He wore a light-blue flannel button-down and brown corduroy pants that even with his little belly, fit him right in all the good places.
Brent was the most adorable pregnant omega.
“Good morning, sunshine,” I said as I got out to open the passenger door.
“Why can’t I have coffee again?” He smiled and planted a kiss right on my neck under my ear, his almost-favorite place on my body.
“Because caffeine isn’t good for the baby or you. I brought you a to-go cup of chamomile tea. That should help. Also, there’s a honey bun—for my honey bun.”
Brent looked at me. “That was terrible.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I’m just so excited to see the baby and to hear the heartbeat and to learn how you’re doing. Come on.” I grabbed his hand and pulled it to my mouth to kiss his palm. “Don’t be grumpy on heartbeat day.”
“Okay, honey bun.” He took a bite of the pastry and groaned then continued moaning through the whole thing.
“You’re trying to kill me,” I said, reaching over to run my hand up his thigh.
“How?”
“Those noises. Well, I know firsthand those are the same noises you make when we are making love. Keep on and we might not get to the doctor today.”
Of course he amplified the noises and made them downright silly.
He knew how to make me laugh.
We didn’t wait long at the doctor’s and, before I knew it, Brent was on the table, shirt up, being slathered with gross blue gel. He took my hand and squeezed it tight as the technician started looking for our baby.
“Here’s the head…” he said, going on to identify everything. “And here’s the heart…wait a minute.”
I gasped and covered my mouth with my hand. I saw it, exactly what the technician was now hunting for.
There was a second baby in there. I wanted to tell my mate, but damn if the words just wouldn’t come out.
“What is it? Is something wrong?” Brent’s head came up, and he began to sweat.
“Nothing wrong, Daddy. It looks like you two might need a double stroller, though.” The tech’s grin was almost as wide as mine felt.
It was Brent’s turn to gasp, and he looked a little pale.
“Brent,” I cooed as gently as I could. “Sweetheart, it’s amazing news. We have two babies.”
“It’s too early to know the sex, but we definitely have twins. Congratulations.” The tech finished taking all the pictures and printing out copies for the file and for us and then cleaned Brent up and left us with another wish for good luck.
The doctor came in next, an older woman who calmed Brent down, but when she patted him on the leg and said we needed to talk about something, my heart dropped.
“We noted a little elevated blood pressure. It’s not so bad now, but we want to make sure it stays that way. So, a little less salt. A little more relaxing. I’m sure your mate will help you.” She looked at me. “Maybe the daddy needs some foot massages and long warm baths, not hot, though, we don’t want to get overheated. It’s nothing to worry over right now, just to be cautious and aware of, okay, gentlemen?”
We both nodded. She left the room shortly after, also wishing us good luck.
I felt like a dick. The nurse who didn’t notice his mate was having high blood pressure. He was in trouble now. I would be taking his blood pressure once a day at least.
“No wonder you’ve been tired. You’re growing two tiny humans. I think I just fell in love with you more.”
He grimaced. “Can I just have a minute alone to get dressed and just chill out? I need to process.”
I nodded and leaned down to kiss his forehead, careful to mask the worry I was sure was written all over my face. I stepped out of the room and let out the biggest sigh in history.
“Joaquim, may I speak to you for a second?” It was Dr. Allie, as she liked to be called.
“Is it about Brent?”
She used her calming tone again. “Oh, no, honestly, I think you two can kick this little problem to the curb. I was actually wondering…have you ever worked as an OB nurse?”
“I haven’t, but I have delivered a baby or two in the emergency room. Why?”
“Well, I heard you are looking for work here, and I am looking for a new nurse. I need one who is knowledgeable about a variety of issues as well.”
I chuckled. “Well, I’ve seen just about everything all over the world.”
She handed me a folded piece of paper. “I wrote down a salary and the hours. You think about it and let me know, okay?”
Just then, Brent stepped out of the room looking less pale but anxious.
“Ready?” I asked him.
“I’m starving,” he said.
“Let’s feed you three,” I said with my chest puffed out. Yeah, I put two babies in my omega. How’s that for a bucket list item?
Chapter Nineteen
Brent
#twinsies
It had been almost a month since I discovered we were having twins. Twins. As if one little soldier escaping its latex prison wasn’t miraculous enough, I had two. We still didn’t know the sex, but we had two sacs so it could be so many variations. Two little boys who looked just like Jay, or maybe two little girls with my eyes, or one of each.
But, first, I had to keep them in and healthy, and that was harder than expected.
Jay checked my blood pressure daily, and it never went down. It wasn’t super high, but apparently it was supposed to be on the low side about now so while he pretended not to be worried, he was piss-poor at hiding it.
At least we were into finals time at school, so that stress could be put to rest. I didn’t have any finals to take, per se, only my thesis, which was done, but I had to administer and grade finals for the classes I TAed for, and that was hella stressful.
Also adding to my stress was Joaquim. Not that he tried to. But I’d heard the doctor offered him a job a month ago, and never once had he mentioned it. I didn’t know if it was because it was OB and that just wasn’t his thing, or if he didn’t want to put down deep roots.
And I was too scared to ask.
