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Ava was now ten weeks pregnant and we were patiently waiting for the results of the paternity test. People were speculating about her; she was living in my house after all. We ate together in the dining room and that was about the total amount of time we spent together.
I had put a stop to Linda training her until we knew the paternity of the baby. I hadn’t spoken to Rylee yet and neither Lucas nor Chase could tell me anything. She hadn’t reacted when Lucas had told her about Ava and that scared me.
“Grey,” I answered my ringing phone.
“Sire Ryder, I have received the results of the paternity test,” Peter said.
“And?”
“Congratulations Sire,” he said and I closed my eyes.
I ended the call without saying anything else and just sat there with my hands in my hair. It was official, I was going to be a father and now I had to do the right thing. I looked at my phone and called the Elders’ headquarters.
“Elder Michael speaking.”
“Good afternoon Elder, it’s Ryder,” I said.
“Sire Ryder, how can I assist you today?” he asked me.
“My lair doctor has confirmed that the baby is mine,” I said.
“Congratulations Sire, I will send the official news to Sire Anthony,” Elder Michael said.
“Thanks, I guess.”
“When will the bonding ceremony take place?” he asked me.
“Let me first survive telling my mother,” I said as he laughed heartily.
“Good luck Sire Ryder, we patiently await news of your bonding ceremony,” he said and ended the call.
I looked up as Link stood in the doorway of my smaller, personal office just down the hall from my bedroom with his arms crossed over his chest. “Oddly enough I don’t really see you with a baby.”
“Can’t be that hard,” I said as he laughed.
“When are you taking her to meet your mother?” he asked me.
“It’ll have to be sooner rather than later,” I said with a sigh.
“Make the call, she’ll probably want you there for lunch or dinner over the weekend,” he said and disappeared down the hall.
I stopped short as I walked into my bedroom and found Ava hanging her clothes in my dressing room. “What are you doing?”
“Peter called me with the results,” she said.
“That doesn’t answer my question,” I said.
“We have a baby on the way and soon we’ll do the bonding ceremony, so I might as well move into our bedroom now,” she said with a smile.
“Yeah, probably,” I said and headed to the bathroom.
I had called Lucas instead of Rylee and told him the news. We agreed on meeting up on Saturday. with the family so that they could meet Ava and officially welcome her to the family and to discuss the bonding ceremony. I stood in the shower under the warm water when I heard the door open.
“Ava …”
Her arms encircled me from behind and I could feel every inch that she pressed against me. Her hands travelled down my stomach and she gripped me tightly as I turned around and pushed her hands away from me.
“What’s wrong?” she asked me.
“I have work to do,” I said and pushed past her and got out of the shower.
I sat in my office for hours, drinking and reaching out to Abeloth. I had to get a grip on myself. I liked Ava but I didn’t love her and now I was stuck with her. With Megan it had been easy, I wanted her with me, every single day.
Those thoughts still swirled around in my brain when I climbed into bed next to Ava where she slept peacefully. I would probably have to apologize to her in the morning. “Halfling …” Abeloth’s voice filtered through and I opened my eyes.
“Hey big guy,” I said.
“Do you want me to block Megan from your mind?” he asked me.
“No!” I said quickly.
“It might make things easier for you,” he said.
“I don’t want things to be easier for me,” I said angrily
“It’s better this way. My soul mourns for her as well but we have a chance to be happy again, a woman waiting for us to claim her, a child …”
“How can you be so sure that we’ll love each other?” I asked him.
“Typhon said we’d be happy no matter who we chose,” he said.
“I didn’t choose her,” I replied.
“You royally fucked this one up halfling,” Abeloth said.
“I know, it was Megan that was supposed to be pregnant, not some human woman I know nothing about,” I said and he growled at me in response.
“Get your head out of your ass, you did this.”
“I know!”
“You could always ask her to have an abortion,” Abeloth said.
“Fuck you Abeloth!” I said angrily.
“You’re the one being a girl about everything,” he said and I blocked him out as he laughed at me.
‘Asshole,’ I thought to myself and closed my eyes again.
The next morning I was up early and went for a jog through Princeton. It was still early and the town was still asleep. I preferred it this way, being on my own, I was used to it. Link was in the kitchen when I got back to the house.
“My family will arrive at around noon,” I said to him as he handed me a cup of coffee.
“Shit, they’re coming here?” he asked me and I nodded my head.
“The weather’s still nice out, maybe a barbecue,” I said.
“Takes me back to the day I met Em’s parents,” Link said as I chuckled.
“That was a hectic weekend,” I said.
“The look on Leana’s face when Megan threw her out of the house,” Link said and I laughed.
“Sorry …”
“It’s okay Link, she was a big part of our lives and we all loved her,” I said.
“Who was?” Ava asked from behind me.
“Nobody,” I said. “I forgot to tell you, Lucas is bringing my mother today to meet you.”
“What time?” she asked me with wide eyes.
“Noon.”
“Drink your coffee, we have to get to the shops,” she said and practically ran up the stairs as Link chuckled.
“She seems excited,” he said.
“Nervous is more like it,” I said and finished my coffee.
Ava reappeared five minutes later and we walked outside to the truck. She opened her door before I could do it and smiled when I climbed inside.
“You don’t have to be nervous,” I said to her.
“It’s your mother!” she said seriously and I laughed at her.
I followed her around the store and pushed the trolley as she started filling it up. She kept mumbling to herself and I ignored the odd looks she got from people until they saw me and then it changed to smiles.
“Is there something else we need?” she asked me.
“Booze, lots of booze,” I said.
Three hours later we were back at the house with an hour to spare before my family would arrive. I carried all the bags to the kitchen where Ava gave Mary instructions while she went upstairs to get ready.
I helped Link to clean up the outside entertainment area as Emily carried glasses outside and filled the bar fridge with beer. I found Ava in the kitchen helping Mary with a cheese platter and snacks of various sorts and smiled back when she smiled at me.
“I hope all this is okay,” Ava said.
“It’s great, I was going to hand out a few beers and throw some meat on the grill,” I said and she laughed. She had a nice laugh.
“At least I’m here to save the day,” she said.
“Let me help you with that,” I said as I took the platters from her and carried them outside.
She followed me outside and placed nets over all the food and moved the plates to one side when Mary brought them out. “What time is it?”
“Relax, everything will be fine,” I said to her.
“I want it to be great, not just fine,” she said.
“Thank you for all this,” I said as she walked closer to me and kissed me on the lips.
“Of course, I’ll support you however I can,” she said.
“We’re out of here,” Link said as he intertwined his hand with Emily’s.
“What? No!”
“Your mom won’t literally kill you Ryder,” Emily laughed.
“As my second you have to have my back Link!” I yelled as they walked to the front door.
“Not today Sire, today I feel like not getting my ass handed to me,” he said and laughed.
I heard the front door close and then it was just me and Ava. She had a nervous smile on her face as she straightened a chair once again. I checked my watch and it was only five to twelve when I heard the tyres of a car.
“Show time,” I said to Ava as she straightened her sundress.
“I feel nauseous,” she said suddenly and swallowed as the front door opened.
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