by Lia Lee
A few times, my dad walked past my room. Every time, I wished he would say something, anything to break this awkward silence, even if it meant we fought. But he never did, and I started to think maybe he was checking on my progress. Maybe he wanted to be sure I left nothing behind. Maybe he wanted to know when I would be out of his life for good. The thoughts only made it worse, and I struggled to keep control of myself.
I took the bags out to my car one by one, stacking them in the trunk and in the backseat until I had everything packed up. I went back to my bedroom one last time to check if I had everything, to make sure nothing stayed behind. To say goodbye to the life I had lived between those walls. Everything was changing now, and I wouldn’t be able to come back to this room or back to the person I once was.
My dad appeared in the doorway, and I closed my eyes for a moment, sighing.
“I’ll be out of your hair in a moment,” I said. “I just need a minute.”
My dad didn’t respond until I was ready to leave. When I turned around, he stood in the hall with his arms folded, leaning against the wall opposite my door.
“Are you moving in with him?” my dad asked.
Why did he care, I wondered?
“I am,” I said. It wasn’t like I had anywhere else to go. Lisa’s place was too small for the two of us, and she had never planned on having a roommate. With Rodney being the baby daddy, it only seemed right.
“I guess I can’t say it’s inappropriate,” my dad said. “You’ve already done everything with him a father could be scared of.”
God, I couldn’t do this. I shook my head and walked past my dad, leaving my room for the last time. My dad followed me, talking as he did.
“He’s twice your age, Danielle. What the hell do you think you’re doing? It’s sick. You’re throwing your whole life away.”
I spun around. I’d had enough. “I don’t need this from you,” I said. “You forfeited your right to say anything in my life when you kicked me out. I’m on my own now. I’m in love with Rodney. I know you know he’s a good guy. You wouldn’t have been friends with him for so long if you thought he wasn’t worth your time.”
“Being a friend and being a lover are two different things. And he’s my age. We were at college together. Think about what you’re doing.”
“I have,” I said. “I can’t help who I love, but I can make my own decisions, and if I want to be with Rodney, I’ll be with Rodney. You don’t have to accept it, but you can’t be a part of my life without accepting who I love.”
My dad shook his head. It was hard for him to wrap his head around, which I understood. None of this had been planned, and I was having a hard time figuring out which way to go now, too. But my dad didn’t have to be a complete dick about it.
“So, this is it? You’re walking out of my house, and I’m never seeing you again?” My dad sounded exasperated.
I couldn’t believe him. “You’re the one that threw me out. So, yes, I’m walking out of your house. Whether you see me again is your choice. But unless you’re going to accept me and my love for Rodney, our relationship and your grandchild, you’ll have to stay away.”
My dad paled a little as if the pregnancy was news to him.
“Is it true?” he asked in a soft voice. I thought we had been through this. I thought the media had done enough.
“Yes,” I said. “It’s true. And Rodney and I are keeping the baby, raising him or her together. It’s the right thing to do. I’ll be six weeks on Saturday.”
My dad looked like he was going to faint. Maybe he’d hoped that it was a lie, that it had been speculation.
“You’ll never get away from him now,” my dad said.
I shook my head. “I don’t want to.”
My dad looked at me without saying anything. I waited for only a moment longer before I walked to my car and climbed in. We had nothing left to say to each other. My dad wouldn’t accept the choices I had made. He had chosen not to be a part of my life.
I pulled out of the driveway with a straight face, keeping it together until I was around the corner before I let the tears fall. I pulled onto the shoulder of the road, unable to see when my tears blurred everything, and I cried.
I cried because I had lost my dad. I cried because he didn’t want to be a part of my life. I cried because I was having a baby, and even though I had Rodney, without my family, I felt like I was alone in this. Everything was so wrong. Why couldn’t I just be happy? Why did I have to be punished for it? I could never go back to the life I once had or the person I once was. Everything was changing, and it was happening too fast for me.
I was supposed to be happy. I was with Rodney, the man I had fallen in love with. I was pregnant, and having a baby was supposed to be a beautiful time in a woman’s life. Instead, I had lost most of what was important to me. Instead of basking in the glow of being pregnant, all I could do was cry about it.
When I finally pulled myself back together, I pulled the car back into the road and drove to Rodney’s house. My house, now. Rodney was still at work. Now that I had resigned, I had nothing to do with my time.
When I got to his house, I took my bags inside one by one and stacked them in the spare bedroom. I was going to stay with Rodney in the main bedroom, of course, but I didn’t feel comfortable unpacking my things into the closet space he had cleared out for me just yet. That would come with time. Right now, I was still trying to recover from the fight I’d had my dad.
I walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge, studying the contents. Now that I had nothing to do and Rodney worked a full day, I wanted to make a home-cooked meals for him. It was the least I could do after everything he had done for me, after the press release he had done on Monday and the space he had made for me in his life.
I decided to make butter chicken and steamed vegetables with rice. In college, I hadn’t really cooked, but I had often cooked at home because my mom had worked long hours. So, I knew what I was doing. Thinking about my life growing up, knowing that this was the only home I had now, made me sad. I focused on the food instead, pushing all thoughts out of my mind.
