“You’re the one freaking out!”
He took a settling breath and flashed a hesitant smile. “Sorry, I’m just on edge right.”
“Why?” I asked, tilting my head in confusion.
As he went to answer, Seraphine’s deep voice echoed from their room. “You can come in, worrywart,” she teased.
Erasmus nearly took the door off the hinges when he wrenched it open, his golden eyes bugging at his partner. “Well, well?”
Seraphine was in the middle of the bed, sitting crisscross with a thin white object in her hand. Her long hair was clipped out back, and she wore a very casual pair of sweatpants and a tank top. I had never seen her outside of exquisite dresses and heels, so this was a surprise, especially because she was just as beautiful in lounge wear as she was when she dressed up. “Would you relax? You’re freaking everyone out.” She patted the bed with a loving smile. “Nick, Ash, come sit with me.”
“What’s… going on?” I prompted as I plopped down beside her, scooching closer to her so I could hug her arm and lean over her shoulder.
Mom recognized what she was holding well before I did and gasped happily. “Oh Seraphine, is it true?”
“That’s what I’m waiting to find out,” Seraphine squeaked back. Mom squealed and hugged her other arm with her eyes fixed on the white stick.
“What am I missing?” I popped.
“Men… so clueless to womanly things.” Seraphine giggled at my sour expression before flicking my nose. “You’ll figure it out in a minute.”
“How long do these things take?” Erasmus barked in frustration, folding his arms so he could pout against the doorframe.
“You are acting like a toddler. We don’t need two of those around.”
“Two of?” Reality hit me like a ton of bricks. “Is that a pregnancy test?” I screeched.
“Look who caught on,” Mom laughed.
I threw my hands up innocently. “Hey, I’m gay; Odysseus and I don’t really need to worry about these kind of things.”
“My goodness…” Seraphine tittered.
“What makes you think-…?”
“Well, we figured something was up this morning when…” she lifted her shirt, revealing a prominent bump in her abdomen, “we found this in the mirror.”
“Oh my Gods!” I gushed.
The test beeped, making us all smack our heads together so we could read it. The screen blinked once, twice, then the word PREGNANT flashed across the screen. Mom and I let out screams of excitement as Seraphine nodded to Erasmus, who immediately burst into tears at the news. “Oh, my darling… it’s positive!”
“I-It is?” he sobbed out, kneeling on the bed to squeeze her hands. “Thank Gods!”
“Were you two trying?” I asked through my own tears that Seraphine combed away.
“We were casually, so to speak. We’ve both always wanted a biological child, but we didn’t know when the time would be right, so we let the universe guide us-…. Wait a minute.” Erasmus shot Mom a deep glare that made her giggle immediately. “Ashlynn Crawford, did you have something to do with this?”
“Who? Me? The God of Life? No, never!” She swished her hand at the couple.
Seraphine gasped loudly and grabbed Mom’s shirt to shake her wildly. “Ashlynn, did you give me a child? Did you do this?”
“I may have had an extra special delivery to make a few weeks ago… that may or may not have been in this manor, to a very deserving couple.”
The two gasped again before snorting and breaking into laughter. Erasmus kissed Seraphine’s hair repeatedly as she hugged his waist, shaking her head to herself. “I can’t believe you kept this to yourself for so long…”
“I wanted you to be surprised,” Mom said with a wink.
“How the heck are you going to train me while you’re pregnant?” I scolded.
