The Perfect Union

by Trina Lane

  Their strokes became less rhythmic as they neared orgasm, their hips jerking, her straining into every thrust, milking out each sensation. Calleigh screamed into Conor’s mouth as a tremendous orgasm ripped through her body. She felt every tissue in her pussy and ass contract around the thick shafts buried deep inside her. She ripped away from Conor desperate to fill her lungs with air. Rick and Conor both slammed into her one last time and held deep. Their cocks pulsed as they released their seed deep inside her body.

  Chapter Nine

  Calleigh opened the door to the ladies room and ran smack into Carla. It took a moment for her eyes to focus on the swimming letters of her friend’s scrub shirt.

  “That’s it. I’m taking you to see someone.” Carla grabbed Calleigh’s hand and pulled her down the hall.

  “Carla, stop! What are you doing?” She pulled her hand from her friend’s firm grip.

  “I heard you throwing up again. You swear up and down that you’re not pregnant, but this is not going away. So we’re going to find out exactly what is going on.” Carla picked up Calleigh’s hand again and tugged.

  Carla dragged her to the doctors’ lounge door and knocked before walking in. Several doctors looked up, and a couple of questioned their presence, but once Carla gave them the evil eye, they shut up. Her friend was so good at that. Calleigh let out a little giggle.

  “Davie, I need you to examine Calleigh,” Carla said to her brother.

  “Umm, why?”

  “Because she’s been throwing up and has a loss of appetite. She swears up and down she’s not pregnant. Oh, and she’s not been sleeping through the night for the past three weeks.”

  Calleigh turned to Carla in shock. “How do you know that?”

  Carla faced her best friend and took hold of her hand. “I called Rick and Conor a week or so ago, and they told me.”

  Calleigh yanked her hand out of Carla’s grasp. “Why are you calling them behind my back!”

  “Because I’m worried about you! Now stop changing the subject.” She faced her brother again. “Please, Davie?”

  David walked over and looked closely at his sister’s best friend. “What makes you think you’re not pregnant? I see the ring on your finger, congratulations by the way. So I assume you’re having sex.”

  “For multiple reasons. Number one, I take the Depo shot and have for years. My last shot was administered approximately two and half months ago. Two, I had a period approximately a month ago. Granted, it was light, but that’s not unusual for me since starting the shot after my sons were born. Finally, three, I’m not throwing up every morning or after I eat. It’s just random. I’ve been under a lot of stress. Miles has been stirring up trouble with the administration, although I think that’s settled now, and my mother-in-law is threatening to sue for custody of my children because she doesn’t approve of my fiancés.”

  “Okay, I agree there’s some stress there. Any number of things can cause those symptoms. Come down to an exam room, and let’s run some tests.”

  They left the lounge and walked down the hall. Calleigh heard her name called over the speaker asking her to come to the nurses’ station. She told Carla she would be right back. Walking up to the desk, she saw a delivery man with a bunch of flowers. Her heart flipped over at the idea that maybe Conor and Rick had sent her some. In the two weeks since their proposal, they’d left little love notes all over the house for her to find. Her favourite was when she stepped into the shower the other morning. There had been a large piece of paper taped to the tile that said Wish we were here.

  “You paged me Melissa?” She saw the young woman point to the delivery man as she wrote a chart note. “Can I help you?”

  “Are you Calleigh Wells?”

  She looked at the pretty flowers and inhaled trying to catch their scent. “Yes. Are those for me?”

  “Yes.” He handed her a clipboard. “I just need you to sign please.”

  She accepted the pen and signed on the line next to her printed name. When she looked up, the man had taken off his delivery hat and held out a piece of paper.

  “You’ve been served. Have a nice day.”

  Calleigh stared at his back as he walked out the sliding doors of the department. The whole desk area was silent. She heard several comments about what an asshole the guy was. When she looked down, she saw the word subpoena in big bold letters. Her hands shook as she opened the document, and as she read the first few lines, a raw animalistic sound escaped her throat and her world went black.

