But all our organization came to a halt when our healer said we’d reached the point where the baby could come any day, and we watched for symptoms like a 1950s sitcom family. “Is it time?”
I said this so often, I thought he was going to explode, but somehow, I couldn’t stop myself. Afraid he would go into labor and have a crisis before I could get him to the birthing center or Quinn to our home to assist. Oakley grew irritated with me and finally called Quinn and asked if we could come in and talk.
“So, gentlemen, what’s going on? Feeling okay, Oakley?” The healer sat in his high-backed office chair, facing us across his desk.
“I’m fine, except I want to murder my alpha.”
I turned to face him, jaw dropping. I knew I’d been a bit of a pain, but it had all been in the interest of his welfare and that of our cub. “Murder me?”
“Go on.” Quinn watched us with genial interest. “Tell your alpha why you feel this way.”
“He stares at me all the time. I wake up in the middle of the night to find him watching me, and if I so much as groan when I stand up—which I do all the time, the groaning part—he asks me if I should call you. He is constantly trying to feed me or get me to drink more water… In short, I’m ready to jump out of my skin.”
“And, Auburn, what do you think about what your omega just said?” The session went on for a while, the healer guiding us to communicate, which I cursed myself for not doing sooner.
Finally, I took Oakley’s hands in mine and apologized. “Omega, I was worried and I let that carry me past common sense. Please don’t murder me.”
When the laughter faded, Quinn stood up and stretched. “Since I have you here, let’s go in the exam room and see how things are coming along.”
That sounded like a great idea to me, and Oakley agreed. We could find out if he was starting to dilate or whatever other markers the healer would look for. Maybe get a good idea of when “anytime now,” the phrase he’d used at our last visit, would occur.
“Well,” Quinn said, standing up from his stool and snapping off his gloves. “Remind me of your birth plan? Are you coming to the center or having this baby at home?”
“The center,” I said.
“So my alpha will worry less,” Oakley added.
“Do you have your bag with you, then? In the car?”
My omega chuckled then clapped a hand over his belly. “Only since the second month.”
“Okay, Auburn, you can get the bag and we’ll get him settled in. If I’m not mistaken, you’ll have this baby in your arms by nightfall.”
“But I’m not in labor.” Oakley still had his palm over his tummy. “It’s just indigestion.”
“You never told me you had indigestion,” I growled.
“I didn’t because— Oh!”
“The center. Now.” Quinn fixed me with a serious glare. “Not the time to argue.”
Indeed, it was not because in the twenty minutes or so it took to get him into bed, the pains he’d been denying were rolling one over the other, and our baby was crowning. No wonder he’d been cranky. As Quinn told me later, he was in pain and denying it for a while.
And our daughter was tucked in next to him even sooner than our healer expected.
Epilogue
Oakley
I’d heard that time was the healer of all wounds but in my case, it was love and the bundle of joy currently in my arms. I couldn’t even remember the last time I thought about Mason or what he’d done to me. What happened led me to Auburn and I couldn’t have imagined a better outcome for my life.
Now to deal with going back to work. We didn’t need the money per se, but it was important to me to have something that fulfilled me outside our home and mating and fatherhood.
Thank goodness Tim agreed to letting me go back on a part-time basis until Selene went to kindergarten. Then I would return to whatever hours let me drop her off and pick her up from school every day.
Auburn’s shop had been doing so well, he’d been approached by an investment team about making it a franchise. He immediately said no way. His flavors all uniquely from his mind. Auburn originals. No one else could copy that or the atmosphere he’d created.
We were even pairing with the Bearly Baked bakery to make ice cream cookie sandwiches for sale in the freezers. Those two bears had come up with some wild ideas. I didn’t expect anything less.
