I’d just pulled out, and was spooning Scott when I felt something wet on my thigh. I looked down to see if his ass was leaking cum when I realized that a puddle was forming under him. I sat up and stared at it for a second before I realized what had happened.

As I was reaching that conclusion, Scotty grabbed his stomach and moaned. “I think my water just broke. You’d better get Rainbow.”

While I quickly got dressed, my mind raced as I worried. I wasn’t even thinking as I rambled.

“Shit, did I do that? I hope I didn’t pop the water bubble or whatever it’s called. Crap, what if the baby got hurt while we were having sex? I hope I didn’t accidentally poke her in the head or something if I’m the one that popped the water bubble. Shit, fuck, damn, hell and all the other bad words… I’m so sorry!”

Scotty did a weird mixture of laughing and groaning as he clutched his stomach and curled into a fetal position around his big belly bump.

“First of all, it’s not call a water bubble. Second of all, even your penis isn’t long enough to come anywhere near being in contact with it. And going along with the second point, it would be impossible for you to accidentally poke the baby in the head. Now, can you please stop dithering about and go get fucking Rainbow?”

“Sorry,” I said as I rushed out of the room.

“And quit saying your fucking sorry,” Scotty called out behind me.

Before I’d made it very far, Rainbow was already calmly stepping out of her room, carpetbag in hand. She gave a half bow before standing again and waving her hand out in a wide arc.

“I felt the disruption in our spiritual environment. I knew immediately the new spirit was about to enter this plane to merge with the unborn baby the life bringer carries within him. Lead the way, if you will.”

Blinking rapidly at her weirdness, I brushed it off as I’d done every day since her arrival and spun on my heel to go back to our room. Rainbow went right to work, setting out a bunch of candles and crystals rather than looking at Scotty.

I started to say something, but she waved me off and began chanting as she waved a smoking bundle of sticks in the air over Scotty. Once she was finished with that, she lit the candles and set a large, dark crystal on Scotty’s stomach.

“This is a black tourmaline. It will help with pain and repel negative energies as well as protect you and the babe from psychic attack as you go through the treacherous journey of bringing forth life.”

Rainbow then pulled out a small pot of some strong smelling goop. I watched in fascination as she spread the blue goop in a line over each of our foreheads. She didn’t explain this one, she was too busy chanting something while she did it.

After she’d turned off all the lamps so that the only light source was from the myriad of candles she’d lit around the room, Rainbow finally focused her attention on Scotty.

I have to admit that if it hadn’t been snowing and I’d had my way—we would’ve been on our way to a hospital by now. Somehow or other, the birth went smoothly despite the lack of western medicine.

Scott was serene throughout the whole process. Rainbow encouraged him to grunt, groan, and scream all he wanted—provided he used no negative words. Whether he was afraid to trust the words he might utter, or was just relaxed, I couldn’t say. But he didn’t cuss, the most he did was squeeze my hand as hard as humanly possible.

I couldn’t explain it but Rainbow did seem to have a calming effect on Scotty and everything went much more smoothly than I could have ever imagined.

After Rainbow delivered our daughter, she laid her across Scotty’s chest. While Scotty snuggled the baby, she went to work with the cord and tied it off before delivering the afterbirth. I was absorbed with admiring my daughter and almost missed Rainbow’s question.

“Did you want to save the placenta for consumption? It is full of life force, and quite beneficial. I have a great fudge recipe that you can utilize for this purpose, if you are interested. Placenta is great for helping your body heal after the birthing process, as well as possibly preventing postpartum depression.”

Scott’s eyes widened as he shook his head vigorously. I managed to swallow the bile that rose in my throat from her suggestion before I answered.

“No, thank you. We won’t be keeping, saving, or in any way utilizing the placenta,” I said politely.

Rainbow didn’t argue. Instead she tilted her head to the side and looked at us almost hesitantly.

“Would you mind if I made use of it? I hate to see it go to waste. If you’re curious about my intentions, let me explain. I would burn it, and do placenta encapsulation from the ashes.”

“Placenta what now?” Scott asked with confused horror.

“Encapsulation. You put the ashes into empty vegetable capsules and they are taken as medicine. Aside from our postpartum patients, encapsulated placenta is often helpful for menopausal women, omegas in heat, and women experiencing the pain of menstruation.”

Scott held a hand up. “Rainbow, please take the placenta with my blessings. Do with it as the universe guides you, just please don’t ask me to discuss it with you any further. I’m feeling a little queasy.”

Rainbow nodded sagely. “It’s from the rush of postpartum hormones flooding through your body.”

Yeah, because that’s totally what it was.

She transferred the placenta into a plastic Tupperware that she’d had stashed in the recesses of her bag, and quickly finished cleaning up the afterbirth process. Rainbow rushed over when the baby started to fuss.

“Poor dear, she doesn’t like all the afterbirth on her skin. Did you rub in as much as you could while you were holding her like we talked about during the gestational months?”