  Her senses were muddled as she slowly opened her eyes. After she blinked several times, the room came into focus. Her brain tried to remember what had happened, and suddenly awareness snapped. She sat up quickly and grabbed the railing on the side of the bed as her head swam for a few seconds. Looking around, she found herself lying on a gurney in one of the curtained-off prep areas for surgery patients. Carla and her brother stood next to her.

  She fell back onto the bed and flung an arm up to cover her eyes from the bright, fluorescent lights overhead. “What happened?”

  “You passed out,” David responded. “Apparently after being served a subpoena. When you came to a moment later, you started crying hysterically and yelling for Rick and Conor, so I gave you a sedative.”

  “Oh my God,” she moaned.

  How embarrassing that she acted that way in her place of work, but she couldn’t stop the tears from filling her eyes as she looked over at her best friend. “She’s trying to take my babies away. Rick swears it won’t happen, but what if he’s wrong? What if his lawyer friend didn’t get it right? If I lost Rick and Conor, my heart would shatter all over again, but if I lose my babies I just might die.”

  “Calleigh, calm down. It won’t happen. She’s trying to stir up trouble. Besides you shouldn’t get overly upset. It’s not good for the baby.” Carla’s lips twitched, making every effort to keep a straight face.

  “How do you know it won’t happen? You can’t guarantee… What do you mean ‘baby’?” Did I hear that right? It’s not possible.

  David picked up Calleigh’s hand. “You are pregnant, Calleigh. I ran a blood test while you were unconscious. I did an ultrasound to confirm because of the bleeding you reported. I suspect the bleeding occurred at the time of implantation.”

  She couldn’t wrap her mind around it. She’d taken the shot. Granted, she and her lovers had never used any form of protection, but what were the odds that the Depo shot would fail? One and half percent…maybe? “But what about the shot?”

  “Well, I looked up your electronic records, and they showed you receiving a flu shot back in September but nothing about your Depo.”

  She shook her head. “That can’t be right. I declined the flu shot. They asked me that same day, but I said no. Told them to just do the other.”

  “Regardless of how it happened, you are pregnant. Judging from the ultrasound, I would estimate around eight weeks.”

  “Oh my God,” she whispered right when Rick and Conor came running into the curtained area.

  Rick rushed the bed where Calleigh lay. She looked so pale. When he’d gotten the call at work that she had passed out then started screaming for them, his heart had nearly stopped. He’d run through the building to Conor’s office and told him what happened. They’d raced to the hospital as fast as possible. He even gave the cab driver a huge tip to make it as fast as he could.

  “Angel? What happened?” He cupped her cheek and placed a soft kiss on her cool lips.

  “Muirnín? Are ye sick again?”

  She held Conor’s hand on one side of the bed and Rick’s on the other. “I don’t remember what happened after I woke up. They told me I went into some kind of hysterics. Loves, she served me papers. Susan actually filed a dispute of custody.”

  Rick couldn’t believe it. He’d never thought the woman would actually go so far. He was furious. How dare she disrupt their home? How dare she hurt Calleigh this way? He knew no better mother than his angel. Her love fo
r those boys was stamped into every action of every day.

  “Go n-ithe an cat thú, is go n-ithe an diabhal an cat,” Conor spat under his breath.

  “Um, Con? Did you just put a hex on the woman? Can you teach me one?” Rick tried to lighten the tension.

  “Sorry. I said ‘may the cat eat ye and the devil eat the cat’. ‘Tis an auld family curse.”

  Calleigh smiled. “I like that one. One thing about you Irish is that you’re very creative with your cursing. Give me a kiss, and whisper sweet nothings in my ear.”

  Rick watched Conor lean over and thoroughly kiss their love. He did whisper something in her ear, and it made Calleigh giggle. It warmed Rick’s heart to see a smile back on her face.

  “Calleigh, I think we need to face this head on. Why don’t we contact Susan? Tell her to come over to the house to discuss this idiocy. If we drag lawyers into this, it’s going to turn into a nightmare. Why don’t we try talking it out with her first?”

