by Cee Smith
“Are you safe now?”
“I’m safe now, Jessa. It was a fluke he found me the first time. I don’t think he’ll try finding me again.”
Jessa pulled me into her arms, and we drifted off to sleep holding each other like we used to when we were scared and felt alone.
Information was like a slow-drip feed that trickled out little bits over long periods of time. Dominic had someone from his company handle the press regarding my return, and we kept a low profile so we weren’t hounded by the news.
Jessa stayed with Dominic and me the first week, only returning home once she felt sure that I was safe. She didn’t stay gone long though, as she and the rest of the family switched off visiting us at the house.
After everything that had happened, being around Mr. and Mrs. Bartholomew made me feel like the daughter they never had. I saw how affected they were by my disappearance. Was the memory of my parents so strong that I had never allowed them to get close? I never let myself feel like they were my parents. They were always Mr. and Mrs. Bartholomew or “Adam’s parents,” and despite how welcome they made Jessa and me feel, I couldn’t see past the barrier that I myself had created.
With Dominic there, I was reminded of his relationship with Clema. How could I not understand their relationship when my relationship with the Bartholomews was non-traditional? I was a child when they became our guardians. I spent more time with them being my parents than I had with my real parents. They didn’t deserve the distance that I placed between us. I didn’t want the muddled, confused relationship that Dominic had with Clema. I wanted a home, a family. I wanted what I had at that very moment—a family that showed me how much I’d been missed.
My stomach had started showing signs of the little critter growing in me, and I was struggling with how I was going to tell Jessa. For many nights, I kept Dominic up late, as I worked through when or how I would tell my sister. How would she respond? Would she be excited? Happy? Sad?
I never told Dominic about what Jessa said that night when we returned, and she never brought it up again, seemingly satisfied to just have me home regardless of how it came to happen.
Jessa didn’t give me much time to work through my delivery of the news because as usual our twin connection filled her in on what I had concealed.
“When are you due?” she asked one morning while we were in the kitchen making breakfast together. I had just put the bread in the toaster when her words made me falter.
“Wha-what do you mean?”
“Oh, were you waiting to tell me you were pregnant?”
I cradled my stomach as if she could see through the baggy sweater to the rounded bulge that had just begun to show.
“I didn’t know how to tell you. I didn’t think you’d understand.”
“Why? I’m your sister. I understand you more than anyone. Dominic’s hot, and if you say he did even half of the things you both claim, then I can see how you would grow close.” I blushed at the way she talked about Dominic. It made me feel like a stupid schoolgirl with a crush on a boy based solely on his looks. How could I tell her that this wasn’t just some crush; this was explosive, heart-ripping, soul-crushing love. At least for me it was. Jessa must have picked up on my shifting mood and made an attempt to lift my spirits.
“I see the way he looks at you. How protective he is of you. He probably gave away your pregnancy more than you did. He treats you like glass. He loves you too, you know.”
I looked around the open kitchen to make sure he wasn’t nearby to hear her words. He still hadn’t told me he loved me, and I didn’t want her declaration to create discord between us.
“I don’t know about that. We definitely haven’t exchanged I-love-yous.”
“Well he doesn’t strike me as the lovey-dovey type, but he doesn’t need to say it to show it. It’s all over his face,” she said, shrugging her shoulders as she lifted the spatula to break apart the eggs in the skillet.
Once the cat was out of the bag, I let Dominic schedule me an appointment with one of the best obstetricians in California. We scheduled it a couple weeks out so that we could find out the sex of the baby.
Dominic stood stiff at the edge of the table, holding my hand as the doctor rolled the wand over the expanse of my stomach.
“That’s your baby,” the doctor pointed to the little image on the screen of a baby lying down with its legs bent at the knees. I looked between the image and Dominic to see his reaction to seeing our baby on the screen. His grip on my hand tightened infinitesimally when the doctor asked if we’d like to know the sex of the baby.
