22nd December

The next day, they let Maia sleep in until noon and just woke her up for lunch. Derick and her uncle greeted her with a lot of energy, while the morning greeting of her aunt came a bit muffled from the kitchen.

Maia went to the kitchen to help her aunt and half an hour later, they sat together around the table and had a nice meal. Sophie had made stew and salad as a side dish. It tasted wonderful and Maia took more than she usually did.

"I see, you are already eating for two." Her aunt joked and giggled when Maia looked up confused, before she understood the meaning behind the words. With a shy grin she caressed over her belly.

"I had a serious talk with Derick." Said Patrick after he put away his cutlery. "We think it is the best to make it official and have you merry before you drive home. Maia was a bit unprepared for this topic and coughed when she got the food into her trachea by surprise.

"Let her finish her meal first." Scolded Sophie and knocked on her back until she could breathe without coughing again and calmed down.

Maia threw a gaze to Derick, who smiled from one ear to the other and looked her into the eyes with a gaze that clearly showed his affection. Her cousin clearly liked the idea and Maia still let the thought roam through her head.

"You do not need to decide directly." Comforted her aunt. "Think about it long and thorough." She shot a stern look to her husband.

"It is okay aunt Sophie. I would be happy to marry Derick." She replied fast and shot a shy gaze to her fresh fiancé.

Derick came around the table and kneeled before her, taking her paw. "So, would you merry me?" he asked, as if he wanted to make it official. Maia giggled and even though she felt happy, tears shot into her eyes when she looked down. She turned to the side and jumped into his arms. "Yes, I could not think of anything I want to do more." She whispered and then she was muffled by a deep kiss of the fox boy, who caressed her back and hind while he kissed her for over a minute. She had to gasp for air after the long kiss and giggled again.

In the afternoon, Derick and Maia saw on the couch together, she had her head on his shoulder and her eyes closed, just enjoying his warmth, when her aunt Sophie approached them.

"Maia?" the girl opened her eyes. "The other women and I wanted to invite you for a relaxing time with just us girls this evening." She said and smiled. "We thought about going out with everyone around eight and stay until the night."

"What did you have in mind?" was the question of Patrick, who also just game inside from some work he did outside. He seemed to not have heard of the plans yet.

"We were thinking of showing Maia our natural hot spring in the mountain." She replied, turning to her husband. "And just that we are clear. It is a girls-only event. Don't you dare to show up." And she shook her fist against Patrick and Derick with a laughter.

Maia was a bit hesitant. She liked the warmth next to Derick and resting next to him. "You will have time to relax and ask us all the questions you might have about the new situation." Explained Sophie and Maia started to understand the reason behind this.

She sure still was confused and wondering about all the changes to her live the pregnancy and also marrying Derick would bring. She had quite some questions that she would never ask Patrick or Derick and she understood, that the ladies-night was planned to give her some room to ask all her questions without being disturbed or embarrassed by the presence of the men and boys.

"Okay." She finally agreed and smiled. "I have never been to a hot spring. Is it like the sauna?" she asked but her aunt shook her head. "Not quite the same. It is like a very warm bath, but with natural water heated by the earth. You will see tomorrow." And with these words she went to the door.

"I will tell the others that the event is on and we will meet at eight." She shouted inside the house before leaving.

The evening was fun and even if the walk to the hot spring was half an hour long through snow and the forest, the reward was worth it.

The hot spring was a big basin where the water was barely visible under a lot of steam. After the first hesitation, because they went into the water naked, just like it was in the sauna, Maia had a lot of fun.

The water came down a small waterfall already hot and steaming. Sophie explained her, that the water got out of the rock a bit further up and that it was too hot there. The villagers created a small canal that lead to the waterfall and then into the basin, that was dug into the rock, and from one side back down into the river.

They showed her the steaming river just twenty meters next to the basin and Maia put her paw into the water for testing. It was much hotter than in the basin. Sophie explained, that this was because the artificial canal was built in long turns and very shallow to have the water cool down at the air.

The basin was filled with water at the perfect temperature. When Maia dipped under the water and got some of it into her muzzle, it tasted a bit like iron and other minerals. Where the waterfall was, she could also see that the rock was colorful and has funny pictures drawn into the surface.

Other than the water there were all females of the village, including the young wolf girl Dorothe with her mother Margot Riley, the white tiger Milissa Stripes and Ida Park, the bear wife of the pastor.

They were all very sensitive and while some played with Dorothe, the others told Maia all about pregnancy and child birth. Some of it sounded scaring for the young girl, but she was happy to have experienced mothers around her. It was less scaring when hearing it from the older women that could share how they dealt with it and encourage the girl. They promised to always be there fore her, in case she had a question or just needed someone to talk and Maia slowly could let go of her fear about what would come and be excited and happy about her pregnancy.