by Marla Monroe
Chapter Thirteen
“No, no. You’re the one we’ve been worried about. You wouldn’t wake up for us.”
“I don’t understand.” She moved to sit up, but Russell immediately stopped her.
“Easy, sweetness. Just be still and rest. We think your blood pressure has been getting too high and that’s why your feet and ankles are swelling.”
“Have you had a headache, baby?” Abe asked.
“Off and on for a few days now. Nothing real bad. Mostly my back has been hurting.”
“You’re going to have to start resting more. You’ve been on your feet too much.” Abe’s expression might have been frightening when she had first met him, but not anymore.
“I was resting earlier. I remember lying down on the couch and Russell wanted me to drink some water.” She looked around. Not only was she no longer on the couch, but she didn’t have anything on other than her overly large shirt.
“What happened to my clothes?”
She watched as the two men exchanged panicked glances. Something more had happened than what they were telling her. She narrowed her eyes at Russell. He was the easiest to manipulate when she wanted something.
“Russell. What are you trying to keep from me? You know how I feel about lying.”
“Nothing, Celina. You don’t need to worry or get upset. It will just drive your blood pressure up again and that could be dangerous.” Abe moved so that her view of the other man was blocked. “Are you hungry?”
“What I am is pissed. I want to know what you’re not telling me.” She tried to push him out of the way.
“Abe. She needs to know.” Russell pulled the other man back and stared at him. “We can’t hide things from her.”
“You better listen to Russell. I’ve told both of you that I can’t abide lying, whether by omission or words. Don’t do it, Abe.” Celina reached out and clasped his wrist in hopes he would look into her eyes.
She watched as he struggled with what he thought was best for her and what she wanted. He finally turned and looked at her. With an audible sigh all of the tension that had been evident in the tightness around his mouth and through his shoulders dissipated. He should have felt relief, but Celina was pretty sure he only felt defeated in what he thought of as his duty to her.
“We had to clean you up, Celina. When Russell found you, you’d been bleeding vaginally. We were scared you had lost the baby, but the bleeding had already stopped and it looked much worse than it was.”
She gasped, her hands immediately going to cover her belly. She held her hands there, praying that the baby would move or kick to calm her racing heart. Even as she fought to relax, her breathing began to quicken.
“See, you’re getting upset. It’s the worst thing in the world for you to do, baby.” Abe soothed his hand over her forehead.
“I don’t feel the baby moving. Something’s wrong!” Her voice rose in a quiver.
“Shh, Celina,” Russell said. “We were feeling the little thing kicking when you woke up. He’s probably tired now.”
She nodded and tried to calm down once again. They were right. Getting upset would only make things worse. She struggled to stop the tears that leaked from her eyes despite her attempts to stop them.
“He’s probably a she, you know.” Celina knew it would distract both men from her poor attempt to stop crying.
“No way. The good Lord wouldn’t torment us that way. Can you imagine another little Celina running around, keeping us hopping?” Russell asked, poking Abe on the shoulder.
“Hell, we can’t handle one. There’s no way we could deal with two.” Abe stared toward the fire as he spoke.
With one last sniffle, Celina managed to dry her eyes and settle down once again. Her eyelids drooped low even as she tried to remain awake. She was scared to fall asleep again. What if she started bleeding again and didn’t realize it?
“Abe?”
He looked down and met her gaze once again. “What is it, Celina?”
“I’m scared. Don’t let anything happen to my baby.”
* * * *
Abe’s heart shot into his throat at her simple request. Nothing had ever been more out of his reach than promising her he wouldn’t let anything happen to either of them. Still, he uttered soft placating words so she would relax and go to sleep. He had no business making promises he had no control over. He ground his teeth and stood up.
“Stay with her, Russell. Don’t leave her side. I’m going to take care of the animals. We’ll have to take turns watching her from now on. I don’t want her to be alone anymore. It’s too dangerous.”
“What about the soup? You haven’t eaten yet.”
“I’ll eat when I get back. Go fix a bowl for yourself while I get ready to go out. We can warm it back up when I get back. Celina will need to eat as well.”
Russell nodded and walked to the kitchen as Abe stared down at Celina. She still looked far too pale for his peace of mind. Despite having gained weight over the last few months, she still appeared frail and tiny compared to him.
Turning, he shuffled over to where their outer clothes hung on pegs by the door. He slipped into everything except his gloves and scarf, waiting for Russell to return before he added those last two articles of clothing. Despite how cold it was outside, it was still too warm inside to stand around fully clothed for the outside.
Russell hurried out of the kitchen carrying a bowl and a glass. He settled on the floor next to the mattress and balanced the soup on his knee. Abe nodded at him and pulled on his gloves before opening the door. The brisk wind nearly jerked the heavy door from his grasp. He closed it with a solid thump and wrapped his scarf around his neck as he trudged toward the barn. At least it wasn’t snowing again. He would take any gift he could get at this point.
