When Constellations Form (Light in the Dark 4)

“My mom asked me to.”

I narrow my eyes. “I officially hate your mom.”

He laughs. “You know you don’t.”

“Okay, I don’t, but right now this feels a lot like hate, because my husband looks like a baby.” I tilt my head, studying his face. I reach up, grabbing his chin so I can look at him from a different angle. “Is this what our daughter is

going to look like?”

“Thea, stop.” He removes my hand from his face.

“You didn’t let me finish.” I pout and he makes a face, urging me to continue. “I was going to say she’d be awfully cute.”

“Great, so now I look like a baby and I’m cute. Exactly what every man wants to hear.”

“Hey, if the shoe fits, wear it.”

I slip my feet into a pair of heels, and I’m finally ready to go. Wearing heels at almost seven months pregnant is insane, but there’s no way I can wear flats with this dress. I shudder at the thought. It’d be blasphemy.

We head downstairs and Xander lets Prue run outside to use the bathroom.

I slip my coat on and grab my purse. Xander comes back inside with Prue and gives her a treat.

Xander’s mom didn’t want us to bring anything for the meal, but I insisted, so she ended up asking me to do the macaroni and cheese. I’d never made it homemade before, but I think it turned out okay.

I grab the platter and look around, making sure we’re not forgetting anything.

Xander chuckles and my gaze flicks to him. “What?” I ask.

“I was just thinking …” He rubs his jaw, still laughing slightly under his breath. “I doubt we’ll get out of the house this easy once we have the baby.”

I pause, thinking, and laugh too. “I guess you’re right. It’ll be a lot harder to leave on time and we’ll probably always forget something important.”

He comes up to me, pressing his hand to my stomach. In the beginning, his hand swallowed my stomach whole, now not so much. “I can’t wait to see her, though, and finally hold her.”

“It’s not much longer now,” I breathe out.

I still feel scared when I think about the baby actually being here, but it’s more the fear of the unknown and less a fear of her.

Xander removes his hand from my belly and steps back. “We have to go.”

“Right,” I mumble.

We load into the car, leaving Prue behind. I can hear her barking through the door and I feel bad for leaving her.

I gasp and Xander looks over at me before backing out of the garage. “What?” he asks. “Did you forget something?” He hits the brakes as I shake my head.

“No, but what about Prue?”

“What about her? She’s fine. She just went out, and I gave her food and water.”

I shake my head again. “No … with the baby,” I hiss. “What is she going to do with the baby? What if she hates her and is mean?”

He snorts and finishes backing out of the driveway. “Prue doesn’t have a mean bone in her body.”

“Now,” I agree. “But she’s never really been around babies before. What if she thinks it’s some sort of strange puppy and tries to get the baby in her mouth.”

Xander laughs at me.