It was tempting, to start asking questions, to lead Dani to her own conclusions about her condition. But Charlotte didn’t want to ruin the surprise for her. She figured she had about two weeks before Dani came in for an exam. Later, as she organized her equipment in the clinic’s designated prenatal room, Charlotte decided she would shelve all thoughts of Dani’s treatment plans in the same place where she stored the muddlesome puzzle of Leonard O’Donnell.

Will had set her up in the largest exam room, not just to make the expecting mothers more comfortable, but because there was always the possibility of patients shifting into large-scale animals while freaking out during an exam. Still, Charlotte wasn’t sure there was enough room for a full-size dragon, and she was one hundred percent sure she didn’t want to find out. She was excited and yet, a little terrified, as she gave the exam room one last cleaning.

“The newlyweds!” she exclaimed as Jillian knocked on the doorframe.

“Good morning.” Jillian looked flushed and happy, exactly how you’d expect a bride to look post-honeymoon, just a little more pregnant. And Bael was every inch the doting new husband and expectant father. What Charlotte didn’t expect was for Zed to follow them into the exam room, shutting the door behind him.

Charlotte lifted her dark brow. “Mayor Berend, um, did you have some questions for me? This appointment is really just for Jillian and her birthing partner.”

“Technically, I’m here in my mayoral capacity. It’s not good for the citizens for a panicky dragon father to be rampaging through the Bayou. Also, I’m the one who will be getting you out to the birthing site, so Jillian thought it would be a good idea for me to sit in,” Zed said.

Charlotte looked to Jillian for confirmation, only to receive a brilliant grin. The midwife shrugged. “You’re in charge here, Dr. Ramsay.”

“Any instructions for me?” Bael asked, swallowing heavily as he eyed the ultrasound machine.

“Try to relax,” Charlotte replied. “The more comfortable you are with me now, the better off we’ll be when you’re in dragon form. I do not look good surrounded by reptilian flames.”

“It’s not that bad,” Zed assured her. Jillian shot the mayor an incredulous look and Zed added, “Well, I don’t want to scare her!”

Charlotte went about the business of her normal patient intake. Bael and Zed had to duck out at several points to give Jillian privacy, but they handled it with good humor. Jillian was in remarkably good health for someone who worked as hard as she did, in a high-stress position. Of course, Jillian also vomited blue lava on occasion, so Charlotte supposed everything balanced out in the end.