The Unexpected Yuletide Baby (Starscale Mates #3)

Chapter Six

Medwin

An hour after I climbed into the nest, I finally held our third son, Acadian, named after some old constellation Clarence once read about. It vaguely reminded me of an arcade, but I gave in quickly on the subject. Acadian Jade Moonscale had a certain ring to it and he could go by AJ later on if he wanted to.

Teal announced the hatching while Clarence and I spent some time bonding with our newest baby. He was tiny. So tiny but he wouldn’t stay that way for long. They never did. One second, they were barely breaking out of their egg and the next they were on a planet that wasn’t even heard of when they hatched. Despite barely being able to look away from Baby Acadian, Clarence insisted that I eat before anyone else met the baby. He orchestrated the whole ordeal, and Teal came back into the nesting room pushing a cart of food from the buffet. Clarence p fed me while I held the baby to my chest. He was as hungry as I was. I wasn’t surprised, though. I didn’t remember my own hatching but summarized that it could be nothing less than grueling work that created quite the appetite.

“How’s your stomach?” Clarence asked.

“Not as bad as before. The gummies worked,” I pointed out.

“We’ll see,” Clarence said.

“Were you not ready for us to be pregnant so quickly or can you not fathom that we could make such a mistake? I mean the odds were stacking up against us for years. Recently, we’ve taken more chances than we used to. I’m not complaining. It’s been nice to relax a bit.”

“The latter. Technically, unless we’re practicing abstinence, we could be pregnant at any given moment. I like to think that we are always careful enough. Imagine if you hadn’t wanted another baby so soon. This would be ---”

“Perfect still,” I shrugged, taking a bite of the steak he held out to me. “We’re at peace right now. If there is a time an oopsy would be okay it would be now.”

“I’d still feel guilty. Hell, I might feel guilty now since if we did conceive it would mean it happened while we weren’t planning for it and that’s not a situation I ever want to put you in.”

“Clarence,” I smiled at him. “I’m happy. Perhaps not about all the morning sickness stuff today. Why did it have to happen today of all days? But I am happy. This is what I wanted.”

“Good,” he said, feeding me another bite. “Shall we put them off on meeting the hatchling for a few months?”

“Ha!” I threw my head back laughing. “Let’s get it over with. We’ll go out there and I’ll be tired in about half an hour. Then we’ll come back in here.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Clarence said, leaning over to kiss my forehead.

***

Dinner went off without a hitch without us. Indigo and Cobalt had wrangled everyone into the dining room and started the meal. After a brief intercession to meet the baby and congratulate us, our guests had dessert and headed into the ballroom to open gifts. Despite our original plan we didn’t disappear into the nest. We lingered on the edge of the room watching the little ones and adults alike tear into the gifts we’d gotten them. As always, Clarence and I saved ours to open the next morning. Yule was usually one of the few times of the year we knew for sure Clarence would be home. When we had Cade and then Sunny and then the grandkids we tried our best to make it about them.

“Yule Eve baby,” Teal said, sitting down on the arm of the sofa.

“He is,” I nodded. “So tiny. You were this tiny if the photos are to be believed.”

“I don’t believe them for a second,” Teal laughed.

“But you were,” Clarence grinned. “How many do you think will sleep over tonight?”

“Not many. Dad called and rented out most of a hotel in case this happened. He didn’t want everyone crowding in on you and the new baby.”

“Smart man,” Clarence said.

“Extravagant man like you,” I teased.

“I never said I wasn’t,” he shrugged. “But they need a place to stay. If they want to stay here I won’t chase them off but it was a smart move on Cade’s part.”

“It was,” I gave in and passed the baby off to Clarence.

My mate held the tiny baby close to his chest. Acadian’s eyes drifted closed and he yawned in a way that made him look more mouth than baby. He was fucking perfect. Bloody fucking perfect.

“Are you staying?” Clarence asked Teal a second later.

“I was but if you---” he started and I shook my head.

“Nonsense! You’re going to be living here! You can stay. Indigo and Cobalt too if they want.”

“They have people waiting on them at the hotel,” Teal rolled his eyes.

“Oh,” I smirked. “Bastards. How dare they enjoy their holiday while their brother is miserable? Stay with us and eat leftovers. We always have a lot. So many left over desserts too. You can eat your broken heart.”

“And give your grandcarrier an ultrasound,” Clarence pointed out.