Chapter 113: A better father
Aira’s POV
SEVEN MONTHS LATER…
It was getting really hard to get up these days. At this point, I think I will ask Alex to get me a wheelchair and a personal butler; all this walking around was becoming quite stressful.
My hand subconsciously goes over my round belly, and a smile creeps up my lips. This has become a habit of mine. Every morning when I wake up and every night before I go to bed, I always touch my belly. Even at random moments of the day, my hand always went to my growing child.
Just two more months left, and I get to finally meet you, my beautiful angel.
I honestly couldn’t wait. Every day I wake up, I am filled with an excitement that is greater than the one from the day before. Ever since Alex brought me back to the palace, things have been going incredibly smoothly.
I no longer had encounters with my dead family members, or any spirit for that matter. Everything has been going pretty well. I started to have the symptoms of a normal pregnancy; I would wake up with morning sickness, and Alex would bring me a nice hot breakfast. I often vomited and had headaches; I also easily got irritated too.
But I would choose this to wake up to the deranged faces of the dead.
Throwing my feet off the bed, a scowl pulls my lips as I take a look around the room. Alex is nowhere to be found. Where has he gone? He knows how much I hate waking up without having him by my side.
It upsets the baby.
I am going to give him an earful once I get a hold of him.
Making my way out of our room and down the hall, I pass by a couple guards who bow at me in respect. I offer them a kind smile as I track Alex down with our bond. My feet move on their own accord, and I find myself going to the room just two doors away from our room.
It’s funny how I have never stepped foot into this room before. Actually, there are many rooms I have never stepped foot in before. I really do need to do some exploring, but not now. Maybe when the baby is old enough. We will explore it together. Hehe.
I push open the door, and the scent of fresh paint fills my nostrils. The room was clearly freshly painted; it was a turquoise green color. The floorboards have been freshly polished, and the ceiling was decorated in a way that made it look like I was gazing into heaven.
The room was completely empty; there was nothing but my mate sitting at the center of the room with a book in his hands. He was so engrossed in it that he was yet to notice my presence. I make sure my steps aren’t heard as I near him.
Craning my neck, I try to get a glimpse of what he was reading that captured his interest. He was in Chapter five of the book, and the title had me bursting out with laughter.
How do you feed pregnant women so they can stay full for a long time?
“You aren’t exactly good at sneaking up, you know?” Alex asks, his eyes still trained on the pages. A sigh leaves my lips, and my shoulders slouch.
“You left the bed. You know I hate waking up alone,” I mutter, and he instantly shuts the book and shoots to his feet.
“I know, and I am sorry. You slept by ten last night; you don’t usually wake up until eight, so I thought I could get some reading done before you wake up,” he explains, and I find it heartwarming and concerning that he was that observant.
And he was right; I did wake up earlier than usual; I am still tired. “I only woke up because you weren’t in bed,” I state, and he purses my lips.
“My apologies, my love,” he says, and my heart flutters at the endearment. A squeal leaves my lips as he goes down to pick me up in his arms. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I laugh as he takes me back to the room and places me back on the bed.
His lips press on the top of my head, and I let out a content sigh. He goes to my feet and places them on his thighs. And to my greatest surprise, he starts to massage them. Damn, why did that feel so good?
“What are you doing?” I ask him, sinking deeper into the bed.
“I read this is the best way to bring you the most comfort and ease you off your stress.” He pauses, and for a moment he looks rather uncertain, then he asks, “Is it working?”
I nod and let out a sigh of contentment as my muscles ease off. I feel myself slowly drift back into slumber when a thought has me sitting up abruptly. His eyes lock with mine, and worry swirls within his as he asks, “Wait, why were you in that room reading that book?”
“Well, I thought I should do better by you. I need to learn how to be a better husband and father to you and our child,” he says, and I find myself smiling from his words.
“You are going to be a wonderful father, Alex. And you are already an amazing husband to me; I couldn’t ask for anyone better; you don’t need a book to teach you anything,” I tell him, and he grins up at me.
Oh dear Goddess, please grant my child their father’s eyes.
“Well, it wouldn’t hurt to know,” he says, and I nod in understanding.
“And the room?” I ask, and he looks at me like the answer to that question was obvious.
“Is our child’s?” he says, and my eyes widen with surprise. “I was going to wait till we found out the gender before painting it, but I thought of something a bit more unisexual.” He pauses to purse his lips and looks up at me with uncertainty. “Do you like it?” he asks cutely.
“I love it,” I tell him, and he visibly relaxes. “It’s a girl, by the way.”
Alex’s eyebrows shoot up to his hairline, and he asks, “How do you know that?”
My mind replays the last time I met with Ana’s ghost. She kept referring to my child as a girl; I do not know; I always believed that I was having a girl after that.
Instead of telling Alex this, I simply shrug and say, “I just do.”
“We can find out the gender now, right?” he asks, and I nod. “Then why haven’t you confirmed?”
Sucking my bottom lip into my mouth, I think about that question deeply. “I don’t know; I just really believe it is a girl.”
Alex lets out a sigh and picks me up from the bed and leads me out of the room. “Where are you taking me now?” I ask as I wrap my arms around his neck.
“To get an ultrasound and confirm my child’s gender. I need to start making proper preparations; there isn’t much time, you know.” He asks, and I found the urgency in his voice adorable. I love how invested he was when it came to our child.
I do not bother to fight him off on this, so I let him carry me all the way down to the infirmary. We passed by several guards and maids; they watched us with envious and longing looks as their once most cold-hearted alpha carried his mate down the halls lovingly in his arms.
When we finally got to the infirmary, Alex’s first and only words to the doctor were, “Run an ultrasound on her. I want to know the gender.”
The doctor nods once before getting to work on the machines. I lay on the stretcher with my belly on full display. He applies something like jelly on my stomach, which makes me giggle. “That tickles,” I state, and Alex shakes his head at my childishness.
The doctor had a faint smile on his lips as he began to run his tools around my stomach.
A hand picks mine up and squeezes it softly. Turning my head, I find Alex with his eyes focused on the screen in front of us. He was waiting anxiously. We both were.
I turn my attention to the screen, and there she is. My little baby.
The pounding of her little heart fills the room, and I am instantly driven to tears.
“She is so small,” I say as a whisper as I gaze at her little form. With teary eyes, I look at Alex once more to be sure he was seeing the same thing I was seeing.
He was mesmerized.
“It’s a girl,” the doctor announces, and Alex’s eyes widen before meeting mine.
“Told you.”