The Honeymoon Period
By C.J. Fallowfield
Kindle Edition
Copyright © 2014 C.J. Fallowfield
All Rights Reserved Worldwide
Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations and places or events, are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Image Copyright © 2014
Editing by Ella Marie
Cover Design by Kellie Dennis at Book Cover By Design
http://www.bookcoverbydesign.co.uk
Foreword
Thank you so much for buying The Honeymoon Period, book four of The Austin Series, combining romance, erotica and humour.
The series is designed to be read in the following sequence.
New Leaves, No Strings
Baggage & Buttons
Forever & an Engine
The Honeymoon Period
Love & Loss
Infinite Love
Also available is a novella, written from Gabe Austin’s point of view:
Destined (The Austin Series Prequel)
Find out more on my social media pages:
http://www.cjfallowfield.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/cjfallowfield
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7807992.C_J_Fallowfield
https://www.twitter.com/CJFallowfield
Chapters
Friday
Tuesday
A Month Later
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Acknowledgements
Friday
It had been five days since I’d found out that Gabe had been rushed to hospital and straight into surgery, and I never wanted to experience the pain I’d felt in that moment ever again. I could recall watching every house and hedge flash past as Doug raced Lexi and I to A&E. I’d paced for hours waiting for him to come out of surgery and the recovery room. I remembered that feeling of complete exhaustion and fragility, but I’d refused to rest until I’d seen him, touched him and told him how much I loved him.
From what the paramedics had been able to deduce, from Gabe’s incoherent ramblings, was that he’d apparently thrown himself out of the way of an oncoming car, onto the kerb of the pavement. He’d suffered a nasty concussion, laceration to the head, severely bruised ribs and hip, a broken collarbone and a bad rotator cuff tear, which had required immediate surgery. I was told he’d been lucky, had the car have actually hit him he may not have made it at all. I was still annoyed that that this major fact had somehow got lost in translation, Doug, Lexi and I had been under the impression that the car had actually struck him, there again even with the knowledge that it hadn’t, I don’t think I could possibly have been any less stressed or worried.
The memory of seeing him lying in that hospital bed made me shudder. He’d been propped up with his eyes closed, an IV running into his left arm, blood matted in his beautiful blond hair and he’d ugly scrapes down the right hand side of his handsome face, some of which were covered in dressings. He also had butterfly stitches, just like I’d had for my operation the week before, along an ugly gash over his eyebrow. His right arm had been put in a sling and he looked so pale. I remembered sitting at his side, my head in his lap waiting for an eternity for him to wake up. The joy I’d felt at feeling his fingers move through my hair as he woke up and hoarsely moaned my name was indescribable.
‘Mia … Mia … where are you? Come back to me baby, you’re dreaming again,’ he whispered. I opened my eyes and looked up at him and gasped, realising I was in the present, he was here with me now, recovering back in my old room at Riverdale private hospital. I stood up and grasped his face and kissed him.
‘O God Gabe, I was there again, seeing you after your operation.’ I let out a breath that I hadn’t realised I’d been holding and he cupped my cheek with his left hand.
‘Mia I’m ok, don’t look so sad. I’m being discharged today and we can go home.’
‘I know. I just can’t stop reliving it Gabe. I could’ve lost you and I love you so much.’
‘You didn’t lose me Mia, I’m right here and getting better for you is what’s keeping me focussed. I can’t believe you’ve spent all week here with me.’
‘Where else would I want to be, Gabe?’ I asked as I looked around the twin bedded room we’d shared since he was transferred here on Monday. Much to the annoyance of the nurses, we’d insisted on pushing the beds next to each other every evening, so we could hold hands at night while he slept.
‘I know baby, that’s how I felt when you were in here. It’s just not how I planned your last week of recovery.’
‘What did you have planned?’ I asked as I gently swept his hair off his face and kissed his forehead, taking my time to plant tiny ones over his stitches.
‘I was going to spend every free moment in bed with you, making up for lost time,’ he whispered.
‘Well we’ll have a lot of time to make up for, Gabe. The world is against us having sex.’ I remembered the last time we had, it was after our date on Saturday night. I could recall his touch, his sighs and moans, the heat, the passion and the complete and utter contentment of lying in each other’s arms, exhausted and covered in sweat, trying to catch our breath afterwards, it seemed a lifetime ago. Since then he’d undergone major surgery on his shoulder, given police statements to tell them what little he remembered of his accident and we’d spent every waking moment together, with me tending to his every need, cutting up his meals, helping feed wash and dress and shooing away the abundance of keen nurses who’d tried to take over from me.
