by Maggie Way
He got off the fence and walked to me, handing me the bouquet of gorgeous pink roses. Then he took my left hand and dropped to one knee. “Marry me?”
I searched his eyes for any doubt, and there was none to be seen. “Yes.” I wiped my tears and gasped when he pulled a ring box from his pocket.
“It was my grandmother’s, and I’d be honored if you wore it.”
Overcome with emotion and unable to find my words, I nodded. But then I started giggling through my tears when I recognized something. “Is that THE shirt?” I clamored out.
“THE one and only. I’ve been saving it for a special day, and there’s nothing more special than this.” He twirled me around in his arms and finally stood me on the ground. When his lips met mine, it felt like pure intoxication. I was drunk on love for him.
“Take me to the cabin.”
“What about the truck?”
“We’ll get it later. I want to go to the cabin with you, right now.”
“The Parkers are out of town. We have to pick up Simon.”
He left the ranger at the gate and drove us home where we packed a bag, loaded up Simon, and headed to the cabin. On the way there, he gripped my hand with unusual strength. I didn’t say anything, but it felt as if he was pulling me in, trying to keep me from leaving.
“We met in a crazy way. How ’bout we get married in a crazy way, too?” I joked.
“What do you have in mind?” He glanced at me curiously.
“Vegas.” I looked him square in the eye, and he knew I was serious.
“I’m down for that. When do you want to have this crazy wedding?”
“Next weekend soon enough?”
“Not soon enough, but I’ll manage,” he teased.
Simon was going nuts with excitement. He loved the cabin, and he was right at home with his bed in front of the fire that Flynn had built.
Flynn pulled me to his lap on the sofa, and our eyes danced to a silent love song.
“Whisper to me, baby, what you want.”
“I want forever with you,” I answered as he asked.
“What else?”
“I want to feel you loving me from the inside out.”
He led me to the bed and sat down in front of me and undressed me, piece by piece. When I was completely nude, he drew imaginary drawings on my body with his finger, exploring as he liked. It was tantalization unlike anything I’d known before. Flynn never disappointed with something new in the bedroom.
My body was in overdrive. Could have been the pregnancy or perhaps I had a sexual god for a future husband, but I was quite certain it was because of a pure heart full of love.
I took my turn exploring his body, all the contours of muscles and tanned skin—his strong jaw, the dimple in his chin that I hoped our baby had, the tan lines from his favorite Oakley sunglasses, and the frown line between his brows. When I made my way down his abs and traced the faint hairline, his erection pulsed in reaction to my contact.
Oral sex was never my thing—until Flynn.
With the head of his cock in close proximity to my mouth, I slowly covered it with my lips and began to massage it with my tongue. Flynn moaned in favor of my treat and threaded his fingers in my hair, assuring me he wanted the teasing to continue.
I licked and sucked at the head while my hand coaxed the shaft. His once-focused eyes rolled back in his head as I watched. I finally allowed my throat to relax enough to take all of his length and practiced a trick I’d read about—swallowing while his cock was in my mouth. Easier said than done, but after a few times, I got the hang of it, and when I finally succeeded, Flynn yelled.
“Oh, God! Who in hell showed you that?”
I stopped and answered, “A book, baby, and I’m glad to see they were right.”
“Keep going,” he commanded.
I did and it wasn’t long before he came and came hard. Too chicken to try and swallow his cum, I coaxed his climax all over my breasts. His smile said everything.
Chapter Twelve
Chloe
After a beautiful and private ceremony at the St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral in Frisco, Flynn left nothing to chance. He booked two chartered jets to fly our wedding party to Vegas. Thrilled that April, Sara, and their husbands were joining us along with Drew, Allen, their wives and members of his family coming later, I didn’t have any question we were doing the right thing, except that we had gotten married and were getting married again for a second time that same day…on—wait for it—Halloween.
Unplanned and perfectly normal, right? Wrong. The number of people wanting to get married on Halloween in Vegas shocked me. While our beautifully elegant, private ceremony at the cathedral went off without hoopla, our Vegas outing was everything but normal.
When I suggested Vegas, I was thinking a simple wedding in the salon at The Venetian or something. But oh no, Flynn took over the plans. Dressed in a pink gown, my husband joined me, wearing his now infamous pink shirt, for a ride down the aisle. Yes, a ride. In a pink Cadillac to meet our minister, Elvis. With our friends and family joining us in celebration, we exchanged vows again for the second time that day to the craziness that had become our lives. The beautifully elegant first ceremony would’ve been enough, but Flynn insisted we do something crazy with our friends and family that everyone could enjoy. I just didn’t realize the depth the meaning of crazy could go and Vegas definitely delivered.
How many lucky girls get to marry the best thing that ever happened to them twice in one day?
Our wedding night was beautiful in every way. Candles, music, and the delicate touch of my husband.
“Baby, whisper to me what you want?” I asked.
“I want to love you from the inside out,” he answered.
