Gage (Men of Honor 1)

She came towards us arms outstretched and a look of tentative hope on her face. Holly just nodded while I grinned and then there was bedlam. “Oh I knew it, I knew it, come tell me everything. Have you been to the doctor, how are you feeling?” She dragged her from the room like I wasn’t even there, something I’m sure I’ll be getting used to from now on.

I walked out behind them and listened to the million and one questions only an impending grandma could ask. It was a good move bringing her here because mom was drawing her out and she was losing that deer in headlights look from her face.

We ended up in the kitchen where mom proceeded to feed us like we were starving refugees. “I have to call your father.”

“Mom, sit down relax.” She hadn’t stopped moving since we arrived it seemed.

“I can’t, there’s so much to do.”

I stopped with the turkey and cheese on rye that she’d sat down in front of me halfway to my lips. “Like what? The kids’ not going to be here for at least another eight months give or take.” Are all women this nuts?

“Well we’re not going to wait until the last minute we have to plan. There’s a nursery to put together for one and that takes time. Though I do agree we shouldn’t tell anyone outside the family and closest friends until at least the fourth or fifth month.”

She started rattling off dos and don’ts like a drill sergeant and I would’ve stepped in and told her to back off had it not been for the look of relaxed pleasure on my wife’s face. Mom knows my girl almost as well as I do and she knew just how to put her at ease.

I imagine most women would’ve told their mother in law to butt out by now, or at least want to, but Holly was eating up all the attention. Mom took a breather long enough to call dad and scream into his ear that they were going to be grandparents and to hear her tell it my kid was going to be spending every weekend outside the womb in her house. I’ve never seen anything like it, from zero to sixty in no time flat.

We spent a good two hours at her place but I was in a rush to get home. The need to be with her, in her, hit me out of nowhere and it was all I could do to make the twenty minute ride home from moms’. No fucking her in the garage this time. I was ever so careful when I lifted her out of the car and took her inside.

“How’re you feeling baby, are you tired, feeling sick?” She just shook her head no and rested it on my shoulder as I made my way up the stairs to our bedroom. The cleaning service had already been here and gone so the bed had already been made and that’s where I laid her as soon as we walked into the room.

The news was finally settling in and now I found myself in a new predicament. I’ve never wanted her as much as I did in that moment but for the first time since I took her innocence I was afraid to even touch her. “Can we do this? I don’t know…”

She held out her arms and smiled up at me. “The doctor said it was fine, I asked.” Her face got red and I grinned as I imagined my little prude even bringing up the subject with a stranger. “Take off your clothes.” I started stripping as she hurried to obey and the only reason I wasn’t getting her undressed myself was because I was afraid I might hurt her in my haste.

My hands actually shook when I dropped down on the bed beside her, my eyes searching for any changes. There was none, she was still thin as a rail, her dancer’s body lithe and slim and I couldn’t believe that there was a life in there. I reached out with a finger and traced it along the flesh of her tummy as she watched me.

“He’s in there!” My voice was barely above a whisper, the realization finally hitting me like a ton of bricks. I’d done that, and it didn’t matter how many men had done it before, I felt like I’d achieved something monumental. Emotion choked me as I touched her with reverence and need.

Her tummy held a new fascination for me and I think I came damn close to spazzing out the more realization dawned on me. Every few seconds I’d look at her eyes almost tempted to ask if it was real. You never know how you’re going to react in any given situation, but I for damn sure never expected to be this over the fucking moon.