Ramliel by A.M. Griffin
Chapter Twenty
This was the plan all along, right? Mia turned this way and that, rubbing her belly and studying her reflection in the floor length mirror. Her abdomen was tight. The muscles she’d left stasis with were still holding strong even after a year. She didn’t do much to maintain them. She guessed that since the stasis chamber had simulated a workout regimen for two hundred years she had great muscle memory.
“Hinduru,” she said into her comlink.
“Yes, Mia?”
“When is my mate set to return?”
“He’s arriving now.”
Mia had a brief moment of déjà vu but quickly pushed that memory from her mind. Ram was hers. He’d been hers back then and he was hers now. The front door opened with a click and her heart skipped a beat. It was something that always happened when he was nearby. She gave one last glance to the mirror, this time checking her outfit. She wanted to make this a day that he would remember for a lifetime.
She made her way down the hall and followed Ram’s humming. She made a detour toward the kitchen where she spotted him, with his broad back facing her, standing in front of the stove. He’d already started taking food from the cabinets and had the ingredients for the meal he was going to prepare on the counter.
“No, hello, just straight to cooking,” she joked, wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning against his back.
She took in a healthy inhalation, letting the scent of him coat her nose and settle in her lungs. She loved the way he smelled. He rubbed her arms and tightened them around his waist. Another thing she loved. The way he showed affection.
“I thought you were sleep. You’ve been so tired lately,” he said. “I was hoping to have your evening meal prepared when you woke up.”
She yawned reflexively at the mention of sleep. She was exhausted, had been for the past two weeks. She’d thought it was because her period was about to start but when the due date for it had come and gone, she’d gone to the other side of the medical facility, where the obstetric clinic was and gotten checked.
She began rocking Ram from side to side and he swayed with the motion with ease. He reached into the cabinet and grabbed the spices.
“I found out why I’ve been so tired lately.”
“Hm? Should you cut down the amount of hours you work?”
She chuckled at that. “I only work ten hours a week, Ram. That’s not too many hours considering I used to work forty to fifty hours a week.”
Ram grumbled under his breath. “I still can’t believe that. How did your leaders expect for you all to be happy and lead full and productive lives if all you did was work to pay your bills?”
She wasn’t going to get into a discussion about her past life. It was a moot subject since she was never going to return and her life was with Ram on Teague now.
He sighed, sensing she wasn’t going to respond. “Tell me. What is the issue then?”
“I’m pregnant.”
Ram dropped a jar of spice. It hit the countertop, rolled off and crashed to the floor where it shattered.
“Aw. I like that one. We’ll have to grab another jar.”
Ram turned, while holding her steady in place, and picked her up with one hand. She was used to being man handled. He weighed triple her size. She wrapped her legs around his waist.
“You’re pregnant?” His gaze scanned the length of her body. The black lingerie that he liked to see her in that normally got him rock hard was ignored. His focus was solely on her abdomen. “There’s a baby in there?”
Mia wrapped her arms around his shoulders and nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck. “I’m carrying a baby. Our baby.”
Ram squeezed her so hard Mia’s back cracked. She let out a yelp and chuckled. “Easy now! Precious cargo onboard.”
He pulled back to look at her. His eyes were wet with tears. “A baby?”
“A baby, my love.”