“No. Lily and I talked about it and we want to be surprised.”
“Okay. If you change your mind let me know.”
I stare at the small infant on the screen. It moves all over and the heartbeat is steady. I know that our baby is fine but I want the doctor to affirm.
“Is the baby okay?” Aidan asks. I hold my breath.
“Yes, the baby is doing well. I’m more concerned about the mother right now. She needs to wake up soon. Maggie, how many units have you got in her?”
“Two, doctor.”
“It may take a while longer before she comes to. She lost a lot of blood and her body is using extra right now. Give it some time,” the doctor says.
Aidan summons a chair for me and I gratefully get up from my knees to sit in it.
“Thanks, Aidan.”
He pats me on the shoulder. “I’m going to go tell Manda what’s happening. She is freaking out. Don’t be surprised if she wants to see Lily. She thinks of Lily like a sister. Those two have really bonded,” Aidan says and his smile is equal parts ironic and pleased. Who knew? I shouldn’t be surprised. That’s my Lily, kind and compassionate.
Aidan pops out just as the rest of the group shows up.
“Everyone, two at a time and only for a few minutes. She needs rest and quiet. She is not conscious yet.” I hear everyone murmuring. First through the door are Helena, Julian and Hannah. I guess Hannah doesn’t make three. It makes me smile.
“How are you doing, sweetheart?” Helena asks me.
“I’ve been better.” I rub my hand through my hair and snort.
“She’ll be up and around soon. The blood is the key. I heard you saw the baby. What was it like, Sebastian?” Helena asks. I hand her the picture of the baby the doctor printed.
I see her eyes crinkle like she is going to cry and wonder in Hannah and Julian’s eyes just like Aidan’s.
“Dr. Hildebrand said that you don’t want to know the sex of the baby?” Julian asks.
“That’s right. With so little time to experience the pregnancy we just want to focus on making sure the baby is as healthy as possible.”
“I think that’s admirable,” Julian says. Helena bends down and kisses Lily’s forehead and then mine. Julian kisses Lily and pats me on the back. “I think our time is up, Sebastian. We’ll send in Diel next.”
“Thanks, Julian.”
“Oh My Goddess. Did you see her kick ass? This is one brave little mamma. She’ll be okay, Sebastian. She is so strong. I hear the baby is wiggling all over the place,” Hannah says as she smiles fondly at Lily’s belly. Her expression changes as she looks at the cut Maggie is now covering with gauze.
“That bitch is lucky Aidan wanted to handle things quickly or I know a special Hell for vamps like her,” Diel confesses as he walks in and wraps an arm around his wife. He looks ready to kill Guilia all over again. His fist clenching makes me like him all the more. “We’ll leave so the others can visit.”
Hannah and Diel kiss Lily and Hannah kisses my cheek. Her breath hitches as she leaves the room showing that she was trying to put on a strong show for me. I let go with a shaky shiver.
Dr. Hildebrand tells Andrew and Liam they have just two minutes.
“Oh, Miss Lily,” Andrew sobs. “That bitch better not have hurt our baby.”
“The baby is fine, Andrew, and so is Lily. She just needs to get more blood into her.” I squeeze his hand and Liam puts his arm around Andrew’s waist, pulling him in for comfort. They kiss Lily’s and my cheeks and leave.
Finally, Aidan and Manda come in. Manda is crying and Aidan is holding her close.
“Sebastian, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. If you guys hadn’t found me then that psycho-bitch wouldn’t have tried to get Lily.”
“Manda, shh…” I say getting up to give her a hug. “This is not your fault. Please don’t think that. You need to let go of this guilt, cherie. It’s unfair to you. Right now we need to have a lot of positive thoughts going towards Lily. No more of this thinking about you having anything to do with this. It is what it is. Sometimes life deals us circumstances out of our control and we must handle them as best we can.”
“You’ve done amazingly well, love,” Aidan tells her then he pulls her into him.
Lily stirs on the bed. I sit as gently as I can on the edge so that I don’t disturb her and take her hand.
Her eyes flutter open and take a minute to focus on me then her hands clasp her belly.