  “I’ll try, but you saw her that night. There was no talking to her rationally. For now, I have to get back to work. I’ll meet you at home later.”

  “Oh no, you are not, missy,” Carla scolded.

  “Carla! Have you been listening this whole time?”

  She poked her head through the curtain. “Sue me. You are going home. You are going to bed. And you will call me and tell me everything.” She gave Calleigh a pointed look.

  Rick looked over at Conor and sensed there was something else going on. What was Carla talking about? Was there something Calleigh wasn’t telling them? “Angel?”

  Calleigh twisted the sheets on the bed between her fingers. “Um…well…the thing is…”

  “’Tis okay, mo ghrá. Ye can tell us. This is about ye still gettin’ sick, isn’t it?” He saw the shocked look on Calleigh’s face. “Aye love, we knew. We didn’t say anythin’ cos we wanted ye te come te us. Please tell us. What’s wrong?”

  She took a deep breath. “Apparently, I’m pregnant. Somebody screwed up. I never got my shot, and David thinks I’m about eight weeks along.” She rushed it all out in one breath.

  Rick sat heavily on the bed next to Calleigh’s legs. She was pregnant. She wasn’t sick. She was pregnant! He scooped his arms around her back and pulled her up into his embrace. She latched onto him, and he felt tears wet his shirt. Conor was moulded to her back, and his arms were around her waist. Their heads lifted and gazes caught. Rick saw joy and love radiating from Conor’s blue-green depths.

  “Angel, those had better be happy tears. This is the best thing we’ve ever heard—next to you agreeing to marry us anyway.”

  She pulled her head up off Rick’s shoulder. “Really? You’re not upset? I didn’t know if you were ready for something like this. I know it’s shocked the hell out of me.”

  “We’re havin’ a babby. ‘Tis a blessin’ to celebrate.” Conor held Calleigh’s face between his hands and kissed her. Their lips welded together as he wiped the tears from her cheeks.

  “Let’s go home. We have to plan how to tell the boys to expect a little brother or sister. I think we should make it a game.” Rick rubbed his hands together as plots started forming in his mind. Scooping Calleigh up off the bed, he carried her out of the hospital to her embarrassment and the cheers of her co-workers.

  * * * *

  Conor paced around the living room. He looked up at the clock on the mantel and grimaced. It couldn’t possibly be two minutes since he last looked. He turned his back to the clock and walked to the bow windows to peek between the curtains.

  “Con, stop pacing. She’ll get here when she gets here. No matter how fast you turn in circles, time doesn’t actually speed up.”

  “Ask me bollocks. I just wanna get this over with. I’m afraid the bitseach is goin’ te make this as difficult as possible. Calleigh disna need any more stress.”

  It had taken them a week since Calleigh had been served the papers to get Susan to agree to see them. He and Rick had repeatedly called and left messages. At first, she had refused to talk to them at all, telling them to contact her lawyer. When Calleigh tried, she spent twenty minutes on the phone, half the time holding the receiver away from her ear as Susan harangued her. She’d finally gotten fed up and yelled for Susan to shut her mouth. She’d told Susan unless she wanted the tape recording of the conversation to make its way into her lawyer’s hands she would agree to meet with them.

  The doorbell rang, and Conor jumped forward to open the door. Rick’s hand landed on his shoulder to stop him.

  “Make her wait. Don’t appear too anxious or aggressive.”

  Conor took a deep breath and attempted to calm his racing heart. He knew Rick was right. This was not an occasion to let his Irish temper get the best of him. Turning his head, he looked at the stairway. Calleigh had paused on the middle step. Her face was pale and her eyes filled with anxiety. He forgot the door and walked up the few steps separating them.

  “It ‘ill be gran’, muirnín. We’ll sit down an’ talk this out like rational adults.” He placed his hand on her flat belly where their child nested. “How is ár caragan? The little darling is not giving you any trouble today?”