The entire time he worked in the barn tending to the horses, his thoughts kept drifting back to Celina and how much she meant to them. In such a short time, he’d somehow let her into his heart and the thought of losing her nearly brought him to his knees. What had happened to never allowing anyone to get close enough to have that effect on him again? Where had he dropped the ball and allowed it to happen?
I never had a chance. She’s too pretty and wouldn’t give up on me.
Abe scoffed at his early intentions of keeping her at arm’s length. If the truth were told, he hadn’t tried nearly hard enough.
Face it. I wanted a chance at happiness again, but I wanted the choice to be taken away from me. I’m nothing but a coward.
When he had finished in the barn, Abe checked on the herd. The water trough had frozen over again. He broke the ice then walked as much of the fence line as possible to assure there were no breaks that would allow the cows to wander off during the night. All they needed was to lose their major source of meat. At least their milk cow was doing well. If Celina wasn’t able to breastfeed, they would need the cow’s milk.
A vision of her nestling a babe to her breast nearly dropped him to his knees. She would be beautiful caring for the child. Feelings of protectiveness and maybe even a little possessiveness filled him. When he thought about it, he realized that he considered Russell as an extension of himself and those feelings didn’t apply to him. He expected Russell to help him keep her safe.
He continued tending to chores but couldn’t stop thinking about Celina and how good she felt between him and Russell each night. She lamented her rounded body like most pregnant women, but it didn’t stop him from wanting her. His cock hardened, and thoughts of how much her breasts had grown over the last few months tightened his balls. Hell. If he didn’t get his thoughts on something less erotic, he was going to come in his pants.
It had been a few days since they had played any with Celina. She had become increasingly more uncomfortable. Neither man wanted to risk hurting her or the baby. Instead, they took care of themselves in the shower each night before bed.
As he finished up by checking the chickens to be sure they had plenty of food
and that there weren’t any holes that a fox or wolf could push through, Abe headed for the wood pile. He needed to get inside and relieve Russell for a while.
The entire time he’d been outside, he hadn’t allowed his mind to focus on the one thing he needed to think about. What did he really feel for Celina? He cared about her and wanted her to be happy. He’d flirted with the idea that he was a little bit in love with her, but deep down he knew it was more than a little bit. His heart had been involved almost from the beginning, but he could no longer deny the connection his soul felt with her now. She’d captured the one piece of him he thought he would never relinquish again. Hell, for years he hadn’t even thought he had a soul anymore. She had arrived and proved to him that he did, and now she owned it.
Did he dare tell her what she meant to him? As long as he kept that one small secret safe, she wouldn’t have the power to destroy him. Once he shared her importance in his life with her, she could crush him with a careless word or a thoughtless look.
Dropping the last log on the pile outside the door, Abe brushed off the dirt and snow from his coat and opened the door to the lodge. Almost as soon as he had closed the door, a feeling of peace settled in around him. He could see Russell holding Celina’s hand with their heads close together talking about something. The warmth from the fire reached across the room to help battle the cooler air that had hitched a ride inside with him.
Once he had removed all of his outerwear and left his boots at the door, he padded over to the fire and turned his back to it with his hands behind him. Celina looked up from the book she and Russell were reading together. He had propped her up against the couch with a pillow and was holding the book for her.
“Everything okay with the animals?” Russell asked.
“Fine. The herd is keeping close to the fence, and the chickens were quiet for a change.”
“I’ll go warm the soup back up. Celina was just saying she was hungry.” Russell stood up and stretched.
They all laughed when his knees creaked with the effort. He ruffled Celina’s hair before strolling across the room and through the kitchen door. Abe watched the parade of emotions that crossed Celina’s expressive face. He couldn’t begin to decipher all of them. What was she thinking? Did it have anything to do with him?
“The baby moved for me a little while ago. She’s okay in there.” He watched as she smoothed a hand over her belly on top of the covers.
“Told you he was.” He watched her brow arch at his emphasis on the “he.”
“You know I haven’t really thought about baby names. I need to do that. I don’t think I really have much longer according to the books Russell and I’ve been reading through.”
“I can’t believe we haven’t been researching this all along.” Abe shook his head.
It had been stupid and dangerous to hide his head in the sand all this time. If they didn’t focus on her pregnancy, they could almost forget she was going to have a baby one day in the future. Well, that future date was fast approaching and they were floundering around in the dark now. Shame heated his face as, once again, he called himself a coward.
“I’m the one who should have been trying to figure out what was going on with me. I mean, it’s my body. I think I’ve been too scared to let myself think about it. For a while I felt like I was all alone, and focusing on being pregnant was too scary for me. Then, we all started getting closer, and I didn’t want to lose that by harping on having a baby. I was being selfish and wanted to hold on to how good I felt being with you and Russell.”
He moved closer to her and dropped to his knees on the mattress next to her. He couldn’t stand to see the sadness in her eyes. She should be happy right now.
“We’re to blame, baby. Not you. We should have made it clear that our relationship included the baby. We failed to give you what you needed. It was our job to make sure you were happy and content. That meant making sure you felt safe not only as a woman, but as a mother to be, too. I’m sorry, Celina.” Abe kissed her forehead and rested his chin on top of her head.
