Before CE O : Includes the Complete CE O Trilogy

by MT Stone

  “Michael?” she asks, the rest of my statement not really sinking in.

  “Yes, Michael Rex. I’ve always liked the name, and I didn’t want to strap him with the stigma of being Rex Junior.”

  “I love it.” She looks down upon him with complete adoration. “You know I’ll help you any way I can.”

  “I know, but what I’m saying is that I want us to be a family.” I place my fingers beneath her chin and turn her gaze toward me. I give her a soft kiss before continuing my thoughts. “I know this is a lot for both of us to take in right now, but will you marry me?”

  “Oh, my God! Yes! Are you sure?” she asks, going through a whole range of emotions in a matter of seconds. “I mean, you aren’t just freaking out at the thought of raising a kid, are you?”

  “Honestly, I am a little freaked out, but no.” I run my fingers along her cheek. “I’ve always had a strong feeling that you are my match, and seeing him with you just confirmed it. I’m hoping we can keep it simple, maybe get married on a beach somewhere?”

  “That’s what I’ve always wanted,” she replies, her eyes turning glassy. “As long as my mom is there, I don’t really care if we have any other guests.”

  “I love you.” I lean in, giving her a more meaningful kiss, and immediately, little Michael begins to fuss. “So this is how it’s going to be?” I ask my little man, causing Felicia to giggle. “I think our sex life just got a whole lot more complicated.”

  “It’ll be worth it,” she assures me with a sparkle in her eye and a rosy flush in her cheeks. I know she’s probably a bit overwhelmed at the moment, but I couldn’t wait to ask her. In the moment, everything just seemed perfect, like there would never be a better time to do it. Now I’ll have to go out and find her the perfect engagement ring. This is getting to be a very expensive week, and its only Monday.

  Felicia

  My entire body tingles at the thought of Rex and me getting married and raising this little cutie together. It’s only been half an hour since I met him, but I’m already in love. Each time he struggles to open those little blue eyes, he seems to smile at me. It’s the kind of thing that can melt any woman’s heart. I’m glad that Jessica chose not to see him after the delivery. There’s no way I would be able to give him up if he were mine. He’s completely adorable.

  I hear my phone ringing, so I hand Michael back to Rex before retrieving it from my purse. I glance down and its Becca. Thinking back to the conversation I had with Kip earlier, I decide to let it go to voicemail. “Becca’s calling, so I’m sure she wants to ream me a new one for telling Kip that she fakes orgasms to get men to buy her stuff.”

  “That was low,” he replies, raising an eyebrow. “You haven’t been faking it, have you? Just so I’d buy you that BMW.”

  “You’re hilarious!” I whack him on the ass, trying not to startle the baby. “Before you, I didn’t even know how to orgasm, much less fake one.” I look him straight in the eyes. “I’ve never faked one,” I add, a result of his continued suspicious grin.

  “I know you haven’t been faking it.” He laughs. “I’ve seen enough of them to know if you were faking.”

  “Are you sure?” I ask, unable to resist introducing a bit of doubt. He’s always so confident about his sexual prowess that it might be okay to make him wonder just a bit. “By the way, a new toy came in last week that you need to try out. It’s called the Crazy Boy Extreme.”

  “That sounds like it’s a little out of my league,” he replies with a cringe. “Is it one of Felix’s badass cousins or something?”

  “Pretty much, but it has ten power settings so you can start out slowly,” I reply, trying to make it sound benign. “They say it will literally blow your mind.”

  “I’m sure it will blow something, but we probably shouldn’t be talking about this with my newborn son in the room.” He looks down at the boy with a funny look on his face. “It just feels wrong.”

  “Yeah, as if he’ll recall this conversation one day.” I laugh out loud.

  “With all the technology out there, I wouldn’t doubt it.” He cocks an eyebrow. “Do you want to know what was going on the day you were born? Put on this device, and we’ll retrieve everything for you,” he says, putting his hand over Michael’s head. “What the hell? My parents were talking about sex toys! What the hell was wrong with them?”

  Both of us are laughing when a nurse walks into the room. “It’s nice to see y’all bonding, but it’s time for me to take this little one and check his vitals. We need to run a couple of quick tests too in order to make sure everything is working the way it should be.”

  “Sounds good,” Rex says, handing over the little guy. “He’s such a good boy. He only fussed once.”

  “Yeah, he seems to be a calm one,” the nurse agrees. “Some kids come into this world kicking and screaming, but this one has been quiet as a mouse so far.”

  “He’ll probably make up for it once you get him home,” I interject, causing the nurse to roar with laughter.

  “Don’t you know it, girl. Once those quiet ones get their voices, they often make up for lost time!” She pats the little guy on the butt as she exits the room. “I’ll bring him back in a little while, so just make yourself comfortable. There’s coffee and soda around the corner if you need anything.”

  “Are you sure you’re ready for all of this?” I ask, slipping my arms around Rex’s waist.

  “No. How could anyone be ready for this?” he replies, shaking his head. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not excited about it. It’s a life I never expected for myself, and now that it’s happening, I can’t believe I could’ve missed out on it. Holding that little guy in my arms for the first time is something I’m never going to forget.”

