At some point, though, it started to make the fuzzy edges even fuzzier. I was transported away to a place that wasn’t sterile and antiseptic. When they wheeled the gurney down the hall toward giant double doors, I could have sworn I was floating away on a bed of clouds.
We passed through the doors, and someone put an oxygen mask over my face. A blue cloth was hung right below my chest, and I tried to squeeze Thorn’s hand. But he wasn’t there. In the movies, the husband was always there.
Instead a nurse grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze. “He can’t be in here,” she said as if she could read my mind. As if she’d done this a million times.
That made me feel better.
Then I was dreaming.
Chapter Eight
I woke up to the sound of squalling. There was a baby nearby, and the little guy, or girl, had a set of lungs on them.
“Kinsley,” I heard a familiar voice say. “Look at that,” the voice cooed. “Mommy’s awake.”
“Mommy’s awake?” I asked groggily. I tried to sit up, but pain in my guts made me wince.
Where was I?
It started to come back to me just as Thorn stepped up to the side of the hospital bed I found myself tucked into. He had a little bundle in his arms. A little bundle wrapped in a pink blanket with an even pinker stocking cap on her tiny head. Little fists popped out of the blanket and swung around clumsily in the air.
“I’m really bad at swaddling her,” he admitted. “I was hoping the nurse would come back and do it again.”
“My baby…” I said as if the whole thing was a dream. It still seemed like one. “Is that our baby?”
“She most certainly is,” Thorn said. “Do you feel up to holding her? I think that would be good, but only if you’re up for it.”
“How long have I been out?” I asked as I fought through the pain and tried to sit up.
“Hold on, sweetie. Let me help you with that.” Thorn held the baby in one arm and used a little control box on the siderail to raise the head of the bed for me. “Let me know when to stop.”
“That’s good,” I said when he got to a point where I felt upright but not too upright. “Yes, please let me hold her.”
Thorn put the little bundle in my arms, and the squalling instantly stopped. The baby nuzzled against my chest, and her eyes got heavy.
“There,” Thorn said with a sigh. “It’s exactly what she needed.”
“Her eyes are blue,” I said. “I know that lots of babies are born with blue eyes and they change, but hers are really, really blue.”
“That’s not all,” Thorn said. “Look at this.”
He pulled off her little stocking cap, and a full head of blonde curls sprang free. She had his eyes and his hair. There was no denying it, but it was so strange. Had magic somehow changed things…
Before I could say anything, the door to the room opened and my mother and Lilith came bursting through. They both rushed over to the bed and threw their arms around me.
“Everyone else would be here, but for some reason, the hospital said only two more visitors,” Mom said as she squeezed me until I squeaked.
“Oh, now, Brighton, be careful. You’re going to split her open,” Lilith said. “She probably needs another hit of the good juice. Has anyone showed you how this works?”
Lilith held up a small wand connected by a tube to my IV. On the end was a bright red button.
“Not yet,” Thorn said. “She just woke up.”
“Allow me to demonstrate,” Lilith said and pushed the button.
As sweet, warm pain relief washed over me, she cackled.
“Morphine,” Mom said. “You push the button when you need it, but there’s a limit. It will make a soft clicking sound if you push it and you can’t have more yet. Obviously by the look on your face, you’ll be able to tell when you get a dose.”
“That’s nice,” I said as the pain in my abdomen melted away.
“So, you have a lot of explaining to do,” Lilith said with a wink.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, we were under the impression that your husband was going to be raising another man’s child. It was one of the more interesting scandals to hit Coventry, and now look at what you’ve done. How can we all be scandalized if it’s his baby?”
“And how?” Mom asked. “I didn’t think it was possible myself, but the likeness is undeniable.”
“And the lack of likeness to a certain someone else,” Thorn said gently. “But like Kinsley said earlier, sometimes babies are born with blue eyes and they change later.”
“That child is not half vampire,” Lilith said with a huff. “I can tell you that for certain.”
Just then, something under my covers stirred. It alarmed me at first, but then I laughed when Meri’s head popped out from under the blankets.
“We didn’t wake you, did we?” I asked.
“It’s hard to get a good night’s sleep around here,” he said as he climbed out from under the blanket and lay down next to my hip.
“You’re not going to shrug us off,” Lilith said. “Explain yourself. Explain how you’ve managed the boring task of having your husband’s child.”
“She is early,” Mom said. “Unless she’s not…”
Thorn and I looked at each other. He smiled at me again, and there was so much pride and joy in his eyes, I could barely believe that it could be true.
“Well, there was this one time…” I started to say.
“Oh, I knew it!” Lilith said and clapped her hands together. “Do go on, please.”
“Well, we didn’t know for sure,” I said.
“What?” Mom asked and cocked her head to one side. “Could you elaborate without going into more detail than what your mother needs to hear?”
“Well, it was back when Thorn and
