Under My Enemy's Roof - Under Him

“Crayons sound kind of fun,” she agreed. “Although it’s kind of a kid thing to do.”

“Yeah, but what else is there to do at this point?” I asked. “We’ve kind of exhausted the things in the house. Plus we’ve had sex in every room except the master bedroom.”

“I’m not opposed to it,” she offered.

“No, way. Too risky,” I said. “Can you imagine getting caught in there? It would be ten times worse.”

“I think getting caught having sex by anyone would be awful,” she said. “We’d be naked and totally vulnerable. Speaking of which, let’s do this in the nude.”

“Why?”

“Why not?”

I shrugged and got naked. She did too. I assumed she was ready for sex again, which was fine with me.

“Notice anything different?” she asked.

“No,” I shrugged.

She took my hand and placed it against her belly. I could feel another heartbeat.

“Oh, my God,” I gasped. “Are you pregnant?”

“Yeah,” she nodded happily. “We’re gonna be parents!”

I was in shock but in a good way. It never even occurred to me to wear a condom. In retrospect, it probably would’ve been the smarted move, but I was excited. I always wanted kids and with Tracianne, I knew they’d looked amazing.

“Wait, can we still do it?” I asked.

“Oh, yeah, it’s fine,” she assured. “You can’t hurt the baby by having sex. I read it online. And now I can’t get more pregnant.”

“This kind of changes everything, Traci,” I warned. “We’re on a timer here.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’ll have to tell the folks now. They’re going to ask who the father is. It’ll be there first question,” I revealed. “You can’t lie to them. They’re going to want to meet him.”

“Well, they can meet you,” she smiled. “We’ll just explain it to them.”

I guess I deserved that. So blithely had I been promising her that our relationship was no big deal, she went from being paranoid about getting caught to being confident no one would raise an eyebrow. At least, I was hoping that it would be received that way.

“Look, it might be awkward for them at first,” she theorized. “But we’ve been locked up for months. We have plenty of time to reinvent ourselves. And my dad is no longer your stepdad, now he’s more of your wingman.”

“I don’t know about that,” I replied. “He might lose his shit, Trace. He’s a pretty manly guy. His macho side might decide to beat the crap out of me.”

“I know him and I would bet differently. He’s a pussycat when it comes to me,” she assured.

“I’m not even sure how this would work on a family tree,” I revealed. “It probably looks bad looking from the outside.”

“We’ll make it work, trust me, luv,” she smiled. “I trust you.”

“How will our kid explain this to his friends?” I worried. “I mean, kids can be pretty mean when it comes to other kids. What if he tells them we’re brother and sister?”

“Stepbrother and stepsister,” she corrected. “Jeez, at least you say it right.”

“I know, but--- You know what I mean.”

“I suppose we could just leave out the part how we met,” she shrugged. “Why complicate his little life?”

“Yeah, but then there are his grandparents,” I pointed out. “Might get confusing. When he tells the other kids he has only one set of grandparents.”

“I think you’re overthinking this,” she assured. “Little kids--- They don’t drill down into the details like this. Maybe when he’s older.”

“And then what?”

“Then we can explain it better. I mean, we’ve done nothing wrong,” she pointed out. “What if you and I had gotten together before my dad and Daphene? Right and they met and fell in love? No one would bat an eye. No one would say we were weird, right?”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” I agreed. “But telling your dad your pregnant. That’s going to be a big moment. He might kill me.”

“I don’t think so. He likes you,” she pointed out. “Besides, he kept telling you that you and I should be closer.”

“Somehow, I don’t think this is what he had in mind!” I laughed. “What did you draw?”

“I’m not good at drawing,” she admitted. “I just drew a rainbow. And the sun. What did you draw?”

“Horses,” I said. “At least, I think they’re horses. I’m not much of an artist either.”

“The bottom line is, I think our parents are going to be thrilled to be grandparents,” I said. “Your mother needs something to look forward to. Another baby? Women love babies! I know I can’t wait!”

“It’s so strange,” I admitted. “This lockdown. The events in this house. Who knew it would lead to this?”

“I know,” I said. “It’s like my whole life has changed with you in the picture now. College seems like a faraway dream. I can’t wait to tell my friends about you.”

“Guess we’re not going to have to lie to them about us,” I added. “That’s a plus.”