  “I can’t wait until we have one together,” I tell him, pulling him close and slowly swaying my hips. Even though Michael is a beautiful little boy, part of me can’t help but wish that I were his biological mother.

  “Me too.” He pulls back, looking directly into my eyes. “I know you’re going to be an incredible mother, and I’m going to be there for our kids too. That’s why I like what we’re doing. We don’t need to be in the office every day. Sally and Barb can handle the day-to-day operations, so you and I can focus on finding great new products.”

  “I’m glad you’re excited about all of this, because I am too.” A little chill travels down my spine at the thought of having a family of my own. “Oh, crap, I have to call Mom. She’s going to die when I tell her everything that’s going on.” I excuse myself, wanting to have a private conversation in one of the family rooms. I click to make a call and see that Becca has left me a message. Ignoring it, I click Mom’s number, excited to tell her the most recent developments.

  “I was just about to call you,” she says in a rather callous tone.

  “Why? What’s up?” I retreat to a quiet corner in the next room.

  “Kip Taylor sent me a text this afternoon with a link to a very disturbing video,” she says, causing my heart to literally skip a beat. “Please tell me that you and Rex aren’t going into porn.” Her voice cracks a bit toward the end, revealing just how upset she is over it.

  “No! Mom, it was the combination of three martinis and being dragged onto stage by two friends of ours,” I explain, shame washing through me from head to toe. “We didn’t know they were broadcasting it. We got caught up in the moment. It will never happen again.”

  “It was bad enough when you two got caught having sex outside, but this is beyond anything I would ever fathom. I didn’t raise you this way.” I can tell it’s taking all of her strength to keep from breaking down. “I think you’d better end this thing with Rex. He’s obviously a terrible influence on you.”

  “It’s not his fault. It was just a stupid decision on both of our parts,” I try to explain, completely deflated by the way this conversation is going. “I have to go right now, but I’ll stop over tomorrow so we can sit down and talk about things. Believe me, this will be
the last video you ever see of me.”

  “Kip said everyone in the locker room has been enjoying it.” She scoffs. “I don’t know why I ever liked him.”

  “Probably because he’s rich, good looking, and he told you how young you looked the first time he met you,” I reply, knowing that comment instantly won her heart. “Kip always knew how to turn on the charm when he wanted something.”

  “I think Rex gave me a similar compliment the first time I met him,” she replies. “And at the time, I had just gone through surgery and looked like hell.”

  “Yeah, I remember that, but I think he really meant it.” I giggle at the recollection of overhearing the two of them. “Rex really does think a lot of you.”

  “I’m glad for that, but you’re the one who’s really important to me,” she replies, her voice quavering again. “I don’t think I could handle it if anything happened to you.”

  “I know. I’m sorry,” I reply, not really knowing what else to say. “I’ve done some crazy things this summer, but I promise you I’m not on drugs or anything. I discovered my sexuality and went a little crazy. I’m only twenty-three,” I add, knowing that it’s not really a good excuse for going crazy in a sex club. “Are you going to be around tomorrow? I would like to stop by and see you.”

  “Why don’t you stop over Wednesday afternoon? I’ll be around all day,” she says, sounding a bit calmer. “I just don’t want to get a call someday hearing that something has happened to you.”

  “I know. Everything is going to settle down from here on out. You’ll see,” I assure her, having decided to wait to tell her in person about Rex’s son being born and his proposal. Since Mom was suggesting he’s the source of my indiscretions, the timing couldn’t have been more off. “I’ll see you Wednesday afternoon.”

  My stomach does a flip-flop as I hang up the call and try to calm down before rejoining Rex. I’ve never liked letting people down, especially my mom. My heart just aches at the thought of her opening another video of me doing something like that. Kip is the one who dumped me, so why does he have to continue to be such an asshole? I guess that’s just who he is. I wipe my eyes and head back toward the bonding room. It’s time to focus on the positives. This is a very special day, and I’m not going to let that asshole ruin it. I also have a special surprise for both Rex and his little son. I can’t wait to see his reaction.

  Chapter 10

  Rex

  Sitting in a room that’s designed to allow parents to bond with their newborn child, I can’t help feeling regret that Felicia isn’t his biological mother. I’ve overheard the midwives emphasizing to other new mothers how important it is to have skin-on-skin contact with the baby and to allow them to suckle within the first few hours. Jessica has already been transferred to an adjacent facility, which is fine with me, but I don’t want him to be deprived of any of these critical first steps. I’m glad that Felicia wants to breastfeed him. All the hormone therapy and breast pumping will hopefully allow her to do so.

  “Is everything okay?” I ask when she returns looking visibly shaken.

  “Everything’s fine,” she replies, but her eyes tell a different story. “I’m going to go over to Mom’s on Wednesday to tell her everything in person.”

  “What’s wrong?” I persist, not wanting her to keep anything from me.

  “It’s nothing that can’t wait until later.” She smiles and points toward the door. “Here comes our little guy.”

