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“Ah, the honeymoon period. Totally get it.”
“I’m so glad they’ve finally connected. Gives me some peace of mind to know she has someone that’s all for her. He’s a good guy.”
“I agree,” Cynthia nods, and then holds her finger up, as though remembering something. “Oh, before I forget, I had Connall bring some of my tinctures and teas over with him,” she says rummaging in her bag. She lays two small bottles on the blanket and two hessian bags, pointing to each one in turn. “This bottle contains alfalfa, borage, dandelion, nettles, red clover and yellow dock. It’s super nourishing for the body and rich in vitamins and minerals, including iron,” she explains, picking up the small green bottle, labelledWellness.
“How do I take it?” I ask, taking it from her.
“Two drops under your tongue in the morning,” she replies. “Super simple.”
“Okay, perfect. Thank you. And what’s this for?” I ask, picking up the next bottle. It’s a dark brown, and labelledSleep Easy.
“To aid sleep,” she smiles.
“That would make sense given the label,” I grin. “Is this what they callbaby brain?”
“Yeah, expect a lot of that.”
“Fabulous. So I’m gonna need help with sleep too then, because right now all I feel like doing is sleeping.”
“Afraid so. You start off exhausted from your body doing this miraculous thing and you end up exhausted from carrying that miraculous baby within you, which always manages to press a body part against your bladder. The amount of times I nearly peed myself.”
I wrinkle my nose, holding in a laugh. “Oh christ.”
“Towards the end of pregnancy the baby pushes on the bladdera lot more,” Cynthia continues, “So you get up a million times in the night to relieve yourself. Not to mention it gets pretty uncomfortable sleeping with another human growing inside you, especially if you end up carrying a huge baby who wants to rearrange your organs for most of the night. Anyway, this tincture should help you get a few hours of sleep at least.”
“You’re not selling this whole pregnancy to me,” I whisper under my breath, laughing.
She pulls a face. “I guess it’s the body’s way of preparing us for motherhood. You’ll be getting up several times in the night with your newborn, but at least this tincture will help you get some rest before the baby comes.”
“And what’s in the hessian bags?”
Cynthia picks up the first bag. “Just a simple peppermint tea in this one. Great for nausea and preventing vomiting, and perfectly safe to drink throughout your pregnancy.”
“Ooh perfect, thank you.”
“And this one,” Cynthia says, picking up the second hessian bag, passing it to me, “Is raspberry leaf tea. I recommend you start drinking this during your third trimester. No more than one cup a day.”
“What does it do?” I ask, impressed by Cynthia’s vast knowledge. I mean, I shouldn’t be surprised, she invented a drug called Diamonds that alters the mind's perception and heightens sex with zero side effects, but still.
“It’s been known to help reduce pain during labour, improves contractions, helps balance postpartum hormones, and has a high mineral count which helps to bring in breast milk for most women. All the good stuff.”
“Wow. This is really nice of you. Thank you,” I say, my eyes welling with tears as I pop the items in my bag and out of sight of prying eyes. My tears trickle over my lashes, and I give her a wobbly smile. “Oh my goodness. I’m so sorry it’s all the hormones.”
“Believe me, I totally get it. But you might want to wipe those tears away, looks like the smell of meat cooking has attracted the hunters,” Cynthia laughs as her men stride towards us.
Lorcan has Faith propped on his shoulders, and Grim and Beast follow behind with Iris swinging between them. Arden and Carrick take up the rear, laughing at something as they approach.
“That smells delicious,” Arden says with a grin, wincing a little when his top lip starts to weep a little blood. He plonks down on the picnic blanket and drops a kiss to Cynthia’s lips as the others ask my guys if they can help with anything. “Hey, you okay my love?” he asks her.
“I’m perfect. But it looks like you need some more ointment on that lip,” she replies, licking the droplet of blood from her lips, and giving him a look that can only be interpreted as sexual.
“Ah, it’s no bother,” he replies, waving away her concerns before focussing on me. “And how are you, Pen? Are you feeling better after the other night? Cyn said you had some kind of stomach bug.”
“Much, thanks for asking,” I reply, shifting awkwardly as he gives me an intense look. The first time I met him in Tom O’Brien’s pub when I was with Beast he’d made me feel super uncomfortable, not because I thought he was a pervert or anything, far from it. More because he had this mysterious, almost otherworldly way about him, just like Lorcan and Carrick, the other two members of the Deana-dhe, do. Even to this day the three men are cloaked in mystery.
Though now I know them better, they’re a little less otherworldly and a lot more human.
“What about you? Apparently Jakub gave you a run for your money,” I counter, trying to manoeuvre the conversation onto safer ground.