“Yes,” I said, looking up. In the ten minutes since I’d been on the table Dominic had become a mute.
“It’s a girl!” She beamed an eager smile as she looked between the two of us. The look on Dominic’s face was priceless. In fact, I wish I’d had a camera to take a snapshot of the look that would forever be ingrained in my mind. Dominic was having a girl. I knew the moment the doctor uttered those words, Dominic was thinking of me. I was someone’s daughter. He had taken me, something that so easily could happen to any woman anywhere. He had never explicitly said that he wanted a son, but I could tell he wasn’t prepared for the alternative. One more woman to watch over.
He didn’t need to tell me there on the exam table, in that doctor’s office. I could see it on his face. The way his eyebrows dropped down until they looked connected above the bridge of his nose, the way his jaw looked slack. It was his eyes that said the most though. He had apologized before, but this expression said sorry for all the things that words could never say.
The doctor left, and just as the door closed I looked at Dominic, “I’ve already forgiven you,” I said while the moment was fresh and before he could say the words that wouldn’t be nearly as heartfelt as that one look could express. He leaned over the table, still holding my hand as he rained chaste kisses down and across my forehead, cheeks, nose, before planting a kiss on my lips that stole my breath.
“I don’t know why,” he said as his forehead came to rest against mine. “But I’m going to spend the rest of my life earning that forgiveness.”
“Jess, when did you say Mom and Dad are coming?” Hailey’s eyes followed Jessa’s steps like she was hypnotized by her calm movements. I smiled at the use of her calling the Bartholomews “mom and dad.” It had only taken twelve years and a kidnapping, but Hailey had finally accepted she wasn’t dishonoring her real parents by calling someone else mom and dad.
Jessa shrugged her shoulders, too ensnared to bother looking up to respond to her sister, “I don’t know. I think their flight gets in tomorrow. Adam said he’ll be here Christmas Eve. He’s got work or something.” She continued pacing back and forth in front of the fire, undeterred by Hailey’s questioning.
“I bet,” I mumbled more to myself than Hailey or her sister.
Hailey gave me a quick jab to the ribs before burrowing into my side to escape the slight chill that the house still clung to. I pulled her in closer so her back was resting against my chest and leaned down to plant kisses across her shoulder.
“She looks like she has mom’s eyes, doesn’t she?” Jessa questioned as she bounced our baby in her arms.
“Well, you can’t really tell yet, Jess. Ellie’s only six weeks old. Her eyes could change.”
“I think these eyes are here to stay, don’t you think, Elliana?” Jessa cooed in the baby’s face as she lifted her higher into her arms.
“She’s beautiful just like her mother,” I whispered into Hailey’s ear so only she could hear me. Threads of hair that had fallen from her bun lifted as my breath wafted across the side of her face. Hailey rolled across me like a cat getting petted, and I leaned down to kiss the tender spot behind her ear just as my hand marked the outline of her waist before coming to rest on her hip.
A few weeks after Hailey delivered our daughter, we decided to come back to the house in South Dakota. Over many nights of getting to know each other outside of the confines of h
er prison, I shared the history of the home with her. Knowing how much the home meant to me, it was Hailey’s idea to spend Christmas here. I wasn’t so sure that Hailey was ready to come back so soon.
I still hadn’t returned to work; instead, I chose to extend my leave and stay with Hailey in San Luis Obispo at the house I rented for us. Time seemed to move differently once we left South Dakota. Our lives were fuller with the addition of her family in our everyday lives. Aside from Adam, they all accepted me, and for the first time in years, I felt settled.
Hailey told them about my illness, and I was completely thrown when Jessa offered to step in for Hailey. I didn’t know how I felt when she first offered—this was a piece of her liver, her flesh. After everything fell through with Hailey, I never even thought about Jessa taking her place. Jessa had never been tested like Hailey had. Apparently, their mother survived for a few short days in an induced coma. When her organs began shutting down, the doctors wanted to test Hailey and Jessa to see if they would be a good match for their mother. However, Jessa had been sick. That was why I didn’t have medical records that could vouch for Jessa being a possible match. It was Hailey that ended up talking me into going through with it, and at six months pregnant, it was her that I woke up to with a perfectly healthy, functioning liver.
