The Omega’s Beary Special Christmas (A Bear Under The Christmas Tree)

13. Ferris

THIRTEEN

FERRIS

I’d always bounded out of bed with the sun, eager to start the day and my lessons. In our business, every day was different, and I was never bored or wished I was doing something else.

But now I had to set an alarm, and my mate had to coax me out of bed and put me in the shower while making me my one coffee of the day and an egg sandwich to eat mid-morning when I wasn’t so queasy.

Charlie was taking more of my early morning classes and I did the later ones, though sitting in the office where the aromas from the nearby food trucks wafted into our office was worse than teaching people how to stand up on a surfboard.

And Hugo wasn’t always at home. He traveled, sometimes twice a month for five days. But if he was working from our condo and he was free around lunch time, he’d come see me at the store, though I didn’t have regular lunch breaks either. And if Hector had a day off, he’d often come too.

My folks and little bro had come to stay for a week and everyone got along well. They were thrilled they were going to become grandparents.

“Guess what?” Charlie charged into the store where I had my feet up on a chair and my hands resting on my tiny pregnant belly while I studied my laptop screen.

“Your students all rode a wave for the first time.”

“No. Well, yes, they did.” He waved his hands around as if batting away unnecessary details. “No, I got you and Hugo a present.”

“That’s sweet.” I craned my neck, trying to see what it was, but he wasn’t carrying anything. Maybe it was too big. “Diapers?”

He made a face. Poor Charlie had a problem with poop. I wasn’t sure how he’d cope if he and Hector had kids. “Not for the baby. With the baby. The first family pic.”

“Great, thanks.” That wouldn’t be for a while, because from everything I’d read, we’d be too exhausted to do much except keep the baby clean, fed, and loved. I resumed my work and tapped the computer keyboard.

“Next week.” Charlie yanked a piece of paper from his pocket.

“Not sure how to tell you this, but the baby won’t be here by then.” I pointed to my small bump. I couldn’t decide whether I wanted the baby to come earlier so Hugo and I could meet our Little Bear or for the baby to stay safe inside me for longer. What did I know about being a dad? Besides, the world could be a dangerous place. I wasn’t sure I wanted my child exposed to any of that.

The nickname Little Bear had stuck, even though they wouldn’t meet their beast, assuming they were a shifter, for years.

“No, silly. It’s a pregnancy photoshoot.”

“A what now?”

My friend pulled up a website on his phone and scrolled through images just as Hugo walked in. I sent him a “help me” look.

“What’s going on?” He leaned down and kissed me and blew another kiss to my belly.

I plastered a smile on my face. “Charlie has given us a gift.” My mate peered around the store until my friend waved the paper under his nose. “A pregnancy photoshoot.”

I expected Hugo to react as I did, but his face lit up and he clapped. “That’s amazing. I love those.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah, I had a bear shifter friend who did one with his mate.” He shimmied his hips. “And they were naked.”

“So it’s done in a studio or your home?”

“Anywhere you want.” Charlie added. “And you can keep your clothes on.”

That gave me an idea. If I was going to do this, it had to be relevant to our lives, not just be random pics taken of me and my mate and the belly.

Charlie handed me the information and said I had to schedule it and choose the location.

“Okay. Great.” I tried to add enthusiasm to my voice. Charlie went off to help a customer sign up for lessons while Hugo squatted in front of me.

“You don’t want to do this?”

“I don’t get it. You can take pics of my belly. Heck, I’ve taken lots.”

Hugo nibbled a nail. “How will we tell Charlie? We can’t lie and pretend we did the shoot.”

“No, we're going to do it. It was a kind gesture, and I love him to bits. It would be cruel to refuse and ungrateful.”

“I love you.” He kissed my nose. “You’re a good friend.”

A friend who had to research pregnancy photoshoots.

One week later I was again up at the crack of dawn. But not for a lesson. Today was the big photoshoot, and after I had given it a lot of thought and spoken to the photographer, I had warmed to the idea a little. I wasn’t dreading it, and I was happy because Charlie had given the gift with love.

And the weather was perfect. Yesterday had been stormy, but the clouds cleared and the wind dropped, and I inhaled the fragrance of a brand-new day.

“Do I look okay?” Hugo walked into the bathroom.

“Perfect. Let me zip you up.”

He nuzzled my ear. “I wish you were unzipping me.”

“Later.” I smacked his butt.

We grabbed the food we prepared last night. Now that my nausea was a distant memory, I was hungry first thing, during the day, and had cravings at night.

Hugo drove us to the beach where we met the photographer who it turned out was a shifter. Not a bear shifter. A wolf.

“It’s a beautiful morning, and the light is perfect for the shoot,” Vince, the photographer, said. Hugo raced down from the shop with two surfboards, and we posed next to them, my belly on display covered in my wetsuit. Vince snapped pics of each of us holding a board, with Hugo’s arm wrapped around me, and asked me to move slightly when my mate cupped my belly.

A gentle breeze blew in from the sea, ruffling our hair and bringing with it the salty ocean scent.

“Wait. I almost forgot something.” I rummaged in my bag and pulled out the teddy Hugo had given me with his face on it.

“Awww. That’s so cute.” Vince took more photos of the three of us, no, four: Me, my mate, the bump, and the teddy.

Vince scrolled through the pics he’d taken so far. He would send us everything after the shoot, and we’d choose the ones we wanted.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Hugo shaded his eyes and stared at the small waves that rolled into the beach.

“Yes.” I was only just into my second trimester, and we’d be close to the beach. I knew what I was doing; this was my job. While there was a small risk of surfing in the second trimester, I’d done my research.

Being a shifter, my mate’s coordination was better than most humans, but he hadn’t taken to surfing as easy as Hector did who stood up on his first try. Hugo had to take lessons like everyone else.

We had practiced how we were going to do this on the beach, and when I thought Hugo was ready, we did a few practice runs in the water.

One of our employees brought a tandem surfboard from the store, and I told Hugo to leave the teddy on the beach. That was my security teddy. If I woke up in the middle of the night and Hugo was working away from home, I cuddled him.

“He can watch.”

I couldn’t lie on my belly, so my mate paddled out on the board, and I swam. Vince waded into the water. I heaved myself onto the board behind Hugo as I was the more experienced surfer. I paddled hard since I was at the back, and as we caught a wave, I yelled we had to stand.

The board skimmed over the wave, and Hugo reached behind him and put a hand on my belly. Vince was taking a video and with the sun and the wind behind us, we laughed and shouted, “We did it.”

Early morning walkers, joggers, and dog walkers clapped and cheered.

Vince was wet up to his waist as he waded onto the beach, and Hugo hauled the board onto the sand.

“That was amazing.” Vince played the video for us. “I thought you might have to do it multiple times.”

“Oh my gods, you didn’t tell me you were surfing for your pregnancy photoshoot.” Charlie raced over the sand. “That is so cool.”

I hugged my friend and thanked him for the gift. “I wasn’t sure about it at first.”

“Maybe we’ll get clients asking to learn how to tandem surf.” Charlie did a little dance. “Or pregnancy surfing photoshoots might become a trend and we started it.”

Hugo pulled down his wetsuit so he was bare-chested. He was so hot I wanted to jump him right there, but he was never comfortable in a wetsuit, saying it made him itchy.

“Go home and shower.” I grabbed Teddy and brushed sand off him.

“Can you get time off during the day?” He nuzzled my throat.

“Maybe. What did you have in mind?”

“I’d like to get you naked.” He squeezed my butt, and I draped my arms around his neck.

“That can be arranged.”