“I wish he were here, too,” Jason finally said. “I wish I’d known them both.”
Vale smiled. “They loved each other very much.”
“And you.”
“Yes, they loved me, too.” Vale touched his stomach. “We’ll love him, Jason. Don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried about that.”
Vale sighed. “I know you are. That old omega tale has wormed under your skin. But there’s nothing this one can do that will make me not love him. Even if he kicks my spleen out while he’s in here.”
Jason nodded and kept his thoughts to himself. He could think of one thing the babe might do that could make him not love it. If Vale didn’t survive then Jason wasn’t sure how he’d ever forgive himself…or the baby.
The sun was falling in the sky, and it was time to get Vale back up to the house. “Dinner will be served soon.”
Vale sighed and let Jason pull him to his feet. “How was your time in the gardens?”
Jason smiled, putting his hand on Vale’s back and taking his arm to guide him toward the stairs that led up to the house. “It was good. The gardener has finally accepted that I don’t want to meddle, just help.”
“He’s lucky to have you.”
“I’m lucky he didn’t quit when I first showed up. That would have left Caleb in a mess.”
“Caleb would manage. I get the impression he always does.” He started toward the house, one hand on his stomach, and the other in Jason’s grasp.
Vale waddled more and more every day, and Jason kept close to him. Especially on the way to and from the beach. The dunes, the stairs, and even the sand itself could shift about under Vale’s feet and leave him tipping over.
“Did you talk to your father?” Vale asked as they reached the safety of the path near the gardens.
“Yes.”
“And he’s not angry?”
“He understands.”
Vale nodded knowingly. “They’reÉrosgápe. Of course, he does.”
Jason’s work for Sabel Enterprises had been handed off to another employee when his father realized that he was too distracted by Vale’s needs to handle it properly. He felt guilty about that, certain that a better alpha would have been able to do both, but he wasn’t willing to risk a single moment with Vale for something as mundane as car parts. Not when he wasn’t sure Vale would make it through the pregnancy, much less the birth.
No amount of Urho’s assurances and Vale’s apparent robust health could take away the dagger of fear lodged in Jason’s heart. Nor could it stop his mind from interpreting every whimper and moan as evidence that Vale’s body wasn’t going to weather this storm. But he had to keep it all locked down.
Pushed deep.
No leak of his true fear was allowed. Vale needed Jason’s belief as much as he needed food and water. So, he’d fake it until they had a crying, healthy baby in their arms, and Vale was assessed as safe, too. Then, maybe, he’d let himself fall apart with relief.
“This is taking longer than I imagined,” Vale said, as Jason scurried ahead on the path to open the door for him. “I never realized that, aside from the pain, being pregnant could be so dull.”
Jason wished he found it dull, too. Unfortunately, he still found it terrifying.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
A month later
The relief inthe house was palpable. Catching, even, in its pleasant strength.
The relationship between Xan and Urho was flourishing to everyone’s satisfaction and delight. Caleb’s printing press and supplies had been delivered, leaving him happily creating all day and buzzing with cheerfulness at night. And Janus, Xan’s cousin who had been staying with them at Lofton to act as a spy for Xan’s father, had been summoned away from the house for a spell, and everyone felt the joy of his absence.
Vale saw the relief in Jason, too. His gait was easier, more relaxed, and his smile came brighter as the days passed. Vale suspected it was less to do with the absence of Xan’s annoying cousin, and more to do with the progress of Vale’s pregnancy.
