I Know You're Still Just A Dream - Chapter 6 (Early Access) (Patreon)

Lucia POV

26 Weeks

Lucia finished pulling on her shoes with a grunt. She rarely got properly dressed any more, but they had an appointment with Dr Farris. Then Elijah’s parents were expecting them for tea immediately afterwards. His mother would tear her apart if she turned up in sweatpants. As much as she could hold her own against the old bat, she didn’t want to stress Elijah out when he had to get back to work straight afterwards.

He came to collect her from their suite, suited and booted from his meetings. He looked deliciously handsome. Lucia would take a bite of his cheek if it wouldn’t crack her weak human teeth. He walked her to the medical wing slowly, matching her pace perfectly, and she filled him in on her wild morning of eating orange slices and then throwing them back up. Elijah listened dotingly until she ran out of commentary.

They took a seat outside once they arrived, early as always for their appointment.

Lucia couldn’t bear the cold silence that occasionally surrounded her in the marble mansion. She announced her thoughts loudly to fill the space. “Elijah, it’s time.”

“Time?” Elijah spluttered. He leapt from his chair like a cartoon character. “Oh god, is the baby coming? It’s too early-”

“Elijah! Calm down!” She ordered with an exasperated sigh. She patted his seat and he dropped back into it. “No, the baby isn’t coming, it’s dangerously early for me to start pushing yet!” She laughed at his sweet naivety, or perhaps it was just lack of common sense.

“What is it time for, then?” he asked, still sounding slightly breathless from the shock she had accidentally sent him into.

“Time for you to learn your fifth language.”

“Oh?”

“I was raised bilingual and I want my child to be as well. You asked Sariyah what to get me for a push present. This is what I would like.”

“Sariyah told you?” he repeated incredulously. Apparently, he had been sold out.

Lucia flapped her hand dismissively. “She was sniffing around and I figured it out, but that’s not important now.”

Elijah pouted, arms folded over his chest sulkily.

“What’s important is that the irritable pregnant human gets what she wants, dear,” Lucia teased. She poked a finger along his upper arm until he unfolded them.

“You would like me to learn Spanish as my gift to you?”

“You have over three months. From what I’ve heard, that should be plenty of time for a proficient linguist such as yourself.”

He smiled to himself. His stupidly handsome face lighting up as he considered her words. “That sounds perfect,” he said. “I would be honoured to be able to speak to you in Spanish!”

“If you want an extra incentive I’d be happy to stop speaking English the the remainder of my pregnancy?” She offered with a playful grin.

“No, thank you, I would hate that immensely. Your cravings are confusing enough.”

She laughed and hugged him as tightly as her bump and the plastic chair would allow.

After the appointment, they walked (Lucia waddled) to one of the many lounge rooms. They were running late from Dr Farris’ chattering, but refusing to run. The in-laws could wait. Lucia preferred Dr Farris as a conversationalist over any of Elijah’s family - bar Eden and Sariyah.

Once they made it into the room, they were greeted with his parents’ stiff head turns. Mr Bonnet smiling mildly. Mrs Bonnet frowning with disappointment, no doubt at their tardiness. Elijah assisted Lucia into a sinking armchair that she knew immediately she would be stuck in until he pulled her back out. He sat beside her neatly. Picture perfect eldest son with his hangry gremlin wife.

“How was your appointment, Lucia?” Mrs Bonnet asked cordially.

“It was fine,” Lucia replied. “All healthy and happy.”

“Both mother and baby,” Elijah added proudly. It seemed with every inch Lucia gained to her stomach, her husband was gaining it to his puffed-up chest. Before she fell pregnant, he had never expressed this much excitement for children. Perhaps he was hiding it, concerned to pressure her. That was a very Elijah-like thing to worry about.

“And the sex?” his mother prompted. She often looked upon the pair as though they shared a single braincell between them, this was one of those times.

“Fantastic, thank you for asking,” Lucia answered matter-of-factly.

“We chose not to know the sex of the baby until birth,” added Elijah in his polite public-speaking voice. It was a decision they had made at the last moment before walking into the appointment, one they knew may raise some eyebrows.

“What?” his mother seethed. “Don’t be ridiculous! We must know the sex of the baby as soon as possible.” She lowered her voice to a snarling whisper. “What if it is not a male?”

“Then it will most likely be female,” Lucia whispered back.

Mrs Bonnet ignored her, eyes locked onto Elijah’s.

“If you do not produce a male heir naturally, we must look into alternatives immediately-”

“Veronica,” Mr Bonnet interrupted, appearing scandalised.

“What are you talking about?” Elijah asked slowly. He glanced between his parents a few times and Lucia did the same. Neither seemed comfortable with answering his question.

Mrs Bonnet peered about the room like a meerkat, although there were no non-family members in sight. With an all-vampire house staff, you couldn’t be too careful. It wasn’t that the walls had ears, but that the ears could hear through walls

“If the baby is not male, we would have to find another baby to replace it,” she explained, as though they were the crazy ones. She spoke so softly Lucia almost couldn’t catch her words. “We must start our search immediately if that is the case.”

Elijah’s eyes looked ready to pop out of his head. “You want to swap my child?” he choked out.

“You can keep that one.” She nudged her head in the direction of Lucia’s belly dismissively. “But simply say it was an adoption. When it reaches adulthood and turns, it is announced that they undertook the decision to turn. We say we are all very proud and all that. While the male would have to be turned externally. But once it is grown, it will be able to keep secrets.”

