The doctor arrived about an hour later. Dr. Brighton lived in the neighboring town, where most of his practice was situated. Jasper greeted him breathless; I greeted him with a smile. The poor man looked exhausted, and who could blame him? The sun was just starting to slip over the horizon. He did his examination, determining that yes, my water had broken, but I was still a long way from delivery, which was disappointing. He offered to give me something for pain, but I declined. I wasn’t in pain yet.
The pain didn’t start until a few hours later. I had been expecting the muscle spasms in my lower abdomen, similar to menstrual cramps, but instead, the pain started in my lower back and radiated up my spine. It was the most excruciating thing I had ever felt. On the bright side, my recently sprained ankle had been all but forgotten. On the other hand, the pain was almost paralyzing. Dr. Brighton encouraged me to get up and walk around, claiming that would help the pain. Jasper took my arm and we walked the hallways, but I could only make it so far before the pain forced me to stop. Jasper ended up carrying me back to the bedroom. His eyes were full of worry, seeing me in so much pain, but Dr. Brighton assured him that it was all normal.
He and Jasper got into an argument. Jasper insisted Dr. Brighton do something about the pain, and Dr. Brighton told him there wasn’t much he could do. I yelled at them both to stuff it.
Dr. Brighton did several examinations throughout the day, but it wasn’t until almost ten o’clock that night that he declared I was almost ready to begin pushing. Jasper took my hand on one side, and Annabelle, who had arrived as soon as she’d heard I was in labor, took my other hand. Bridget waited, ready to do anything that was asked of her.
I pushed for about a half an hour, which Dr. Brighton said was on the shorter side. I couldn’t imagine. The pain was like being ripped apart from the inside, mainly in my lower back but stretching in a band across my stomach. I cried at the pain. I didn’t think I could go through with it. Bridget was constantly grabbing fresh compresses for my head, and Dr. Brighton gave me sniffs of ether to help. Several times I didn’t think I would make it, and Dr. Brighton had to remind me that it would all be worth it.
He was right, of course. I had known this little baby for a week and now I couldn’t imagine my life without him. He was my everything.
Lowell had been just shy of six pounds at birth, a bit small, but not too small to be concerned. They had placed him on my chest immediately after he began crying. He was covered in all the unsavory things that came with being birthed, but I didn’t care. To me, he was beautiful.
After he was cleaned up and had his first feeding, Jasper got to hold him for the first time. The look on his face could only be described as pure love. I had seen it on his face a handful of times when he looked at me. He was completely enamoured with this baby. Of course, I knew that already. Even before the baby was born he had fought tooth and nail to keep him safe. I couldn’t believe how much our little family had been through to get Lowell here. Now our lives were irreversibly changed.
For the most part, I slept while the baby slept. I was lucky. I couldn’t imagine how difficult it would be if I had more than one child, or if I had a job to get back to or housework to get done. But I was a duchess, which meant that my only job right now was to stay curled up in bed with my little man. My sole focus for the near future was to make sure that both myself and the baby were happy and well rested. Granted, I could only feel so well rested when I had to wake up every few hours to feed the baby, but it was nice to know that when he was done eating I could simply fall back to sleep.
For his part, Jasper had rarely left us. He was just as enamoured with Lowell as I was. He loved to cradle him and hold him against his chest. When Lowell was in his arms, Jasper couldn’t look at anything else. He smiled more than I had ever seen him smile. I knew he had wanted to be a father for a long time, he’d needed to be a father, and now he finally had a son. He didn’t mind looking after Lowell so I could sleep, and that helped tremendously. What would it be like if I didn’t have him by my side, if he had to go back to work just like every other man out there? Instead, Jasper had been able to send a message to Prince Edward and told him that he would be unable to make any trips to London in the next few weeks. I wasn’t used to having Jasper home or by my side so much. I adored it.
There was a soft knock on my door before Jasper poked his head inside.
“Is he sleeping?” he whispered. I nodded.
Jasper slipped inside the door, a cup of tea in his hands. He set the cup down on my bedside table and gently brushed a few strands of hair away from my face before kissing me on the forehead.
“You all right?” he asked.
“Just a bit tired,” I told him.
“Do you want me to take him for you?”
I looked down at Lowell, so peacefully sleeping in my arms. I was afraid that if I tried to hand him off he would wake up, and then he’d want to eat, and I wouldn’t get any sleep at all.
