I heard the doorknob turn and I quickly stood up from the bed, waiting to hear the verdict. The door slowly swung open and Chansey walked toward me with the biggest smile I’ve ever seen her wear.
She slowly nodded her head up and down and I felt like I’d been dropkicked in my gut.
“Yes?” I asked.
She nodded again. “Yes!”
“You’re going to have a baby?”
“We are going to have a baby,” she said through her smile.
I picked her up and spun her around. When I was human, I always imagined what it would feel like for my wife to tell me we were going to have a baby, but none of my wildest dreams compared to the high I was currently experiencing.
“How is this possible?” she squealed as we spun.
I put Chansey down and took her face in my hands. “I have no idea, but Emelyn appeared to me this evening and told me I couldn’t turn you. I guess I know why now.”
“Why did she appear to you?”
“I have no idea. The only thing I do know is that you just made me the happiest person in the world. I love you, Chansey Rose Leclaire Brennan. You are absolutely the most amazing person I’ve ever known.” I kissed her on the mouth. “I cannot believe it. You’re going to make me a father.”
I dropped to my knees and placed a kiss on the belly that was housing and nurturing our unborn child. I felt Chansey running her hands through my hair as I kneeled before her and I whispered against her stomach, “I love you in there.”
26 Who Done It?
It couldn’t be more perfect because all of my family had come together to be with Chansey during her transition. When we called them together in the living room, I’m certain they expected to discuss a plan for the following day’s draining of Chansey and her drinking from me, but we were about to blow all of their minds.
We stood before them holding hands as they gave us their undivided attention. “Chansey and I would like to thank all of you for coming to be with us for her transition, but we called all of you together to make an announcement.” I hesitated and looked at Chansey, then back at our family. “I won’t be turning her tomorrow.”
“Shit, I knew you wouldn’t do it,” Sol announced.
“It’s not what you think,” I laughed because I couldn’t contain my joy and Sol stared at me waiting for an explanation.
“I’m pregnant,” Chansey squealed and then silence took over the room. You could have heard a pin drop.
“With who’s baby?” Sol asked. “Because it sure can’t be Curry’s.”
“Stop! Don’t ruin this for them,” Gia told Sol and then looked at Sebastian. “Is it possible?”
“I’ve never known conception to occur between a human and a vampire because they don’t share sexual relationships, with the exception of Agápes. Curry has become very human since he and Chansey married, so that could be a possibility. There are so few documented Agápes that I have no references, but I suppose that anything is possible with the gods and the supernatural events during the eclipses.”
“There was an eclipse the night of your wedding,” Gia announced. “I bet that’s when it happened and that would mean you’d have to be around nine weeks.”
Lairah crossed the room to hug Chansey. “A baby!” she squealed. “That is such wonderful news. Congratulations.” She hugged me next and said, “Way to go, Tiger. Grr.”
Avery slid to the edge of the couch. “Chansey, how did you know to suspect a pregnancy?”
We looked at one another and then she explained, “It started with a dream.”
She spent the next ten minutes explaining her dream/vision of Marsala and everyone looked at Sebastian for his opinion when she finished.
“Well, it sounds like Chansey is safe from Marsala and her Black Magic at least until the baby is born, but you know she is going to be desperate to take this baby because it belongs to Curry. That is one of her psychotic hang-ups. She wants to have a baby with him.”
“She’s not getting my baby,” Chansey vowed as she shook her head hard.
“Of course she won’t, Love. I will protect both of you from her.”
Gia spoke up, “You and this baby are family and we will protect both of you.”
I recognized the concerned look on Sebastian’s face. “What are you thinking, Sebastian?” I asked.
He turned to Chansey with a concerned look on his face. “I think you should see a doctor to confirm the pregnancy as soon as possible and you should have a check up so we can monitor your health.”
Chansey looked up at me and then back to Sebastian. “Monitor my health?” Chansey asked.
Sebastian’s face was covered with concern. “I have to be honest with both of you. I have nothing to compare this to and I’m not certain about the outcome.”
“The outcome?” Chansey said.
