“Babe’s born and crying already. I’m sure he’ll let you check on her when he finishes whatever else he had to do.”
“The afterbirth.” Vex nods as though that makes any of it better and doesn’t make me frown in disgust. “May I wait out here until they’re done?”
“Of course,” Beren says. His hands are on his knees as he sucks in deep breaths from running so fast. “I am going to find Lyath and the girls, you will join me?” He looks at me and offers me his hand before straightening.
There’s a small clearing just past the fourth field that’s always filled with the prettiest wildflowers. The girls love going to the field and picking flowers. I have no doubt that’s where Lyath has them now. Beren must think the same because he heads that way without saying anything. We walk in silence for a moment before Beren looks down at me, a question on his mind that I can see he doesn’t want to ask.
“I don’t want a babe,” I tell him, already knowing it’s what he’s not asking me. “First, I just learned there’s such a thing as afterbirth.” I shudder and gag at just the idea of what that is. “Second, Lyath would pass out about twenty times if I were to get pregnant, and that’s before I even go into labor. And third, I really like just being with the two of you. I don’t need a baby to make me feel complete because we have like eight between all of the nieces and nephews.”
“You are not upset that none of them are yours?” Beren asks. We’ve had variations of this conversation every time one of the females in our lives has a baby, and each time, I tell him the same thing. I don’t fault him for asking. He feels like it’s somehow his responsibility to provide me with a young, even though we all know it’s just not going to happen.
“They are mine,” I nudge his arm to keep him walking to the clearing. We hear their giggling and squealing before we see them, and it makes my smile bright and warm. “Our family isn’t traditional, but it’s ours, and that’s what makes it so great.”
“So true,” Beren murmurs as he holds me tighter to him.
The girls are too busy playing to notice Beren and me when we join Lyath’s side. We get a moment all to ourselves before being bombarded with all sorts of questions about their new sister and their mother. Beren wraps his arms over each of our shoulders, and I wrap my fingers in Lyath’s behind his back. This is our family, and there’s nothing I would change about it.
