Hidden Moon (Nightcreature 7)

He placed one palm flat against my belly, and heat pulsed.

"Mal?" I murmured as his eyes lifted to mine. His had gone wide with wonder. "What is it?"

"A child. "

"What?" I seemed to be stuck on that word.

"You're pregnant. "

"How can you know that?"

"I'm magic, remember?"

"Still?"

"Just because the curse is broken doesn't mean I'm any less a pure Rom. "

"A baby," I said, stunned. "Can shape-shifters have children?"

"In two hundred and fifty years, none of my people ever have. "

"Then - "

"I was cured before. . . " His voice trailed off, and I could have sworn he blushed.

I remembered what had happened and in what order. The moon went from red to silver; he'd said he loved me; and then he came. Talk about timing. There had to be more than a little magic in that.

"Is that all right with you then? A baby?"

So many things were changing; I wasn't sure what to think. After all I'd been through, I was lucky I could think.

"I thought I'd be cursed to wander forever," Mal said, "that I'd never have a wife, a child, a home. I never dared to dream of any of them until I met you. "

Suddenly the future became clear.

"Marry me?" I asked.

"Isn't

that supposed to be my line, as they say?"

"It's the twenty-first century. "

"And in this century women ask men to marry them?"

"Sometimes. "

His lips curved. "I think I'm going to like it here. "

"Is that a yes?"

He placed his palm against my stomach again; I laid my hand over his. Beneath them, I could have sworn something fluttered.

"That's a yes. "