“Bast, the baby?”
“Just fine,” I say and give her a reassuring smile. She smiles tentatively back.
“How bad was I cut?”
“Almost to the uterus. It was a bad one, cherie. But Dr. Hildebrand has sewn you up and is giving you blood transfusions.”
She looks at her arm and then up at the blood and sighs.
“I’m sorry for getting caught. She came out of nowhere. I hope Aidan got the bitch.”
“You were perfect, love. As soon as she let go I took her out. You were very brave.”
“Thanks, Aidan.”
“Lily, I was so scared,” I whisper.
“We’ll give you guys a few minutes,” Manda says. She and Aidan leave, shutting the door behind them.
“I was scared too, Bast. Then I got pissed. If she had hurt our baby I would have had Aidan resurrect her so I could have killed her. How dare she?” She whispers hoarsely.
“It’s all over now. I just want to concentrate on getting you healthy and getting through this pregnancy. How about we start stocking the nursery?”
“That would be so much fun. I’m still woozy, Bast. But as soon as I can, I’m going to have Aidan summon me some baby furniture magazines,” she says drowsily. I kiss her eyelids as she shuts them and hold her hand.
Dr. Hildrebrand heard from Aidan that she is awake and comes in after knocking.
“Lily, dear. Can you wake up for me? I want to check your vitals.” Dr. Hildebrand motions for his nurse to take Lily’s blood pressure. Lily opens her eyes and focuses on me, smiling.
“That’s my girl,” Dr. Hildebrand says.
“Blood pressure normal, Doctor.”
“Thanks, Maggie. I think you need some rest now, Lily. You have two more transfusions to go through still. I’ll leave Maggie here to attend to those and then I’ll be back to take out your stiches when you’re done. You should be all healed by then. I’m sorry I can’t stay. I still have clinic going on.”
“Thanks, Dr. Hildebrand,” Lily mumbles then closes her eyes again.
“Is she okay?” I ask.
“Yes, just tired and still low on blood. I won’t sugar coat it, Sebastian. It was close. It’s a very good thing that you had that portal put in. Everything was able to happen so quickly that we had the best outcome we could have hoped for.” The doctor looks hard at me. “Is she still in danger?”
“No, Aidan took care of the vampire. She and her associates are no more.”
“Good. She doesn’t need the stress.”
“We were just talking about decorating the nursery. That’s the most stressful thing I am going to let her do for the next four weeks.”
“Good man. I’m leaving for about an hour to finish my clinic for the day and then I’ll be back to take out the stitches. If you have any questions, ask Maggie. She’s my right hand at the clinic and knows her stuff. Bye for now. I’ll show myself out.”
“Ciao, Doctor.”
THIRTY-TWO / LILITH
I woke up on and off for about an hour, Sebastian tells me. He never leaves my side. Before I know it, Dr. Hildebrand is back to take my stitches out. A bothersome ritual I don’t plan on repeating anytime soon.
“This has healed nicely, Lily, no scar,” Dr. Hildebrand says, smiling down at me.
“Scars don’t bother me. It’s the cutting I can do without.” Dr. Hildebrand nods. “Are you sure the baby is okay?”
“Positive. I even know the sex but Sebastian said you wanted to be surprised.”
“Yes. This pregnancy is going so fast that we want to cherish it and the surprise.”
“I think that is wise. No more heroics, okay?” Dr. Hildebrand arches an eyebrow.
“No more, I promise. I want things nice and quiet for these last four weeks.”
“Good. I will see you in a couple of days for your regular appointment.”
“Thank you, Dr. Hildebrand,” Sebastian says. “I’ll walk you out.”
Manda takes a place next to me. Aidan is holding her hand. They look so concerned that I start to cry. I know how strongly they care for me and I them. I am blessed.
“Lily, we want to wait to get married until after the baby is born,” Manda says. I start to protest and she shushes me. “The only thing that was pushing it so fast was the peach blossoms and Aidan assured me that he could provide them.”
“What about Laura’s photo shoot?”
“I already talked to her and she says it’s no problem to push that back six weeks. Is six weeks enough time?”