He had already. He had filled the vacancy in my heart that I didn’t know was possible. He had shown me what it was like to really love someone in sickness and in health and trust that he was one hundred percent there for me. Flynn had given me his child when it was the last thing I would’ve thought about, and he had shown me what it was like to have crazy sex, day in and day out and never the same twice in a row. He had completed me—the pissed-off, drunken, pink-haired misfit.
When his breath reached my neck before his lips made contact, I shivered in anticipation. I felt the hardness of his erection behind me. As he touched the beaded fabric covering my breast with his left hand and slowly unzipped my gown with this right, I bit my lip. With my eyes closed, I clung to the heaviness of his breathing. I extended my hand and gripped the back of his head, filling my fingers with his dark hair.
I didn’t want him to stop. Every kiss delicious, every breath ours to share, every thrust of him inside me took me closer to the edge that I only knew with him.
Chapter Thirteen
Chloe
Little did I know at the time, but it seemed Drew and Allen had bet Flynn he wouldn’t do something crazy in regards to the wedding. It appeared my husband couldn’t resist a bet, so I decided that as soon as I could, I’d turn the tide on him. So, Drew and I had our own little discussion.
After Flynn missed a couple of the first doctor’s visits, he’d asked that each doctor and ultrasound visit be scheduled around his work schedule because he wanted to be present to see and hear his son’s heartbeat. I had reached the eighth month mark and had begun to have those false contractions that my handy pregnancy bible had mentioned. Flynn was the anxious father-in-waiting and insisted I see the doctor immediately.
Dr. Stevens assured us everything was progressing normally, and we could expect a normal delivery. That was great news. With the beginning of the pregnancy being such a whirlwind, I didn’t want the ending to carry any extra excitement. Plus, I needed my husband to settle down and focus on assembling the baby furniture.
Simon had the normal animalistic instincts. After Flynn put the baby bed together, I would find him lying on the rug in front of the bed—he was taking ownership rather quickly. Golden Retrievers were a loyal breed of do
gs and very kid friendly. I knew he would be a fantastic playmate for our child.
I took Simon up to the clinic to get his yearly checkup, and Penelope came to say hello to us in the exam room. Simon growled and Penelope hissed back. Since I didn’t have Simon on a leash, I held on to his collar.
“Simon, it’s okay, meet Penelope,” I tried to soothe.
About that time, Sylvia, our receptionist came into the exam room.
“Hey, Dr. Howard, you’re never gonna guess, but someone finally wants to adopt Penelope.”
“What?”
“I know, right? They’ve been in a couple of times and played with her, and she loves their little girl and lays back like a baby in her arms.”
“Yay, score for the website, even if it did take months to find the right family.” I threw my arms in the air.
For a solitary moment, I had a lapse in judgment and forgot what I was doing. Simon took the release of my hands as perfect opportunity to jump off the exam table and run after Penelope. And so the chase was on.
It took three of us running after the two of them to try and catch them both, to no avail. Just my luck that I’d had no leash on Simon, the exam door had been open, and someone opened the back door at the wrong time. With three acres to roam, the two played chase for quite a while before Simon realized Penelope was winning. She ran back into the clinic and jumped up on my desk before vaulting on top of the bookshelf. Simon stood at the bottom and barked to match each and every hiss.
I sat at my desk and watched them. Would Flynn hate me for bringing home a cat? But then I remembered what Sylvia had said about the little girl loving her like a baby.
Sylvia stood in my doorway, and I caught her out of the corner of my eye.
“They’re aware she throws up?” I questioned.
“Absolutely, I made sure of it.”
“Let them know they can take her as soon as they’re ready. But I’m gonna miss her, she has such personality.”
“Me too. She sits on my desk when you’re not here, but when you come in, it’s all about you.”
It saddened me. I should’ve taken her when I’d had the chance. But if I’d adopted every pet that needed a home, I’d needed a place bigger than Stuttgart Farms.
I met April and Sara for lunch before a light day of shopping. I didn’t want the fuss of a baby shower and promised them I’d let them in on a secret instead, so they agreed. After lunch, we visited a couple of baby stores and spent way too much money, but I couldn’t resist. The challenge was going to be convincing them to keep my secret.
“Where am I going to hide this stuff so he doesn’t see it?” I uttered with a groan.
“Where’s the opening to your attic?” Sara asked, scoping out the ceiling in the garage.
“Heck if I know.”
We finally found the opening for the ceiling steps upstairs by the guest room. I’d never noticed it, but who walks around looking at their ceiling? April climbed the steps and positioned herself just inside the opening while Sara handed up the packages. We were in the middle of conjuring more points to our plan when I heard him.
“Honey, I’m home,” he hollered.
Instead of getting busy to cover our tracks, we froze like untrained burglars caught in action. April raced down the steps and missed the last one, tumbling over Sara and me. There we were, splat on the floor when Flynn climbed the stairs looking for us.
“What the hell are you doing?” He paused with his hands on his hips, just staring.
We couldn’t stop laughing.
“Please tell me you weren’t in the attic, Chloe?” He was pissed.
“No, she heard something, so I was up there looking.” April tried to lie.
“Here, let me look,” he said, while giving me a hand up off the floor.
“NO!” we girls screamed in unison.
