our headboard. Alone with what remained of the two women who had each been my mother, one by birth and one by choice, I unburdened myself before Linus returned.
“Not gonna lie,” I told them. “I’m so nervous I’m sick, and I stopped barfing after the first trimester.”
Moaning a gentle reprimand, Cletus brushed his cool knuckles across my cheek how Maud used to do.
Not to be outdone, Woolly embraced me in a swirl of warm air that tickled my hair across my cheeks. The hug was welcome, but I wished my mom was here in the flesh. I didn’t want to go through this on my own. Not just the delivery, but the aftermath.
I had no idea how to raise a child. Sheesh. I was a walking, talking cautionary tale.
I don’t know how long I lay there, talking out my worries, fears, and banishing the worst of my jitters before Linus emerged from the bathroom in a cloud of peppermint-scented steam.
What can I say?
That first trimester was horrible. I took relief wherever I could find it. Peppermint helped. A lot. So much we started bathing with peppermint bodywash and washing our hair with peppermint shampoo in addition to carrying pocketsful of the stuff I was still finding in random outfits.
Basically, Woolworth House had smelled like the North Pole for the last nine months.
Good thing no one was expecting me to fit down a chimney here at the end.
“What would you think of having the procedure done here?”
“What?” I jerked my head toward Linus. “How?”
“You often choose to forget that we’re both rather well off.” He prowled to me, and my heart rate leapt. “I can have the necessities brought over from the carriage house.”
“Wait.” I held up my hand. “What do you mean brought over from the carriage house?”
The old house groaned around us, a pitiful sound, and the curtains flipped as if she were hiding her face.
“Your mother wanted to be there for you when you became a mother.” He rested a hand on the nearest wall. “We had hoped, early on, for a natural birth.”
“With a lot of drugs.”
“With all the drugs,” he agreed. “I bought the necessities, with Dr. Roger’s guidance, and stored them.”
Tears threatened, of course, but I kept a stiff upper lip. “Did you plan on telling me any of this or…?”
“I intended to discuss it with you, but then Dr. Rogers determined you would require a C-section. I didn’t see the point in mentioning it after that.” He sat beside me, all minty and delicious. “However, I didn’t liquidate the equipment.”
“Of course you didn’t.”
Contingency plans made him feel more in control of the uncontrollable, so I didn’t fuss at him too much.
“There is additional equipment I would need to source, but I doubt it would be difficult given the proper monetary motivation to transform one of the lower rooms into a temporary OR.” He held still, waiting to learn if he had been in the wrong. That fragileness about someone so strong made it impossible for me to hold anything against him. “It’s your choice.”
Given I had just been basking in the love of my mother and adoptive mother, wishing they could both be present for the birth, I didn’t have to think about it. “Let’s do this.”
“Are you certain?” He kept his distance. “We can still go to the clinic.”
“Can you imagine Woolly hearing LJ’s first cries?” I couldn’t stem the tide, and my eyes sprung leaks. “Plus, it would be safer for us all to stay behind Woolly’s wards until we get to the bottom of this Abayomi mess.”
A ripple of fear skittered through me to imagine our son caught up in this vendetta or used as leverage.
“I’ll make the arrangements.” Linus made as if to stand, but I caught his wrist. “Yes?”
“Stay with me.” I kept hold of him. “I don’t mind the noise.”
“Let me get my laptop.” He escaped my clutches, gathered his electronics, then settled in with his back against the headboard. “Get some rest.”
“I’ll do my best.” I snuggled into my pillow, but I kept my hand on his thigh. “Night.”
Expecting to struggle, I prepared to count sheep, but I was out before I pictured the first fluffy butt.
Fifteen
The procedure went off without a hitch, and I was forever grateful to have a husband able to use magic to heal the worst of my wounds so I didn’t have to suffer the irrational fear of my guts falling out when I stood for the first time post-op.
Okay, so the