“Yes, it would be. Thank you so much. Will you still be staying with us?”
“The funny thing about that is that two of your neighbors have decided to up and move, putting their houses up for sale. I think a little djinn persuasion was used but I can’t get a confession out of this one,” she says as she pokes Aidan in the ribs. He mocks injury and we both laugh at him.
“I made them offers they couldn’t refuse and now they have their dream homes – no harm, no foul.”
“Do you think Hannah will want to stay that close or pick something in the Haight? She really loves that neighborhood and it is quirky enough for her tastes,” I ask.
“What’s quirky enough for me?” Hannah asks as she strolls in with Fiona. Bouncing the baby to soothe her. I don’t even think she realizes she’s doing it. That makes me smile and anticipate the day when that will be me.
“The Haight, darling. There are two houses on the street that you could choose from or you could look at more houses in the Haight. You seemed enamored with them and the area,” Aidan says.
“The Haight is cool, no doubt, but I would like to look at the houses here too. The thought of all our children growing up together is like a dream come true. In the Haight we will always have to worry about what they did or said if they played with normal kids. That wouldn’t happen here.”
“True. I hope they will be as close as their parents are,” I say.
Hannah rubs my baby belly and she smiles at me.
“They will. We won’t give them a choice.” Aidan laughs loudly just as Sebastian comes in carrying Finn. He’s rubbing the little guy’s back and cooing to him. It makes me weepy. He is going to be such a good dad.
“Well, everyone, Aidan and Manda have decided to postpone their wedding for six weeks. Until after the baby is born. They also informed me that there are two houses for sale on this street.”
Diel comes in while I say the last part and he looks at Hannah hopefully.
“You are so transparent, Diel. Of course I want to look at them. We can visit the Haight all the time but when our time is precious we would be right here, around family. Let’s have a look as soon as possible.”
“I can take you now,” Aidan pipes up. Manda smiles up at him.
“Maybe you should show us the one you don’t want,” Diel says.
“Nonsense. I can change anything I want on it to accommodate us. So you should have first dibs.”
“Cool,” Hannah says. “Lily, are you and Bast up to watching these two while we go?”
“Yes, give me Finn since he’s sleeping. I’ll just cuddle up with him in bed. Bast can play with Fiona.”
“Okay, we won’t be long. Call or text us if you need anything.” Diel says. He looks worried. Well, they are going to have to get over their separation anxiety at some point.
“We’ll be fine, Diel. Go enjoy your house-hunting,” Sebastian says, patting Diel on the back while cradling Fiona in his arms. He looks down at her and makes a funny face and she smiles at him, drooling everywhere. He laughs and starts speaking in French to her.
Diel visibly relaxes and Hannah pulls him toward the door. She’s excited, I can tell. Oh, I hope they like one of them.
I pull Finn closer to me and whisper into his ear how much I love him before nuzzling his soft head.
“Don’t they smell amazing, Bast?”
“They do. I can’t get enough of them. I’m so excited for our petite enfant to arrive.”
“Dr. Hildebrand said I should be able to feel the baby move before the end of the week. I can’t wait. You get to hear its heartbeat but so far all I’ve gotten is fat.”
Bast laughs.
“You’ve hardly gotten fat, Lily. You have become incredibly sexy though. There is nothing sexier to a man than his wife swollen with his child – sexist, but I’m old-fashioned. If the babies weren’t here and you felt better I would show you just how sexy you are.”
“This is why I love you.” I snuggle the blankets up around Fin and close my eyes.
When I open them, the sun is setting and Sebastian is holding a sleeping Fiona while watching me. I yawn and stretch as much as I can without disturbing Finn.
“How long was I out for?”
“About an hour. Diel and Hannah have called every fifteen minutes. I finally had to ban them unless it was an emergency so that they wouldn’t wake you guys up.”
“Thanks, Bast. I really needed that last nap. I feel normal again.”
“Good. That’s what we need. Maggie took your IV out while you slept. You finished your transfusions. I sent her home since I didn’t think we needed her anymore.”