Rodney came home with Tommy, who he picked up from school on the way home. Now that I was off, I considered offering to pick Tommy up from school so Rodney wouldn’t have to do it all alone. We would be sharing the load soon as it was. Might as well start now.
“That smells amazing,” Rodney said when he stepped into the house. Tommy ran through to his bedroom to dump his bag. “We need to look at your homework, buddy,” Rodney called after Tommy.
“Dinner is almost ready,” I said. “Would you be able to take care of his homework with him after we eat?”
Rodney nodded. “Compromise, I like it,” he said, grinning.
I couldn’t help but smile. We were doing it. We were making a home together. Could it be that simple? Could happiness be this close? After everything that had gone wrong in the past couple of days, I had felt that happiness was beyond my reach. Maybe I had been wrong.
Rodney kissed me before walking through to the bedroom. “I’ll be right out. I’m just washing up.”
I dished up for us and asked Tommy to set the table. When Rodney came back into the kitchen, he hugged me from behind.
“I saw your bags in the spare bedroom,” Rodney said. “I hope this doesn’t mean you’re planning on staying there?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t have it in me to unpack. Seeing my dad today was a little rough. Just give me some time.”
Rodney looked sympathetic, and he nodded. He helped me carry the plates to the dining room table, and the three of us sat down. Tommy chatted about his day. Rodney gasped and made sounds in the right places, and I sat back, looking at my new family.
Losing my dad and my home had been hard, but being here with Rodney and Tommy, being a part of the family, felt so right. It was as if I had seamlessly slipped into a new life, and even though the pain would take a while to go away, I could get used to this. I could get us
ed to belonging somewhere else.
Rodney glanced at me and smiled. He reached for my hand under the table and gave it a squeeze. Maybe he was thinking the same thing. Maybe he realized how perfect this seemed, too. In a couple of months, we would have another child, and everything would change again. But with Rodney at my side and the few people in my life that accepted what we were doing, we could get through it. I knew we would be fine as long as we stuck together and pushed through. It was the only way we would be able to make it.
After supper, we sat in the living room. I was curled up on the couch, watching Rodney and Tommy work on his homework. I took note, concentrating on the things I wanted to help with. I wasn’t exactly a stepmother to Tommy, but I had watched him all his life, and he was used to me being around. It was a blessing in disguise, making this transition so much easier. And in time, me being here permanently would become normal to me, too.
Chapter Twenty Nine
Rodney
When I opened the front door, the smell of food welcomed me home. Danielle was cooking again.
“I’m home,” I called.
“Dad!” Tommy cried, running from the living room where I heard The Avengers playing. He was hooked on the movie, and he watched it again and again. Tommy couldn’t get enough of superhero movies.
“Hey, big man. How are you doing?”
I tickled Tommy until he squealed.
“Fine,” he said in between giggles.
“Where’s Danielle?”
“Cooking,” Tommy said. His eyes trailed back to the movie. When I nodded at him, he ran back to the television, and I walked through to the kitchen.
I hugged Danielle from behind where she was stirring a pot on the stove.
“You’re home earlier than expected,” Danielle said.
“I couldn’t stay away a moment longer.”
She turned her head, and I kissed her. Coming home to a family, to the smell of a home-cooked meal in the air, and a woman as stunning as Danielle was more happiness than I had dared hope for after I had lost Chrissy.
“I went to the gynecologist today,” Danielle said. “She did scans.”
All my attention was on her. She had said she’d wanted to do the first one alone so she could wrap her mind around it. I hadn’t understood it, but I’d respected it.
“And?”
She hesitated.
“What?” I asked. “What’s wrong?”
Her eyes slid away from me. I was suddenly nervous.
“Danielle, talk to me.” I couldn’t handle bad news, not after everything had been going so well. Too well, I thought for a moment. Something was bound to go wrong.
“There’s three,” she blurted out.
I blinked at her. “What?”
“We’re having triplets.”
I couldn’t believe it. I waited for her to tell me she was joking, but Danielle only stared at me with a nervous expression. God, three more kids. With a woman like Danielle, we would be an amazing family.
“Are you upset?” she asked.
I shook my head. “Not upset. Shocked, but never upset. Come here.”
Danielle came to me, and I wrapped my arms around her.
“I’m happy with three more.”
“You’re just saying that,” she mumbled into my chest.
I shook my head. “Look at me,” I said. When she tipped her head up to me, I looked into those grass green eyes and knew that I wanted to do it all with her, no matter what came our way. “I want all three of them as much as I want you.”
“Promise?” she asked.
I nodded. “Promise.”
She studied my face as if she were waiting for me to tell her I was joking now. But I was more serious about this than I had been about a lot of things in my life. I kissed Danielle, and she melted against me, accepting what I was saying as the truth.
“Dinner is ready,” she said.
The three of us ate together. Tommy was in a good mood, talking about his day at school. He chatted away happily, and I watched him, smiling. I hadn’t ever seen him this happy. Danielle had only been living with us for a short while, but already, it was making a difference in Tommy. He finally had a balanced family.
