Chapter dedicated to 'Little ol' Mel'. You gave me inspiration. You will know why when you read below. Much love, my friend.

Chapter 37 –Baby Names – Claire's POV

Myrnin held my hand as we drove to Morganville's quaint little downtown area. Even Morganville had a historical section with once thriving five-and-dime businesses from the 50s. Little brick and mortar buildings with shared walls, lined up like Monopoly pieces, which were converted into an eclectic assortment of hip and trendy new businesses.

Amelie's staff was in the process of moving his belongings, so it was a good day to be out of the house, and I wanted to finish the nursery.

Our first stop was the antique store on the corner. It used to be a mom-and-pop department store and was the largest building in square footage. It even had a second story above the first. Our driver navigated through the slow moving traffic and stopped right in front of the doors. It was still morning, so the sun wasn't very high in the sky yet. Myrnin's age meant he could withstand more sunlight then a younger vampire, however I always felt it was too risky and hated for him to take any chances with his life like that, so tried to keep his exposure to the absolute minimum.

When we walked through the doors, I breathed excitedly, my eyes darting across the room, trying unsuccessfully to absorb all of the details at once. Every inch of space, from the floors to the ceilings was filled with a diverse assortment everything imaginable – furniture, tools, books, collectibles, home decor and much more. The giant room was divided into similar sized sections with various separators indicating different vendors.

We started down the first hallway. My mind ticked off my want-list in my head – an armoire, various frames, storage boxes, quilts, a rocking chair and of course, a chandelier. We had purchased a new crib for safety reasons, but everything else I wanted to either find or make from vintage materials. They just felt more alive to me, like they had a hidden history and could whisper secrets of days gone by, if you listened hard enough. I knew it was a silly, romantic notion, but loved it anyway.

Myrnin was perfectly happy following me, watching my eyes glow with pleasure as I let my fingertips glide along potential pieces, absorbing and evaluating their beauty not just with my eyes but also with my sense of touch. There was that romantic notion of history again because I knew certain pieces would 'speak' to me. In some unknown fashion, they would connect to my heart. And then I would know they were the ones.

As we walked, I murmured, "Myrnin, are you quite certain it is a girl? I'm not going to be pleased if we do her room in pink and she turns out to be a healthy, beautifully bouncing baby boy instead."

He chuckled and replied, "Go with the pink."

I studied him. He seemed absolutely certain. And he had felt that way from the moment he touched my blossoming belly. I decided to do as he suggested.

As I looked at him, I tilted my head and mused, "Have you considered that one day she is going to want to date? Are you going to be perfectly fine if she chooses a vampire rather than a human?"

I was a little taken aback when his face turned dark and he hissed through clenched teeth, "That will all depend on the boy, God rest his soul, if he treats her with less than my standard of care."

I giggled and said sternly, "Myrnin, all girls experience heart ache at least once in their lives. You cannot kill every boy that hurts her feelings."

A muscle twitched in his jaw. I knew he wasn't listening to me; he had every intention of snuffing out the life of anyone who crossed his baby girl. And I also knew there was nothing I could do to change his mind; at least not right now. That would be a concern for the future, so I refocused on my task at hand.

We turned a corner and I inhaled sharply.

Immediately, Myrnin stepped in front of me, his eyes darting back and forth, trying to locate and ward off whatever had caused my sudden intake of breath. I giggled and slid around his body, so that I could walk to the armoire that had so powerfully called my name.

Myrnin emoted a brief second of confusion and then his body relaxed. He smiled lovingly and followed me as he realized it was just my excitement.

"This one," I breathed happily.

The armoire was broad with three rows of lower drawers and ample cabinet space above. I pulled the doors open and found shelf space on one half and a rod for hanging shorter garments on the other, perfect for baby-sized dresses. And the best part was, it was already finished with white-wash milk paint, and the perfect amount of delicately aged accents, highlighting it sculptural details.

I turned to him. "You got lucky. You don't have to do a thing to this one."

As he pulled out his phone, he gave me a pretend frown and teased, "But I was really looking forward to playing with spray paint."

I smacked him lightly on the chest. Even though his voice was teasing, knowing him, I suspected his excitement over playing with spray paint, had some truth in it.

