by Taryn Quinn
And peer she did, staring right at the approximate place where my bellybutton was on the other side of the silky ivory fabric. Figured that the bride wasn’t wearing white but I was, though I was no more virginal than Luna.
“Oh, pardon me.” Luna closed her eyes in apology. “I didn’t ask to touch, but I was drawn. Please forgive me.”
“To my belly?” My spine went to liquid to match my suddenly shaky knees. “Was it growling that loud? Sorry. Lucky foisted some finger foods on me, but apparently, they weren’t enough.”
She lifted her face to mine, her cheeks shining. “You know, don’t you?”
I tried to swallow the sudden grittiness in my throat. “Know that I’m starving? Sure.”
“Tish, you know. But if you had any doubt, your aura is very clear. Usually, you’re more of a pulsing red. Today you’re more like a tea rose. You’re sick with it, aren’t you?” The sympathy in Lu’s tone and in her expression made me feel as if I wanted to weep.
I so badly needed someone to stroke my hair while I cried. I wasn’t usually that woman. Sometimes tears escaped at appropriate times, like after Jimmy’s memorial. But at a wedding reception? That didn’t make sense.
Except of course it did, because my hormones were going haywire, and I didn’t have any clue what I was doing. And I was already so afraid I was going to break this kid I didn’t even have the balls to find out if I was carrying.
“The other aura is blue,” she said when I didn’t speak. “That doesn’t necessarily mean a boy but…”
I swallowed. “It could.”
“Yes, it could. You’re not arguing with me?”
“I don’t have enough energy to argue with a gnat right now.”
“But what a conversation it would be, huh?” Her sweet laughter made me smile instead of snarl.
This whole potential pregnancy thing was building a kinder, gentler Tish. Or a more exhausted one, which basically translated into the same thing.
Discreetly, I drew her hands away from my stomach. Despite Lucky telling people right and left—God only knows how many he’d informed since I’d gone off in search of a sweet snack I couldn’t even eat—I wasn’t ready for everyone to know.
Heck, I didn’t even know for sure, no matter what Luna and my twitchy belly believed. This train was going far too fast, and I wanted to get off.
“Sorry. That was a definite boundary crossing. I feel terrible. Especially since I know how violating it can feel when someone you barely know is feeling you up.” Lu shuddered.
“We still talking about bellies here?”
Her laughter made me smile again. “Yes. I don’t mind when my husband feels me up, and he’d bite anyone else who tried.” She grabbed her abandoned cupcake and licked off a dab of frosting. “Probably literally. Oh my goddess, this is delicious. Sure you don’t want a bite?” She corrected herself before I could. “No, I see you’re off. That’s fine. Why don’t we order you some tea?”
“Yeah, because no one will notice I’m sipping some Earl Grey while everyone else is getting loaded in this joint. Blizzard outside, so not like there is anywhere else to go.” I pursed my lips and made myself focus on her instead of myself for a change. “This weather T-boned your honeymoon. I’m sorry.”
“Nah, we aren’t going to Florida until after the first of the year. Gotta do the first blended family Christmas thing. My mother is practically spinning her top that I married a Catholic school teacher. She keeps hoping I’ll renounce my heathen ways.”
I snorted. “You, a heathen? You have the most loving energy of anyone I’ve ever met.”
Immediately, she stopped nibbling on her cupcake. Had I insulted her somehow? “Thank you. That’s so sweet coming from you.”
“From me?”
“Yeah. You’re a total badass. I sort of figured you’d think I was a wimpy soft female who only wanted to be married and make a home with someone.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“No. It’s not. It’s an amazing thing. But you’re so incredible and have this fascinating career to boot.”
“And you don’t? I just play with cars. You’re ten times more fascinating than I am, and you’re going to have it all.”
“So are you, Tish,” she said softly, her eyes sparkling in that all-knowing way I found comforting tonight rather than irritating. “If you let yourself.”
I took a deep breath to stop myself from hunching my shoulders. Not immediately going on the defensive was so much harder than I’d ever guessed. “Can you see your own baby’s aura?”
