Guillermo quickly checked his email. He sighed. He had put off real work when he had been consumed by fear and tracking down his baby and his surrogate, but it was time to get back to real life now. He walked into the office that was adjacent to his bedroom.
Unlike the office downstairs, which he used for meetings and was decorated to impress by one of the best interior designers in town, his private office was all function, no form. He had a simple desk, a filing cabinet, and a little thing that sorted out his cables. To be honest, he preferred his workspace like this, but he needed to keep up appearances when it came to the outside world.
His assistant was virtual. She lived nearby, and she could get him anything that Jimena, who was getting old, could not.
He opened up his laptop and got absorbed in his work. This, he knew. This, he understood. He let the thoughts of his runaway surrogate filter away, replaced by reading and analyzing the reports he had commissioned on the new refineries that he wanted to open to keep up with demand.
Chicken Soup
Devanta
Devanta opened her eyes and looked around her. She was in a light blue room, and there was a glass of water next to her bed. Jimena was sitting next to her, quietly swiping through an iPad with her glasses slowly sliding down her nose.
"Jimena?"
"Devanta! I am so glad you are awake. Here, drink some water." Jimena handed the water to her.
Devanta drank small sips from the water glass.
“I’m so sorry that he deceived you. I hope you will forgive me.”
Devanta kept sipping. She put the glass back on the nightstand.
“Of course I forgive you. You were just doing your job.”
Jimena kissed Devanta on the cheek. “You are a sweetheart. What would you say to something nice and light? Some chicken soup with mote? How does that sound?”
Chicken soup with mote was Devanta’s favorite. She had never eaten mote, hominy in English, before she had moved in with Jimena, but it was her favorite food now.
She smiled weakly. “Sounds great.”
“Okay, it will be ready in twenty minutes. Come down when you smell it.”
Jimena bustled out of the room, and Devanta could hear her going down the stairs steadily. Jimena was no longer a young woman.
Devanta rolled out of bed and headed for the bathroom. She looked in the mirror and groaned. Her hair was an absolute mess, and her face wasn’t much better. She splashed some cold water on, and she did her best with her hair.
Her red polo looked utterly out of place in the bathroom. It was pure marble, and she was a TGIF waitress. She curled her arms around herself. She touched her little baby bump. This was the kind of upbringing that her baby deserved, and she felt ashamed for trying to take her little one out of this life. What could she offer her child that the baby’s father could not offer ten times over?
The smell of chicken soup filled her room, and she knew that she should go downstairs.
She went downstairs and followed her nose into the kitchen. Inside, Jimena was stirring something in a very big pot.
“Smells good.”
Jimena spun around. “It looks like you are out of bed. Sit, sit. It is not good for you to walk around too much. You don’t want to strain yourself.”
Devanta obediently sat down. Jimena ladled soup into a big mug.
“Be careful. It is very hot. I made it to warm you up. He took you outside without a coat in this weather.” Jimena shook her head and gave her a soup spoon.
Devanta took a tiny bit, and she moaned. Jimena was the best cook that Devanta had ever met. This soup was better than restaurant food, and it had a lot more chicken and mote than any restaurant would ever put inside of a soup. “Thank you. It is so good.”
“Eat, eat. I think that you have lost wait.” Jimena shook her head. “It is not good. Pregnant women are supposed to gain weight, not lose it.”
Devanta drank her soup and said nothing. If Guillermo had said that to her, she would have told him that her weight was her own darn business. But to Jimena, who wanted to care for Devanta like she was her own daughter, Devanta would never say a thing like that.
Devanta felt wetness between her legs.
“Oh no.”
Jimena came forward and knelt next to Devanta. “What is it?” She put a hand on Devanta’s stomach.
“I think my water just broke.”
Labor and Delivery
Guillermo
When the ambulance dropped her off, she felt calm. Guillermo was an absolute mess. Jimena had kept her cool in the back of the ambulance, but Guillermo was losing his mind. He wasn't read for this. He was supposed to have two more weeks, not have Devanta give him his child the very day that he found her again.
As soon as they had gotten there, they had whisked his surrogate away to give birth in her private suite without him. He was left to pace around outside. Jimena was placidly reading a book on her Kindle.
"Calm yourself, Gui." She put down the Kindle. "Devanta and the baby are fine."
"I wish that they would let me in there." He felt scared and impotent out here, emotions that were foreign to him. Guillermo was afraid of no man, but he certainly could be afraid of childbirth.
"Your eyes have changed. All in good time. Patience." She picked up her Kindle and started reading again.
Guillermo backed up and looked at himself in one of the decorative mirrors. His eyes had turned bright gold. He needed to have a better handle on himself.
He breathed slow, deep breaths until his eyes turned blue again. It would not help anybody if a panther came out of nowhere. It was probably startle people and cause problems. Besides, there were cameras in this room. He could probably buy the footage afterwards, but there was always a small chance that a video could be released. In today’s environment, there would probably be claims of Photoshop or whatever people used to manipulate videos. It was safer now than it had ever been, because everyone was skeptical when it came to magic.
