Baby of Mine
Emony
Michael won’t stop crying I don’t know wha
and changed his diaper. Nothing seems to work
wants I’ve fet and burpest him
Even with my mom and the maids help, en exhausted and not getting enoughe sleep. No one can figure out why the baby won’t stop crying. During a check i at the clinic, Dr. Martin says he thinks it might be colic. He suggests a list of soothing techniques to help but none of them work
After the end of a very long week I want to start crying, too, but my mom cautions me not to. You can’t show babies fear,” she tells me “They can smell
I don’t know if she’s kidding or not. 7 just want him to stop crying” reply practically begging. “Why won’t he stop crying? What am I doing wrong?”
I’m rocking Michael as he wails, walking back in forth in the nursery. My mom is seated on the rocking chair that hadn’t worked on soothing Michael Nothing seems to calm my baby. I think he is angry that I pushed him out of me, and he wants me to know it.
“Coit had colic too,” my mom says with a faint smile. “He cried for almost a month straight, kept everyone in the house awake. The servants all wanted to stay away from the house at that time so they wouldn’t be bothered by it.
My brows furrow as I try to recall any events. “I don’t remember any of that”
“You were barely three, and you were the lightest sleeper. Your Grandma Emory picked you up and took you to the hunting cabin. You had your grandparents all to yourself. You were ecstatic”
The memory of my grandparents does bring me some nostalgic joy even as Michael continues to scream his unhappiness. “What helped with Coit’s colic?”
“Your father took him outside to the woods. Something about being outdoors soothed Coit, and he would go to sleep as soon as he was surrounded by the trees.”
We both share a look of bemusement as that hadn’t worked on Michael Back
rubs and warm baths hadn’t worked I could walk the length of Castle Graystone and back, and that wouldn’t soothe Michael. I’m truly at a loss on what he wants from me
My mom looks at her watch. “It’s time to feed him again.”
She gets up from the rocking chair and rocks as I unbutton my dress and the maternity bra underneath. She hands him over, and I bring him closer e so he can latch on, but he refuses. He turns away from my breast as if I’ve offended him with my offer. We keep trying to get him to feed before giving up.
She takes him to the rocking chair and tries to sing a lullaby to him. I button up and stare in dismay at my little baby as he seems determined to starve himself now tob. My growing fear that I’m just a terrible mother makes me want to cry
even more.
“Why won’t he eat?” I ask. “Is there something wrong with my milk?”
“He could still be full.”
go
to the bed by the crib where I’ve been sleeping for a week and plop down, feeling like a massive failure. “Maybe I’m doing everything wrong.”
“You’re trying your best,” my mother assures me. “You’re not going to fai at being a mother, Emory.”
I sigh, burying my face in my hands. “It feels like I am.”
“Michael might just want some baby formula.” She holds him up so she can. look at his red, angry face. “Is that what you want? You want to have something else?”
Great. My baby prefers formula to my own milk. Is my breast milk not good. enough? Am I not producing what he wants?
My mom’s blue eyes widen in realization. “Maybe he wants something else.”
“Yeah, formula.” I get up and walk to the table in the corner where we have at supply of baby formula, water, and bottles at the ready in case he never latches on again. “I’ll make him a bottle.”
“No,” she says. “There’s something else we haven’t tried.
+25 BONUS
“What?”
“Michael is half vampire. We haven’t tried giving him blood.”
1 blink as I remember Dr. Martin explaining that vampire babies are fed blood. along with milk usually along the six month mark.” to Michael’s hybrid nature, we haven’t been sure if he would require blood at all. Shifter babies are like human babies. All they need is breast milk or formula.
“What if it’s too soon?” I question. “Dr. Martin said that blood from the feeders. could make him sick.
Blood from other people could be infected, and Michael’s immune system isn’t fully developed yet, leaving him vulnerable to contracting something.
“What about your blood?” she suggests. “He’s used to taking milk from you.
“Right”
I have never given blood to anybody before. The thought hadn’t occurred to me that my baby would want my blood. I feel almost stupid that my half–vampire. baby might’ve wanted blood all this time, and I have been unknowingly depriving him.
I look at the blade I received as one of my birthday gifts. The blade is sharp. I could use that to cut myself.
“You’re not thinking straight,” Mother says calmly. “Get one of the doctors to take it from you like they do the feeders, honey. With a needle.
I roll my eyes at my own stupidity. One of the maids uses her mind to call at nurse in, and a few moments later, I’m hooked up to a blood bag. Scarlet liquid. leaks out, and once we have enough, we pour it into a baby bottle. It’s not that much, so but we mix it with the breast milk I pumped earlier. The milk in the bottle is a very pale shade of pink.
