Cole (The Leaves)

by Hartnett, J. B.

“Thank you for seeing us on such short notice, Philip. I owe you one.”

  “You owe me nothing. Everything you do, Patricia? I’m insulted. Now then, let’s have a feel of your tummy.” It almost sounded condescending but I was totally okay with it. “Ah ha. Let’s squirt some goo on you and see what we can see.”

  “Aren’t you going to use that wand thing?” Aimes had told me that when you’re early in the pregnancy they shove this wand thing in you to get a better look.

  “I have a theory. Just hang in there, Anika.” After a couple of minutes of sliding the device across my stomach he asked. “So, do you have any idea when you last had a period?”

  “It’s been a while. But they’re so seldom and light since I’ve had the implant I don’t even keep track. I never really worried about it.” Until now that is. But worry isn’t a word I would have chosen.

  He pressed a couple of buttons and before I knew what was happening I heard a sharp gasp come from Trish.

  “Well, hello little one.” The sound was like nothing I had ever heard before. It was also completely different from when I came with Aimes. This was simply incredible, it was music… pure, and I was instantly in love.

  “Well, I’d say you’re about eight weeks already, give or take. After I felt your belly, that was my guess and I was right. So, you’d be due approximately,” He tapped a few keys again, “late August.” He printed a 3D image that was fascinating and creepy at the same time and handed it to Trish who hadn’t spoken at all. When I looked at her again, she was quietly weeping. “Now, Patricia…” He said softly, “this isn’t like you.”

  “I… she….they…” He pulled off a glove, swiped my stomach with a soft white towel and put his hand on her shoulder. “Everything looks great.” He turned to me, but kept his hand on her. “Anika is in good health, she’s going to have the very best care and you are going to be a grandmother.”

  Her eyes went huge and her smile even more so. “I am delighted, Phillip. You have no idea. No idea.”

  “Good. Anika, I’ll have Chole give you a schedule; she’ll give you a list of do’s and don’ts…”

  “Say goodbye to soft-cheese and sushi, dear.” Trish laughed and dabbed her eyes.

  “Yes, avoid those. Seeing as how it’s going to be your wedding, a glass of champagne is fine… and Trish said you were worried about getting drunk the other night… its fine, really. Baby looks just fine. So, I’ll see you for a scan at twelve weeks and I can probably even tell you what the sex is if you want to know… and I assume Cole will be with you?”

  “God, I hope so.” I laughed, wondering if I could just start getting dressed in front of him and Trish.

  “He’ll be very pleased, I’m sure. I’ve heard all about you, you know.” He said as he made his way toward the door.

  “And not from Patricia. It’s a small town… after the Gillies, everyone knew Cole had his eye on a budding artist named Anika. I think Olaf told me come to think of it.” Olaf, Cole said he wanted my painting. I met with him regarding a piece he wanted from me, but he said he would let me know when he had an idea. “Glad you guys got a happy ending. Alright, congratulations and I’ll see you next year!”

  When the door was closed I turned to Trish, “Is it just me…” I asked on a whisper, trying to pull on my jeans, “or is he the hottest doctor you’ve ever seen?”

  “Anika…” She didn’t care about the doctor. She was staring at a small picture of a small alien.

  She was about to lose it again so I attempted to save her, “I know. It’s awesome, isn’t it?”

  “Cole is going to be over the moon. We’ll get some lunch and buy something so we can keep up our charade. I’ll let you get dressed.”

  “Actually, there is something I need to do, Trish. Can we go to a jewelry shop?” I pulled up my jeans and buttoned them, wondering how long I’d be able to do that.

  “You know Richard and I will get you anything you want. Is it a gift? I can arrange-”

  I stopped her, “No, Trish. It’s for Cole but it’s not what you think. It’s a surprise, anyway, the other thing I need to do is get a manicure and I would like nothing more than to do that with you. It would be the perfect alibi, wouldn’t it? If I need a touch-up on the day, the girl who did the trial, she can do that… right?”

  She took my hand and held it lightly, brushing her fingers across my own. “You know, that entire night, Richard was the rock. People mistake his demeanor as being unaffected but it’s the opposite; he takes the weakness of others and turns it into his strength. He got things done…”

  “I know, Trish. Now, before I start to cry because, wow, I have never cried so much in my life, let’s go and do girly things, okay?”