She shook her head. “Too close to him or her.” She rubbed her growing belly with the hand not holding the cupcake. “But I’ve tried. A lot.”
“You don’t want to know officially? Or it still too soon?”
“To be honest, I was hoping I’d be able to tell and then could test the accuracy with the result. But none of my research has allowed me to find a way.”
“What about Ryan? Isn’t your bestie witchy too?”
“Auras aren’t her thing.”
“Hmm.”
“I know it all sounds crazy. I just appreciate you being so patient about it. Some people are not.” She went back to eating her cupcake in an avaricious way I completely envied.
I’d be lucky if I didn’t end up making friends with the porcelain throne again before this night was through. Though some of that could have been due to nerves.
Fuck me sideways, I’m having a baby.
Maybe.
“Caleb isn’t one of those, I’m assuming.”
“Goddess, no. He’s curious about everything and is always encouraging me to talk about my practice. Even when I come up with ideas that we can try that some might consider…unusual.”
“Like?” I couldn’t resist. Plus, talking to her was distracting me from my queasiness.
She glanced around conspiratorially and lowered her voice. “Like seeing if I could tease out the baby’s aura during Tantric sex. I mean, as Tantric as I can get with this body right now. It gets harder to hold certain positions. And you have to pee a lot.”
“Yay.” My tone sounded vaguely like Daria’s from that 90s era comic sketch on MTV. “The fun factor of all of this sounds enormous.”
“Some women love being pregnant.”
I stared at her dubiously. “Do you have proof?”
“Well, I’m not in the habit of handing out lie detector tests, but yeah, I have it on good authority.”
“Do you?”
“Most of the time, I really enjoy it. It feels special. Like you and this other person love each other so much something beautiful came from that love. And of course, it’s not always that way. Some situations aren’t nearly as happy, unfortunately. But we feel really blessed that ours is.”
“Hmm. I mean, that’s sweet and all…”
“But you’re thinking I’m full of crap.”
“Not full of it.”
She tried not to smile. “Pretty sure you’re not going to be one of the women who loves pregnancy?”
“I don’t know. Right now, it sort of reminds me of an alien invasion without the anal probe.”
“Oh, it’s early yet. That happens too.” Her giggle at my horrified expression somehow made me laugh too.
When Lucky strolled toward us with a plate of food, I nearly salivated. But before I could praise him for his manly hunting and gathering skills, his jaw went slack as he realized Lu and I were gigging together.
Oddly, I felt proud. As if I was a weirdo little kid who had somehow learned how to make a girlfriend.
Lucky stopped at my side. “Are you okay?”
“Yes?”
“Are you unsure?”
“No?”
Luna shook her head, laughing at us. “You two are so cute I literally cannot stand it. I need another cupcake, and then I’m going to find my husband. It’s time to get jiggy with it.”
“There aren’t any poles on site.” Lucky’s expression was entirely serious.
“I’ll see if I can manage to dance without one, Luckster.” Luna patted his chest before plucking another cupcake off the tray and dancing away.
Speaking of plucking, I stole a cube of Monterey Jack from Lucky’s plate and popped it in my mouth. I moaned as if he’d dropped down to the floor and lifted my dress to go to town.
His eyebrows hiked toward his hairline. “That was nearly pornographic.”
“Nearly? I can do better.” Without moderating my volume, I let out a breathy moan that had him dragging me against him with a look of consternation.
My giggling fit was epic.
“Now I really think you’re not okay. Tish Burns, giggling?”
“Well, this is a day for firsts. By the way, Blondie says we’re having a boy.”
Lucky had picked the wrong time to bite into a pickle spear. His eyes blew wide as he choked. I whaled on his back until he was breathing normally.
“What?” he wheezed.
I couldn’t help laughing again. “Sorry. I’m not great at picking my moment.”
“Says you. I think you’re absolutely incredible at everything. Including growing babies.”
