerie’s purse and followed the nurse back.
The nurse indicated an exam room, and Maia eagerly went in. As she stepped through the door, Valerie was sitting, fully clothed on the end of the exam table. She looked up and smiled when Maia entered the room, “Well, now we wait for the results. He took a blood test to be sure. I told him that it would only be a week or so, so he did a blood test. Said that it’s more accurate earlier than just the regular pee test.”
“Did he examine you?” Maia asked.
Valerie nodded, “Yep, he looked a little confused, and then said we needed a blood test to be sure.”
“Confused?” Maia asked.
“Yeah, maybe I don’t have any of the symptoms or something,” then she laughed, “I have no clue. This is all new to me.”
About ten minutes later, the door opened, and the doctor came into the room, pushing a machine in front of him, being followed closely by a nurse. “Mrs. McCullen, if you don’t mind, we’d like to do an ultrasound.”
Valerie looked nervous, “Is there a problem?”
“Well, no. There’s not. But you said only a week or two, and the initial exam indicates that you’re at least six to eight weeks pregnant, and the blood test confirms it. Your hormone levels are extremely high, so I’d like to do an ultrasound to just take a look. If that’s okay.”
Maia immediately realized that what the doctor was seeing was the result of Valerie being a shifter, and shifter pregnancies progressed much more quickly than those of human women. “Mom, you said, a week?” Maia laughed, “You told me a month!”
Valerie realized then what Maia was saying and trying to convey to the doctor. She looked to the doctor, “Did I say a week? I’m sorry! It’s a month or so.”
The doctor relaxed visibly, “Oh, well now, that makes more sense. He chuckled. “I was a little concerned; your levels are quite high for only being a week or two along.”
“I’m sorry, I’m just so excited about it. So, you’re saying I’m definitely pregnant?” Valerie asked.
“Yes, Ma’am. You definitely are. Would you like to have the ultrasound anyway, just to be sure everything is as it should be? The machine’s all ready to go…” he asked.
Valerie, lost to tears, and an endless smile, nodded her agreement. Maia, teary eyed herself, spoke, “Yes, please. She wants to hear the heartbeat.”
Valerie nodded vigorously, agreeing.
The nurse helped her lay back and lifted her shirt, unbuttoned and folded in the flaps of her jeans a bit. Then tucked a towel into the edges of her jeans and squirted the gel on her stomach. The doctor took the probe of the ultrasound machine and smoothed out the gel with it; the nurse hit the lights, and they got started. Maia stood beside Valerie and held her hand as they watched the images coming up on the screen. The nurse turned a dial on the machine itself and a whooshing sound filled the room. The nurse smiled, “He’s got a strong heartbeat! You hear that?”
Valerie’s eyes were huge, “He?”
“Well, it’s a figure of speech. It’s a little early to see what the gender is, but that is definitely a strong heartbeat.”
Then the sound in the room changed - it was more like the whoosh and an echo of the whoosh. The nurse’s eyes popped to the screen, and the doctor said, “Aha! I thought so!”
He moved the probe a few more times, clicking a button on the side of the machine a couple of times with each subsequent move. Then he looked up at Valerie. “You hear that?”
She listened for a moment, and nodded, “Yes, it’s different than at first, but…what does it mean?”
He turned the monitor toward her so that she could better see the image, then leaned a bit so he could point with his left hand while he moved the probe with his right.
“Right there is your baby, and my nurse is right, strong little heartbeat.”
Valerie watched, smiling hugely, gripping Maia’s hand, “Yes,” she whispered, holding back tears.
“And here…” the doctor paused as he moved the probe and pushed the button making the clicking sound again, then pointing with his left hand to be sure Valerie could see what he meant, “here is his twin,” he announced.
Valerie’s mouth dropped, her eyes bugged out. She gaped like a goldfish, “I… It… You said…” then finally, “Twin? Did you say twin?” she managed to get out.
Maia was jumping up and down, screeching. Valerie looked at her as though she’d lost her mind and whispered, “Twins?”
Maia kept jumping, but stopped screeching to say excitedly, “Yes! Matty and I are twins! So that makes sense! Oh My God! Twins!!!! Squeeee!”
Valerie looked as though she might pass out from shock, “Yeah, squee,” she managed to get out weakly.
Valerie and Maia left the doctor’s office with a reminder card for Valerie’s next appointment in hand and a folder filled with snapshots of the babies that the doctor had taken for her during the ultrasound.
Valerie was still in shock. Twins. Wow, when Maverik did something, he certainly did it 1000 percent. Including getting her pregnant.
Maia distracted her from her thoughts, “Are we going to see Vince or Everly, now?”
“Well, we were, but I’m not sure that I could keep this a secret, and I don’t want to tell anyone before I tell Mav. Would you mind if we just head home?” Valerie asked her.
“’Course not. Why don’t we go to the grocery and get the things on your list; then, we’ll head home. Do you mind if I stick around while you tell him? I’ll make myself scarce after, so you can celebrate, but I really want to see his face when he finds out,” Maia said.
