Chapter 29 ~ Spilled Salt

Aaron’s POV ~

It’s been over a week since the refugees arrived. We have nearly five hundred..men, women, and children… all Light Elves. We put Tremaine in charge of them as part of his training for the Corellan position. Talk about a comedy of errors!

Shaelin is in the bathroom, again. This is the third day in a row. So, guess where we’re heading? Yep! Yhe doctor! She thinks it’s a flu bug.. I think it’s a pregnancy! She bet me a chocolate mousse she’s right.. I’m betting I’m eating chocolate mousse for dessert!

We get to the clinic, and being Alpha.. she is taken back immediately. The nurse sends her to the bathroom with a test.. She comes back in the room and says “I pee on a stick and the doctor can tell I’m pregnant? I am still not used to everything in this realm!” It dawns on me she’s only been here five years. And while she’s learned a lot.. there is still so much more to be discovered. I ask “How do you test for pregnancy in DullenDirk?” She shrugs and looks away “I don’t really know. Not having any women to talk to.. it was just something I never asked about. I did hear an older woman talking once. She told her daughter to just inject her urine into a toad..and if it explodes, she’s pregnant. That was just too Ewww for me! I will just pee on a stick, thank you very much!” I laughed and told her that’s probably for the best!

The doctor came in… pushing a machine.. at my raised eyebrows she said “Ultrasound! Congratulations! You’re pregnant. Now let’s see how far along you are!” Shay looked at me, and her big blue eyes are even bigger than before “Don’t you have anything to say? Are you happy?” I grinned so big, I thought my face would split and told her “I am over the moon happy! Are you kidding me right now? I am getting chocolate mousse for dessert tonight!” And she smacks me, laughing.

We watch the ultrasound screen.. and the doctor just kept moving the wand around.. stopping now and again. Not saying a word. Shay gets frustrated “Can’t you find it? I mean, how hard can it fucking be?” The doc looked up and said “Hmm? What? Oh yes.. yeah, I’m so sorry! I just get lost in my work.. especially when I see a new little bean. There your baby sits.. you see the little heartbeat? Now watch.. right here.. see the jump? Hiccups! You’re a little over two months.. that means, next week, we will be able to tell the gender. And a lottle over two months to meet this bundle of joy!”

Walking back to the pack house, Shaelin is quiet. She hasn’t said a word. I stop and pull her into my arms and whisper “Are you scared?” At her nod I ask of what? She sniffles and I see a tear fall down her cheek. I catch it and lift her face to mine, kissing the trail the tear made “Talk to me, baby. What is it?” She leans her head into my chest… well.. between my chest and abdomen.. and whispers “Will you hate me, if it’s a girl?” Ahh… now I get it. Pain.. Fear.. her father sure did a number on my tiny little Elf! I whisper “I am actually praying it’s a girl.. with her mommy’s snow white hair and big blue eyes! A little princess daddy’s girl to have tea parties with.. and daddy/daughter days. There is no way on Goddess’s green earth I would or could ever hate you.. for anything! I love you!”

She sniffled out a half giggle and said “I guess I am a little more emotionally scarred than I thought.” I held her tighter and told her “I will tell you every day that I need you. I will prove to you every hour that I want you! I will show you every minute that I love you! I will fill your heart with it.. you will feel it from my soul. Son or daughter. It will be the same for our pup!”

She started crying and whispered “I love you so much!” And I simply lifted her in my arms and walked home. Gavin raised an eyebrow when we walked in and I mouthed ‘later’… I carried her upstairs and laid her on the bed… then I laid beside her.. holding her close.. and just let her cry it all out. Elves don’t get sad or mad often.. but when they do, all that pent up sadness or anger comes rushing forth

. She probably hasn’t cried for everything she’s been through. She needs this outlet.

She cried herself to sleep and I just lay with her.. holding her close. Two hours later she sits up and asks “What the hell was that? I have never cried like that!” I smiled and pulled her back down beside me and kissed her. I said “That was years of sadness pouring from these beautiful eyes. And you needed it! It will help your heart cleanse itself. That, or you were so touched by my words your joy spilled over?”

She grinned “You are such a dork! I was touched by your words.. but I’m believing it was more of sadness…and fear.” I kissed her again and whispered “I will always be here to put you back together, each time you fall apart!” And, that time, she kissed me!

We showered and went down to have lunch with our pack. There’s always a mix of Elves and wolves and it’s an absolute joy to watch the interaction! Gavin was already seated.. removing the salt shaker from Evan’s hands. Then he did it again..and again. Finally, as I was seated I asked Evan what the fuck he is doing!? He said “I spilled salt!” Like that explained everything! “What?” He shrugged and looked nervously over his shoulder “I spilled salt. So I was trying to throw salt. Over my left shoulder.. It’s bad luck to spill salt and not throw some over your left shoulder!”

I say “Uh-huh! I see. And Gavin wouldn’t let you throw salt?” He shook his head no. I asked him “Why didn’t you just pick up some of the salt you spilled, and throw it over your shoulder?” He looks at the spilled salt..the salt shaker.. then me “I don’t.. I didn’t.. I was..” and he picked up a pinch of spilled salt and tossed it over his shoulder. Shaelin barely stayed in her seat!

Shay asks Evan why he’s so superstitious. He says “It’s like karma. If you don’t do something to ward off bad luck, bad things happen. My cousin didn’t do it one time.. he accidentally walked under a ladder. And I told him to walk around that ladder three times! I told him! He didn’t do it! And know what happened the next day? Yep.. he got hit by a bus and it killed him!”

Shaelin gasped and asked Really? Evan grinned from ear to ear and said “Nope! It’s just something I have always done!” While the rest of us are dying laughing, she threw her fork at him. Luckily, he ducked. She said “Now.. THAT is Karma!” He laughed harder “Sure, if Karma’s real name is Shaelin!” She sneers at him and deadpans “Looks like that salt paid off.. else you wouldn’t have ducked in time!” That started us all laughing again!