Page 18 of Dreaming of His Omega
He shook his head. “None taken.”
“Morning sickness,” I snorted. “Whoever named it that obviously never suffered from it.”
“You haven't gotten sick in a while though,” Traviel pointed out.
“No, not since the first trimester,” I agreed. “I just feel lousy is all.”
“It’s nearly over.”
I grinned at him. “Yeah, it is.”
My mate reheated some leftovers for himself, while I devoured three bowls of cereal as if it were some kind of fancy steak dinner. When we were finished, we headed out the back door to take a walk in the woods. After a couple of months of evening walks – even though we were both positive we lived here longer than that – we had worn a nice little trail through the woods behind our house. It meandered a bit before connecting to a more mainstream path, that ran down to the lake. We walked together in a comfortable silence, holding hands, listening as the animal calls changed from daytime birdsong to night sounds. By the time the sound of whip-or-wills and owls overtook the calling of cardinals and robins, the frogs had started up a chorus as well. We were almost to the lake when Traviel let go of my hand abruptly. I turned and he was nowhere to be seen.
He was gone again.
I wandered down the path to the lake and stopped in the gazebo. Once there, I stood for a long time, looking out at the water. A family of geese shifters swam by and I could swear I saw a mermaid tail in the distance a couple of times. I loved the gazebo because it was always so peaceful. And yet, it was one of those places that I felt as though I could remembersoclearly with Traviel, but had no true memory of it. Not until that strange day the sheriff paid us a visit… Sometimes I hoped that standing here would spark my memory. That I'd remember something, anything, from our lives before. But nothing ever came to me.
I sighed as the final tendrils of sunlight faded into the distance. With one last look at the water, I turned and started walking home. I wasn't worried about Traviel. Or rather, I wasn't worried about what would happenifhe reappeared; he'd know to head home and meet me there. So, my only concern was that he appear at all. I heard laughter in the distance and veered down a different path. If I ran into someone I knew, I didn't really feel like explaining that Traviel had vanished on our romantic evening walk, and seeing the pity on their faces. But I also didn't want to run into any strangers and introduce myself. I wouldn't have to go into detail about why I was walking by myself, but invariably, someone as visibly pregnant as me would probably be questioned. And I didn't want to explain where my mate really was, nor have people think he was a jerk for leaving me to take a walk alone.
This path was significantly less traveled, but pleasant. As I walked, a meow that sounded distinctly like a “hello” caught my attention. I saw a cat trotting down the path toward me.
“Hello,” I said. I felt something odd from the cat, something elven or fae, calling to my own blood. “Not from around here, are you?” I asked.
The cat meowed, flicked its tail at me, and trotted away. I followed it down the trail and watched as it turned down an even smaller path. I could see a house in the distance this time. And sense distinctly growing. The feel of fresh tilled earth and seedling called to me, tempting me. Through the trees, I could see some flowerbeds that looked like someone had recently cleared them.
“Mind if I see what's growing?” I called. The cat shrugged his shoulder amiably, glanced behind it at me, and trotted away again without protest. I took that as a ‘yes’ and followed it down the path to the house.
I walked among the beds for a minute, noting where things had been planted and where they still needed some love and attention. It looked like someone let everything go for some time before deciding to start planting again. I spied a tray on the porch that called to me and started to walk up the stairs, before hesitating. It was one thing to wander about in the driveway, but I felt like going up on the porch itself may have been a slight intrusion of privacy.
“Do you mind if I take a look at that?” I asked the cat. Granted, it wasn't the actual owner of the house, but the cat answered with a swish of its tail that said the cat didn't mind. So, at least I felt like I hadsomesort of permission.
I went up the porch steps and, with some difficulty, knelt down next to the tray. Someone had filled eggshell halves with dirt and planted something inside them. The seeds were practically calling to me to help them grow, who was I to deny them? I got a little closer and held a hand over the eggshells and concentrated. One by one, little sprouts poked up out of the dirt and slowly extended upwards, as green leaves unfurled around them. I didn't need to help them grow for as long as I did, but I was in a bit of a moody funk and there was something soothing, almost mesmerizing, about watching the little seedlings growing. Once they were all a couple of inches high, I reluctantly sat back and, with the help of the wall, pulled myself to my feet. The cat nodded to me in thanks and I nodded back, before heading away from the house before the occupant could catch me there.