I narrowed my eyes at him as a dangerous glow spread in my chest. I didn’t know what to make of it so I ignored it. “Is this because your possible offspring could be male, thereby fulfilling some adolescent penis fantasy of tossing the old pigskin with your progeny?”
“All those words equal yes to me.”
Grinning at him was faintly ridiculous at this point. After all, Rome was burning, and Rome was actually in my midsection.
Ugh, acid reflux too? This whole pregnancy thing was already a sham.
That didn’t stop me from consuming more cheese. I’d never been so fond of a dairy product in my life.
“Why don’t we go sit down? You can eat—wow, you’re on that already.”
So what if I was plowing through his plate at a speed that defied logic? I’d decided if I didn’t have time to process how the food was landing inside me, I could enjoy it just fine.
“I am, and I don’t want to think about anything heavy right now.” I lowered my voice. “I know we have stuff to discuss and to—”
“Find out for sure,” he interjected.
I lifted my finger to his lips. Getting him to be quiet was basically my life’s work these days. He never did what I expected him to and he never acquiesced easily. That was probably why I lo—
Liked having sex with him. Yes. Much better.
To give myself a second, I chewed on a cracker. My belly was granting me a momentary reprieve. “How do you feel about dancing?”
He bit into a little sandwich that wouldn’t do anything but make someone hungrier. “I’m okay with it. Not a native skill of mine and I move sort of like Frankenstein, but yeah, it’s all right.”
The man did not move like Frankenstein.
I’d known he wouldn’t. He couldn’t possibly be that sexually skilled and not know how to dance enough to get by. But he was far from some beginner. Oh, no, this dude had clearly had lessons at some point. The kind that came with learning dips and flourishes that should have made me fear my stomach’s rebellion.
But nope, my belly didn’t balk at my sudden movements as I was whirled around the dance floor that had been set up in the reception area. My stomach was probably as shocked as the rest of me.
I wasn’t sure what it said about me that my biggest surprise of the day was that Thor could cut a rug—or whatever that old term was.
I didn’t officially know about that other bouncing surprise yet. So, it didn’t count.
We danced for a long time, breaking occasionally to hydrate and fuel up. They finally served a real dinner later in the evening including toasts for the happy couple. Lucky grabbed the microphone and regaled the remaining guests with tales about Caleb’s not-so-checkered past, usually concerning his regrettable drinking adventures. Since one of them had led to his landing his wife, he seemed pretty damn smug.
When Lucky ran out of steam, Ryan shared some tidbits about how she and Luna had met and gave the couple her best wishes. Preston did similarly. His speech was far quicker than Ryan’s, though he had genuine affection on his face for Luna.
Ryan offered to do a tarot card reading for Lu and Caleb’s marriage so long as she could snag the audio for their podcast. Luna declined, so that was that and the dancing resumed among the few people left.
They were winging everything at this point since the place was clearing out due to the blizzard. Not that most of the people left wanted to chance driving home, but there was some hardy sorts with their versions of monster trucks willing to go for it.
I had a feeling some of them would be hiking back up the hill in due time. Laverne and Fred, the older couple who ran this operation, assured everyone they had plenty of beds, but that remained to be seen.
“Hey, Tabitha’s cupcakes were here, but not Tabitha.” I frowned and spoke loudly enough over the music that others could weigh in. “She was invited, right?”
“Flat tire on the way here.” Caleb shook his head from where he was dancing beside us with his jubilant bride.
Who said she needed a stripper pole? She seemed to be doing just fine on her own—and in super high heels, no less.
Mine were currently tucked in a bag with my moon boots. I was dancing barefoot and not ashamed in the least.
“That sucks.” Lucky frowned. “Is she okay? Does she need some help? I’m sure Dare and Gage have everything covered, but I have my truck.” He shot me a quick grin. “It already survived one snowbank today.”
“No, she’s good. Brady caught the call and summoned the Kramer calvary. Dare was already on his way back from here.”
Lucky angled his head, spinning me around slowly so he could talk to Caleb when his friend swiveled in the other direction. “Caught the call? Since when do cops do tows?”
