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“I think I do. You deserve your happiness, Valentine, and I will always see you as a father figure, even if you’ve found your happiness with someone else. Please, just enjoy what you have with your doctor, besides I think I’ll need her.” When I say this, I place my hands on my belly.
His head whips to Gabriel, who smiles proudly and drapes his arm over my shoulder. “The baby survived, even after everything Kazimir did to her,” he says, kissing the side of my head.
Valentine seems to flounder for what to say, so he simply pulls me back into an embrace and scoffs incredulously. Then he turns to Gabriel and takes his hand. “I don’t even know how to congratulate you; this child has the will of a Preutescu.”
Gabriel huffs proudly, slightly pushing out his chest at that compliment that I know meant the world to him. Our child shouldn’t have survived after everything he or she has been through; I had nearly ten small baobab stakes embedded in my womb. If the baby wasn’t harmed, then the baobab must have caused some adverse effects either way.
Ah, I can’t think like this. I need to be positive and know that nothing will happen to our child. It’s a miracle they survived, a full-blown fucking miracle.
After greeting Xenia and Church and congratulating them as well, Gabriel claps his hands together and looks at all of us with a smile. “Let’s go home,” he says and leads us all to the SUV.
GABRIEL
It’s been a week since we returned from Las Vegas. Katherine is settling back in again but she’s been busy with her secret project while I’ve had to deal with starting up something similar to the council.
The twins and Gustav are helping me back in Europe, while I oversee the States for now. There will be a meeting in about a month’s time to see where we sit with everything after the demise of the original council.
After getting back to DC, we haven’t been able to schedule a checkup with Autumn for Katherine since the doctor has been busy. But right now we’re on our way to her first checkup and to say she’s nervous is putting it lightly.
“Don’t worry, little lamb, I am sure everything is fine with the little one,” I say for the fifth time as I pull into the parking lot of her clinic. It’s 9 PM, so there’s no one around right now.
“I know! But I can’t help worrying about the baby after everything that has happened. The baobab stakes, the baobab in the blood Matthew gave me, not drinking your blood for a few weeks. That’s a lot for a little one to deal with.” She says while protectively rubbing her belly.
I place a hand over hers. “I know, my love. All we can do is wait and see for now. By the way, I have thought of a name for the baby if it’s a boy.”
Her head whips up, and a beautiful smile spreads across her face. “You have? What is it?”
I thought long and hard about this and remembered a story my mother always used to tell me back when I was a child.
“My mother’s twin brother saved our lives while she was busy giving birth to me. He fought off hunters right outside her birthing chamber and killed every last one of them. Unfortunately, he perished soon after from a baobab splinter that was embedded in his heart.”
“Sounds like a brave warrior, right until the end. What was his name?”
Pride swells in my chest. “Elijah; I’d like to honor the man who saved my life before I even took my first breath, by naming my firstborn son after him.”
Katherine smiles at the choice of name and nods. “I like that name,” she says, rubbing her belly. “I am sure if it turns out to be a boy, that he will be just as brave as his namesake.”
I will ensure that my son knows how much we love him and raise him well alongside her. He will never doubt if he was loved and with men like Valentine and Church around, he will never lack in confidence. Well, that’s if we’re having a boy; either way, our child will be loved and protected.
Taking her hand in mine, we walk inside the clinic to finally see if everything is okay with our child.
The petite figure that is Autumn Hayes greets us as soon as we walk inside, and I see the visible surprise on Katherine’s face. This woman is the complete opposite of her mother; where Giselle was a reserved schoolteacher, Autumn speaks her mind and is a doctor.
“Katherine, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you!” she exclaims and ignores Katherine’s hand, instead drawing her into a hug. “Valentine has told me so much.”
Katherine’s heart skips a little at that line, and I am sure she’s dying to know what exactly Valentine said, but now is not the time for that.
Autumn takes my hand and gives me a warm smile before gesturing inside of the clinic. “Please follow me,” she says with a smile, and we follow her.
Katherine has my hand in a death grip while trying to calm her heart down, her breaths are uneven and ragged as well. I draw her hand to my lips and kiss the back of it, trying to mentally let her know that everything will be okay.
Autumn does an average check up; taking her blood pressure, drawing blood, and checking her vitals and heart rate before asking her to lie down on a raised bed.
“Just so we’re clear, I haven’t dealt with a Pureblood pregnancy before, but I am going to treat it as I do every other pregnancy. What is the gestation period for a Pureblood vampire?” She asks me while preparing Katherine for an ultrasound.
“Four months,” I answer to Katherine’s surprise. Ah, I must have forgotten to mention this to her. I'm definitely getting an earful from her later on.
Autumn nods and positions the ultrasound probe on her belly. She moves it around, adjusts a few things on the screen, then smiles as the sound of thumps comes through the monitor.