It took me months to be able to allow Hailey out of my sight, and even then, I watched her from afar. It was like the good old days where I watched Hailey carry on with her everyday life. Except, now when I saw her laughing and smiling, I was usually included or the source of her jovial spirit.
“I think we’re going to head up for a nap. Did you plan on staying down here with Ellie?” Hailey asked as she got up to stretch with a fake yawn so wide that we could see the glint of the fire off her wisdom teeth. I shook my head at her obvious failure, and Jessa looked back at me with a smirk. Hailey also turned to look at me as if she was the one left out of some hidden conversation.
“Yeah, I’ve got her. Go take a nap.”
Before Hailey had a chance to respond to Jessa’s blatant innuendo, I stepped in front of Hailey, grabbing her hand to lead her upstairs.
Before we came back, I had some modifications made to restore the home back to its original structure. Mainly, I reopened access of Hailey’s room to the hallway and turned her room into a nursery for Ellie. I worked with Jessa on the design for it, and the hard work paid off.
I remembered the look on Hailey’s face when we pulled up. Despite it being her idea, she was nervous. I didn’t know if she had expected anything to look different or maybe she expected that the moment she got inside she would become my captive again, but I held the baby, allowing Hailey to move ahead of me at her own pace.
“This is our home now, Hailey. There’s nothing to fear here.”
“I know,” she whispered as she walked up the few steps to the door. I gave Clema the week off so Hailey could reacquaint herself without all of the reminders of her captivity. She walked up the stairs, taking each step slowly as if the floorboards would buckle beneath her. When she got to the landing, she stopped and looked back at me still standing a couple steps behind her.
She stopped in front of the door immediately to her right.
“What’s this? This wasn’t here before,” she said pointing to the new addition.
“You’re right. Why don’t you open the door and find out what’s inside.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at her nervousness. She was like a little girl rediscovering a hidden world. The door opened, and Hailey walked in. The room was tastefully decorated in lavender and grey tones and housed all of the things Jessa said babies needed. The room may have been painted a different color and had different furniture in it, but it was still as luxurious as Hailey’s room once was. She turned to face me, and I immediately noticed the tears that dripped from her eyes.
“Baby,” I said, going to comfort her. She had become so emotional since Ellie’s birth. Crying had become the norm in our household, so much so that if Hailey didn’t cry at least once a day, I became nervous.
The real shock for Hailey was seeing our bedroom. I didn’t remove the dip in the wall where the handcuffs once hung, but I did have the chain removed. It was the first thing she looked at when she walked into the room. She floated forward as if sleepwalking, and her hands lifted above the headboard to outline the divot in the wall.
“I’ll only chain you up when you beg,” I whispered as my hands reached out, first touching the outside of her breasts and then falling down to her hips. We hadn’t fucked since the birth of Elliana, but we’d found other ways to sate the hunger that had been building between us. Christmas was bringing us another present, as the doctor finally gave us clearance, which meant I had free reign on Hailey’s pussy.
With Jessa staying downstairs, I led Hailey back to the room, noticing her quickened pants and soft footfalls. We walked into the darkened room, only lit by the falling snow outside the window. I shut the door and watched as she walked closer to the bed, but stopped before actually lying down.
She kept her back to me and didn’t so much as move when she felt me behind her. I didn’t say a word. I just began ripping the clothes from her body like a kid opening Christmas presents. Ribbons of fabric flung in the air and parachuted down to the floor. She was completely naked when I told her to turn around.
