She still blames you, but she enjoyed it

Ariane finishes giving Linne a hug. Then she gives Doe a hug. Then she races back and gives Linne another goodbye hug. At last she gets out the door, where Chantel, Reine and the duke are all waiting for her. Chantel in particular can't keep from giggling over how excited her sister is and you're sure all four of them are going to beeline for home so they can get up to all sorts of things out of the public eye.

Inside your tower, Linne is also wagging her tail and has enough nervous energy that she keeps shifting her feet. Doe has waited until everyone left and you're sure she's about to scold you. So you take the lead and say to Linne, "I hope you liked your birthday party."

"Oh, it was wonderful!" she replies, jumping into your arms. Well, throwing her torso into your arms. Even a smaller cataur like Linne literally jumping into your arms would knock you to the floor. She starts listing off all the things she wants to do for her guests. It's so typical of Linne, she's such a nice, giving person. It also burns away a lot of Doe's bad mood, since it's so hard to stay mad when Linne is this happy.

You pull Linne in close and whisper, "I need you to rub Doe's belly, okay?"

Linne grins ear to ear and bounces over to Doe, who's just asking, "What are you plotting?" when she gets wrapped in your other wife's arms.

"Thank you so much," Linne croons, "I'm so glad you finally got to show off Linneth to other people. Did you see how Hanna's eyes lit up? I hope once Sasha has her foal she can bring her baby over. Linneth needs to have playdates..."

As Linne keeps going, rattling off one idea after another in a waterfall of words, you see Doe loosen up a bit. It's now that you step in close and take hold of her tail. The tip has always been more sensitive than most of Doe's body. You pull it against your chest so it's being warmed by your body, something she always appreciates. As Linne keeps caressing Doe's belly and talking about the future you start massaging Doe's tail.

For a while Doe lets you both get away with this, but then she grunts and holds Linne's hands still. "I'm still ticked off at this one," she says, tilting her head toward you. But she doesn't pull her tail out of your arms, so she's not really pissed anymore. "You shouldn't play games like that with your wife. Especially not with your pregnant wife."

"I know," you tell her.

"You risked getting your ass thumped," she mutters.

"Yeah."

"I'd have every right..."

But by now the fires have died down. She's mostly venting and all three of you know it. "Linneth really seemed to like meeting new people," you comment.

That comment really seems to affect her. "Yeah. We're going to have to, um, set up those playdates, huh?"

"Yes, hopefully we'll get some nobles who don't mind their human children being friends with a lamia child. But 'taur children should be easier to befriend."

"Yeah... we don't want her ending up as some kind of loner," Doe says, sounding forlorn.

You move in closer, pulling the end of her tail with you so that you can sit down behind her, still holding her other end. When you wrap your arm around her chest from behind she doesn't complain or fight, she just leans back against you. "I want her to have a few friends," you tell her, "but if she turns out to be a quiet girl who likes reading more than loud gatherings, or a real tomboy who likes exploring the forests all the time that's not a bad thing. There aren't any rules for how a lamia's supposed to be. Maybe she'll take after her mother."

"Don't curse her like that," she says.

"Being wonderful isn't a curse," you tell her.

"Ugh. You're so unreasonable," she snaps back. But she also wriggles back, pressing more of her body against yours.

"I think it really helped all those other women, hearing about your pregnancy," you say. She stiffens up a little, but some heavy tail scratching quickly loosens her up. "I've put them all in a difficult position since no one else knows what to expect from their bodies."

"Well my body's different from all of theirs," she mutters. By now she's getting much more relaxed and she's pulled Linne against her, eager to bask in even more warmth.

"Yes, but it doesn't matter. They just want to talk to someone else who's like them. Someone who's been through what they're going through, someone who's strong and confident. But also someone who cares as much about her little girl as they care about the babies in their belly."

"Ugh," Doe grunts. She puts a hand on her belly and says, "This would have been so much easier if I had let you stuff Linne's belly."

"Well you are the type to pick the hard way," you tell her with a laugh. You also place your hand atop hers.

"Yeah," Linne agrees, "that's why we love you."

"Ah, hell," Doe sighs. "What the fuck am I supposed to do with you two? You say you want a tough girl, but it's like you just want to keep me cuddling and kissing and mothering all the time. Holding garden parties with noblewomen and talking about our children."

"Mmmm, that's right," you tell her. "Because we love you. And you did enjoy talking about Linneth."

"Well, yes," she says. "Of course I liked talking about Linneth." Doe curls up even closer to you. "But that doesn't explain anything."

"It's true though," Linne says, her eyes drooping and her words light and slow. "We love you." She's finally slowed down after a long day of excitement, so now she's getting sleepy.

"You want your difficult, hard, military trained, tomboy of a wife to go all soft? Does that get you hard? Taming me?" Doe almost growls.

"No. I want you to stay hard, stay a tomboy and so on. But I know my tough wife has a lovely, warm side too. It's been hidden away for a long time, but I know it's there because Linne and I have seen it. It's a lovely side and I want you to get in touch with it more. I want you to be tough when you need to be, soft when you want to be. I want to sit on the lawn in the summer, watching our daughter playing with her friends while you lie there next to me, another child growing in your belly."

"Heh, planning to keep me pregnant? You're not even trying to hide it?"

In response you just kiss her neck. Given the low moan she lets out that was the right answer.