  “Great idea.” She instantly changed her face to display the confident well-respected socialite that everyone knew. I had grown closer to Trish in the last few months, even more since I gave her the signal to go crazy with the wedding plans. She had done everything, was completely respectful about our wishes to keep it small but that did not mean simple. Cole being an only child, and his first wedding having been not only a disaster but in Vegas, they had spared no expense. She asked me what my favorite flowers were and I explained, “they look like roses but they aren’t… they’re fluffy roses… Lizzy-something.” A phone call to her usual florist and she said, “lisianthus.” I thought they were so delicate and not a rose. Just a solid creamy white bouquet with greenery thrown in to break it up… or that’s what I was told. I had no doubt everything would be absolutely perfect so I didn’t worry about it. I trusted Trish’s experience and good taste.

  ***

  With my natural looking French manicure and a special present for Cole, I walked into the house feeling a little guilty I had to wait an entire two days to give him the good news. In the meantime, something smelled incredible.

  “Baby?” I heard him call from the deck.

  I set the keys down, made sure my purse was zipped closed so the surprise wouldn’t be ruined and went in the direction of what I was sure was barbeque.

  “It smells so good. I followed the cloud and it led me here. Good thing the neighbor wasn’t cooking.” I joked.

  “We’ve never had ribs and I make great barbeque ribs… and Olaf, Aimes and Gus will be here shortly.”

  Damn.

  “Damn. I was just thinking of dirty things we could do with barbeque sauce.”

  Cole studied me for a moment, looked away in deep thought and met my eyes with a smirk. “I can make that happen… Anika.”

  Oh holy hell. He was wearing those jeans. “Why are you dressed like that if we’re having company?”

  “Like what? It’s casual. I don’t need to dress up for our friends.”

  “Cole. Let me explain one more time about the jeans. Those jeans say, ‘I promise I am going to do something to you and it’s going to be so freakin’ hot, so unbelievably dirty, you’ll be at the dentist having a root canal and when you remember what was done to you by the man in those jeans, you might just have an orgasm. Right there. In the chair. At… the… dentist! Or, at the grocery store. Standing there, trying to decide between the plain tomato soup or the creamy tomato soup and then the jeans appear; you have no choice, but to grab onto the shelf in front of you, dropping everything, cans of soup rolling around, you hear, ‘somebody call an ambulance!’ and you want to cry out, ‘no! It’s the jeans!’ But instead you yell out, ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’”

  “So what you’re saying is… I should change into something else?” He laughed.

  “What I’m saying is… how long can you leave this stuff unattended before it burns?”

  Thwack!

  That was the sound of my back against the slider. I pushed my coat off each arm and Cole threw it… somewhere. His fingers went into my hair, grabbing handfuls and pulling my mouth hard against his in a furious kiss that sent lightning bolts down my spine and into my toes. I grabbed the small belt loops and pulled his erection against me, wishing his hands would take
off my jeans… they did. A hand left my hair and expertly pulled the button free from my own Levi’s, yanking down each side until I was pushing them off my feet.

  “Take out my cock, Anika.” He urged in a low growl, his lips never leaving mine. His hand grabbed the back of my panties and ripped them down, pushing my naked ass into the thick glass door.

  “Ah, Cole…” I couldn’t form any coherent words but I didn’t need to. He would give me everything I needed and wanted. I never needed to ask.

  “Wrap your legs around me, baby.” He commanded. I felt the door open and Cole took us in, veering to his left and sat me on the edge of the table. “Fuck, I love this table.” He leaned me back and looked down on me, slowing completely. “I love you, Anika. You are beautiful. Beautiful.”

  “Thank you for the note.” I breathed out quickly.

  “Baby. Stop talking.”

  His penis stood at attention, jutting out of those jeans as I took in the sight of him thinking he was beautiful too: my own personal tall drink of water. Just when I didn’t think our sex life could get any better, his hands slowly cupped my breasts, running his fingers along the seam where the buttons come together on my shirt. He ripped it open, pulled down each cup of my bra, pinched my nipples and drove his cock into me. Hard. Gloriously hard.