“When the vehicle involved jackknifes into a tree.” Luna sighed. “A small one. She’s fine. But that old sedan of hers is toast, I think. I feel so bad for her. She was more worried we had enough cupcakes than she was about herself.”
“How did the cupcakes arrive if she didn’t?”
Caleb smirked. “The fine officer delivered them.”
Slowly, I shook my head. “How do you get that service?”
Caleb released Luna long enough to raise his hands, palms out. “Don’t ask me. I’m just the messenger.”
Soon after, they danced across the room, Lu’s musical laughter trailing after them.
“He took lessons.” Lucky inclined his chin toward his best friend. “Me, I’m all self taught.”
“No way.”
“Yes way.” He grinned. “It was fun surprising you.”
“Let me guess, you learned so you’d have another tool to charm the ladies?”
He jerked a shoulder. “Maybe. I didn’t want to just be a street kid forever. No class or manners or, I don’t know, breeding.”
My belly trembled for a whole new reason.
I slipped my arms around Thor’s neck, forcing myself to look at him when his gaze dropped to mine. “You’d really charge off into a blizzard if someone needed you, wouldn’t you?”
No questions asked. He was just a fundamentally decent dude.
“Depends. If I’d have to leave you, no. But I figured you’d come with me.” He aimed a frown in the general direction of my belly. “Although I guess things are different now. Can’t have you helping to pull cars out of ditches when you’re traveling for two.”
Even as my feminist heart squawked, I couldn’t help laughing. “That’s not a thing. Also, may I remind you I work at a garage?”
“Yeah, but you aren’t out there towing cars. You’re not, right?”
He looked so adorably worried I had to smooth away the wrinkle above his upper lip. His beard was growing in fuller, but I could still see his worry line under the scruff. “Not my area. Not going to say I never pitch in if needed, but rarely.”
“That’s good.” I’d put up my hair in a ponytail post-ceremony and he slid his hand down it possessively. “I know you’re gonna say you can take care of yourself. I know that. I just like taking care of you.” His Adam’s apple jerked. “It’s important to me.”
“Why?” I hated how uncertain I sounded. I wasn’t like that. Or I hadn’t used to be, pre-baby invasion.
Really, pre-Lucky. Developing feelings for him had messed with all my shields, and I was still trying to figure out how to be me and maybe possibly have him in my life.
His face softened. “Aww, Ruby, don’t you ever listen to a guy when he tells you he loves you?”
Twenty-Three
Swallowing suddenly got very difficult. “It’s so fast.”
He rubbed his fist over his chest. “It feels like forever in here.”
“If you change your mind—”
“I won’t.” He kissed my forehead, his big hands coming up to massage my shoulders. “You can depend on me. I swear on my life.”
We’d stopped dancing in the middle of the decidedly uncrowded dance floor. Caleb and Luna and Laverne and Fred were the only couples still swaying to the Michael Buble tune.
Outside, snow fell in fat flakes thick enough to drown out even my objections. Because I wanted to fucking believe him.
I wanted it more than anything.
On the next break from dancing, I made excuses about needing to pee. I could tell by the look on Thor’s face that he assumed that too was due to the baby. All functions in my body were now in support of new life.
Assuming there was one. And I supposed if I was thinking about next steps and making room in my life and what that meant, I needed to take this test so I knew exactly what I was dealing with.
So we would know.
Turned out stopping by the bathroom was a good idea. After I finished and washed up, I wandered down the hall past the reception room into the lobby of the main building. I strolled into the handily located general store, hoping upon hope they carried things for a truly fun romantic night.
Who needed condoms when you were on the hunt for a pregnancy test?
While glancing over my shoulder about sixteen times as if I expected to be brought in for B&E, I roamed the aisles. I grabbed a bag of old-fashioned ginger candies since they supposedly helped with nausea, a package of Doritos, and the jumbo size package of peanut M&Ms. Soon, I had so much food in my arms of a non-nutritive nature, I couldn’t see over the pile.