Page 69 of Under the Dragon's Spell
"They're getting them?"
"C-section. I'm told it's safer, and Tyrel loooves safe right now. Seriously, he's getting worse every day. I'm not sure anymore whether I'm dating a dragon or a nervous squirrel."
"Men, I mean not the child-bearing ones, get like that around birth. It's kind of fun to watch them fret, though, isn't it? I've trained mine to give me foot rubs on demand now."
"That sounds like an idea…"
"Have you settled on names yet? I can't believe you still don't know what you're having. Mara is super excited to be getting a little sister."
I smiled into the phone. "So jealous of your two girls. I want one."
"I hope you have one in there. With your rich boyfriend, you can get all the pretty little dresses!"
I laughed, because I'd had that thought, too. "There's some cute outfits for little boys as well."
"Oh, totally."
I looked toward the door. Tyrel was coming. I could sense him down the corridor. Something that came with the fate bond, a sort of hyper awareness of when the other was close. I'd never be able to sneak up on him now. "My rich boyfriend is at the door. I'll call you back later."
"Alright. Talk to you later."
I ended the call, put the phone aside, and sure enough, a minute later, Tyrel came in the door. It was the visitor by his side that I hadn't expected. After all, I hadn't seen the lady since she'd ambushed me on the street that day after I'd visited my brother.
I raised an eye brow at Tyrel.
"You brought your mother?"I asked him in my mind, because that was another thing that worked now.
He gave me a subtle nod and a not so subtle shrug, but since he didn't seem concerned, I figured that his mother posed no danger to me or my children now.
"Pleasure to see you, Adrian," she said, approaching the bed while her son stayed close behind her. "You're looking good."
Was I really? Well, at least I wasn't looking as sick anymore as I used to. Still, having a dragon's help or no, carrying twins was no walk in the park. But I wasn't going to turn down a compliment. "Thank you."
I noticed that she was holding a bright bag, and she fished something out of it now. A gift box, tied with a neat little bow. It was so like her. She held it out to me.
"I want to apologize for treating you the way I have and hope that we can have a fresh start."
Something about the way she glanced to Tyrel as she said this let me wonder if he'd instructed her to say this. But wherever this apology was coming from, I'd take it. I wanted my family to be an actual family, and I'd help make it so any way I could. To start us of, I took the box and unwrapped it carefully.
Inside were four cute little jumpers. Two in pink and two in blue.
"For the babies," she said. "Since you don't know what you're having."
I smiled at her. "They're perfect. Thank you." And I would totally use all of these no matter what genders the babies were. If I had a son, I was pretty sure his penis wasn't going to fall off because I put him in a pink jumper, but I wasn't going to say that out loud, not while I was trying to make peace with this lady. Maybe later.
"Have you picked names?"
Why was everyone asking that today?
I looked at Tyrel, then back at her. "Well, if we're having boys, one of them is going to be named Taryn." That was about as far as we'd come.
"After my father? I see. It's a good name." This time, the smile she gave me was genuine.
"We don't have a second name yet. Or any girl names."
"We'll think of something," Tyrel spoke up. "We still have a few days."
His mother nodded. "Well, I don't want to disturb you two any longer. I'll visit again when the babies are born." She chuckled, looking at her son. "If they're anything like you, they will keep you up for a long time."