I’d grown accustomed to seeing him daily and frankly, dependent on it. I wanted to ask him to move in with me and out of my mom’s garage apartment. But, again—too much of a chicken butt.
He knocked on my door before coming inside. At least there was that. He was using the key, even if he did still insist on knocking.
“Hey, sexy. I came to see how my three favorite people are doing.” He kissed my belly before taking my lips. “Now, let’s see how your heart and blood pressure are doing.”
This was the worst part of his visits. I knew it was necessary, but it only reminded me that every day my babies were at risk, an invisible risk at that. I was just glad to have him around to check it for me.
“I’m pretty sure kissing me senseless doesn’t lower my heart rate.” I was postponing the inevitable and necessary but not completely wrong. He had my heart racing and my stomach filled with butterflies. I hoped those things never went away. “Maybe check my BP first then kiss me next time.” Not that I wanted to wait for the fun part.
“I’m pretty sure if that is kissing you senseless raises your heart rate then your bar is too low, and I need to show you better.” I waited for him to slink over and raise that bar, but instead he reached for the BP cuff he left on my counter and after that picked up his stethoscope. No pharmacy “inaccurate pieces of inconsistent garbage” for me.
“Let’s get this over with.” I sighed as I plopped at the kitchen table.
“You say that likes it’s torture.” Jay didn’t understand. Or maybe he did. He had this way of slipping into nurse mode where all his emotions were gone, and he was all chipper and calm. To someone who didn’t know him, it would come across as warm, yet professional. I knew it meant he was schooling himself.
“It kind of is. I keep doing more to be better, and yet—boom, every time it is a little bit higher. I don’t
want to break our babies.”
“Shhh, love. You aren’t going to break our babies.” He opened the cuff and wrapped it around my arm, the warmth of his fingers calming me. “Worse comes to worst, you take a little pill and stop working.”
I had a feeling that was far from the worst-case scenario.
“But rent and food.” My savings were down to about four dollars, thanks to doctor copays and graduation fees. Who charges people to be done with school they already paid for?
“All things your alpha can provide.”
My heart skipped a beat, and I was instantly grateful he wasn’t inflating the darn cuff yet. He always did that. Let it sit there so my anxiety was a bit less by the time he took it.
“Are you my alpha?” I asked, wanting it to be true. We’d never been official, and my hormonal craziness had me second-guessing all things at all times. “For true?”
“For true.” Jay kissed my forehead before going forehead to forehead and nose to nose with me. “Did you not know that? I have been slacking in the making-you-feel-like-a-king category?”
“It’s just that I know you were offered a job, but you never even told me.” And out it came. Finally. I felt better just getting it out there. He sat in the chair in front of me, scooching it closer.
“You heard the doctor that first day.”
I nodded at his not question.
“And you have been holding onto that.”
Another nod.
“No wonder your blood pressure has been high. Listen, Brent, and hear my words. I am staying in Mapleville.” He cupped my cheeks. “I’m trying to figure out the hows and such, but I am figuring it out. I didn’t tell you about that job because it didn’t feel right. But I know someplace is, and when I find it we will discuss it—you and me together.”
He was staying. Here. With me.
“Why didn’t you tell me you heard us talking?”
My voice cracked as I answered. “Because you need to do what’s right for you. I can’t be selfish.”
“You, my omega, are a great many things. Selfish is far from one of them. And what is right for me is to be here with you and our babies.”
Our babies. Best two words in the English language.
“I hate when you leave at night.” A tear escaped my ear and he wiped it with his thumb. Yeah, the BP was going to suck, but this was so very much worth it. We needed this talk if we were going to be okay long-term. I’d just been too much of a chicken, unlike my alpha who always put it out there.
“I hate it, too.” He grazed my lips with his, not quite a kiss, but with such affection it nearly overwhelmed me. Or that could be hormones, but still.
“So maybe move in here?” I asked what I’d wanted to ask since he left that blasted hotel, even when I thought it was too selfish to even dream of it.
“Or maybe you move in with me?”
I barked out a laugh. Umm no.
“I very much don’t want to move back to my mom’s.” Ever, ever, ever. I loved her with all my heart, but we did much better when we saw each other at will and not because we had to. I lived in an apartment near the florist.
“I was thinking more of us looking at some small houses.”
“I can’t afford that. When the baby comes, I can’t even afford this, not really.” The harsh truth that was my life.
“Please.” He made the puppy-dog eyes. Those darn things always worked. “Pleeeeeease?”
“Are you begging?” I tapped his nose.
“Pretty much, yeah.” He smirked. Sexy alpha. “So is that a yes?”
“That’s a we can explore the idea after you find a job.” Because as much as I wanted to say yes, there was a lot to consider, especially with my barely over minimum wage, not really full-time gig contingent on grant funding.
“I’ve found four.”
“Four what?” Surely he couldn’t mean he had four jobs because four jobs meant I’d never see him, and he was doting and available pretty much whenever I wasn’t working.
“I found four but am not sure if any is the right one.”
I knew he was good at his job, but four offers was wow.
