by Sam Crescent
Xavier knew he hadn’t made a mistake with Anya. Not only did he love her, but she was a fantastic mom, and she knew exactly what to say and do to help Logan along the way. There were moments, late at night, where he’d still have nightmares. She never once shouted at him. Instead, she’d nurture him, and love him.
Once the nursery was complete, they went shopping, letting Logan pick some of the stuff for them.
The weeks passed, and Anya slowly got bigger. He loved seeing his baby growing inside her. Work was just work, and he loved having Anya with him every single day. He did have to deal with his days being turned on seeing as her pregnant state aroused him. Even though he loved it, Anya struggled with gaining weight. One day Xavier stood in the bedroom, and heard Anya weeping in the bathroom. Worried, he’d rushed into the bathroom to find her trying to zip up her skirt, only the two ends wouldn’t fit.
“I’m so fat!” She sobbed each word out. “I can’t fit in my skirt.”
The books that he’d read had warned him that women were prone to dramatics, and tears. There was also a chat room online for fathers that gave him advice on how to treat his woman that the book didn’t have. For instance, if a woman complained about her weight, don’t say anything. Don’t ignore it, but tell her how beautiful she is.
Rub her stomach, show her attention. Xavier found if he did that, the tears ebbed away. He couldn’t stand her crying. She was beautiful to him, and seeing her swell with his kid was a major turn-on.
After the skirt incident, he’d gone shopping to the maternity section, and selected the clothes that he believed she would love. He did everything he could to show her that he loved her, and he found her newfound pregnancy weight hot. Yeah, he was a weird guy, finding his pregnant wife sexy!
With new clothes, he intended to show her exactly how sexy she was.
That night, he got her to try them on, and then in the privacy of their bedroom, he showed her how much he loved her curves, and her pregnancy.
Xavier always made sure to be one step ahead after that night, and if he saw her clothes getting a little tighter, he’d change them without her noticing. He hated to see her cry, so he had to be constantly on his game. Her hormones were all over the place.
The weeks turned to months, and they got their first scan of their baby. They didn’t know what sex their baby was as the little devil had turned away from the ultrasound. It didn’t matter to him. He would love any child, boy or girl. Xavier had fallen in love, and according to the woman doing the scan, it looked like their baby was waving to them. So, if his baby turned out to be a girl, she was shy, and maybe he wouldn’t have to worry about boys when she was older.
They showed Logan the picture, and he was sure it was a girl. Only girls would wave from inside the tummy. Boys would think that was lame, even as kids.
Work and life carried on, but it was different for Xavier. He was happier, contented, and he’d finally found what he’d been looking for all those years in foster care, and building his business. He had a family, not one he had to buy either. One that actually cared about him as well. Anya’s parents constantly phoned him to check in. Her father even said that he could call him Dad. That was surreal, and according to his wife, it meant her father accepted him.
Anya got rounder, and she found it difficult to be on her feet all day. He had no choice but to hire a temporary assistant to replace her. Every time he stared out of his office door, he missed Anya. She was advised to rest during pregnancy. At home, she started nesting, cleaning everything in sight. It didn’t make him feel any happier. Whenever he could work from home, he did.
One day he came home to discover that Anya had started to can, their basement becoming storage for a zombie apocalypse. It would have concerned him if it wasn’t for the smile on her face. Also, he knew how much her mother liked canning and preserving.
Christmas passed in a haze for Xavier. It really did.
His first Christmas as a family, and they had her parents come to their place. Anya and Emma worked on the biggest turkey. Christmas Eve, they went to the foster homes, dropping off food, presents, and simply filling the whole place with cheer. Her parents joined them in bringing the Christmas spirit to many.
Every single day, the love he felt for Anya grew deeper. She had given him so much, and there was no way he could ever repay that.
On the second scan they discovered she was going to give birth to a baby girl. That was with her being five months pregnant. Another four to go.
“I can’t get up now,” she said when she was seven months pregnant. Her stomach was large, and the baby kicked fiercely. Their little girl, and they were disagreeing on the name. He wanted to call her Francine Leigh. She wanted to call her Lemon, after his favorite pie.
“Come on.” He took hold of her hands, and pulled her into his arms.
“Do you still love me even though I look like a beached whale?”
“Of course. It’s because of you being a beached whale that I love you.” She laughed. “I did help you become this way. Remember? We both have to answer to this.”
“Yeah, keep reminding the woman that you love how much you contributed to this while you still look hot, handsome, and sexy. Go on, Xavier, keep telling me how lovely I look.” She laughed.
“You know, I think I’m just going to say this is all your fault. I had nothing to do with your pregnancy.”
He cupped her hips, pulling her as close as her stomach would allow.
“She kicks all the time.”
“You’re tired a lot,” he said.
“I know. It shouldn’t be much longer.”
“Anya, if something happens…”
“Don’t think like that.”
“No, I want you to understand. If I have to pick between our baby, or you, I will pick you.”
“Xavier.”
“No, I won’t do it. I love you, and I’ll love our baby.” He’d read that problems during pregnancy can occur, but not often. He didn’t want to take that chance. “You come through. I love you.”
