[ELARA'S POV]
Eight months pregnant and I woke up at three am to cramping.
Not bad cramping. Just enough to make me pause. Notice.
Then another one. Stronger. Radiating across my stomach.
Contractions.
"Damian." I shook his shoulder. "Wake up."
He bolted upright. Instantly alert. "What's wrong?"
"I'm having contractions. Five minutes apart."
"Fuck." He was already moving. Grabbing clothes. His phone. "How long?"
"Just started. Maybe twenty minutes." Another contraction. I breathed through it. "It might be false labor."
"Or it might be real labor and you're eight months pregnant." He was pulling on jeans. "We're going to the hospital."
"But the kids..."
"I'll call Marguerite. She'll come stay." Already dialing. "Just get dressed."
I got dressed. Slowly. Between contractions that were definitely getting stronger.
Marguerite arrived in fifteen minutes. Hair perfect despite being woken at three am. She took one look at me and nodded.
