16. Gage

Cedric was still asleep when I left for the nature reserve. There was nothing unusual about that. He had no reason to get up so early, and when I rode my bicycle past the trees Cedric had named, I smiled.

He could identify the trees' species, but he had also named them all, which I thought was hilarious. He'd chat to them and ask them about their day and if they were getting along with the neighbors.

Maybe it was a cliché, but I had a bounce in my step that had been lacking for years. It was a combination of having regular work, something I'd shied away from because it brought me in contact with other people. I'd always worked hard in and around the cabin, gardening, hunting and skinning animals, repairing and building, hauling water.

But I took pride in guarding the forest. There had been instances of people picnicking in the reserve, someone built a fire to toast marshmallows, and I'd found trash. This combined with teaching small groups as I had with Cedric, and I looked forward to each day. And I was getting paid.

During the day, I was at Cedric's house, installing a new kitchen and bathroom. I had mixed feelings about the work, not because it wasn't up to my own high standards, but when I finished, Cedric would be moving in there.

Nothing had been said specifically, but the plan was he needed somewhere to live while I was renovating, Mr. Lucas did his Mr. Lucas-y thing, and I got a new home. I always wondered if that was more Harry's doing. Neither of them ever claimed to be the instigator, but fae were known for bestowing favors. Dragon shifters? Not so much. They were a cranky bunch, and there were very few of them, so maybe that was why they were often bad-tempered.

Cedric and I were still dancing around one another. I'd not spent a night in my old bed and had slept like a baby in the new place. And it wasn't Cedric's bed from the city either. His furniture was in storage waiting for me to finish the house. Mr. Lucas had neglected to mention the new cabin came fully furnished.

We had sex. A lot of sex. But we hadn't mated. Neither of us was in a rush, though I sensed everyone else in our lives breathing down our necks. We were sauntering along, getting to know one another, we told our friends. And while I'd learned a lot about him, I didn't know how old he was when he first walked or his high school grades. But my heart knew his heart. And that was enough. More than.

My morning walk through the reserve was uneventful, and I handed over to Dan, a hedgehog shifter, who worked the mid-morning til mid-afternoon shift. My tools and building supplies were at Cedric's house, which was why I could ride my bicycle today.

Cycling through town, I kinda kept my head down, but when I looked up, I waved at a few people.

You're not the same person, my bear noted.

No. I am. I'm just embracing life.

The day passed quickly, and Cedric joined me for lunch, bringing food from the café. There was a new spicy curry on the menu, and we were both eager to try it. And afterward, I was planning on surprising Cedric by showing him the newly installed toilet. It was one with a heated bidet seat that had all the bells and whistles.

Cedric had ordered it specially, and one for the new cabin, saying toilet paper was gross. I agreed, but probably not for the same reason. He'd said, "If you got poop on your hand, or your leg, you wouldn't wipe it off with dry paper!"

Both of us were quiet after that, and I vowed never to tell him I'd used leaves before I had a modern bathroom. Best to keep some things secret. But he was right, and this evening I was putting the second one in the new cabin.

We sat on bean bags in the living area and dipped naan into the yummy food. While I scooped up the curry and guzzled my soda, Cedric picked at the food. That wasn't like him. He had a healthy appetite, and despite Riverford being a small town, it had a thriving food scene, and we'd been trying different restaurants.

Harry said if he didn't love his job so much, he'd have bought a food truck. Reed offered him a raise and begged him not to leave, and Harry said Mrs. Ambrose was interested in starting a food truck business. I couldn't wait. She was a great cook.

But I brought my focus back to Cedric, my mate. In theory, he was. But we'd sidestepped that conversation lately, as we had so much going on.

"Too spicy?"

Cedric glanced up. His cheeks were drained of color, and he had shadows under his eyes. "I've picked up a bug and food makes me nauseous. And I've not been sleeping well." He put down the spoon and rubbed his belly while making a face.

Pushing the food away, he tried to stand up, and I grabbed him. Shifters didn't suffer from many human ailments, and my stomach churned, thinking how I'd react every time he caught a cold. I drove three days and nights because his former lover was giving him a hard time. I adored him and was ready to call the paramedics on my new phone.

"I think I'm going to be sick." He looked around frantically. "But we have no toilet."

"We do."

He pushed past me, his face more green than that grayish hue from earlier. I flapped my hands, uncertain if I should follow or stay. But as Cedric retched, I couldn't leave him alone. Kneeling beside him, I took off my shirt and mopped his brow.

A piece of my heart broke off every time he was sick. This man, this human, was my life, and it was time I told him. I had told him in the city we should mate, but he'd said we should wait. No more.

"I love you."

We sat on the cold floor, his head on my shoulder. "I love you too. With all that I have."

I touched my chest and placed my hand on his chest. "I'm giving you a piece of my heart."

He sniffed. "So, right after I've thrown up, you declare your everlasting love for me? Sounds about right." He snuggled against me but said he wanted to go back to the cabin.

I carried him to his car and used my phone to call Reed.

"Cedric's sick, so I'm taking him home."

Reed mumbled something, but I cut the call, wanting to get my mate into bed. He curled up under the covers, and I made peppermint tea. But as I sat beside him feeling his brow, and he insisted he had a twenty-four hour bug, a car purred up the driveway.

But when I got to the door, there was no sign of a car, just a huge gift basket. It had to have been Mr. Lucas. He'd heard Cedric was sick and dropped off a gift. How kind.

I brought it into the bedroom and set it on the nightstand.

"Who was that?" Cedric pulled the sheet off his face.

I pointed to the present and brought it close to the bed. "It's a get-well gift."

Cedric tugged his ear, a habit he'd picked up from me. "Did you look at it?"

"No."

He pulled out a toy bunny. An odd choice. Cedric had never shown any interest in toys. There was a gift certificate for a massage. That made sense, but the rest of the items not so much. A T-shirt, mug, photo frame, and cushion. Okay, the cushion he could use, and I'd put tea in the mug.

There were a bunch of other things, but I grabbed the cushion to place behind Cedric's back. It had something written on it and it didn't make sense. There were no daddies here.

I held it in both hands, trying to get my mind around it, and Cedric took it from me and ran his fingers over the raised letters.

"It's an odd way to find out, but Riverford never fails to surprise me."

"Find out what? Is it code for something?" I sank onto the mattress, worried Cedric was sicker than I thought. We'd just found each other. I couldn't lose him.

"No code. It says it right there." He held up the cushion in front of his face. "Me, I'm the daddy and so are you."

"Are we getting a dog?" Cedric had been hinting about a pet.

He took my hands and placed them on his belly. "I'm sick because I have a baby in here. And someone somewhere discovered that before me."

"We made a baby?" The words tumbled around my head. A baby. "We're going to have a baby."

A baby?Does that make me an uncle?

You can be anything you want.

I placed my ear on Cedric's belly. I couldn't hear anything except my mate's gurgling tummy. "There's not much going on in there."

Cedric giggled, and I sat up. "That's because the baby is the size of a sesame seed."

"I wonder if the little one will be a shifter."

Cedric's mouth opened and closed. "A bear cub? That would be cute, but how do I wrangle a baby bear?"

"Shifters are born human, love." I explained how they shifted around adolescence.

"Good to know. That'll give me years to work out how to parent a teen shifter."

"Are you happy?" I had to ask because we hadn't mated or decided where we were living, so throwing a baby into the mix was a lot. But instead of putting pressure on Cedric to answer, I had to alpha up and say how I felt.

"I'm ecstatic. Not only a baby, but a baby with you. I love you, Cedric."

"Love you too."