  “Good news!” the nurse chirps, coming in with Michael wrapped in a little blue blanket. “Everything came back perfectly normal, so you can spend the rest of the evening bonding and getting to know each other. You’re both going to spend the night, right?”

  “Yes. That would be great!” Felicia replies, even though we hadn’t officially talked about it. “I grabbed us both PJs and a change of clothes.”

  “Then I guess we’re spending the night.” I smile at the nurse and look at the little double bed.

  “And I hear you have a surprise for these two,” she says, smiling at Felicia. “I think it’s awesome. Why don’t you get comfortable here on the bed?” she suggests, propping up a couple of pillows.

  “What’s going on?” I ask, completely confused by what’s going on.

  “I used the breast pump while I was home and had a successful test run,” she says, opening her blouse and unhooking her bra.

  “You finally got it to work? That’s great,” I reply as a sense of calm filters through me. I know how important this is to her. She has consulted with everyone she could find the past two months and has been consistently following their advice and using the pump.

  “It’s really great that it worked for you. I know it’s not easy,” the nurse says, bringing Michael over to her. She removes the blanket and nestles Michael onto Felicia’s midsection before covering both of them with it. “It’s important for newborns to have lots of skin-on-skin contact.”

  “Yeah, I really wanted to be able to nurse him.” She winks at me and wraps her arms around Michael. “I had no idea how things were going to work out, but I thought it was better to be prepared just in case. Look! He’s already latching on,” Felicia says, already taking on a motherly glow.

  “Go ahead, little buddy,” the nurse coaxes. “I think you two can work it out from here. I’ll check in on you in a bit to see if you have any concerns. You can press that red button in the meantime if you need anything.”

  “I think we’ll be just fine,” Felicia replies with glassy eyes. “This is so amazing.”

  “You’re amazing,” I tell her, completely overwhelmed by the thought of her doing this for my child. “This is why I want you to be my wife. You have a heart of gold.”

  “You’ll have to remind Mom of that the next time you see her,” she says without lifting her eyes from Michael. Watching the two of them is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. I slip into bed next to them, easing my arm around both of them.

  The world around me quickly fades away, transforming into nothing but warmth and adoration. For the moment, I find it unfathomable that I spent so many years convinced that I didn’t want to get married and start a family. My reasons seemed completely valid at the time. Who knows what this world will be like in thirty years? I want to travel and have my freedom. It’s expensive to raise kids. I can’t imagine what it will cost to put them through college. Today, all of those thoughts are background noise that’s far off in the distance. Right now, there is nothing but bliss.

  Felicia

  Watching this little guy nursing is the sweetest thing I’ve ever experienced. Every time we’ve talked about his arrival, there has been a pang in my heart brought on by the thought of Jessica being his mother. Today, however, all of that has changed within an hour’s time. Suddenly, we are going to be a family. I’m going to be a mother. I just breastfed a child, something I wouldn’t have even thought was possible a few months ago. I’ve always wanted a family, but that was something I had comfortably pushed back to my late twenties or early thirties. Lying here in bed with Rex and Michael is completely surreal.

  “That was amazing,” I whisper, running my fingertips along the hair on the side of his head. “I can’t believe he has so much hair.”

  “Mom showed me pictures earlier from when I was born, and I was exactly the same,” he says with a chuckle. “Those same eyes and crazy dark hair.”

  “I love this crazy hair.” I continue to run my fingers through his spirited locks. “I’ve seen pictures of you as a kid, and your hair was pretty normal looking.”

  “Yeah, but I always had lots of cowlicks, which is why I left it shaggy. He’ll most likely have the same thing. I remember Mom trying to get my hair to lie down for pictures. It was a losing battle.” He laughs and runs his fingers through his own hair. “This is the first grown-up haircut I’ve ever had.”

  “I think it makes you even sexier,” I tell him, wanting him to keep it this way. “You look much better in dress clothes with this haircut
instead of your old one.”

  “I agree. That’s why I never wore a tie. Ties just didn’t go with my surfer dude haircut.” He slides a little closer to me and settles back into the bed.

  I reach over to unbutton his shirt and pull it from his dress pants. “Your boy needs a little one-on-one with his dad,” I tell him, transferring him to Rex’s chest and covering him with the little blue blanket. I reach down and pull up the blankets that were folded back on the bed, snuggling into the two of them. I still can’t believe all of this is happening. It’s almost like I’m stuck in a dream and I’ll wake up to reality at any minute.

  我愛你

  The Following Afternoon

  After spending our first night changing diapers and breastfeeding, it’s good to take him home. It will be nice to have a more relaxed environment without so many people around. Both Rex and I are a little nervous about taking care of this little guy, but mostly, we are in a surreal state of amazement. His tiny fingernails, little nose, and adorable miniature toes are just too cute. It’s difficult to believe that he is ours. I still can’t believe I’m going to be his mom. After spending the past few months in a state of semi-denial, reality is suddenly cradled in my arms.

  “What do you think?” I ask our little man as I walk along the living room windows, showing him the view.