Hailey’s body had changed, but she was still a sight to behold. Her breasts were fuller, her tummy a little softer, but to most she wouldn’t look like a woman who’d just had a baby. To her though, she still had reason to be self-conscious. Her hands fidgeted before finally folding across her mid-section, and it was like watching a hermit sink back into its shell. There was no way I was losing the Hailey I made. The one that exhibited sexual prowess like one of those debutante bitches parading around in gowns.
“Oh, no you don’t,” I said forcefully shoving her arms apart. “What did I tell you about that? Everything about you makes me hard. Feel this,” I said as I pulled her hand against my throbbing cock. Her eyes rolled back and her tongue darted out to moisten her lips. Her need for me was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen.
“Mmmm.” She began stroking me through my pants, rolling her palm along the outside of my cock and pinching my balls through the thin layer of my slacks. The feel of my sac rolling through her fingers had me sucking air through my teeth, clenching my jaw with the feeling that turned my insides to lava. She fed off the sound of me losing control, and we stripped me down with two pairs of frantic hands racing to get me as naked as she.
“You have such a greedy cunt, don’t you? Fucking you with my tongue up your pussy hasn’t been enough, has it? I understand. I’ve missed feeling that soft cunt of yours clench and squeeze me to release.”
She kissed down my chest, until her tongue traced the shadowed trail of hair leading to my engorged cock. I bottomed out in her mouth, feeling the suction of her throat closing around me. The way she let me fuck her mouth was the sweetest thing I’d ever known—how she sat prettily while I rocked into those tight lips. I was near bursting when I heard a plop as she released me from her mouth to kiss the tip.
“You’re so close, aren’t you? I could feel you vibrating against my tongue. You feel huge in my mouth.”
I loved hearing her talk like this. I just wanted to milk my come all over her and rub it into her skin.
“That’s what you want, isn’t it? To feel my seed burst on your tongue. Is that what you want, matakia mou? To taste me? You’re going to have to wait, though. Get on the bed.”
She scrambled up, and I smacked her ass as she pulled herself over the side of the bed before turning to face me.
“Show me how ready you are for me.”
When she hesitated, I barked out, “Now! That wasn’t a question.”
Her tan fingers dipped down between her folds and she slowly worked them apart so I could see the sheen of her juices coating the inside of her lips. Hailey always seemed to anticipate when I needed her to be sweet
and when I needed her to be feisty. So when her steps faltered or she didn’t immediately respond to my commands, I knew she was playing the shy, innocent girl I brought home almost a year ago. In truth, she was a fucking animal when it came to fucking—and I loved that almost as much.
“Do you trust me?”
Hailey inhaled deeply, nodding her head in response.
“I want to fill every hole in your body, but before I do that, I want to see my cuffs around your wrist.”
Before she responded, I moved to the bedside table, pulling a new set of cuffs from the nightstand. I put the cuffs in her hands and sat next to her, watching as she petted the soft inside lining of the leather cuffs. She wasn’t averse to being bound while I fucked her, but I knew it would be difficult to be back in the house, and I wanted to take things nice and slow.
“OK. You know, one of these days I’m going to have to give you a taste of your own medicine,” she said with a coy smile.
“You wouldn’t know what to do with me cuffed and at your mercy.”
“I think I could come up with a few things. Maybe I should start keeping tabs of your transgressions. I’m sure there’s a belt nearby.”
She looked around the room as if there would be one within eyesight, but I ignored her, cuffing her right wrist and giving her a chaste kiss on the mouth as I buckled the cuff.
Hailey opened her legs wide in invitation, and I looked up to her face to find a devilish grin and glittering eyes. I swatted her clit with the tips of my fingers; the smacking sound coming out louder than the actual hit. She moaned from the stimulation, her body writhing as she sank deeper into the mattress.
“Is that how a good girl asks to get fucked? By spreading her legs like a whore?”
“Dominic,” she moaned my name, and my cock lurched forward like Hailey’s pussy was a winter coat to protect my shivering erection.
“Fuck it,” I said as I dived in. Driving into her cunt was the best welcome home, as she opened up like the first bloom of spring.