Russell appeared with two bowls of soup in his hands. Abe stood up and took one of the bowls, setting it on the table by the couch before grabbing the other one and giving it to Celina.
“I’ll be right back with something to drink for both of you.” Russell hurried back into the kitchen.
Abe settled next to Celina and waited for her to start eating. When she didn’t immediately take a spoonful, he cocked his head to the side and nodded at the bowl.
She smiled and lifted a spoonful of the soup to her mouth and blew on it before taking a sip of the liquid. She hummed her appreciation as Russell returned with two glasses of milk. Abe frowned at the other man, but Russell just smiled and nodded toward Celina. Fine, he could handle drinking milk with the soup as long as he got a cup of coffee before he went to bed.
While they ate, Russell talked about the baby and what all they needed to be doing to get ready. It was then that Abe realized what Celina had been saying earlier. They hadn’t done a single thing to prepare for the new life that would soon be a part of their group, their family. He could remember all of the preparations he and his wife had made for their children. By the last child, they had most everything down to a fine art. This was Celina’s first child, and they had pretty much robbed her of all of the hoopla that normally surrounded the birth of a child.
He looked at her as she finished her milk. Guilt washed over him once again. She deserved so much more than he had offered her.
If only…
Well, he couldn’t turn back time. All he could do was make sure the remainder of her pregnancy went smoothly and that she had everything she needed for the baby.
“I’m thinking of Samantha if it’s a girl and Sam if it’s a boy. What do you guys think?”
Abe tried not to cringe. At her sudden frown, he knew he hadn’t succeeded. Russell came to the rescue.
“I like Lindsey Ann for a girl and Aiden Matthew for a boy.”
“What do you think, Abe?” Celina asked turning to him.
“Candice would be a pretty name, and I’m with Russell on Aiden Matthew. That’s a strong name. A boy needs a strong name.”
Celina laughed. The happy sound did things to his cock and lifted the cloud that had settled around him earlier. Somehow it filled the great room with a warmth that had nothing to do with the massive fire roaring in the hearth.
“I think we need to clean out the master bedroom and move in there once spring gets here and that little room next to it should be the nursery.” Russell had settled down on the other side of Celina after setting her empty bowl on the table next to the couch.
Abe’s mouth went dry. He hadn’t thought about what they would do once there was no longer a need to remain downstairs any longer. Between the wintery cold and Celina’s advanced pregnancy, he’d been content to remain sleeping together in front of the fire. Though he’d toyed with the thought that come spring they would continue their sleeping arrangement, he hadn’t really committed himself to the idea.
Idiot. What did I think would happen, that we would all just go happily back to sleeping in our own rooms—alone?
“What do you think, Abe?” Celina’s soft voice warned him that he’d missed something important.
“Ah, sorry. I was thinking about all the stuff in that room that we are going to have to move. What were you saying?”
The relief on Russell’s face told him that the other man had expected him to screw that up. Now he was almost afraid to find out what he’d missed hearing, because this time he would have to answer her.
“I was just saying that maybe we should start working on that right away. Once the baby gets here, I won’t be able to help much at first and you’re going to be busy with chores and getting the garden ready to plant.” Her eyes shined bright with excitement.
Abe could have basked in her happiness forever. He had no desire to see it dim. He had no choice but to agree with her. It wasn’t that he
didn’t want to continue sleeping with her. It was that it was all moving toward becoming a real family faster than the speed of light to him. If he were honest, though, it really hadn’t moved very fast to begin with, though it certainly was making up for lost time now.
Nodding, he smiled at her. “I think you’re right. We need to get started before things get crazy busy. Russell and I will work on it tomorrow.”
“I’m going to help.” Celina’s lower lip stuck out just the smallest amount.
“Baby. You have to rest and keep off of your feet. Besides, you have no business going up and down those stairs. It’s too dangerous. You might fall.” Abe frowned at her.
The tighter his mouth became, the farther her lips poked out until he thought he would melt away with guilt. What was it about a woman’s pouty mouth and teary eyes that got a man to agree to things he never would have normally? Had to be the thought of those lips wrapped around his dick that made him lose his head for the few seconds it took the woman to get what she wanted out of him.
“If you’re doing okay in the morning after we finish chores, we will help you up the stairs, but you have to sit or lay on the bed while we do the work.” Abe scowled at Russell as if the other man was the root cause of all of his problems with Celina.
Russell smirked before quickly covering his mouth with his hand when Abe glowered in his direction again.
“I can live with that. Then we have to figure out how to set the nursery up.” Celina seemed oblivious to Abe’s distress.
Chapter Fourteen
Over the next two weeks, the men worked tirelessly to get the master bedroom cleaned out, moving all of their combined things into the one room. Then they started work on the nursery next to it. All during this time, Celina directed from the comforts of the bed or a chair, chafing at the bit to handle things herself. She was tired of doing nothing and seeing the men working so hard. Between taking care of everything outside, seeing to her needs, and rearranging furniture, she didn’t see how they managed to get up each morning to start over again.