“You’re pregnant.”
Aros choked on his water, and I sat there for a silent moment, then I burst out laughing.
“What are you talking about? We can’t have children,” I corrected him with another chuckle.
“Says who?” He glanced at Calix who shrugged.
“Well, I was a eudaemon. I’ve never gotten a woman pregnant in almost two hundred years. I’m pretty sure I can’t have children,” Aros explained. The reminder that he’d had sex with other women made me prickly, and I practically snarled.
He caught my hand in his and kissed my knuckles. “Don’t. You’re the only woman for me and have been since the moment I knew you were alive. You’re also the only woman I will ever love.”
Hayden snorted. “You think eudaemons can’t father children? Just because you were a watcher, doesn’t mean you couldn’t mate with a human. They did it all the time. Still do. Granted, a pregnancy doesn’t happen very often, but it happens. Their children are just kind of like you. Mortal, but… not.”
“He’s right,” Calix told us. “On both counts. You’re definitely pregnant. We can always tell.”
Aros and I both sat there, dumbstruck. Mouths hanging open, we looked at each other, then at them. Then I sputtered and scrambled for my phone. Once I had it in my trembling hands, I called Jasmine.
“Do any of you have any pregnancy tests?” I burst out the second she answered. There was silence on the other end of the line.
Then laughter. “Girl, I thought you said you two couldn’t have babies?”
“Yeah, that’s what we thought. Do you have any?”
I heard the sounds of rummaging. “Sorry, hon, I sure don’t. Did you try Loralei?”
“No, I called you first,” I replied as goose bumps spread across my skin at the thought of being pregnant. It was something I hadn’t hoped for in some time. I no longer imagined I could.
“I can see if Nico is still at Hy-Vee. He’s grabbing diapers and wet wipes for me,” she offered hopefully.
“Please?”
“I’ll try.”
We ended the call.
“Well, that’s a fine how do you do,” I barked at my brother. “We haven’t seen each other in an insane amount of years, and the first thing you tell me is I’m knocked up. Like you’re a living, breathing ultrasound machine.”
He was trying not to laugh. I knew he was. He always held his lips between his teeth when he was trying not to laugh at me. There was also the fact that his eyes danced with humor that he couldn’t disguise if he wanted to.
“Hayden, it’s not funny.”
Aros still hadn’t said anything, but he reached for my hand. Then he gave me this puppy-dog stare. “If you are or if you aren’t, I love you just the same. But I can’t lie… I hope you are.”
Tears welled in my eyes. “You do?”
He nodded.
“Well, shit,” I mumbled and promptly started to cry.
Jasmine had texted me and told me Chains would be bringing the test by.
We then spent the better part of an hour talking about old times and laughing. I’d just asked him where he was living when the doorbell sounded again.
“I got it,” Aros announced and hopped up.
“I want you to know that you scared the shit out of me,” I heard Chains say from the door.
“Why?” Aros asked him.