Chapter 476

“Oh geeze,” I say when we pull up to Cora and Roger’s house in the pre- dawn morning and see that every light is on. “You ready for this?” “Sure!” Sinclair says, grinning at me as he puts the car in park at the end of the driveway. “It will be a nice role reversal – this time Roger can be the one worried sick and I can be in the background cracking jokes.” “Aww, sweetheart,” I say, grinning at my mate and putting a soft hand on his cheek. “It’s cute that you think you’re funny enough to crack jokes.” Sinclair’s brows knit together as he frowns at me. “What are you talking about?

I’m very funny.” “Okay, baby,” I murmur, patting his shoulder as I turn to climb out of the car.

“I am!” he insists as he gets out of the driver’s seat and starts around the car.

“Dominic,” I sigh, hiding my teasing grin as I lean into the car and unbuckle Rafe, pulling him into my arms. “You have so many blessings. Why do you need to be funny too?” “Because I am funny!” Sinclair says, crossing his arms and glaring at me.

“Okay!” I say cheerfully, not contracting him but moving quickly towards the front door of the house without confirming either.

“Ella!” he scoffs, striding after me.

“What!?” I laugh, knocking on the door for once instead of just striding in because I want to give Cora and Roger their privacy if they’re not ready for us.

We did get here really fast, after all the roads were empty this early.

“I make you laugh all the time,” Sinclair says, still frowning down at me.

“Yes, sweetheart,” I say, grinning with mischief as I gaze up at him, “but I’m laughing at you, not your jokes.” He growls at me, starting to get a little miffed, and I burst into laughter. Sinclair opens his mouth to protest more but both of our attention snaps forward when the door flies open, revealing a harried Roger staring at us with the fingers of one hand already tangled in his own hair.

“Come in,” he says, his voice frantic and full of dread. “I need you to talk sense into her – ” “No, he doesn’t!” Cora calls, and, grinning, I peer beyond Roger to see her starting up the steps, leaning hard against the banister. “Everything is fine, please come in!” Roger sighs a deep, tortured breath and I pat him on his shoulder as I hurry past him and up the stairs to Cora, taking the plate of toast she’s carrying out of her hand, Rafe perched on my hip. Cora smiles her thanks at me and presses her hand to the small of her back as she concentrates on getting up the stairs.

“Why don’t you just use the stair lift chair?” I ask, gesturing towards it.

“Because I’m perfectly capable of getting up the stairs, Ella,” Cora growls as she continues to lift herself up one step at a time, glaring at me.

“Well duh,” I say, rolling my eyes at her. “It’s just fun.” This makes her laugh a little and she. shakes her head at me. “Okay, good,” she says. “Someone sane is here. Can you please have Dominic just tie the other one up downstairs until this is all finished?” “Can you please talk some sense into her, Ella?” Roger calls from the bottom of the steps, and I turn to see him standing at the bottom, looking desperately up at me.

“About what?” I ask, looking between them, baffled. Because honestly Cora looks fine to me just very pregnant and in the early stages of labor. And she would know if anything were actually wrong – she’s an OBGYN.

“We need to go to the hospital!” Roger insists as Sinclair closes the front door and stands at his brother’s side at the bottom of the stairs, radiating support but unable to keep a little smile from his mouth, clearly enjoying seeing his big brother all freaked out. “This idea of a home birth was a terrible idea – what were we thinking -” “We decided on a home birth months ago, Roger!”

Cora calls over her shoulder, sighing as she does. I grin at her as we get to the top of the steps because I can tell that this is an argument they’ve been having all night, and one that she thinks is getting old. “We’re not changing plans now!” “We were idiots months ago,” Roger growls, starting to follow us up the stairs.

Sinclair comes with him as Cora and I walk to the bedroom.

“I think a home birth is a good idea,” I say, following Cora into her bedroom and over to the bed, where I place her toast on the side table before lifting Rafe more securely into my arms. Cora climbs into bed and then puts her hands out for Rafe, who I lower for a, kiss, though I don’t pass him to her. She’s already got one baby to worry about.