Valerie reached out and hugged Maia, “Of course. You belong there when I tell him. I wouldn’t have it any other way. And you don’t have to make yourself scarce; you live there, too. This is your home. You do not leave it; you’re not in the way at all, ever.”
Maia smiled, “Okay. Thank you, Valerie.”
Valerie smiled, then shyly said, “If you don’t mind, I really liked it when you called me, Mom.”
Maia leaned back, so she could see Valerie’s eyes, “Really?”
“Yes, really.”
<> <> <> <> <>
Avaleigh pulled up in front of the diner and parked the Suburban. She hopped out and went around to the passenger side to get Remi out of his car seat. She unbuckled him, and he reached for his toy cars, one in each hand as she pulled him toward her and placed him on her hip to walk inside the diner. Though he was only five, he was almost too big for her to carry, but she refused to stop carrying hi
m around. He was her son, and she’d carry him ‘til she couldn’t anymore. As they walked toward the diner, she snuggled him and pretended to bite his little neck, so he squealed out peals of little boy laughter. They went in and found a table. Delilah, Janie and Daisy should be here in just a little bit, but she knew Remi was hungry now, so after she got him situated in a booster chair, she went over to the counter to order his chicken nuggets. Chicken nuggets, she’d swear the child would sprout feathers and start bawking at his next shift, he ate so many chicken nuggets. When she turned around to check on him as she waited to place her order at the counter, she found him standing in the booster chair, shaking with fury, eyes blazing, and a constant snarl emitting from his chest. There was a woman standing at the table, and her back was to Avaleigh, but from what she could see, the woman was speaking to him. Avaleigh immediately ran to her son, placed herself between them, and faced the woman, “Can I help you?” she asked sharply. The woman looked her up and down as though sizing her up. Then lifted her chin and said in a slurred, drug-induced voice, “That kid ain’t yours. He’s coming home with me, where he’s a‘sposed to be. I been looking for him. You stole him!”
Avaleigh took a step back - the alcohol on the woman’s breath was enough to bowl her over just from the scent, that and the stench coming off the obviously unclean woman.
“You’re mistaken. This is my son. You’re not taking him anywhere,” Avaleigh told her calmly.
“No! I know ‘ezackly who he is, the ungrateful little fucker,” she spat at Avaleigh. “And you’re giving him back right now. I need money, and the state ain’t giving me no more ‘til I bring the brat to ‘em for his checkup. So you’re giving him to me. Or I’m calling the police and telling ‘em you stole him,” she ended on a smirk, trying clumsily to cross her arms over her chest. Then she looked at Avaleigh again, as though sizing her up a second time, “Or, you could just pay me for the brat and keep paying me, and maybe I’ll let you keep him. Maybe.”
By this time Avaleigh was outraged and when she got angry she cried. The woman misread her tears as weakness and moved to go around Avaleigh to reach for Remi. Remi let out a snarl and clung to Avaleigh’s back as she turned to head off the woman, throwing her hands out to push the woman away from herself and Remi. “You will not touch my child!” Avaleigh screamed at her.
“He ain’t yours! Move, bitch!” the woman snapped right in her face.
Then suddenly she was gone, yanked backward away from Avaleigh and Remi.
Avaleigh jerked her head around to where the woman was now standing, and relief flooded her when her eyes landed on… Delilah, holding the woman by the throat, with her nose pressed against the woman’s nose. Delilah was more than a head taller than Remi’s aunt. And the low, deadly snarl on a constant repeat coming from Delilah’s chest, coupled with the flashing of violet to icy blue of her eyes had the woman shaking where she stood, literally. Avaleigh turned quickly, wrapped Remi in her arms and backed further away from them to stand near the back door, unsure of what Delilah was going to do. And honestly not caring. She knew that with Delilah there, Remi would be safe.
Delilah’s rumbling growl stopped only briefly, and without looking away from the woman her hand was now steadily choking the life from, she said, “Sister Avaleigh, please get paper and a pen from the counter people.”
Without question, Avaleigh, with Remi in her arms, sprinted toward the counter and asked for a slip of paper and pen. They handed her a notepad and a pen, which she immediately brought back to Delilah. Avaleigh held it out as though to hand it to Delilah, but Delilah didn’t take it. Instead she said, “Please place it on the table.” Avaleigh did as Delilah asked, then backed away, Remi still held tightly in her arms, to stand near the back door again. Remi had not let his grip on Avaleigh relax at all. He, like Delilah, was steadily snarling at the woman. Avaleigh shushed him gently, rubbing his back to soothe him. He opened his little mouth, and a puff of smoke escaped on his last snarl. “It’s okay, Aunt Delilah’s going to take care of her.”
The woman’s eyes snapped up to Avaleigh, and at her glare, Remi again snarled loudly, leaning toward the woman who had made the first years of his life so miserable.
Delilah spoke to Remi, “All is well, little Dragon.”
Then Delilah spoke to the woman , “You are going to do what I tell you to do, aren’t you?” she snarled right in her face.