“What’s going on, Chloe?”
Each of us girls looked at each, waiting for the first one to come up with something quick. Lying wasn’t my specialty, but I tried my hand at it.
“Okay, you caught me. I wanted to buy a New Daddy gift for you and was looking for a place to stash it. Of course now, I won’t hide it in the attic when I pick it up. Can you help me down the stairs? I think I twisted my ankle.”
He picked me up in his arms and carried me down the stairs; all the while, I was making faces over his shoulder with the girls. They joined us in the living room with a baggie full of ice for my fake ailment, and nothing else was mentioned about the attic. Thank God.
After dinner, my dutiful husband sat on the sofa and rubbed my feet and told me about his day.
“You’re never going to believe what I almost did today,” I teased him.
“Fall out of the fucking attic and risk going in to labor?”
“Shut up, no I didn’t. I almost brought Penelope home.” I had his attention.
“You didn’t because you remembered I don’t like cats, right?” He chuckled.
But I never recalled him ever saying something in regards to cats. If he did, it was when I was in the coma. Bringing her home would’ve been a big mistake, I supposed.
“Well, I have no memory of that, but I didn’t because she has been adopted. It was hard to let her go.”
“You get too attached to all of those animals. Take Cherokee for example. You still go out and see him, even when you’re not working.”
“Can’t help it. Besides, he’s fathered a new baby for us. Do you have any names picked out?”
“Cherokee Howard,” he said flatly.
“Huh?”
“Something with Howard. It’s your maiden name, and Cherokee is how we met.”
Horse names were hard, and they required research, especially when it came to racing horses. I thought about the name for the offspring of Cherokee that would be all ours, while I put the dishes away. Then I joined my husband in the bathroom, preparing for bed.
“I have the perfect name for our new horse,” I paused and wrapped my arms around my husband’s neck.
“Consolation Prize,” I suggested.
Flynn laughed hard for a moment. “It’s perfect,” he said.
My water broke in the middle of the night, and I was happy that one of us remained calm. And yes, that was me.
Flynn pulled the car up to the ER, and I waddled into the reception area to hitch a ride up to Labor & Delivery with Flynn on my heels. They tried to send him to park the car. I thought the man was going to balk and throw down with the employees or worse, have a heart attack, until the male nurse standing at the counter agreed to play valet. I’m sure that things like that don’t happen very often, but playing valet for Flynn was easier than me playing referee. Besides, it was four o’clock in the morning, and the ER looked quiet as a mouse. Maybe they needed some excitement.
The labor nurse got me settled and told me Dr. Stevens wasn’t on call, and Dr. Hinton would be doing the delivery.
“Can I ask a favor?”
“Sure, anything,” she replied.
“Can you help me into the bathroom?”
“I can do that,” Flynn offered.
“With this monitor thingy, I’d rather she help me, sweetheart. You sit right there and relax.”
He didn’t relax, he pouted.
While in the bathroom, I let her in my secret. She slipped out of the bathroom and brought me my purse. I sent April and Sara a text telling them it was game time. The nurse helped me back in the bed while Flynn hovered.
My labor progressed quickly, and my husband was an excellent coach. We had promised each other we wouldn’t have family and friends in for the first few hours, so we could welcome and bond with our little boy.
When Dr. Hinton came in for the final check, she winked at me before leaving and returning with the team. All systems go. After almost an hour of pushing, our sweet baby was making an entrance into our crazy world.
“Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Davis, welcome your baby girl.”
“What? No, it’s a b
oy, right?” Flynn asked.
“No, come cut the cord and look. It’s a girl unless I’ve forgotten how to tell parts,” Dr. Hinton jokingly argued.
Everyone in the room started laughing at my husband. He was in shock. When he looked at me, I couldn’t tell if he was happy or not.
“You knew?”
“I’ve known for a while, but I made everyone keep it a secret. Seems Drew and I had a bet I couldn’t outdo him, but I did.”
Flynn took a seat in the rocker next to my bed and held our daughter in his arms. “Wow, this is awesome.” He wiped at the tears streaming down his face as he looked at her.
“How do you like the name Flynn, young lady?” he asked her.
“No way,” I teased, but somehow, it started to work a little magic on me.
“I’m kidding.”
She was beautiful with dark, curly hair. A gift from her dad and when she opened her eyes, we observed he’d given those to her as well.
Flynn climbed into bed with me, and together we held our precious gift.
“I can’t believe you pulled that off, especially when you decorated for a boy. Everything we have is for a boy, but I don’t understand. They ran a test and everything.”
“The doctor told me the test wasn’t conclusive but the numbers looked like it would be a boy. You heard what you wanted to hear. It was too early to tell. When they said a girl on the first ultrasound, I was sure someone made a mistake but the second ultrasound resulted in the same.”
“She’s beautiful and will be a great big sister to a little brother,” he teased.
I only smiled.
The next day, we took our little girl home, still unnamed. Daddy carried her into the house in her little blue covered carrier.
“What do you think of the name Grace?” I asked.
“Grace Davis? Hmmm, I love it.” He paused to take her from the carrier.