“Now, let’s put that on the back burner. I want to make sure you three are okay. My alpha tendencies are riding me hard knowing I am responsible for making sure you are healthy.”
I agreed and he noted my blood pressure before taking the cuff off, fiddling with it, and trying it on my other arm before having me lie on my left side with my eyes closed as he rubbed my feet and trying a third time.
“Okay, then.” He wrapped the cuff up, speaking in that darn nurse voice. It couldn’t be good. “So, we are going to take a little ride now.”
Fuck.
“That bad?” Not that I wanted to know, but I kind of needed to. Or maybe I didn’t. It wasn’t like I could fix anything. I’d already been doing all I could.
“No, but I want triage to check you out.”
Liar. It was that bad. Maybe worse.
Chapter Twenty
Jay
#TheNurseVoice
As soon as I took his blood pressure again, I shifted into nurse mode. The last thing my mate needed was a frantic alpha on his hands.
“Okay, so let’s climb into the car and go get you checked out.” I kissed his forehead again, and although he probably found it comforting, it was more to check if he was feverish than a sweet gesture.
His blood pressure was through the roof and while I helped him tie those Converse, I saw his ankles. A covert squeeze of his calf confirmed the swelling around his shins as well.
This wasn’t good for the babies or Brent.
We got in the car, and I rubbed circles on Brent’s belly while I drove with the other hand. The hospital was about thirty minutes away. We pulled into the parking lot, and although my heart was beating a hundred miles a minute, I stayed steady for him. My voice was my nurse’s voice, all soothing and hot chocolate.
“I’m scared,” Brent said with a death grip on my arm as we walked toward the hospital.
“It’s okay, love. I’m just taking precautions. You and those babies are my entire world. I’m making sure my world is well.”
That’s when Brent started crying, and it nearly broke me. In fact, it did. I scooped him up in the parking lot, honeymoon style, and carried him in. No more of that walking bullcrap for my family.
“This is not necessary,” Brent said into my ear.
“But it’s fun, right?” I turned my head and winked at him.
“It is a little fun. Now, put me down.”
The hospital emergency room was tiny with only a few patients sitting in the chairs. I didn’t see any blood or head wounds, so I used my nurse power to get my way.
“Excuse me,” I said to the nurse at the check-in station. “Hi, my name is Joaquim, I’m a nurse, too, and this is my…Brent, and he’s pregnant with twins. I just took his blood pressure and it’s 169/110. He has a history of high blood pressure. There’s some lower extremity swelling as well. Can we get him checked out asap?”
The nurse crooked her finger at me. ”Bring him in.” I set him on a gurney right inside the triage area where she took his info.
“I can hook up the vitals.” Because just watching was killing me.
“Sir, I know you’re a nurse, but just let me do my job, okay? You just be the mate tonight, okay?”
She used the damned nurse voice on me.
It worked.
“Everything is going to be fine, love.” I sat next to Brent who didn’t look pleased with any part of the situation.
While she typed in his insurance and other info from his driver’s license, he turned his head toward me. “I don’t want to spend another night without you.”
I nodded and semi-stalked the nurse to make sure she was handling my omega right. “I know. I won’t leave the hospital. I swear.”
“Not the hospital, Jay. I mean in life. I don’t want to sleep without you anymore.”
“Then you never
have to. I’ll move my stuff over as soon as we get back. Right now, let’s send good thoughts to these babies. They need their daddy to chill out.”
“I didn’t eat any salt.” He looked straight into my eyes.
“I know. Maybe it was temporary. That’s what we’re here to find out.”
The nurse put the blood pressure machine next to the gurney and hooked Brent up. He never stopped looking at me.
I heard the hum of the machine and prayed as fast as I could while the numbers decided our fate.
“Okay, Daddy. We are a little high. We don’t play around with babies and high blood pressure, so let’s get you admitted. Just a little observation and maybe a few pain-in-the-butt tests.”
I helped Brent up, and we followed the nurse into the main hospital and down the hall to the rooms. They stuck him in a corner room and shut the curtains and door, after telling us to wait. I knew from experience that the doctor would take a while.
I had to distract him.
“I sing terribly.”
“What?” He laughed.
“I sing terribly, but I’m a fantastic dancer. I can salsa my way into your heart in five seconds flat.”
My heart sank as I searched on my phone to find a salsa song. But I had a choice—make him worse by dwelling on the bad or relieve his stress the only way I knew how. Well, the only way I should in a hospital room.
“Here.” I found the tune, got up from the stool, and danced the hell out of the song. I swayed my hips and sang along, making Brent smile and even clap from his bed.
“I see we’re having a show?” the doctor said as he came in. I didn’t even hear him knock.
I cleared my throat. “Stress relief. Trying to make his blood pressure go down.”
“Well, let’s see, shall we?”
He looked over the records and told us what tests he was ordering. They had him take a urine test and of course, they took blood, after another ultrasound.
“Do you want to know the sexes?” the tech asked.
“No,” Brent nearly shouted. “I like surprises.”
“Okay.”
Mardi Gras with His Omega: A Mapleville Mardi Gras Novella: MM Non Shifter Alpha Omega Mpreg (Mapleville Omegas Book 3) Page 8