The woman didn’t answer immediately, so Delilah snarled louder and allowed her fangs to drop. The woman whimpered and tried to nod her head yes, but Delilah held her throat so tightly she could barely move.
“You are going to sit at that table. You are going to write what I tell you. And you are going to sign it. Or you will die.” The woman’s eyes, though dilated still from whatever drug she’d taken, got huge and round in her dirty, skeletal face, but at a new snarl and another sighting of Delilah’s fangs, she immediately shook her head yes.
Delilah turned her toward the table, moving the hand that previously gripped her throat to the back of her neck, and she said, “From this direction, I can snap your neck so quickly you’ll never know it’s happened. Please, give me a reason. I so want to feel your bones crushing beneath my fingertips.”
The woman, feeling a little braver since Delilah was no longer pushing her fingers into her throat, made to step away from Delilah. Delilah tightened her grip with her right hand, pulled the woman back, then reached out with her left hand, gripped one of the chairs and squeezed the metal chair back. It immediately crumpled in her hand, and the woman gasped and cried out.
Delilah shushed her. “Silence, female! You draw attention, or call out, I will kill you where you stand. Do you understand me?” she explained as she allowed her claws to pop free from the tips of her fingers.
The woman nodded her head and sat. She took the pen in hand and waited for further instruction. Delilah said, “Write what I say.”
The woman nodded, only braving a quick glance at Avaleigh and Remi, which Delilah caught. “Do not under any circumstances look at my family. That alone is enough to have your pathetic life ended.”
Then she leaned closer, pressing the claws of her right hand into the back of the female’s neck, “Write!”
The woman jumped and tried to nod.
“Write your name, first, middle and last,” Delilah instructed, then, “I know your name, woman, do not attempt to falsely identify yourself. It will be your last mistake.”
The woman did as instructed; she wrote her name, then she waited, whimpering at the claws piercing the sensitive skin of her neck.
“Effective immediately I sign over full and complete guardianship of my nephew, Remington, to the care and custody of Daniel and Avaleigh GreyStorm.”
The female stiffened, but wrote exactly what Delilah instructed. When she was done, Delilah continued, “Further, by this letter, I give them full permission to legally adopt Remington and hereby sign over all my rights and any future claim on my sister’s child, Remington.”
The woman wrote most of it, then hesitated, and said, “If I do this, you have to let me go.”
Delilah huffed, “Fine. You write this, exactly as I say, and I’ll walk you to that back door, and let you go.”
Remi’s aunt wrote exactly what Delilah said, then tried to hand the pen to Delilah. Delilah said, “You’re not done yet. Sign it, and write the date below your signature.”
The woman did so. Then she handed the pen to Delilah, who snatched it from her and slammed it on the table. She took the letter from the table top and held it out to Avaleigh. Avaleigh stepped forward, taking the priceless document from Delilah and mouthing, “thank you.” Delilah inclined her head once, then returned her attention to the female she still held by the neck. “Stand, female. We are going out the back door.”
Delilah did not wait for her to stand; rather, she dragged her to her feet and started toward the door before the woman had gained her balance.
“Move aside, Avaleigh,” Delilah said
as they approached.
Avaleigh quickly moved back and in waiting for her to do so, Delilah’s eyes met Remington’s. His eyes were still flashing between his black and his Dragon’s orange. Delilah allowed her Dragon to reach out to his, and she felt his fear that the woman would be set free to come after him or his new parents again. Delilah smiled at him, “Do not fear, little one.”
Remi nodded his little head one single time in affirmation that she’d spoken to him, but kept glaring at the woman.
“Open the door, woman,” Delilah ordered.
The woman reached out and opened the door. She started to go through it, and Delilah stopped her. Delilah turned to Avaleigh, “Janie and Daisy should be in any moment. She is changing Daisy’s diaper in the car. Please take my car and yourselves home.”
“What about you?” Avaleigh asked her.
“I will get there by other means,” Delilah answered.
“You can’t, Delilah. Not in broad daylight!” Avaleigh whisper screamed.
“Of course, I can. I can do whatever I please,” Delilah declared.
Janie walked into the diner, Daisy on her hip, and waved from the front of the place. Avaleigh smiled, though it was strained, at Janie and then turned back to Delilah. “We’ll wait while you see her out. Then we’ll all go home together.”
Delilah knew that she needed to handle this now, and Avaleigh, while good intentioned, was ruining her plans. “You will not go without me, will you?” she hissed at Avaleigh.
“No! I will not!” Avaleigh hissed back at her.
“Fine. Sit and wait. Though I may be a while. I plan to dispose of this problem,” then she turned and shoved the woman through the door.
The last thing Avaleigh heard before the door closed was the woman saying, “You said you were going to let me go!”
And Delilah laughing evilly before replying, “I lied.”
Then the door closed, Remi turned to her smiling, and Janie came up behind them asking why Delilah went out the back door. Avaleigh took a deep breath, shifted Remi to her other hip, placed the precious letter into her purse and sat at the very table Remi’s aunt had sat at to write the letter.
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