Free Marrying Her: The Keeping Her Christmas Wedding (The Keeping Her Series Book 5) by Kelly Lucille Page B

not, but you should probably see a doctor
pretty quickly.”
    Clytie moved away from
her friend and stared off into the forest surrounding their home – a home she
had come to love.  She touched her belly and felt her usual belly bump that
Demon never seemed to mind.  The thought made her smile and she stuck out her
belly as far as she could and wondered what it was going to feel like.  She
blew out a soft sigh and turned back to Miley.  “Do you think the pack would
mind having Christmas here this year?”
    Miley tilted her head and
studied the soft look on Clytie’s face.  “I don’t think they would, no. Not for
you.  What are you thinking?”
    “That I’m going to give
Demon a Christmas he will never forget.”
    “You want to get married
on Christmas Day?” Miley asked thinking on it.
    “No,” Clytie shined a
smile at her that had the other woman smiling back.  “Christmas Eve day
actually.  But I would like the pack to stay and celebrate Christmas here this
year.”  She swallowed the lump of emotion in her throat.  “I want to give Demon
his present with his family all around, with presents and a tree and all the
things he never had as a boy, and then I want to give him his real gift.”  She
ended with a caress over her belly, wondering if the baby could feel how much
it was already loved.  Then she lost her smile and looked up because Miley had
not answered.  She was crying and Clytie hurried to reassure her.  “If it’s too
much to ask don’t . . .”
    Miley stopped her by
putting her hand over the one Clytie still held on her belly.  “I think that
would be beautiful, and while I can’t speak for everyone, Lucas, Ian, Liam, and
I will be here and I’ll spread the word to the others.”  Miley squeezed the
hand she held.  “You aren’t going to tell Demon yet?”
    “Or anyone else,” Clytie
made a face.  “I would tell my cousin but Cassie is the worst liar on the
planet.”
    Miley laughed.  “Then I’ll
keep your secret and help in whatever way I can.  And keep in mind you could be
showing before then, some people do at 10 weeks.”
    Clytie felt hesitant over
her next question but it had to be asked.  “Can you tell if he or she is
healthy?”
    Miley smiled
reassuringly.  “I can say right now all is as it should be, and I promise to
keep checking whenever I am close.”
    Clytie blew out a
breath.  “Thank you for that.  I know thirty-four is not really old to have a
child but you never can tell.”
    “I can,” Miley said with
a laugh.  “Shifters are hard to kill even in the womb; their ability to heal
anything makes it almost impossible to have birth defects or pretty much
anything else humans usually have to worry about.  Trust me, you have nothing
to worry about on that score.”
    Clytie felt all the blood
drain from her face.  “Shifters?” she whispered, because it had just hit her.
Her baby was going to change shape at some point into a wolf.  She was suddenly
feeling a little dizzy.  “I think I need to sit down.”
    “Oops,” Miley took hold
of her arm and led her on wobbly knees to a bench that sat beside Roxy’s playground. 
“Guess you didn’t think of that?”
    “No,” Clytie breathed as
much as she could with the panic hitting her blood stream, “I didn’t think of
that.”
    Miley sat with her and
rubbed her shoulders and just let her think as she came to grips with giving
birth to a shape-shifter.  What would be different?  Would she crave raw meat
or howl at the moon?  Would the child, whether boy or girl, resent having a
human mother?  The worries piled into her mind as she wondered and worried
about not being what her child needed.  Then she realized what she was staring
at and not seeing – Roxy’s playground – and she calmed.  “Roxy doesn’t shift
yet,” she said aloud and Miley answered her as if it was a question.
    “No,” she agreed.  “Generally
it’s not until puberty that the shift happens the first