We’d watched movies, studied, had twice daily visits from Lexi and Doug and even from his dad, who’d flown back from New York. We’d talked a lot too, discussing some of our fears and insecurities. Pretty much everything but the last conversation we’d had before he was hospitalised, the one where I’d asked him to move in with me. I was convinced that I’d scared him, after all I’d scared myself when the actual words came out of my own mouth. We’d only met four weeks before, but had both fallen for each other so hard, we couldn’t bear to be apart, at least that’s what I thought.
‘I promise to make it up to you when I can.’
‘Sorry what was that? Make what up?’
‘Sex baby. Were you daydreaming again? You look really distant.’
‘I just can’t wait to get you out of here, Gabe. It’s starting to feel like a prison and I want to be able to share a bed with you and put my arms around you without feeling like I might be chastised,’ I grumbled. He tugged my hair back to make me look at him and sealed his lips over mine kissing me gently, making my stomach do somersaults.
‘Mia, we’ve a lifetime together to make up for it. Right now, we need to move. Your follow up with Dr. Wells is in ten minutes.’
‘Are you sure you should be getting out of bed so soon?’
‘Mia, it’s my shoulder, not my legs.’ He released me and swung himself out of the bed and I heard him take a sharp intake of breath.
‘Your ribs still?’
‘Yes, but they’re getting better, so come on, stop
stalling.’
We held hands as we slowly made our way down to Dr. Wells’ office for my ten day post op consultation, after the laparoscopy, to diagnose my endometriosis and infertility. I felt on edge since the last time we’d broached the subject, Gabe had made it clear that children were in his future. I didn’t see them in mine and it almost led to us separating. He squeezed my hand and smiled at me, as if he knew how I was feeling. We were ushered in and spent the first five minutes discussing what had happened to Gabe. Dr. Wells then asked how I was progressing while carrying out an examination of my stomach to see how my incisions were holding up.
‘Everything seems to be healing really nicely Mia, hopefully in time you won’t even be able to see the scars. So, now we’ve diagnosed you, I’d like to discuss how we move forward treating you. I’d like to try stopping your periods for a minimum of a year, which should reduce your pain and stop the condition from progressing further.’
‘That sounds great. Can we do it for longer than a year?’
‘We could do it for up to three years with an implant, but I’d like to just give it a year initially on tablets and see how you’re doing. I know it was a lot of information to take on board last week, so I’m wondering what thoughts you’ve had with regards to the issue of your fertility?’ she asked. I stole a quick glance at Gabe, but he just looked straight ahead at Dr. Wells without flinching.
‘To be perfectly honest Dr. Wells, children aren’t something I’ve ever envisioned wanting, but I’m aware that I may change my mind one day in the future, so I’d like to know what my options are.’ I felt Gabe’s thumb stroke the back of my hand and knew it was his way of thanking me.
‘Mia, I think our only option is to look at IVF. We’d have to try and remove some eggs from your ovaries and fertilise them with either a partner, or donor’s sperm. We’d then re-implant them in your womb to see if they’d take and if you could carry a pregnancy to full term.’
‘And this is something that could be left to many years down the line?’ I asked.
‘If we can keep your condition under control and prevent further scarring and adhesions, in theory yes, but I do have to advise against that Mia. To harvest your eggs, we’d need to allow you to have your normal cycles and stimulate your ovaries into production, which will give you more pain and discomfort and with each period you have, the risks of further damage and re-occurrence of the painful cysts increase.’
‘So what are suggesting, Dr. Wells?’ asked Gabe, as I sat there silently, trying to understand what she was saying.
‘I’d suggest that the younger Mia can do this, the better. Even for someone who isn’t fertility challenged, as they get older the production of their eggs reduces. We could look at harvesting them while Mia’s still relatively young, fertilise them and have them frozen until you make the decision that you’re ready to have them implanted. Obviously, this is also time sensitive, the longer the embryos are frozen the more risk of them not taking. Either way, if you did decide to try IVF in the future and the implants in Mia fail, you do have a fall back option of looking for a gestational surrogate, someone else who could have your embryos implanted and carry a pregnancy to term for you.’ She smiled kindly at me and I dropped my head into my hand and rubbed my forehead. We were talking about me pre-meditating a pregnancy, a pregnancy I didn’t even bloody want.
‘Baby are you ok? You’ve gone very pale.’ I felt Gabe’s grip on my hand tighten.
‘It’s just a bit much, you know. I’m eighteen. I’m eighteen years old, I’ve just started University and we’re discussing this.’
‘I know it can’t be easy for you Mia, but it’s better to know now and have time to digest what we can do for you. This is why I suggest stopping your periods immediately and reviewing the situation in a years’ time. It may be that we continue this method of condition management for another couple of years and see how you feel about harvesting then.’
‘Then please, let’s go down the management route straight away. I’m definitely not ready to be thinking about anything else at the moment.’