  Oh holy. Holy, holy, holy.

  This was unprecedented. As he hit the back of my womb with unrelenting thrusts, I cried out in pleasure with each one. Arching my back, feeling my orgasm build… so intense, so powerful and I was instantly taken there when he demanded, “Come with me, Anika. Come! Come, baby!”

  “Gahhhh…” I cried out. Screamed was more like it. It was incredible and when he followed not two seconds later, I was thanking everything I could think of: God, the table, the maker of the table, the guy who invented Levi’s…

  “Baby…” he let out a heavy breath. “You’re amazing.”

  “Remember when I said you could’ve have asked me to set myself on fire?” I said trying to catch my own breath. “Well, baby, you just set me on fire.”

  He slowly pulled back from me. “Another shirt ruined. Sorry, Anika but that was…”

  “I’ll get, like, twenty of these shirts if this is what happens.”

  He laughed. “I need to get cleaned up, change, and get back to the barbeque. I think it’s going to rain soon.”

  “It’s freezing outside.” I stated as he helped lift me from the table.

  “Snow, Anika.” He pulled me close and laid the most tender kiss against my lips. “Snow.”

  “Stop talking.” I closed my eyes and whispered.

  “Stop talking?” He asked, a feathery brush of his lips against mine.

  “Kiss me, Cole.” His kiss was sweet and warm and so freakin’ sexy. “Cancel dinner.” I demanded on a pant. “Cancel. We’ll eat ribs and make love all night.” I tried to be convincing but it didn’t work.

  “They’re on their way. And besides… we get married day after tomorrow. Then we are whisked away to the cabin and we get to stay as long as we want… you, me, alone. Just us, no interruptions.”

  “Promise?” I asked pulling my head back to meet his eyes.

  “Promise.” He returned, his beautiful hazel eyes sparkling.

  He brushed my cheek with his thumb before pulling away. “Cole?”

  “Yeah, baby.”

  “I need to paint later, when everyone leaves.”

  He was immediately back at my side, “Did something happen? Are you alright?”

  “No, nothing like that. But it’s something I need to do, before the wedding… it’s for you, for us, so I don’t want you to see it.”

  “I can stay downstairs or go somewhere else, whatever you want…”

  “No, baby.” I reached up to brush his beautiful face with my fingertips. “I want you there, just like normal but I’ll keep the painting a surprise. I want it to meet us at the cabin. It’s important.”

  “Anything you want, Anika. Anything.”

  ***

  “Hey Bridezilla!” Aimes was looking jolly. She was just so teeny everywhere else, you couldn’t even tell she was knocked up unless you saw her straight on.

  “I am not a ‘bridezilla’.” I scowled at Aimes and stood on my tippy-toes to give Gus a kiss on the cheek. “Hi ya, Gus. Did she eat the dashboard on the way here?”

  “Nah. I stopped her when she was eyeing the empty Snickers wrapper on the floor.” I knew he was joking, having a little fun at her expense right along with me. But I wasn’t sure if hormone-Aimes was going to be okay with that.

  “Mark my words…” a maniacal grin crossed her face, “you will rue the day my friend, rue the mother-fuckin’ day. I won’t forget this little thing the two of you have going. Un uh. No, no, no.”

  Her eyes drilled in to me but I had something for her. It was meant to be for tomorrow. But I thought I need to bribe my bestie and what better way to a pregnant woman’s heart than through her stomach.

  And I desperately wanted some too.

  “How much do you love me?” I smiled, walking toward the kitchen.

  “That depends. What’s in it for me?” I so missed this banter with her. I hadn’t even heard the front door but I definitely heard Olaf’s voice.

  “Now, this was supposed to be for tomorrow. One of your thank you gifts for being… well, you and also for being my matron of honor. Here you go…” I began to hand her the golden foil box and snatched it back.

  “Hey!” She reached out trying to get it back.

  “Dude,” I said on a whisper. “Grab the milk and follow me.”

  She opened the double door fridge, “Which one?”

  “The low fat is mine but whatever you want. Hurry!” I said it on a whisper and grabbed one of the canvas shopping bags. She handed me the milk, I carefully laid the box on top and two glass tumblers. “Let’s go.”

