Page 51 of Under the Dragon's Spell
"Forget about it," I said, giving her a once over. She was already showing a bit. "You look gorgeous."
A smile bloomed on my face, making my words even truer. "Come inside. The husband's out with the kid, so we can have some time to ourselves. I want you to tell me everything."
She grabbed my hand and let me inside, and I did.
We spent a couple of hours catching up, talking about pregnancy and kids and whatever else we could think of. She was just telling me about the silliest food cravings she'd had when the doorbell rang. She went to get it, then called for me. "I think it's for you. And he's every bit as hot as you said he was."
Tyrel?
I went to the door, and sure enough, there he was, the father of my child. Carrying two large suitcases.
"What are those?" I asked, pointing at them.
"I had a little chat with my mother," he said simply. "So I'm going to take you somewhere safe."
19
ADRIAN
"I'm sorry about what happened with your mother," I told Tyrel on the way to wherever 'safe' was.
"It's not your fault. She ambushed you." He sounded furious, and it was good to know that anger wasn't directed at me.
"Where are we going?" I asked as he tried to wave down a cab.
"I've booked us into a hotel until I find somewhere better."
"We're not going to the island anymore?"
"Not until I know it's safe. Mother has too many friends there. I'm not going to let any harm come to you or the baby."
I hadn't doubted that for a second. He might not have been a big fan of the idea of fatherhood to start with, but he was invested now. Whoever wanted to hurt our child had to go through him.
"What exactly do you think your mother's going to do now that she knows?"
He gave me a long look. "She's made it clear that she doesn't approve of our union. But she must know that there's no going back once our child is born…"
I put a hand on my belly. "Do you think she would try to hurt it? Endanger the pregnancy some way?"
"I'd like to say no, but I can't say for certain and I'm not taking any risks."
"Okay." I made myself nod, but it was difficult. I'd wanted a happy family for my offspring, not this.
"Hey." He laid a hand on my shoulder. "It's going to be fine, okay? Trust me."
I nodded again. At least I still had him.
But when we got to the hotel—a way too expensive one by the looks of it—and they showed us our room?
The first thing I did was run to the bathroom and throw up. It seemed my little one was just as upset about the turn of events as I was.
In hindsight, I couldn't say whether my nausea that day was stress-induced or the very first day of morning sickness, but from then on, I kept battling with it every morning. And it was no fun. Not for Tyrel either, but to his credit, he didn't flinch away while I was hanging over the toilet, being the least sexy I could possibly be. Instead he rubbed my back and made tea for me and tried to get me to eat again because I couldn't be losing weight with this pregnancy.
"You need to keep your strength up," he said one morning, sitting on the couch in our large hotel room and beckoning me to come sit with him.
I did, and he pulled me in his lap.
"You know what?" I said. "Once this kid is born, you can take care of it while I sleep for a week."