Scotty blushed as he lied through his teeth. “Yeah, I rubbed some in—but it’s pretty thick. Probably hard to tell anyway with the blood, right?”

Rainbow nodded seriously as she reached for the baby. “Let me go ahead and get her cleaned up so that we can get her diapered and dressed. Be back in a jiff,” she said as she took the baby and went into the bathroom.

Scotty and I stared at each other in the sudden silence. I leaned over and kissed him, then sat down and took his hand.

“What shall we name her?”

“Rainbow suggested a natural name. I was looking online and saw several great suggestions. My favorites were Sassafras and Columbine.”

Thanks to a couple decades of police work, I was able to keep a blank face and not laugh at those names. “I don’t think so, babe. Was there a third choice?”

“Well, it’s kind of common—but what do you think of Heather?”

“If those are my choices? I’d have to say that I think Heather is a beautiful name,” I said sincerely.

“I can’t believe I had to wait six months to meet my niece,” Todd complained then held up a hand. “But enough about that, I’m just glad to see you guys. So tell me, what do you think of your investment?”

Scott smiled as he looked around the brick-lined patio area where we were having lunch with Todd, Luke, and Tom. Unfortunately, Colin and Grazer weren’t available today.

“Todd, I love your adorable apartment upstairs. Although, adorable makes it sound small and that’s actually a pretty big living space you have up there. And the restaurant is gorgeous. I can’t believe you made this old mill into such a nice restaurant, and the sausages are amazing! So tell me, is it weird living where you work though?”

Todd shook his head at his brother. “Not at all, although I’m pretty sure the place is haunted. I keep hearing girlish giggles in the night when I’m sleeping. It’s not scary, it’s just… weird.”

Tom held up both hands and shook his head. “Nope, enough about ghosts. You can talk about any other supernatural beings or creepy crawlies that float your boat, but Tom does not do ghosts—especially nosy little girl ghosts.”

Scott leaned forward. “You want to hear about something weird? I have something weird!”

Tom rolled his eyes dramatically. “Not really, but I suppose I left the door open when I said you could talk about other things supernatural. You know that Tom hates creepy shit—but this is Hollydale, so go for it.”

“When I told you guys the story of how Justin and I met, I left out a very important part—the local Côte-d’Érable legend of Waabishkiamik, the white beaver. They call him Amik, for short.”

While he proceeded to tell them the whole story, including the parts that had happened to me when he wasn’t around, I tuned him out and looked at the creek running past the old mill wheel that Todd had managed to get running.

I still didn’t entirely believe that mystical hogwash, but I wasn’t going to ruin Scott’s beliefs. As I scanned the creek, something caught my eye. I looked closer and there was a fucking white beaver floating on his back along the creek. He lifted a paw as though to say wassup. I leaned forward, unable to believe what I was seeing.

Scott must’ve followed my line of sight, because his chair scraped as he jumped up and excitedly pointed to the creek.

“That’s him! That’s Amik! Do you guys see him? You have to see him, right? He’s totally real!”

Heather started to fuss in my arms, so I lifted her to my shoulder and rubbed her back as I shook my head.

“Of course, they see him. He’s real. It’s just an albino beaver, babe. Rare, but totally explainable.”

Tom lifted an elegantly sculpted brow. “Except for the fact that we don’t have beavers around here.”

“Then what do you call that thing?” I asked as I pointed back at the white beaver—but it was gone. There was no sign of it now, not even so much as a ripple in the water remained where he’d been.

Tom shrugged. “What do I call it? I call it Hollydale. Apparently, you guys have your own Canadian versions of creepy shit and decided to bring a guest along on your vacation.”

We all started laughing at that. Heather kept fussing as I cuddled her against my chest. Our poor baby was tired, her schedule was thrown off by our vacation.

“Okay, fine. I’ll give in. Amik is apparently real. But you know what?” I stretched my arm out to pull Scott up against me as I leaned over to kiss his temple. “If a white beaver is the one who gave me this man and our beautiful daughter, then you can color me a believer.”

While everyone laughed, Todd came over and stole his niece from my arms. He carried her back to his chair for a little snuggle time of his own, while I pulled Scott onto my lap and kissed him again.

Scott smiled against my lips. “Do you really believe in Amik, or are you just giving me lip service?”

I waggled my eyebrows. “Scotty, if I wanted to give you lip service I can think of far better things to do with my mouth then lie about whether or not I believe in an albino beaver that has the power to use the forces of nature to bring lovers together.”

Scott giggled. “Yeah, I’ve heard all about the things you like to do with your lips—things like kissing fish.”

He laid his head on my shoulder and proceeded to tell his friends and brother the story I’d shared about kissing the cod while I just savored holding him in my arms. Amik or no Amik, I was glad that we’d found our way to each other and I planned to spend the rest of my life showing him how much I loved him. Forever.