Chapter Two

Santiago made his way back up to his office, though his mind was nowhere near able to get any work done at the moment, even if he had wanted to. Gabriella had dropped one hell of a bomb on him and it was going to take him a little while to really process it. He’d pulled back on his shock when they were at breakfast because he hadn’t wanted to upset or worry her…but Santiago was experiencing a bit of serious shock over this information. Mateo had just barely passed his first birthday a few months ago and now they were expecting again!

He did the math in his head and figured they would wind up with three summer babies out of the lot. Interesting. Sitting there, he wondered a laundry list of thoughts. Would their fourth child be another boy, or their first girl? Would they be just as healthy as the other three children? Would it be a hard pregnancy for Gabriella, or would it be easy like the first three (though Rafael had given her terrible indigestion the entire time)?

His thoughts lead him to the fact that for the fourth time, they would have to keep Gabriella’s condition a secret from everyone. He hated it, but his parents had drilled it into his head when he and Gabriella had gotten married, that if they were ever to have children they would keep the pregnancy under wraps until the newborn was a few months old.

Of course, he had fought them on this at first. He couldn’t understand why they would have to keep something so happy hidden away from everyone. The explanation his father gave made sense, though now Santiago was fairly certain the fear his father had put into him over it was a bit exaggerated.

His father had explained that, at least as far back as anyone could recall, the tradition of secret pregnancies amongst Dragon kind had begun as a practice to ensure an heir was actually born. Apparently, back in the old countries, mothers pregnant with the progeny of Dragons were often killed before they could even give birth. To avoid this, Dragon husbands began hiding their pregnant wives until after the child had been born. The added few months afterwards were to give the mother and child time to recuperate from nearly 9 months of captivity.

Over hundreds of years, the act transformed from a safety precaution to a cultural tradition amongst Dragon kind. Now, his father had told him, the process was meant to give honor to the unborn child by allowing it to grow unburdened by the expectations of others. Pure poppycock in Santiago’s eyes, but he had agreed to his father’s wishes and all three of their children had been given secret pregnancies. Santiago was simply grateful that his wife seemed, if not happy, at least content to suffer through such a thing for his culture.

Just as with their first three children, only a select few people would know about the pregnancy. He and Gabriella, of course, but also Lucia and eventually their butler and all-around assistant, Manuel. Of course, for their first three children, Santiago’s distant family in Romania had been let in one the secret and had sent over a midwife to assist them. Because they were family from his father’s side…they understood the sort of discretion that was expected in a dragon pregnancy.

This time around, however, it seemed they would be keeping everything in-house. Honestly, he wasn’t too bothered by Gabriella’s choice to forgo the assistance from a midwife. She was right, the last woman who had helped with Mateo had been a bit rough-and-tumble with the entire ordeal. He only hoped there would be no issues through the pregnancy, but he couldn’t allow himself to think about things like that.

His train of thought changed track and he began to worry over how they would handle so many young children all at the same time. Granted, they had the fantastic help of Lucia and Manuel…but there was a distinct possibility that they would have a fourth boy and Dragon child. That would mean they would have both Mateo as well as their newborn dealing with getting a hold on their shifting abilities.

When Rafael, their oldest, had been born he had shown his true nature very early on. Within less than two weeks he had made his first full shift and after that it had been a fairly regular thing up until he was nearly three years old. Ignacio, however, had taken nearly a month and a half to show his shifting abilities and then by the time he was two he had gotten control over them. It had been astonishing to Santiago, watching his progeny learn to control the more bestial side of their nature. He learned that his son’s control over their Dragon side was strongly tied to their control over their motor skills. It was as if Santiago had been learning all about what it meant to be a Dragon from simply watching his sons grow into themselves. Watching Mateo, and now this fourth child, grow and navigate their nature would undoubtedly be just as captivating.

He mused over how it had been a few years now since the last time Rafael shifted…and nearly a year and a half for Ignacio. Now that they had gained more control over themselves, he highly doubted they would see many shifting moments before they were teenagers. Though, if his teen years were anything to go off of, his sons would become more than a handful sooner rather than later.

With a heavy sigh, a weary smile, and an overall look of shell-shock, he sat there at his desk and ran both hands through his short hair. He would need to get himself over this initial phase of shock and start getting down to brass tacks. He had three young children and a fourth on the way, a pregnant wife to care for and keep safe… and a business to keep going at full steam ahead. He shook his head and got down to it.

*

For the first few months, life seemed to go on as if Gabriella were not pregnant at all. Minus a few dietary changes, of course. Even as the winter months rolled around, and the holidays came, only the four adults in the house knew of the baby to come.

The timing of the pregnancy couldn’t have worked out better, as far as keeping things hidden from the world around them. With the holiday season so full of food and festivity, it was easy to explain away the slowly noticeably weight gain around Gabriella’s mid-section.

The children, most importantly Rafael, were kept easily distracted by their holiday gifts and all of the lovely meals Lucia prepared for them each night. However, the charade wouldn’t hold for too much longer and they all knew it.

The New Year came and went and soon Gabriella began to look more like a pregnant woman than one who had eaten a bit much during the holidays. She could tell by the curious look in her eldest son’s eye that he was starting to wonder why his Momma was changing so much on the outside. He was a smart boy for 8½ and they knew he would be figuring things out for himself sooner rather than later.

For the moment, the family continued on as if nothing in life were going to change. The two older boys received their lessons from Manuel and their mother, homeschooled just as their father and his father before him. Yet another cultural tradition of Dragonkind that had originated from a need for safety. The children of Dragon-shifters were precious and oh-so fragile. To keep them safe from harm, they were often kept away from society as a whole for as long as possible. There were drawbacks, of course…but that was often why Dragon families had more than a single child. Companionship was vastly important, and Santiago had been adamant they have multiple children for that very reason if none other.

By the end of March, however, Gabriella began to feel the fatigue that comes with bringing a new life into the world and spent much of her time resting. She did her best to spend as much time with her three boys as she could, but her absence was noticed by the older two…mostly Rafael. The countdown was officially on to see how long until Rafael straight out asked about his mother’s condition. He was a smart boy; he was sure to figure it out for himself if left to it.