“When are Diel and Hannah coming back? I could die for a shower.”
“Why don’t I call Julian and Helena? They can watch the babes while I help you in and out of the shower.” He pulls his phone out and hits a number for speed dial.
“Julian? Would you and Helena be up to watching the twins for a little bit? Diel and Hannah are looking at houses and Lily really wants a shower. Bon.”
Sebastian takes his phone and hits another number.
“Diel? Helena and Julian are going to watch the twins for a little bit while I help Lily with a shower.” He pauses, listening. “No, no need to rush. I just wanted to let you know the plans. Okay, see you in a bit.” Bast shakes his head. “I expect to see them in ten minutes. Diel was just looking for any excuse to be back with his babies.”
“Please tell me we won’t be quite so protective. Our baby will need to fall a few times before it can learn to walk or run. We’ve got to let it make its own mistakes along the way,” I say.
“Cherie, you are so wise. I am humbled that you want to spend your life with me.”
“Sweetheart, I had a good teacher in you.”
Sebastian leans in to kiss me and we hear a throat clearing.
“None of that. We’re here now. You can go do whatever it is you want to do now,” Helena says. She has a twinkle of mischief in her eye. “Lily, let me take Finn. You go have your shower. I can still smell the blood on you.”
“Sebastian, I’ve got Fiona. Go help your wife,” Julian says and winks at us.
“I expect Diel and Hannah soon. I told them we were switching up and Diel was afraid they were imposing. He just wanted an excuse to hog the babies again,” Sebastian says and chuckles. Julian slaps his back, laughing himself.
After we hand the babies to Helena and Julian, Sebastian slips his arms under my knees and behind my back to carry me to our room. I giggle and see his smile get bigger.
“Ah, I so love it when you do that.”
“Do what, Bast?”
“Giggle. You don’t do it enough. We will work on it though. We have to show our daughter how to giggle.”
“Or our son.”
“Or our son.”
“I know we said we didn’t want to know the sex, but are you sure you don’t have a preference?” I ask as he sets me down in the bathroom.
“I want he
althy, Lily. I really don’t care if we have a son or daughter. Both appeal to me in different ways. A little girl like you makes me go soft in the knees. On the other hand a boy to do guy things with would be so cool.”
“So you’re not curious at all?”
“I didn’t say that. It took everything in me to keep from asking the doctor. But I didn’t think it would be fair to know when you didn’t.”
“Too true. I would have killed you.”
Sebastian turns me around and unties the hospital gown, letting it fall to the floor.
“Come, cherie. The doctor said a shower, no hot baths tonight. Are you feeling steady or do you want me to join you?”
“Very subtle, Sebastian. Besides, you have blood all over you. Get undressed and climb in,” I say as I step into the shower. I adjust the shower heads and by the time they are just right, Bast is cozying up behind me.
We wash each other off and then wash our hair. Then Sebastian takes my face in his hands and kisses me a long time. We make sweet, gentle love with water falling all around us. I feel relaxed for the first time in weeks.
I slip into an Irish wool sweater and yoga pants along with my werewolf slippers, a gift from Andrew.
When we meet everyone in the living room I find that Diel and Hannah are back and holding their babies. I smile down at them and rub Fiona’s head. Andrew has made me some herbal tea and hands me a mug. I take a tentative sip and it is divine. A mix of mints.
“Miss Lily, we have to talk about you getting some domestic help,” Andrew says, hands on hips. He’s giving me a look like he isn’t taking no for an answer.
“Andrew, you know we can’t have just anyone with the baby coming. Not sure what kind of requirements the baby will have. We have to be prepared,” I reply.
“I have the perfect solution. Her name is Annie. She’s a new vampire and was a barista. We met when we were getting your tea. She’s had experience cleaning too and wants to go back to school so needs a flexible gig.”
“Andrew, you just met her. We don’t know anything about her. Who is her maker?” Bast asks.
“Lionne was her lover then maker before he died,” Liam says.
Lionne was a sweet vampire. He surrounded himself with loving people. If Annie was his girlfriend that says a lot about her. Still, we would have to run background checks and interview her.
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