16. Orsino

Chapter 16

Orsino

The calming rhythm of an orchestra echoed in my ears and pulled me from sleep. I had set the gentle alarm, so I should have expected it.

Ethan moved in my arms, the top of his head nearly knocking into my chin. I tightened my hold and he settled, letting out a contented sigh.

"Aren't you gonna turn that off?" His voice was still rough with sleep, and he hadn't even opened his eyes. My omega had been sleeping so much lately, and I was more than happy to hang out in bed with him if it meant he got the rest he needed.

"No, love, I’m not. It’ll go off in a second." I had specifically set the alarm to play calming music, not the blare of an actual alarm. I was doing all I could to reduce any sort of stress on Ethan.

Ethan’s eyes popped open. "Wait. Aren't you working today?"

"No, love, I’m not." I grinned, repeating the words.

Ethan burrowed his head into my chest. "If you keep taking days off, Andro is gonna fire you." Despite his words, he didn’t move away from me or lessen his grip. His leg stayed right where it was, looped over mine and pinning me down.

I chuckled. "He’d be hard-pressed to find another person who does what I do."

I didn't worry about talking about my work anymore. After I brought him home, Ethan and I had a long heart-to-heart about what I did and what the true family business was. He didn’t love parts of it, but he loved me, and I loved him, and we could make that work. It had been a week since we moved him in permanently, without any contract between us, just our absolute devotion to one another.

"We have our ultrasound today, love. I cleared the whole day for that."

Ethan peeked his head out from underneath the blanket. "You know those only take a few minutes, right?"

"Maybe. But I thought we might have a nice lunch, go to the park, maybe do some shopping for our little one."

He chuckled. "Yes, I suppose that could be fun. We'll have to figure out a nursery situation."

He looked around our bedroom and frowned. Our room was not set up the same way that Andro’s and Louie’s had been. Theirs had been remodeled to add space for a nursery. I didn’t have the same option since the rooms next to mine were in use.

It was something we would have to figure out. I wasn’t ready to move out of the main house like Jeremiah and Felik, but perhaps a change in scenery was in order.

I ran my fingers through his hair, gently massaging his scalp. "Have you talked to your dad?"

Ethan nodded. "Yeah, I even talked to Louie. Sounds like Dad’s doing just fine with his new job."

I chuckled. "I'm glad."

I’d been hesitant to offer the man a position within the casino, but after speaking with him and his sponsor, Ethan and I both felt that having a steady job and a purpose would be better for him in the long run.

Inheritance or not, he needed income, and he needed to be kept busy. He was an expert in the casino as a gambler, even though he lost more than he won. But he knew the inner workings and how cheaters thought, so joining the security detail in the control room fit him well.

And it helped that I could keep him close to make sure he didn’t step out of line while allowing him access to his grandchild.

In just a week, he and Ethan had come a long way in repairing their relationship. They talked every day, and Ethan had accompanied him to one of his meetings. Marco’s sponsor was a nice guy and an even better friend.

My alarm went off again, reminding me we had only fifteen minutes until we needed to be at our appointment. Although we could be late, considering it was with our in-house doctor, I was anxious to see our little one.

"Come on." I got out of bed and pulled Ethan up with me.

Within a few minutes, we were both dressed and ready. It was a short walk from our suite to where Andro had set up the hospital room complete with an ultrasound machine. At the time he had done so, I thought it was obsessive and frivolous to spend the money he did on this room. Now that I had a pregnant omega, I was thankful for the equipment and staff within such easy reach.

"Ah, just in time." Dr. Nindy looked up from his laptop. "Have you had an ultrasound before, Ethan?"

Ethan shook his head. "No, I've never needed to have one."

"That's fine. We'll get you taken care of. Do we know how far along you are?"

"Six weeks or so?" Ethan guessed.

"That’s probably about right. His heat hit shortly after I brought him home.” By now, everyone in the house knew our story. Gossip traveled fast. Neither Ethan nor I were ashamed of how our relationship started, and some might even call it romantic.

“There might not be much to see, but we'll at least get a good idea of the baby's age. We'll also get a baseline heartbeat, but at this point, you won’t see any cute little features—no fingers, no toes."

Ethan nodded and squeezed my hand. "That's fine. We just want to make sure everything is healthy."

"Great. Let’s get started."

Ethan hopped up on the table and pulled up his shirt. The doctor got the gel ready, squirting a bit on his tummy and swirling it around with the ultrasound wand. The image on the screen came into view, and the steady thump-thump of our baby's heart filled the room.

"Ah, nice, strong heartbeat for that one. I didn't even have to look for it. Measuring at a good beats per minute, nothing to be concerned about there. We can see there’s only one, in case you were worried about twins."

"Well, I wasn’t before, so I guess that’s good." Ethan let out a nervous laugh.

"And it looks like you’re right. You’re about six weeks along. That puts your due date in December. You just might have a Christmas baby."

"Fantastic. They will have that in common with me," I said.

"Let me go ahead and print some of these pictures for you. And there’s a new feature —I can record the heartbeat and have it sent as a sound file to your phone."

I perked up at that. I could hear our child’s heart beat any time I wanted? Sign me up.

Ethan chuckled as he looked at me. "You should see how wide your eyes are. Love, you’re really that excited to have our child’s heartbeat on your phone?"

"Actually, yeah." I wouldn’t have believed it seven weeks ago, but it was completely true. "Yeah, I am."

Ethan beamed up at me. "Dr. Nindy, you'll have to be sworn to secrecy about what a softy my husband is."

I’d never get tired of hearing him call me that. After we promised ourselves to one another, we made it 100% official at one of the casino chapels. It hadn’t been anything extravagant, and only Jeremiah and Felik had been there to witness it, but that was fine with us. We didn’t need any fanfare. We just needed each other.

"Your secret is safe with me," the doctor said as she cleaned up Ethan’s belly and then left us alone.

"It’s really happening." I pressed my palms to his flat belly, excited to feel the life blossoming in there someday.

Ethan cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. "Did you doubt it?"

"Not for a minute, love, but now I have their heartbeat on my phone."

He leaned down and kissed the top of my head. "I’m glad you have that.”

“I love you so much, Ethan. Thank you for giving me a chance."

"I love you, Orsino. And you’re the one who gave me a life. A future. A family.”