I wandered back the way I had come, and soon found myself in familiar territory. My house was dark and empty. I helped myself to a little late night snack, all the while hoping that Traviel would return. I was exhausted by the time I finally dragged myself to bed. I left the hall light on for him, hoping he'd be back in time to actually need it, and crawled into bed. I don't know when he joined me, but when the urge to go to the bathroom woke me, the first rays of sunlight were just creeping in my bedroom window, and Traviel’s arm was snug around my shoulders. I sighed and leaned back against him, thankful to have him back, if only briefly. Then the baby kicked me right in the bladder.
Chapter Six
Travis
Iwalked through the grocery store, feeling pretty damn good about myself. I was just paid for a fairly easy writing gig, with someone willing to pay quite a bit higher than what I usually earned, considering the amount of work. I had enough to cover this month's rent,nextmonth’s rent,andenough left over for a little grocery shopping splurge. Granted, it wasn't a lot of money compared to some folks, but it was more than I'd made in a single month, by far, in a long time.
Not only that, but my unusual Vale Valley dreams were in full swing. I had to admit, I was even taking naps sometimes, although I typically wasn't a nap sort of guy. It seemed that every time I fell asleep, I had an incredible Vale Valley dream. I was constantly meeting new characters and seeing new faces. Dreams even seemed to happen sequentially, which was unusual and wonderful. And admittedly a little upsetting. Being able to add new characters to my world was great, as were the incredibly memorable parts of the dreams. But the dreams were a strange mix of happy and somewhat scary. Traviel and Elarian were settling into a seemingly blissful life within Vale Valley. My head was coming up with all sorts of wonderful shifters and magical creatures I could never have dreamed up while awake.
But at the same time, there was a strange underlying subplot, if you could call it that in dreams. The beginnings and the endings of the dreams were kind of hazy. From what I could recall when I was awake, Elarian was worried about Traviel. And sometimes Traviel seemed afraid that he would miss the birth of their child. The dreams were so real that sometimes I found myself pacing or stressing out about missing the birth, before remembering thatIwasn't going to be missing a fictional birth, of a fictional child, I was writing about. Besides, how could I miss the birth of something I hadn't written yet?
It did worry me just a little bit though. If I had the money, I was honestly considering dropping in on a therapist or something, just to make sure that the dreams weren't some sign of something more serious. There were honestly moments where I would wake up and be confused that I wasn't in Vale Valley. I would look in the mirror and be startled by the fact that my ears didn't quite have the same points to them that they were supposed to have or that my eyes were the wrong shade, before remembering that I wasn't Traviel. On more than one occasion, I came home expecting to find Elarian waiting for me, and being confused that he wasn't there. As wonderful as the dreams were, it seemed that the more I had them, the more they were starting to seep into my real life while I was awake. Sometimes, I felt like I could almost convince myself that the dreams were real. That Vale Valley was real.
I was thinking about my little fictional world, which maybe is why I turned around when I did, but I could have sworn I heard someone say Traviel. I turned in surprise to see a cute guy standing there, regarding me. Brown hair poked out from underneath a knit hat, framing a tanned face, with a wide smile. His eyes were a strange shade of blue, that seemed almost to be twinkling. I knew him. It was Falkanar.
And he wasn’t real.
He was a character from my Vale Valley dreams; a figment of my imagination. He stayed with Traviel and Elarian for a couple of weeks while he was in town. He… odd, I couldn’t remember why. He helped out Elarian a lot while Traviel was… somewhere. Before I could think too hard about it, he spoke.
“Itisyou!”
I nodded, uncertain of what I could possibly say to him. How do you talk to someone you dreamed up?
“You’re a long way from Vale Valley, Traviel,” he continued. He playfully nudged my shoulder. “Guess you’ve got a little wanderer in you.”