“No, that’s all right. Let’s not move him.”
“Are you sure?”
I glanced at the baby once more. His mouth had fallen open slightly, and he sighed. I smiled.
“I’m sure.”
“How long has he been asleep?”
“I’m not sure. I think perhaps about ten minutes.”
Jasper smiled. “If you need me, don’t hesitate to let me know, all right? Have Bridget come get me. I’ll be in my study.”
“I will,” I promised.
“Anything I can get you?”
I shook my head. “Not that I can think of, although it is a bit chilly in here.”
Jasper got up from the bed and moved toward the fire, using the poker to encourage the flames. His broad silhouette was illuminated in the soft light of the fire. Both of us had the dark hair, so it was no surprise that Lowell did as well. The long, dark lashes he had gotten from his father. The eyes, I wasn’t sure. Mine were brown and Jasper’s were a sort of blue gray, but Lowell’s were bright like my sapphire engagement ring. I had no idea where those came from.
After successfully coaxing flames out of the embers, Jasper turned back to me. The shadows of the room only seemed to highlight his stunning bone structure, the high cheekbones and chiseled jaw line. He was as breathtaking to look at today as he was the first day we had been reunited. I still couldn’t believe how lucky I was to have him, to have been chosen by him. We had been childhood friends, and though I didn’t remember much of my childhood, Jasper had told me that he had never forgotten about me. Even as we grew older and the years that we spent apart grew longer, I had always been in the back of his mind. It seemed fantastic, and probably it was an exaggeration, but it was a sweet thought and I wasn’t going to protest just because it seemed fantastic. I’d let him keep the fantasy going, and if he wanted to tell our children when they were older, who was I to disagree?
Jasper came and kissed me again before leaving me to my nap.
Our children were already going to have plenty to learn. It wasn’t just the hair or the lashes that Lowell had inherited from his father. He had inherited the same curse or mutation or whatever that all the men in the Wolfric men, and indeed most of the men in the duchy of Faolancaster had. A mutation that would utterly change his life forever. I was lucky I still had several years before it emerged.
Lowell, as the first born son, would inherit his father’s title as well as his father’s mutation and his looks. When Jasper passed away, it would be Lowell taking up his mantel, and not just as the Duke of Faolancaster. Lowell would be in charge of not just the people of Faolancaster, but of everyone in England with this curse. This power put Jasper on almost equal footing as the Queen of England, considering the royal family were a part of this as well. It made him one of the most powerful men in the world. It was an incredible amount of pressure on Jasper. I had seen the toll it had taken, constant trips away from home, constant mediating between men. He always seemed spread a bit thin, juggling both his positions.
I
looked down at my peacefully sleeping baby. I didn’t want all that pressure on him. I didn’t want him to have all of that stress. Yes, it was far down the road, but my heart still broke to think of my little baby taking on the same burdens as his father did. There was nothing I could do; I had gotten pregnant before I realized the full importance of the child I was carrying. Still, as his mother, I wanted to do everything I could to shelter him from the difficulty he would face.
I worked to push the thoughts from my head. That wasn’t for years to come, and while I had perfectly good reasons to be concerned, worrying now would do no good. Lowell wouldn’t take his father’s place for years and years to come.
Instead, I worked to focus on the present, the small bundle curled in the crook of my arm. I traced his nose, his lips, and his cheeks with the pad of my finger. He didn’t stir, and the grip he had on my other finger had relaxed. He was deep in sleep, dreaming about whatever it is that cozy little babies dream about. I kissed the top of his head, and Lowell broke into a sleepy smile. My heart swelled as I pulled him closer. My sweet, beautiful baby. I was so utterly in love.
Even now, it seemed so incredible to me. A year ago, my life had been so radically different, and now I was in a huge, beautiful house with a gorgeous, loving husband and a sweet baby. I had a hard time believing that this wasn’t a dream. I had to pinch myself to believe that this was my life.
Still, I couldn’t believe that I had given birth to a werewolf.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty–One
Chapter Twenty–Two
Chapter Twenty–Three
Chapter Twenty–Four
Chapter Twenty–Five
Chapter Twenty–Six
Chapter Twenty–Seven
Chapter Twenty–Eight
Chapter Twenty–Nine
Chapter Thirty
Sneak Peek
The Wolf's Bait (The Wolf's Peak Saga Book 2) Page 24
