Page 42 of The Tiger's Secret Baby (Savage Shifters Special Ops 4)

Sleep was elusive for me, just as it had been for the last several days. All I could think about was Damian, and how much I missed him. I missed talking to him, seeing him, and being held by him.

I’m just like a teenage girl. The next thing I’ll be doing is writing his name all over my notebooks.

I had to laugh at my thoughts.

Time changes people. Damian and I are much different people than we used to be. We both had to grow up.

Time changes how people feel for each other. As people grow and change love often fades.

My love for Damian had never faded, even if it had been a youthful love – the love of a young woman. And now, although we were both vastly different than we had been ten years ago, I was even more in love with the Damian I knew now than I was with the Damian I knew then. I guessed that the core of who we were never changed.

“They” (whoever “they” were) said that time heals all wounds. Ten years had not been enough time to get over Damian the first occasion of losing him. How long would it take for me to heal after this tumultuous experience?

Apparently, I didn’t hide my feelings well. The kids were all extra helpful around the house. I got more hugs in the last week than I had received in the past ten years.

Magnar and Rose both told me to give Damian some time. He had a huge shock and had to figure things out. They both tell me that they are positive that Damian loves me, too, and as soon as he has time, he will realize it.

The other kids tell me to cheer up because I still have them and they love me.

I told them all that I was happy because I loved them very, very much.

Thursday morning, I had to jump out of bed because my stomach was in turmoil. Whatever the cook was making for breakfast was making me sick.

Come to think about it, I had been sick for at least a week. Every morning, as soon as I woke up, I had to rush to the bathroom.

I sat heavily in the chair in my bedroom. My breasts ached. I was a couple weeks late for my period. I had also been extremely tired lately.

Well, now. I believed that I had another issue to deal with.

That afternoon, I asked the staff to watch over the kids. I had an emergency I had to take care of in town.

I didn’t even bother with the drug store for a pregnancy test. I had called the doctor for an appointment. She confirmed my suspicions. I was pregnant.

While I was elated, this also created an entirely new issue. Damian was already furious with me because I didn’t tell him about Rose. He didn’t want to talk to me on the phone, and made no effort to connect with me when he picked her up for their dinner date.

If I told him that I was pregnant now, was he going to think that I was just trying to get him to come back to me? Would he think that I got pregnant on purpose? And, how in the world was I supposed to tell him I was pregnant when I couldn’t even get him to talk to me?

20

Ember

Iknew that Damian had made arrangements with Rose to take her out again on Saturday. I had asked Rose if she would tell Damian I needed to speak with him when they returned. She looked at me kind of funny and said that she would tell him.

Then, she said, “At least you’re going to tell him about the baby before it’s born, this time.” Her words were sarcastic, although she certainly wasn’t trying to be rude or disrespectful. She thought she was being funny.

My jaw dropped. It wasn’t how she said the words. It’s what she said.

“How in the world did you know that I was pregnant?” I asked her.

She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. I just knew,” she answered.

“And I suppose that everyone else ‘just knows’ too?” I asked.

A slow smile spread across her face. “I’m pretty sure they do. We’re shifters. We know things and can sense things. Silly mundane,” she said.

I grabbed her and started tickling her. “Mundane I might be, but my daughter you are.”

Between laughs and gasping for air, she said, “And Yoda you are not.”

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