He made arrangements for the armoire to be purchased and delivered today. We continued and I was pleased to find the perfect pink petal chandelier. It had rose accents and beautiful sparkling crystals. I also gathered up everything else on my list, including stunning vintage French tapestries I hadn't planned on, and four ornate frames. I grinned at Myrnin, "You get your wish after all. These need to be painted and distressed to match the armoire."

As expected, his face lit up in excitement over his new project. Now if I could just keep him from catching them on fire, as was his tendency with many projects, we would be all good.

Our driver collected all of my new treasures to return them to our home, while Myrnin and I headed down the street to a used bookstore. It wasn't far and the sky was a little overcast, which helped. When we entered the store, the familiar smell of books, paper and dust hit my nostrils.

We still hadn't decided on a name, and thought older novels might give us the perfect inspiration for finding something unique. I had done some research online into Welsh names and found many girl names ended with 'lyn', so we could piece something together if we found another name that flowed with it.

We began to pull random novels and just flip through them. I had an affinity toward names that began with vowels. They just seemed softer to me and called to Myrnin when I found one I liked. He looked over my shoulder to where I was pointing on the page. I let the name roll off my tongue to see how it sounded out loud, "Avalia." Myrnin smiled at me with a twinkle in his eye. I asked, "What is it?"

"'Ava' means 'bird' in Latin and the 'lia' is reminiscent of the word 'little'," he explained.

"Little bird," I breathed in awe and wondered if it was a sign. I sounded it out with the Welsh ending, "Avalyn."

He nodded, "I like it."

We found a few others that were possibilities: Laeklyn, Gwendolyn, Madelyn and Wren, which was traditionally Welsh and played off of the bird idea.

...

When we returned home, Myrnin gave me a quick hug and said, "I need to run to the lab. Will you be okay?"

I yawned and replied, "Yes, I think I'm going to go visit Eve while they finish up here."

His eyebrows pulled together in concern, and he murmured, "You're tired."

I chuckled softly, "Yes, maybe I can take a nap on Eve's couch."

He hesitated. I could tell he wasn't sure if he wanted to leave me or not. I placed a hand on his chest and reassured him, "I'm fine. Go get your work done. You don't need to watch me sleep."

He gave me a kiss on my forehead and disappeared through the portal. I opened it again, this time to the Glass house, and walked through.

Eve looked up at me in surprise, and also a little nervousness. I couldn't ask her why because I had to quickly make my way to the couch. I was surprised at how extremely tired I had become compared to just moments before.

My unspoken question was answered a moment later when Shane walked through the room. Oh, her nervousness made perfect sense now. Shane hesitated when he saw me, equally surprised, and then asked tentatively, "Are you okay?"

A minute ago, I thought I was. But now, something wasn't right.

He must have been able to tell because he crossed the room quickly , and crouched down in front of me. He instructed firmly, "Look at me."

I tried to focus my eyes on him, but it was impossible. Eve quickly crossed the room to us. I heard her whisper to him, "What's wrong?"

"I don't..."

His reply was cut off when I suddenly felt a shocking pain shoot down my abdomen, and I let out a piercing scream.

Eve gasped urgently, "Shane...The blood!"

I wondered what she was talking about, and then I realized I felt hot liquid rushing out of me, down my legs. I lifted my head assuming my water had broken, and was horrified to find the fluid wasn't amniotic, it was blood! I couldn't dwell on it for another second, because another earth shattering pain struck through my belly. I screamed again and then panted hard.

Shane yelled at Eve, "We need to get her to the hospital now!"

I shook my head. I knew I wasn't going to make it. I could feel the baby moving down. Fear washed over me, hard and strong. Tears streamed down my face as I screamed, "Get Myrnin!"

Shane yanked out his cell phone and looked at Eve in desperation. "What is his number?!"

"I don't know!" She cried.

My insides felt like they were tearing apart. If they didn't hurry, I knew this was going to be over soon and there was a good chance I wasn't going to survive it.

Eve grabbed my bag and dumped it completely. Her hands shook as she rifled through the contents, until she found my phone. Shane grabbed it and quickly verbalized instructions into it, "Call Myrnin!"

He had it on speaker and I heard Myrnin's cheerful reply, "Hello, little bird..."

.

Thanks again to Little ol' Mel. She and I were chatting and she mentioned they were looking for baby names with character/family history in old books. I just had to incorporate it because it was soooo Little Bird & Myrnin.