Page 34 of Duke's Baby Deal
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Twins. They were having twins. Probably anyway. Duke felt like he was going to be torn apart, by the giddy excitement of two babies, and the heavy knowledge that they were of Justin’s line.
Bram was quiet beside him as they walked home and it occurred to him that this pregnancy was going to be much tougher on him than they’d anticipated.
“Hey, it’s going to be okay,” he said, hoping to reassure his mate.
“Yeah,” Bram said quietly.
“No extra hours,” Duke told him. Adelaide had given them a book to read on having twins when the blood test had come back with suspiciously high hormone levels, then had complicated matters by telling them that the combination of Bram’s omega status and his age was going to make this pregnancy more risky than an ordinary one. They were going to have to go to the clinic outside walls for an ultrasound to be sure, and to check for any other problems. They were also going to have to see a human obstetrician, one of the few who also occasionally saw shifters.
“I don’t have the particular experience to deal with this. Not that I’m certain he will, but he’ll at the least have more equipment,” she’d told them. Bram had gone pale and it nearly killed Duke that the only thing he could really offer was a squeeze of his hand in support.
Duke held the door open for Bram to go inside and followed him in. Bram moved like a sleepwalker, fumbling his jacket off and stumbling out of his shoes. Duke took the jacket from him. “I’ll hang this up. Why don’t you get into your pajamas and I’ll make something easy on the stomach for you.”
“But you worked all day,” Bram said. Duke’s words seemed to have woken him from his daze.
“I’m not building two future packmembers. You go ahead, I’ll make food, then we can look at this book.”
Bram threw it an uncertain look. “Okay.” But his tone sounded anything but okay. He shambled off to his bedroom and closed the door, and Duke set the book on the tiny kitchen table and checked the refrigerator for eggs. They’d be good—lots of protein, lots of vitamin A, not too hard on the stomach. Bram could eat them in little bites. He picked three out of the carton and was scrambling them into a bowl as Bram came back out of the bedroom.
“I can do that,” Bram said.
“Sit,” Duke told him. “It’s fine. I was in bachelor’s quarters for a decade—I can scramble an egg and not give you food poisoning.” He smiled at Bram, and was pleased at getting a smile back in return, even if it was kind of tentative.
While Duke cooked the eggs, Bram picked up the book and began looking through it. He didn’t say anything, just went from page to page, his eyes sadder than Duke had ever seen. Duke watched the eggs as they went from translucent to opaque, poking idly at them with the wooden spatula while he retooled his plans for the next year. He’d guessed—and he’d have to check with Adelaide to be sure—that Bram was going to need a lot more help farther along in the pregnancy, and after the babies came, which meant the extra hours he’d been working to build up school credits for Bram would have to be cut back. He could talk to Abel about putting up a shed behind the house, something that could be turned into a playhouse once Duke and Bram had a bigger place. That way, he could be near to look after Bram—they were going to need two cradles now, and two high chairs, and eventually two beds, all of which he could build. It would keep the dirt and dust out of the apartment too.
Duke scraped the eggs out onto a small plate. “Some dry toast too? Might settle your stomach. Always did mine.”
“In your crazy bachelor days?” Bram asked, attempting humor.
“Something like that.” He got out a fork and set the eggs in front of Bram. “You want to try it?”
“I’ll try this first, but thanks.” Bram’s reluctance was obvious as he used the fork to separate out the tiniest bite of egg, then put it in his mouth. He chewed slowly, his attention obviously on his stomach, and Duke found himself watching the regular movements of Bram’s jaw with the same attention he paid to a rowdy, angry young alpha on full moon. Bram swallowed, and Duke held his breath, waiting for the reaction.
Bram reached for a second bite, and Duke let out a sigh of relief so loud that Bram laughed at him. “Don’t get cocky. The next one could be the pebble that sets off the landslide.”
“Go slow,” Duke said.
“Trust me, I will,” Bram told him, his eyebrows pulled together in anxiety. He put the second bite into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. “I think I’ll wait a bit on the rest,” he said. The skin around his mouth was pale, and sweat beaded on his forehead. “Actually, I think I’m going to go lie down.” He got up, but instead of heading for the bedroom, he went to the front of the apartment—to the bathroom.
“Bram?” Duke called gently behind him.
“I’m just going to rest a little in here,” Bram’s voice echoed back to him.
Duke followed and found him curled in a ball on the floor in front of the toilet. “You all right?” Stupid. Of course he wasn’t.
But Bram smiled weakly up at him, as if he was afraid that too sudden a movement would send his stomach into reverse. “I’ll be okay. Just give me a few minutes.”
“I’ll bring you a blanket. And a pillow.”
“Thank you.” Bram closed his eyes again, that small furrow reappearing between his eyebrows, and Duke hurried off to the bedroom.
He came back with the softest blanket they had, the one Bram’s friend Rosie had given them, and one of the new pillows that Bram’s parents had given them. “How are you feeling now?”
“A bit better.” Bram laid his head on the pillow with a sigh. “Thank you.”
“No problem.” Duke tucked the blanket around him.