Dr. Wells ran through the new form of pill that I’d need to take and advised that she’d do a three month prescription and see me back for another review to see how I was getting on with it. She agreed to have it taken to Gabe’s room by lunch time, so we could leave as soon as he was discharged. I felt like there was no air in the room and when she shook our hands and we left, I knew I needed time alone.
‘Gabe, I’m really sorry but I need a bit of space and fresh air. Can I see you back in your room a bit later?’ I looked at his fingers locked in mine as I spoke and he released them and put them under my chin, pulling me up to look at him. I bit my lip praying he wasn’t going to insist on us talking, it was too soon.
‘Baby take all the time you need. I know it was a lot for you to go through and I’m so grateful that you did it for me. We don’t have to discuss it again until you’re ready, whether that’s days, months or years, ok? No pressure. I love you, don’t go too far.’ He planted a kiss on my forehead and I stroked his hair and whispered ‘Thank you’ and ran for the exit.
It was cold and damp outside but the freshness was welcome. I found a bench facing the car park and sat down, tucked up my feet and hugged my knees to my chest and took long slow breaths. I was so not ready for all of this, I hated babies. Everyone said how beautiful they were and I just saw an ugly blotchy thing that cried, drooled and smelled all the time and I avoided them at all costs. I also felt angry, angry that my choices had been taken away from me. I hated not having control over my life and here was another area where I’d have to accept that I had none.
I enjoyed having some time alone, without anyone else to worry about but myself, for the first time in five days. How could Gabe be so interested in being involved in plans for children when he couldn’t even discuss the fact that I’d asked him to move in with me? My mind starting trying to process everything that had happened in the few weeks since I met him, it was insane, I knew it was insane. How could I have fallen for him so quickly and hurt so much when we were apart? I felt my insides twist in agony again at the thought that I could’ve lost him on Sunday. I wanted to scream, cry and vent, or even punch something, I’d wanted to do it since I’d spied him in that hospital bed, but hadn’t dared to. I’d needed to be strong, to take care of him, not the other way around. Even now I was alone, for some reason the tears wouldn’t come. I could feel a ball of pent up frustration and anger in my gut and I so desperately wanted to let it go, but for some reason it was embedded deeply, now wasn’t the time. Instead, I tried to focus on what was going well in my life and shut everything else out. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket and pulled it out.
Baby are you ok? You’ve been sitting on that bench in the cold for over an hour and I’m worried. If you need some time away from me, some space, you only have to say. Anything to make you happy G xx
An hour? I looked at my phone again and was shocked to see he was right. I looked around and scanned the third floor and saw he was sitting on the windowsill watching me and even though he smiled, he looked sad. I blew him a kiss and went back inside and headed up.
‘I’m sorry, I lost track of time.’ I walked over to him and cupped his face and kissed him. I wanted to hug him and have him put his arms around me, but it was too early in his healing process for that.
‘Mia, your hands are frozen. Get your shoes off and get into bed and I’ll put the blanket on you.’
‘I’m ok. Are you? What’s happening?’ I sat on the edge of my bed facing him and he insisted on me wrapping the blanket around myself.
‘Dr. Hancock’s happy to discharge me, I’m waiting for my painkillers and your tablets and then we can go. Are you sure you’re going to be ok driving my car?’
‘Gabe, I’ve passed my test, I can drive. Did Doug give you the keys when he dropped it off last night?’
‘Yes, and Dad’s had an extra set of house keys done especially for you.’
‘Not much more he could do Mia, why stay? I’m close to being able to dress myself, now I can move my arm a fraction.’
‘Speaking of clothes, do you mind if we swing by my place? Now I’m staying with you longer to help out, I could do with some more Uni appropriate clothes and some extra toiletries and things.’
‘Of course I don’t mind.’ He looked at me frowning and then down at the floor and sighed.
‘Gabe, what’s wrong?’
‘Do you need time away from me, Mia? We’ve gone from no strings to spending all this time together and I’ll understand if it’s too much for you. You shouldn’t have to look after me like this, not so early in a relationship.’
‘How could you think that, Gabe? You did it for me, I’m doing it for you. You really think I want time away?’
‘It’s just a lot to expect Mia, I won’t be offended if you need a break. I can pay for private care at home.’
‘And have another nurse touching your hot body when you’re sexually frustrated? No way,’ I said with a firm shake of my head and a smile. ‘And of course I don’t mind, especially not after …’ I was on the verge of saying asking you to move in and thought better of it, he’d made it clear he wasn’t ready to finish that conversation.
‘After what?’ he asked as he looked up at me, the relief evident on his face.
‘Everything, you ... your accident. I need to feel close to you, closer to you and I hate that I can’t even put my arms around you and hug you,’ I sighed.
The Honeymoon Period (The Austin Series) Page 1