The doors into the delivery unit opened up.
"You can see the baby now."
Guillermo and Jimena stood up and rushed into Devanta's hospital room.
She was sweaty, and her hair was disheveled. Nonetheless, she was more beautiful than she had ever been before. In her arms lay the baby. The baby's eyes were closed.
"Do you want to hold him?"
Guillermo held out his arms, completely mute. Devanta handed the baby to his father.
Guillermo looked into the baby's sleeping face. The baby stretched restlessly, and Guillermo brought the baby closer to his body.
"He is perfect." There were tears in Guillermo's eyes. "Just perfect."
"He looks just like Guillermo when he was that age." Jimena brushed his little fuzzy baby head, covered with downy black hair. She kissed his forehead.
"What should we name the baby?"
Guillermo looked at her. "Iker?"
"I am not naming my child after Iker Casillas, no matter how good of a soccer player he is."
"How about Emiliano?"
"Too long and too big for our tiny baby."
Guillermo cleared his throat. "I was very close to my grandfather when I was young. His name was Samuel."
Devanta closed her eyes. "Yes."
The nurse in the corner, unnoticed by Guillermo and Jimena, scribbled down something on her iPad. "Sounds good to me. I've been asking her for a name since she came, but she did not know the gender. She said she wanted it to be a surprise."
Guillermo could see that she was taking long, slow breaths.
"You can visit more when she isn't so tired. Go home. Come back tomorrow."
Guillermo was about to protest, but Jimena put a hand on his arm. "This has been a very exciting day. You need to rest. Don't worry. They will still be here tomorrow."
Guillermo felt his body shaking. Maybe he would not be so affected tomorrow.
"I will be back first thing tomorrow morning." They walked out, and Devanta opened her
eyes. She did not intend to be here tomorrow morning.
Running Away
Devanta
"When can I leave?"
The nurse spun around, startled. "We normally keep new mothers and their babies for at least 48 hours, but if you want to leave, we will not stop you. There are some hospitals who just have the women give birth and send them on their way."
"Can I get some diapers and formula?"
"Of course. We have plenty of free samples in the nursery. Give me a minute to put things together." The nurse left the room.
She lay back in her bed, exhausted. She was sweaty and tired, but she had no intention of staying with Guillermo. Both of them meant well, but she was used to much more freedom than they wanted to give her.
She picked up the phone in her room, and she dialed the number that she knew by heart. It was her best friend, Martina.
"Hello?"
"It's me."
"Where are you? I can hear an echo."
"I am in the hospital."
"Already? Did you have the baby?"
"Yes. I have a son named Samuel."
"Congratulations!"
"I need your help."
"Of course. What do you need?"
"I need a place to stay. Somewhere that Guillermo cannot find me."
"You know that it is sketchy to steal your baby away from his father?"
"I just want to do what is best for the baby. I think that we will be locked up if I stay with Guillermo."
Martina sighed. "Okay, I will help you. I just bought a new apartment unit, and we have not found a tenant yet. It is not fancy, but it is a safe place for you and the baby."
"Thank you. If I can ever repay the favor in the future, just let me know."
"You know that I would do anything for you. You also know that you are eventually going to have to to share the baby with Guillermo."
Devanta was quiet. "Yes, I know."
"How soon can you get me?"
"I can be there in 10 minutes. You know that I live close to the hospital."
"Okay, I will be waiting out front."
The nurse came back in, holding a bag that was bulging with all the things that a newborn needed. "You will need to buy more, but this is enough for now."
"I cannot thank you enough. I am just going to walk downstairs to meet my friends now."
"I cannot let you walk downstairs. It is against hospital policy. All new mothers must be put in a wheelchair. If you want, I will will you downstairs."
"If that is what you need."
The nurse left the room, and she came back with the wheelchair. Devanta winced as she got off of the bed, and she hobbled over to the wheelchair. Maybe the wheelchair was a good idea. The nurse put the baby into her arms.
"Most mothers don't move around so close to the birth."
"I am not most mothers." It was Guillermo's fault, but her situation was very different from the average mother's.
"We can go downstairs now."
"Okay."
Martina drove up in her flaming red car right as the nurse pushed her wheelchair to the waiting area between the two outside doors. The nurse pushed Devanta and Samuel out the door. Martina popped the trunk, and the nurse put in the bag of supplies.
Surprisingly, there was a baby car seat in the back.
"Where did you get that?"
"I figured that we would need it." Martina shrugged. "I borrowed it off with my neighbor. She has a three-year-old. She did not need it anymore."
"That sounds nice. Remind me to thank her in some way."
She got out and walked into the passenger side of Martina's car. She was too young to feel this old.
She waved goodbye to the nurse as Martina drove them away.
Next Morning
Guillermo
"What do you mean she's gone?"
"She left already." The nurse shrugged. "She had a friend pick her up last night."