When supper was over, Tommy put on his pajamas and came to fetch us. Every night, he wanted Danielle to read to him. I had to admit it was my favorite part of the day, too.
I settled into the armchair in the corner and listened to her voice rise and fall as she read from Tommy’s favorite books. This was how memories were made, I thought. This was what I would revisit when I was away from my family and I missed them. This was what I would hurry back to.
Tommy fell asleep while Danielle was reading. When she realized it, she smiled and closed the book, glancing at me. I was calm as well. I could have dozed off, too, if she’d kept going.
“Come on,” she whispered.
I quietly stood and tiptoed to Tommy, kissing him on the head before we left his room. I closed his door halfway and turned to Danielle.
“Come with me,” I said, taking Danielle’s hand. I led her to the bedroom and closed the door behind us. Tommy would knock if he really needed us. For now, I wanted to be alone with Danielle.
I ran the back of my hand down her cheek.
“Do you have any idea how much I love you?” I asked Danielle.
She blushed, turning her eyes down. I cupped her cheeks with my hands, tipping her face up. I kissed her, pouring everything I felt for her into that kiss. I needed her to know that in a very short time, she had become everything to me.
“I love you, too,” Danielle said through our kisses, and it was music to my ears. Hearing her say that to me, knowing that it was all real, and I wasn’t stuck in a dream was the happily ever after I had missed out on the first time around.
Danielle pressed her body flush against mine, moving her hips and pressing her body against my dick. I was already hardening in my pants. Her breasts were soft against my chest, and I lifted my hand and cupped one of them, massaging it, feeling her hard nipple poke through the material. The need to be inside her grew by the second. I didn’t think I would ever stop wanting her. Everything about Danielle was intoxicating.
She unbuttoned the work shirt I was still wearing and peeled it off my shoulders, running her hands over my chest and down my abs. My stomach muscles tightened when she raked her fingers through the triangle of hair on my lower stomach.
I helped Danielle out of her shirt before she undid my pants. I didn’t let her do more. I wanted her on her back while I could still have her. In a few short months, her belly would be too big, and we would have to compromise with her on top or me from behind until the babies were born. I guided her toward the bed while I kissed her, laying her down on her back. Her thighs fell open for me.
“God, I love it when you want me like this,” I said.
I undid her pants and pulled them down, pulling her sexy lace thong along with them. When she was naked, I kicked off my own pants and crawled onto the bed.
I wanted to be in complete control, on top of her, inside of her, connected.
“You’re beautiful,” I said to her, tracing her profile with my fingers and looking into her eyes that were the color of spring leaves. I never wanted to stop looking into those eyes. Today was about making love, about showing her what she meant to me, not just about fucking.
Danielle blushed, and her rosy cheeks made her that much more beautiful. I reached between our bodies, pushing my hands between her legs.
“You’re so hot for me,” I said when I dipped my fingers into her and felt her wetness.
“It’s these damn hormones,” she said.
“Not your hot man?” I asked with mock offense.
“And my hot man,” she said, giggling.
I smiled and kissed her, pumping my fingers into her a few times until she gasped and cried out. I guided my dick to her entrance, and Danielle’s breath hitched in her throat when I pushed into her. She was tighter than usu
al, and I groaned at the same time she did.
When I was inside of her, she shuddered, and I felt her body contract around my cock. I kissed her again before I slid out of her and started slowly rocking my hips back and forth. I wanted to tease her, to get her to open up for me more and more. I watched her face and saw the hunger growing as I kept it slow, torturing her.
“Rodney, please,” she whimpered.
I smiled. “I love it when you beg, angel,” I said.
I picked up the pace, fucking her harder and harder, pumping in and out of her. It didn’t take long before her first orgasm rocked through her body. She cried out, curling her legs around mine, her nails biting into my shoulders. I watched her face as her mouth opened, and for a moment, she stopped breathing before she gasped and moaned again. I loved watching her orgasm and fall apart in my arms.
When the orgasm was over, Danielle peeked at me through hooded eyes.
“It’s my turn,” she whispered, and I knew what she wanted.
I pulled out of her and laid on my back next to her. She rolled over and climbed onto me. I could already see the changes in her body. Her stomach was slightly swollen, and her breasts were enlarged. It was hot as hell. There was something about her body now that she was carrying my child that was irresistible.
When Danielle sat on top of me, I could only focus on how she felt on top of me and how tight she was. She rocked back and forth, her hands on my chest for support, and I groaned. When there was love involved, sex was nothing like a detached one-night stand.
Danielle started rocking harder and faster. Her breasts swung back and forth above my face, and I reached up to hold on to them. Her face was slack, her lips parted, and I knew it was how deep I pushed into her, as well as the friction of her clit against my pubic bone. Danielle wasn’t only riding me; she was rubbing out another orgasm of her own.
The idea that she was working herself closer and closer to the edge, how tight she was on my cock, and how hard she rode me brought me closer as well. When Danielle orgasmed, her pussy clamped down on me, and I released as well. I pumped into her, jerking and spasming, and her body milked me, contracting in rhythm with my orgasm. We moaned together, her face so close to mine that our lips almost touched.