The room was deadly silent. Every occupant stared at Elijah’s lunatic mother in shock. No one seemed to have anything to respond. Except Lucia, of course. She always had something to say.

“If I weren’t pregnant, I’d beat your ass right about now,” Lucia announced.

Her words seemingly snapped the rest of the family out of their frozen disbelief.

“H-has this been done before?” Elijah breathed.

“Of course not!” huffed his father. Lucia didn’t believe the old man for a moment, but Elijah seemed slightly soothed.

“We cannot take risks with the future of the clan at stake. What if she only manages to give him one?”

“What’s wrong with that?” Lucia grunted.

"I brought great pride to my husband and his family by bearing two children for him,” Mrs Bonnet boasted with her pinched nose pointed in the air.

Elijah reminded her, "That's not the safest option for everyone, mother." His jaw ticked and Lucia could see him restraining from scrunching the bottom of his shirt in his palms angrily.

"He’s right, dear.” Mr Bonnet nodded sadly. “As I recall, you were very much weakened by your first pregnancy." He turned to Lucia and gave her a knowing look, "I was actually against her having another, you see."

"I gave you a son,” Mrs Bonnet snapped.

"And for that I am very grateful, you also gave me a daughter who I love just as much."

“But a daughter cannot hold the place of a son-”

Elijah blurted, “It’s not happening! Stop even discussing it!”

The room fell to silence. Mr Bonnet appeared incredibly uncomfortable and almost guilty. Mrs Bonnet was exuding pure fire and fury. Elijah was in a daze, expression horrified. The mix of atmospheres being generated by each family member was nauseating Lucia, and she was already hungry to the point of stomach pain. She had no patience left for the Bonnet’s bullshit today.

“This has been a real sunshine blast of a conversation,” Lucia drawled. “But I’m getting hungry, and I am far too important to prepare my own food. Elijah?”

He blinked free of his trance, smiled gratefully and took her arm.

“Of course, your highness,” he answered and pulled her free from the plush chair.

“It’s magnificence today,” she corrected him. “I got a promotion.”

“My apologies, your magnificence.”

They left his bewildered parents in their shadow and headed towards the front of house while Lucia contemplated whether she wanted to go out to eat, have something cooked, or perhaps place yet another delivery order.

“You know, up until now I considered your family the lesser of two evils,” she announced once they were clear of his parents’ ears.

Elijah blanched. “You cannot seriously compare my family to yours.”

“My family sold one kid. We don’t know how many kids your family has bought. And your mother wants to keep up the tradition!”

“It’s not happening,” Elijah stated firmly.

“What will happen if we have a daughter?” she asked.

They reached the top of the main entrance stairs and began to descend slowly. Not even a year ago Lucia had taken her unfortunate skydive down the very same steps. She still remembered the pain so vividly it could make her wince.

“Well, until now the Bonnet clan heir ascension was ruled by male-preference primogeniture,” Elijah explained. He held her around the waist protectively, as though the stairs could shift under her at any moment. “I don’t see why it can’t be changed to absolute primogeniture.”

Lucia hummed. “So, if we had a daughter she could be head of the clan?”

“Yes, and Eden would suddenly have a place in line.” He chuckled at the thought.

“I can’t see her taking that news well.”

They reached the bottom of the stairs and crossed the entranceway to the wing that held their living quarters - back up a different set of stairs. The Bonnet mansion was truly not built for human use, but especially not pregnant human use. Lucia was definitely getting her ten thousand steps a day, though.

“I will look into how we go about changing the law tomorrow, I don’t know what procedures will need to be followed. But it would be best to have the change enacted prior to the birth.”

Lucia nodded. Then she processed her husband’s words properly.

“Does that mean you don’t need to go back to work this afternoon?” she asked excitedly, bouncing along and pulling on his arm like a child.

“Nope,” he answered with a beaming smile. “I booked off the rest of the day for us to spend together.”

Lucia gave the entranceway a quick glance before leaning up onto her toes to whisper in his ear, “let’s order fast food and have sex.”

“Whatever you’re craving, I can provide,” he answered as smoothly as his wonky grin would allow.

Lucia grinned back. She had been craving greasy foods more and more, and as long as Dr Farris wasn’t concerned, Elijah wasn’t going to decline any of her requests. She was also craving her husband, desperately.

He swooped her up into his arms, and she wrapped her legs around his hips with a delighted laugh.

The ring of the doorbell interrupted them halfway up the stairs and they glanced at each other, asking the same question. Should we answer it? There were no staff members in sight to get it for them. Lucia wondered if she had become accustomed to her privileged lifestyle a bit too quickly. She would never have imagined having a doorman growing up. In her house, nearest to the door was the sucker that had to open it.

Elijah hopped back down the steps with Lucia still in his arms and she wrapped her own around his neck. With one hand supporting her lower back, he used the other to pull the front door open.

A trio stood on the other side. A woman and two men with matching curly black hair and squinting black eyes. Their skin had darkened from the last time Lucia had seen them. Maybe a tan from a luxurious holiday paid for with her body.

Half a minute of silence held them in its grasp. Even the Spring breeze had tapered off with not even a leaf rustle to break the tension.

“Close the door, Elijah.”