Guillermo knew that his eyes were turning gold, but he could not control himself.
"Did you shave today? Your beard is…"
Guillermo struggled for control. His face stopped sprouting here. The nurse just raised her eyebrows and shrugged. She had seen a lot in her years at the hospital. A little extra facial hair did not scare her, not with her many years of experience. New fathers were already a little crazy. It drove them wild that they had little to no control. In the labor and delivery unit, the spotlight was completely on the mothers, with fathers as bystanders.
"Where did she go?"
The nurse shrugged. “I have no idea. She did not tell me." Guillermo frowned at her, but the answer did not change.
"Well, the least I can do is pay her hospital bill." Guillermo felt a headache threatening to form.
He followed the nurse to the billing office. She told them the room number, and they printed something. They gave him a list of charges for the room. He went completely still as he read it. "What is this phone call?"
"She called her friend from the room's phone."
Guillermo took a picture of the bill. He sent it to Gerard immediately, without any kind of explanation. Gerard would know what to do. Guillermo paid him enough.
"Thank you." He felt much more hopeful now, because he could find her. When he did, he would not let her or the baby out of his sight. She had already proven that she was untrustworthy, running away twice.
"Happy to help. Now, excuse me, I need to take care of a few more patients." The nurse went back into the labor and delivery unit.
As he watched the nurse walk away, Guillermo felt his phone ring in his pocket. He accepted the call. "Tell me what you know. Where is she?”
"The phone number belongs to Martina Gonzales. I can text you her address. She lives 10 minutes from the hospital."
Guillermo's phone buzzed, and he saw the address. She was not going to get away this time. He would make sure of it.
He walked quickly to his limousine, where his driver was waiting at the curb. He showed the address to his driver, and they wordlessly drove away from the hospital.
In his reflection in the dividing glass, he could see that his eyes were glowing gold. Guillermo closed his eyes. Why did she keep running away from him? There were so many women who would be happy to stay. It figured that he had picked the one woman on Earth who did not want to be with him.
Women were an enigma. They could be made happy with jewelry and flowers, but he got the impression that Devanta would not care. He needed to find a way to keep Devanta happy, and he would need to find it quickly. He hated it when she ran away, and he did not want to drive her to do it a third time.
Martina’s House
Devanta
Devanta closed the door gently, careful not to make a sound. The tiny baby was sleeping in a nest of pillows. She had too stood by the bed for way too long while she admired the way that his long eyelashes settled on his soft cheeks. He was perfect, no matter what kind of mess came along with his daddy.
"What are you going to do?" Martina asked Devanta quietly.
"I know that staying here is temporary, but I'm not sure what else to do. I do not think that there is anywhere that I could go."
"When the baby wakes up, I can drive you to the apartment. I have an air mattress that should be good enough for now, but you need to think about more. It doesn’t really have any furniture. You have to get what is best for the baby."
Devanta helped herself to some of the cookies that Martina had on the table. She took a bite and swallowed. "I know."
There was furious knocking at the door. The two of them locked eyes. "How did he find me already?"
"Open up! I know you are in there."
Martina walked to the door, and she opened it. "I wondered when you would arrive."
Devanta's jaw dropped to the ground. "Did you tell him where I was?" Could Martina betray her?
Martina shook her head. "No. I just knew that he would find you. You took the baby."
Devanta put her hands on he
r hips. "What do you think you are doing here?"
Guillermo frowned at her. "I could ask you the same thing." Without warning, he scooped her up and flung her over his shoulder. She beat his back, but he acted like he did not feel it. "Where's the baby?"
"The baby is sleeping in the bedroom."
"Could you help me put the baby in my limo?"
"Do not help him do anything!"
"Sorry, babe. I think that being with his father is a better option for him then living in an empty apartment."
"Traitor!"
Martina took the car seat out of her car, and she brought it into the house. She picked up Samuel from the bedroom, and she buckled him in.
Guillermo carried Devanta into his limousine. Martina was right behind him, and she put Samuel in. She buckled one of the seatbelts through the back of his car seat.
"I will not forgive you for this."
Martina shook her head. "You will thank me later."
Guillermo crossed his arms. "When are you going to stop behaving like a toddler?"
If Devanta had been a cat, she would've hissed at him. "I am not behaving like a toddler. What gives you the right to comment and act like you own everything?"
"I do own everything. You entered into a contract with me to carry my child. You do not seem to take it seriously, but I do."
The limousine took them away from Martina's home.
Soon, they were pulling up to his house.
Proposal
Guillermo
Devanta got out of the car, and Guillermo followed her out. He was right behind her when she whirled around and faced him.
"I'm not going into your house." She turned and walked away, and Guillermo quickly caught her. He put a hand on her arm, and when she tried to get away, just tightened his grip.
"We need to talk." Guillermo was going to try to reason with her.
"We had plenty of time to talk before. I do not want to be with you."
Shifters in the Snow Page 49