“It is a good idea,” she says with a sigh after she gives Rafe a sweet kiss and musses his hair. “I’m perfectly healthy – there’s no reason to not do it at home, and I’ve got doctors coming to stand by just in case! Ridiculous,” she mutters, pulling the blankets up over her knees.

“You’ll be safer in a hospital,” Roger says, crossing his arms as he comes into the room.

“No, I won’t,” she sighs, flicking him a little glare as she settles the blankets just how she wants them. “My sister, the magical healer, is here. It’ll be fine I couldn’t be any safer.” “I had a home birth, Roger,” I say, turning to him and gesturing to Rafe, who gives a happy little squeak. “Or, well, a palace birth, even if it wasn’t our home yet. And everything turned out fine!” Roger’s face goes slack as he stares at me. “You almost died, Ella!” “Oh,” I say, turning my head to the side as I remember it. “Oh yeah!” I laugh a little, giving a shrug. ” Honestly, I always forget that part...” Roger just groans, turning away and covering his face with his hands. “He’s watched too much Little House on the Prairie,” Cora murmurs, rolling her eyes at me. “He thinks a home birth is all boiling water and screaming and blood everywhere – ” Roger groans again, louder this time, and I see Sinclair clench his jaw to keep from laughing as he pats his brother’s back.

“It’s going to be fine,” I say, smiling at Roger’s turned back, but I turn back to Cora when I hear her moan a little. ” Contraction?” I ask.

“Yup,” Cora answers tightly, taking a deep breath. “About five minutes apart.” “Did your water break?” She nods, but doesn’t answer, clearly gritting her teeth through the pain. I murmur to her consolingly and reach for her hand, Rafe still wrapped cozy in my other arm.

“Oh my god,” I hear Roger murmur, coming quickly to my side. “Is she...is she all right?” “I’m right here!” Cora growls, lifting her head to glare at him.

“I’m just asking!” “You can ask me!” “Okay!” he says, a little frantic. “Are you all right!?” Cora squeezes my hand and glares at Roger for a long half minute. Then she gives a little gasp as the pain of the contraction starts to fade. She pants a little and turns her eyes to Sinclair. ” Please, Dominic,” she says, shaking her head at him. “Can you please take him downstairs and get him drunk or something? I can’t take this frantic energy.” “I’ll be calm!” Roger insists, whipping his head to look around at us like we’re going to lock him away or something.

“Come on, brother,” Sinclair says, crossing the room to take Rafe from me and then wrapping his arm around Roger’s shoulders, turning him out of the room.

“Seriously, maybe you do need a drink -” “I need six drinks,” Roger sighs, melancholy as he allows himself to be lead away.

Cora sighs and leans back against the pillows as we hear their footsteps and voices travel downstairs. I sit next to her on the bed, smiling at her.

“He’s just going crazy because he loves you,” I say quietly.

“I know,” she sighs, looking at the empty door that her mate walked through a moment ago. “And I love him to. He’s just driving me nuts, and he’s not allowing me to freak out at all.” She pauses for a moment, her hands going to her swollen belly before she looks up at me. “He’s supposed to be the calm one, I’m supposed to be the one freaking out about pushing a gigantic Sinclair baby through a very small opening in a few hours!” “Aww, sis,” I say, leaning forward and wrapping her in a hug as I secretly pass Cora’s words down the bond to Sinclair, advising that he tell Roger that Cora needs him to be calm and collected so that she doesn’t have to play that role today.

My mate sends me back a pulse of confirmation, letting me know that he’s on it.

“How long do you think you’ve got?” I ask, pulling away from Cora and looking her over, seeing the tension and fear on her face as well as her characteristic determination. I smile when I see that – my sweet, tough sister, ready to take this on like she does everything in her life.

“Hard to tell,” she says with a sigh, running her hand over her belly. “A few hours, at least. But I’m glad you’re here, Ella.” “No place I’d rather be,” I say, smiling at her and crawling across the bed until I’m sitting in Roger’s spot, snuggled up against her shoulder. She sighs and grabs the remote from the table next to her. “We’ve got about four minutes until the next bout of agonizing pain. Want to watch tv?” “Sure,” I say, nodding as Cora flicks it on and puts on some deliciously mindless reality show.

And together, we settle in to wait for the baby to be born.