  She placed her hand over his. “We’re good.” She looked over Conor’s shoulder at Rick standing by the front door. “Go ahead and let her in. Once you’re in the living room, I’ll bring the boys down to the playroom and get them settled.”

  Rick opened the door and saw Susan on the front stoop, but she wasn’t alone. He held the door wider to allow them to enter. One by one, they filed through, and he accepted their coats.

  “This is my lawyer, Mr. Nielson, and Ms. Waterman from the Department of Children and Families. I brought them so they can see for themselves what is occurring in this house.”

  He couldn’t believe Susan’s audacity. “We invited you here to discuss your concerns as a family. We did not authorise you to bring anyone else into our home.”

  He saw the surprised looks on the faces of the lawyer and social worker. It appeared Susan had given them some misinformation.

  She pointed her finger at the man before her. “That’s precisely why I wanted them here. So they could see just what this place is like when you haven’t coached Kevin’s children on what to say.” She looked around. “Where are my grandchildren? I demand to see them.”

  Calleigh stepped forward so she was face-to-face with her mother-in-law. “Our sons are just getting up from their nap. They will be given their snack then they will go to the playroom while we speak. If after getting to know Ms. Waterman, we are agreeable, she will be allowed to speak with them, but you will not until I am assured you can control the venomous words from spewing out of your mouth.”

  Rick guided the three interlopers into the living room. “Can I offer you something to drink?”

  “I would love a coffee if you have it ready, and please call me John,” Nielson responded, settling into the club chair near the windows.

  “Make that two please, and you may call me Jamie,” Ms. Waterman answered.

  Rick nodded his head in acknowledgement. “Susan?”

  All he got in return was a haughty stare as she sat primly on the sofa.

  “In that case, Calleigh and Conor will be down in a moment after they’ve gotten the boys settled. I’ll have your coffees shortly.”

  He walked through the archway into the kitchen. Grabbing two mugs from the cabinet, he attempted to release some of the rage boiling though him. The addition of the officials put an entirely different tone on this meeting than they were intending. He knew he shouldn’t act defensive, but it was hard not to when his family was being threatened. He placed the mugs, sweetener and milk on a tray then carried it back into the living room.

  He handed the two officials their coffee. “As I said earlier, we invited Susan here to discuss her concerns. We respect her as Mikey and Brandon’s grandmother,” he looked at her, “but we want to make sure you understand that we are their parents and as such will be making deci
sions regarding their upbringing.”

  “That is exactly why I’ve filed the suit. People like you have no business raising children. You perverts will poison their minds and give them no moral code.”

  Calleigh entered the room, catching that last statement. “And I suppose you believe being raised in a house where you preach hate and bigotry is a more nurturing environment?”

  “It is not wrong to teach a child morality based on Christian values. I did so with Kevin, and he grew into an upstanding man who became a national hero.”

  Calleigh nodded her head. “Yes, he did. He also understood and accepted alternative lifestyles. Our relationship was a direct reflection of that.”

  Rick stood next to the mantel and addressed the room. “Our argument with you has nothing to do with Kevin’s character. It’s truly a tragedy that he never had the opportunity to raise his sons. I’m sure he would have made a great father, but that is neither here nor now.”

  Conor held up his hand to halt the conversation. “’Tis obvious we dinna agree on certain aspect of our lives. Ye may not approve of our lifestyle, but what I don’t understan’ is why that entitles ye te involve the legal system in a custody dispute.”

  “Let me take this,” Jamie responded. “It was explained to us at DCF—and from speaking with John he was given the same information—that Mrs. Wells feared for the safety of her grandchildren. She reported possible abuse of a sexual nature.”

  Rick was shocked. He knew Susan disapproved, but he’d had no idea she would tell blatant lies to get her way.

  “That is the most preposterous accusation I’ve ever heard! I would never put my children in jeopardy!” Calleigh yelled.

  Susan stood up and got in Calleigh’s face. “How do we know you’re not forcing my grandchildren to watch or even participate in the sexual orgies that no doubt occur in this den of depravity?”

  “Susan, sit down. Now,” John said from the corner of the room.