  Up the stairs we went, no one even blinked and before we knew it, the two of us were having an informal picnic in the studio. “You want to tell me what this is?” She asked.

  “I’m sharing this with you. I mean, I know it’s your gift, but I know you can’t get through an entire box of 70% cocoa brownies… homemade. And as much as I like Gus, you know he won’t appreciate them like I will.”

  She opened the box while I poured. “Ink, this is a wet dream come true, No shit, this is incredible.”

  We both took a bite with a little mmmmmm sound. “Damn that’s good. I love you, I mean more. You don’t have to get me anything else. Seriously.” She chewed slowly then said, “It’s really peaceful in here.”

  “It sure is.”

  “I feel like we’re hiding. Why are we hiding?” She chewed, “You don’t really like brownies. You like pie.”

  “Yes I do.” My cheeks went red. “I didn’t think you’d want to share.”

  She set the remainder of her brownie on the closed box, took a huge swig of milk and stated. “You’re pregnant.”

  I stopped chewing.

  “You don’t have to say anything. I just worked it out. You’re going to wait and tell Cole. But you don’t want to lie. Nod if you’re going to tell me at the reception.”

  I nodded.

  “I’ll get all psycho happy about this later then. Let’s go wash this down with barbeque sauce.” She moved from the bed and stood up looking down at it. “So this is where the magic happens.”

  “Well, some of the magic happens in our actual bed. And the stairs. And against the slider door outside about half an hour ago.” I thought I’d leave out the table seeing as how we were going to be eating there.

  She laughed and her voice got really quiet, “Oh my god, the sex… pregnancy sex is unbelievable. You think it’s good now? Just you wait. I am in the land of multiple orgasms my friend. It’s amazing.”

  We had just made it out the door to the first step in our descent when she said, “I am so happy for you, Inky. Really. What you and Cole both went through to get where you are now? I mean, even before yo
u met. Really happy.”

  I gave her hand a squeeze, “Me too. Meat. Barbeque. Carnivores.” She laughed and walked down in front of me. I took that moment to set the bag of milk, glasses and brownies down and put my hands over my stomach. “Your Daddy is going to be really happy, Bubba. Lots of love, bubba. Lots of love.”

  Cole 27

  Cole

  I admit, when Anika told me she wanted to paint tonight, I was worried. We had both done battle with our respective demons and for the most part had conquered them. When I spoke to the therapist on my own, I explained that Anika was my cure. It was suggested that I might need to deal with some co-dependency issues but I think it was understood I didn’t give a fuck. My attitude was this: for whatever reason, we were brought together, we went through hell together, and we healed together. My world was very much about Anika and good or bad, that’s just how it was.

  I could hear the music playing upstairs. I pictured her in her jeans and wife beater, no bra, feet bare, her right hand sometimes wielding up to three brushes at once, her left holding a wooden pallet. I knew how the muscles in her shoulders worked under her fair skin. I knew that when she was working out a particularly difficult memory, she would sometimes crouch down with her heels at the back her thighs until she could continue. I knew that watching her go through the process was such an intense, emotional pain, there were tears in that paint. I also knew…

  Something was different.

  I wanted to ask her earlier but I never got the opportunity. I’d been watching her carefully for weeks now. At first I was concerned that she was going to have some kind of break; that the abduction was catching up with her more than she let on. She insisted the therapist she was seeing had helped immensely, but I still wasn’t convinced. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I knew whatever secret she was holding, whether she was aware of it or not, it was affecting her. She was more emotional than usual, but not sensitive… sympathetic. And if it was possible, our love-making was also more intense and un-fucking-believable.

  I finished cleaning up from our impromptu barbeque and made my way into the garage. I had storage there and thought this was as good a time as any to get the two suitcases out that would be joining us on our “honeymoon.” My mom, bless her, had also been following the weather and kitted Anika out in a snow ready wardrobe, unbeknownst to her of course. I knew she’d be happy, as long as she was warm and my mother hadn’t stopped at the simple wool lined boots and thick gloves: she had socks, long underwear, thermal tops, sweaters, scarves… it went on and on.