She sighed. “I love you, Xavier.”
He kissed her lips, pleased that he’d told her exactly how he felt. Reading books about her pregnancy had turned him into a nervous wreck. Problems could happen, and he’d read each one. All of them had built up until he was convinced that Anya was going to die.
Anya ended up calling the doctor to help him calm down.
Two months later, Anya was serving up dinner, Logan’s favorite meatballs when her waters broke. Xavier stood by her seeing the water. “You spill the pasta water, babe?”
“No.” She put the saucepan down. “We need to go to the hospital. My waters have broken.”
He’d been in the process of grating cheese into a dish.
Pausing, he turned toward the woman who owned his heart. “Your waters broke.”
“Yes, remember what the doctor said, there’s no need to panic, or—”
“We’re having a baby! Shit, fuck, the baby is coming. Logan!”
Later that night after she had given birth to a beautiful, healthy, baby girl, Xavier sat beside her laughing.
“I overreacted, didn’t I?”
“You screamed. It was really high pitched,” she said.
Logan, who’d been in the waiting rooms with her parents, imitated the sound.
“Francine Lemon Leigh,” Anya said. “That’s what we’re going to call her. Our beautiful baby girl.”
There surrounded by the people he loved, and who loved him, he stared into his daughter’s eyes, and knew he would protect her. She was his daughter, part of Anya, and he’d love her for the rest of his life.
“Xavier,” Anya said, whispering in his ear. “Would you like to make another one?”
Epilogue
From the bastard boss to the devoted father, Xavier changed who he was. Francine was the first of five children in total. Anya was a natural at parenting, and she filled his world with so much love.
They were outside in the
garden, watching as their youngest son, Howard, was playing in the sandbox. Logan was eighteen, and he’d just graduated from high school, and was sitting with his girlfriend just before they went out to see a movie.
“I’m so proud of you, son,” Xavier said.
“Thanks, Dad. I couldn’t have done it without you, Mom.” He kissed Anya’s cheeks, and she smiled up at him.
“You could. This was all you, Logan.”
He’d been a dream child really. They’d had Logan from ten years old, and when he was fifteen they had given him the option of finding his birth mother. At first it had been a really hard decision for them both to make. They may have missed out on the first ten years of his life, but he was their son. They loved him. The last thing they wanted was for him to ever be hurt.
Logan hadn’t wanted to.
He had surprised them both by saying he remembered the woman that birthed him. The way she’d been with the guy she picked over him. He had no interest in seeing a woman who dumped him.
They had kept the option open to him, and throughout the years, not once did they ever let him feel less than what he was. They were all a family, and they told him it was up to him, if he wanted his brothers and sisters to know that he was adopted. He didn’t.
“Are you going to be late back tonight?” Anya asked.
“No. The movie finishes at eleven.”
“We’ll wait up,” Xavier said.
They watched as Logan left, and he nuzzled her neck, sucking on the pulse. Eight years of marriage. Their anniversary was next week, and he had a surprise in store. They would be alone, and he intended to make every single sexual fantasy come true. The kids were being taken care of by her parents, and they were having an extended vacation. No work, no kids, just the two of them, and lots of sex.
“Do you still love me?” she asked. “I have lots of stretch marks now, and my boobs are no longer firm.”
He laughed. “I don’t care. I love you, and your marks are proof of our babies.” He placed a hand on her stomach. The last pregnancy he’d almost lost her. Anya had had a real hard time of it, needing to be in bed for most of the pregnancy. She was in constant pain, and when he consulted the doctor, he knew he was worried. Weekly visits were not the norm for a pregnant woman, especially not for Anya.
When she did finally give birth to their son, there had been a lot of blood. In the labor room, Xavier remembered the smile on her face seconds before she collapsed. The monitor for her heart flat-lined, and for several seconds, his woman was dead.
Xavier had had to stand away as one set of doctors went to work on his son, and another went to work on his wife. It had been the most harrowing moment of his life. He wouldn’t leave her though.
The doctors had brought her back, and he’d sworn to no more children. He’d fixed it so he couldn’t have any more kids.
“Don’t worry. I’m still here,” she said.
“You don’t know what I went through that day.”
Anya looked up toward him. “I don’t know what you went through, but I can imagine.”
“I told you I was going to love you for a lifetime. Eight years is not a lifetime. I want fifty years. I want us to be old, gray, and tell our stories of our life together.”
Tears filled her eyes. “We will, Xavier. I wasn’t going to leave you.” She reached behind his head, and pulled him down, pressing a kiss to his lips.
He lived for her kisses, basked in her smile, and relished the love that she gave him.
“I heard a rumor that you’re no longer called a bastard boss,” she said.
“When the kids come to the office, I can’t be stern. I’ve tried. I’ll never raise my voice to them when they’re good,” he said.
“I know. That’s why you’re known as a big softie. They call you ‘teddy bear boss’.”
Xavier threw his head back, and laughed. It was the name he’d given to himself, a name he hoped would spread.
That was what Anya made him. She gave him love, hope, and a family.
Above everything else, she gave him herself, and he would treasure her for the rest of his life.
The End
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Other Books by Sam Crescent:
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