“The baby, Cadence,” Aaron said in her head. “You’re carrying our baby.”
Cadence sucked in air all over again, like she had when she’d first fought to open her eyes. The baby! Jamie had told her she was pregnant before the hunt. How it had slipped her mind was beyond her, but yes, she was going to have a baby.
Or was she? Her eyes flew to Jamie’s face, all of her questions bottled up in her eyes as she raised both brows, hoping he could alleviate her worry.
Jamie smiled and gave a small nod only she could see. All of the air rushed out of Cadence’s lungs again as her hand flew to her abdomen, sighing in relief.
“What is it?” Cassidy asked. “What was the other thing you couldn’t remember before?”
Part of her wanted to keep their little secret just that, and she was disappointed that she hadn’t been the one to tell Aaron. She looked to him to see if he thought they should disclose the information to these few important individuals or keep it secret for a while.
His face lit up like the rising sun, and Cadence couldn’t help but beam back at him. “I think you should tell them,” he said quietly.
“Yeah?” Cadence questioned, her head bobbing up and down slightly. “You think? But not everyone.”
“No, not everyone. But these three, sure.”
Cadence agreed. Turning her attention to her sister, Brandon, and Elliott, who looked like he was about to explode with anticipation, she said, “We’re gonna have a baby.”
“What?” Cassidy’s hands flew over her mouth. “Shut up!”
“Well, I’ll be damned!” Elliott exclaimed, laughing. “Holy shit! A baby?”
“I’m going to be an uncle?” Brandon looked nearly as ecstatic as the other two, which was a bit of a surprise to Cadence.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Cassidy jabbed her in the shoulder, but not hard enough to hurt.
“I just found out. Right before the hunt.” She looked at Aaron, hoping he’d understand. Later, she’d apologize for not telling him, but she couldn’t do it now. Turning back to the others, she said, “It’s a surprise. But a good one. Especially if she has her daddy’s eyes.”
“It could be a boy,” Aaron noted.
“It could be both,” Cassidy said.
Cadence’s head swiveled around quickly. “Bite your tongue, girl!”
“I’m just sayin’, when you were out, I could feel another presence. That’s what that was, isn’t it, Jamie?”
The doctor nodded, his smile as wide as the other’s who’d just found out. “Yeah, that’s how Aaron figured it out.”
Cadence would need more information about what that explanation meant, but she let Cassidy continue. “Well, I couldn’t tell if it was one stream or two. I was confused because I thought it was you at first, and I was hoping that’s what it was, too. But it didn’t make any sense because it didn’t feel like you. And it felt like it might’ve been more than one person I was picking up on.”
“Listen, little sister, I have accepted the fact that I’m gonna be a mama soon, but I’m not sure I can handle twins.” The thought of two babies at once made Cadence’s gut cinch up.
“Sure we can,” Aaron said, reassuringly. “We can handle anything. Besides, we’ll have these fine people to help us out. And your parents. And all of those folks up there on the mountain. However it ends up, Cadence, we can handle it.”
Cadence swallowed hard, doing her best to agree with him. The idea was still daunting, but she knew her husband was right. If she could come back from the dead, surely she could take care of two babies at the same time.
“Can you tell, Jamie?” Cassidy asked.
“No, not without an ultrasound. But I can do that when we get back home.”
Cadence nodded, not sure she was ready for that information. It had been a long night, and she was tired.
“I have a question. What the hell were Holland and Carter doing in heaven?” Elliott asked, his arms folded. “And how could she have been there for a long time when you just killed her?”
“I have no idea,” Cadence admitted, wondering if that blew her whole experience apart and confirmed she’d just been dreaming.
“Well, we’ve always thought a person died before they were Resurrected and it was some other entity that actually acted as the Vampire, not the person themselves. Maybe this is confirmation,” Jamie reminded them.
“I think we know enough about Demonic Vampires now to say that whatever it is that takes over the person’s body and incorporates their memories into the new being, it isn’t a demon, but there are obviously a lot more species out there than we originally recognized, so who knows.” Aaron shrugged inconclusively, and Cadence got the feeling he was just as tired as she was.
“Huh....” Elliott pondered the explanations for a moment before he said. “Okay, but how come you can remember stuff, and I can’t remember jack shit from when I was there?”
“Maybe because I could hear her thoughts when she was coming back?” Cassidy offered. “She didn’t remember until I told her what I’d heard.”
“True.” Elliott rolled that around in his head, too.
“As much as I would like to go over the laws of the universe with you, dear friend, I am tired and would like to go to a hotel now.” Cadence smiled up at Elliott who hastily nodded his understanding.
“I am needed on the mountain anyway, “ Jamie said, scrambling up off of the ground. “The serum is working, but they need more help administering it. So far, they’ve been able to rescue twenty people, and they think there are maybe a hundred more.”
“That’s amazing!” Cassidy was grinning from ear to ear. “I can help pull them out. I hope one of them is Dala Toth.”
“Great, thanks.” Jamie offered his hand, and Cassidy got up, even though she could’ve floated off of the ground. “And we’ll need some help with interference, too, since these people don’t need to remember what they’ve been through.”
“On it,” Brandon said, and Elliott, who was still deep in thought, nodded along without speaking.
“Thanks again, Jamie,” Cadence said, and the doctor turned back to her. She realized she’d need to get up if she was going to hug all of these people, so Cadence pushed up off of the ground, but before she got too far, Aaron was up and helping her, and she felt a lift from her sister as well.
