like a drum being tapped after a good joke.
Bethany snorted. Apparently, allowing her mate to absorb the pain made labor a hell of a lot less laborish and her friends a little funnier.
“Sally, we good?” Jacque asked. That question wiped the smile right off Bethany’s face, reminding her that their child wasn’t full term. Thank the Great Luna they had two gypsy healers with her to give their girl what she needed.
“One sec,” Sally said, drawing the words out. “Aaand, yes.”
“It’s go time, baby.” Jen rubbed her hands together. Bethany glanced between Jacque and the blonde.
“She’s not going to catch my child, right?” Bethany asked, even as her face scrunched up from trying to keep from pushing.
Jacque’s smile was comforting. “Jen will not hold your daughter until Drake says she can.”
Jen folded her arms across her chest. “Great. That will be never. He still hasn’t forgiven me for teaching his mate how to get knocked up in the first place. You really owe me a thank-you card.”
“I don’t mind if she holds her, but maybe just not when she’s about to shoot out of the non-vacuous black hole,” Bethany said and then followed with, “I have to push!”
“You’ve got a contraction starting,” Rachel said. “Push now.”
Bethany squeezed Drake’s hand, and Crina’s, who’d taken up a spot next to Bethany’s head. Bethany hadn’t cared who it was. She just needed something else to squeeze.
“You’re doing great!” Jen sounded so excited, as if she were the one having the baby. “There’s her little head. Oh, wow, that is tiny. Your black hole just got downsized. I don’t know to what but it’s definitely not nearly as cavernous.”
Bethany panted as the contraction passed. She still needed to push. The heaviness in her pelvis and against her back was uncomfortable. She imagined it was supposed to be more painful, but she could feel Drake taking the pain into his body.
“I just realized something.” Jen tapped her chin as Bethany panted like a racehorse.
“We’re all dying to know what that might be. There isn’t a baby being born or anything important like that,” Peri replied.
“We should have done a birthing pool,” Jen continued.
“Time to push again.” Rachel patted Bethany’s stomach. The healer’s eyes were still closed, and her hands continued to glow.
“I’m just saying,” Jen went on while Bethany pushed again. “If there was a birthing pool, then Titus’s future baby momma could just slide right out into the pool. It would be like her first time on a water park ride.”
“Did she”—Bethany panted as she pushed and tried to talk—“just compare,” more panting—“my girl parts to a water slide?” Bethany groaned and sagged back against Drake. She felt his chest moving, and her upper body shook involuntarily.
“Are you laughing?” she asked, still working on catching her breath.
She felt him press his forehead to the back of her head, and his breath huffed out into her hair. “She’s not wrong. It would be a very wet and a wild ride.”
“BOOM!” Jen yelled. “I knew deep down, like way, way deep down in the depths of your bowels, where no one could ever see, you had a sense of humor. You can’t hate me anymore. You just agreed with me about your mate’s water park slide, while she’s in labor no less.”
Zara coughed and looked at Bethany. “This is the weirdest delivery I’ve ever experienced.”
“Been to a lot of deliveries?” Bethany asked. She felt the next contraction coming and could tell it was going to be big.
“Nope. And I bet no matter how many I do go to, this will always be the weirdest.”
“Okay,” Jacque said once again, making everyone go quiet. “Her head is right here. You need to push hard. Then you’ll have to push hard a second time to get her shoulders through.”
Bethany nodded, took several breaths, and then pushed as hard as she could. She heard Crina mutter something about a strong grip and felt Drake sending her waves of love through their bond.
“Her head is out,” Jacque declared.
Sally pulled her hands away from Bethany’s stomach and immediately leaned over and started doing something Bethany couldn’t see, but she knew the healer was helping her child somehow.
“Okay, time to push again,” Rachel said, her voice never wavering, something Bethany was profoundly grateful for.
The pressure suddenly evaporated at the same time Jacque cried, “She’s out. You did it.” A moment later, a loud cry filled the room.
Pounding feet followed the sound. Bethany couldn’t take her eyes off the little body that Sally and