“I have no way of knowing if this pregnancy is viable or the dangers it could pose for Chansey. We don’t know that your DNA is compatibility and a human doctor won’t be able to treat you for complications resulting from a pregnancy that is the conception between a human and a vampire.”
˜ ˜ ˜
My happiness was immediately replaced with worry the day Sebastian proposed the potential risks to Chansey. That was a whole week ago.
Waiting for Chansey’s appointment with her Obstetrician was the longest week I had ever experienced in all the days of my existence. A week was the soonest she could be seen by any doctor in the Savannah area if she wasn’t experiencing an imminent problem and we never quite figured out how to tell the receptionist making the appointment that being pregnant by a vampire posed a very significant problem.
As we sat in the waiting room of the Obstetrician, I felt like I could throw up.
“Hey, you look a little green around the gills. Are you having sympathy nausea?” Chansey joked.
Chansey had become nauseated over the past few days and we took that as a good sign since that seem to be the norm for a human pregnancy. “If this is how you have been feeling for the last few days, I feel sorry for you.”
We heard “Chansey Brennan,” announced from a young blonde nurse and she led us back to an examination room. She took vitals and a medical history from Chansey and then told us that the doctor would be in shortly.
She sat on the exam table while I sat in the chair by her side, but neither of us said anything because we were both so afraid of finding out something was wrong. Luckily, the doctor wasn’t running behind or delivering a baby and we didn’t have to wait on her for long.
An attractive woman with dark bobbed hair came into the room with a smile on her face and introduced herself as Dr. Knight. She briefly read over the history the nurse had taken and said, “Okay, Mrs. Brennan. Looks like you’re due for an annual, so we’ll do that first and then we’ll take a look with the ultrasound since you’re uncertain about your last menstrual period.”
An annual? What was that?
The doctor went to the hall and called out. “We’re ready, Kayla.”
Chansey looked at me and asked, “Do you want to step out for this part?”
“I don’t know. What are they going to do to you?”
Before she could answer, the doctor and nurse were putting Chansey’s feet up and telling her to slide to the edge of the table. I couldn’t see anything over the sheet covering her legs and I didn’t try because I had a strong suspicion that I didn’t want to. It was over quickly and then Chansey slid back up the exam table.
“Now for the fun part,” Dr. Knight said as she reached for a wand on the ultrasound machine. “We’ll try doing an abdominal ultrasound first, but don’t be scared if I can’t see anything. Sometimes it’s hard to see the fetus with an abdominal ultrasound if the pregnancy is early.”
I reached for Chansey’s hand and she squeezed it tightly. Our hearts were racing one another to see whose could beat the fastest and I felt her happiness, excitement and fear all wrapped up in a tight ball of emotions in my gut, mirro
ring my own.
Dr. Knight squeezed a glop of gel on Chansey’s stomach and then put the ultrasound wand in the wet goop. She watched the screen as she slid the wand over Chansey’s belly and pushed down against it. “Tell me if I do anything that’s uncomfortable.”
“I’m fine,” Chansey softly answered as she watched the monitor in search of anything that would confirm there was a baby inside of her.
Dr. Knight slid the wand downward and said, “Yes, there it is, as she pointed to the monitor. “That’s your baby and that flashing dot is his or her heartbeat.”
As if my vampire vision couldn’t see it well enough, I stood up from my chair and leaned over for a better view. I was seeing my child for the first time and the only other time I ever felt so fascinated with love was when I found Chansey. I watched the flashing white dot on the screen and knew that was the source of the lub dub I had heard when I put my ear to Chansey’s belly.
I kissed Chansey on the forehead and the combination of my reaction with hers was almost more than either of us could contain. “I love you and I have never been happier than I am right here in this moment.”
She squeezed my hand. “I love you, too, and I couldn’t be happier.”
Dr. Knight began pushing buttons on the ultrasound machine and said, “I’m going to do a crown-to-rump measurement so we can see how far along you are.” I heard the machine beep several times as she took the measurements and then she keyed in the information. “Okay, looks like you’re about ten weeks, so you’ve got a quarter of the pregnancy behind you. That puts your due date on...April 12th.”
We looked at one another and Chansey giggled because that meant this little baby was definitely conceived on our wedding night.