My mom and I share a look of hope and near desperation as we give Michael the bottle. He latches onto the nipple and quiets down. We both stare in awe as Michael has finally gone quiet as he drinks from the bottle. When it’s empty, his pale blue eyes close, and he goes to sleep.
For a few minutes, neither of us moves, scared that it will wake Michael, and
be modulių veržant to geen his hangs out when he doesn’t at and appears to alted Man gets to herfect and carefully taben hum to the
Now Makang sume he’s added we stare down at his wwwly hoping face the silence and us is the most beautiful thing bound in such a long time
toss” whisper
bext a late bit of blood,” she whispers back with
at leve lost think of that ”
thought
More of us havght of it” She rubs my back soothmaly “Don’t be hard on
best hot
est my head on her shoulder. Im so tired”
Why don’t you take a nap?” she tells me I’ll wake you when he neads to feed again
Thank you Mom”
I am so grateful I have my mother with nje in the castle. I can’t imagine not having her here to support me. She has been my tireless rock as I navigate being a new mom I would be lost without her.
Michael has been dealing with colic all week. His loud cries echo throughout the castle. The nobles have moved to a wing on the opposite side of the castle to get away from the noise. Some of them have even grumbled about leaving the castle altogether and returning to their properties which I think is a fantastic idea, and I don’t dissuade anyone from trying to leave.
The silence that greets me when I go to visit the nursery concerns me. It puts me on edge as 1 open the door and enter the room expecting the worst Emory is sitting in the rocking chair with Michael in her arms. He drinks from a bottle. greedily, making happy little sucking noises as he does so
Nelle is cleaning up around the nursery, putting away clean baby bottles and straightening diapers. She bows as I move closer before departing to give us
privacy Emory doesn’t look up when I stop in front of her to gaze down at Michael’s sleepy face. She looks less frazzled than the last time I saw her
I feel guilty at having to leave her to the brunt of caring for Michael. I want to be there more for them, but I still have a war to deal with. Now that Jacob is back at Scarlett Thunder, I expect King Peter to launch an attack any day now. The birth of my son has added a new fear to my life- fear of losing him in
this war
more determined than ever to find solutions to help me win over this
conflict. I have more to protect now.
“Did he tire himself out from crying?” I whisper, trying not to disturb my son who looks ready to fall asleep.
“No,” Emory answers. “We found out what was wrong. He just needed a little bit of blood”
“Did Dr. Martin suggest that?”
She shakes her head. “He didn’t think the baby would need blood until Michael is six months old like most vampire babies.”
I can’t fault the doctor for not knowing how to handle a hybrid baby. We all have to play it by ear when it comes to my son. He is something new entirely. All rules go out the window when it comes to how things will go with him.
Michael’s pale blue eyes close, and Emory gently pries the bottle from his mouth. She wordlessly hands it to me, and I put the bottle down on the table nearby. We spend a moment watching Michael sleep in Emory’s arms. He looks like he doesn’t have a care in the world.
Sleeping in his mother’s arms, Michael looks like any other baby. No one would know from looking at him that he’s a hybrid. All those terrifying folktales sound so silly when I look at this sweet, little baby. This is no creature of nightmares.
I can’t help but chuckle at the thought. Emory looks up, her green eyes bright with affection. “What’s so funny?” she asks..
It just sounds so ridiculous now that we were ever worried about what he would be,” I say “Look at him. He’s a baby. He’s our baby but definitely not the big, bad, scary hybrid”
Emory enorts. The thought of him rampaging through villages when he can’t even hold hus head op is pretty funny”
He’s too cute and small to scare anyone?
Except when he cries, Emory says with a grin. “Are the nobles still threatening to leave the castle?”
“Yes, and I am not trying to persuade them to stay at all. If they decide to never return, I won’t shed a tear.”
Emory coos at our baby “Look at that, Mikey. The nobles are already living in fear of you, and you can’t even crawl yet.
“An astounding feat for any future king.” Lagree.
“Imagine when he’s finally able to speak The nobles will never feel at peace again”
“That would be for the best. They’ve been too comfortable this past century. A little fear will do them some good.”
Emory shakes her head. “You silly man.”
My heart fills with tender fondness at the sight of the woman I love with the child we created together. It’s not the first time I wonder what I’ve done to be so lucky. Everything I’ve never known I needed is here, and my world is as it should be at this moment. All my worries melt away in this little oasis of
contentment
“I love you,” I declare.
I have the privilege of seeing a new version of Emory, the strong and loving mother. Like any part of her, it’s easy to fall in love with. She doesn’t even have to try.
“I love you too,” she replies When Michael moves in his sleep, she adds, “And we love you, Mikey.”
I’m truly the luckiest guy in the world.
