“One kiss then pancakes.” He loved how she giggled when he lowered himself over her. Placing a hand on each side of her head, he balanced his weight over her as he kissed her. The feeling of her hands caressing his back almost did him in. He wanted to take her but he didn’t dare. Tobias wasn’t sure how safe sex was for the baby, and the kind of sex he was after, he knew it wouldn’t be safe.
“I’m guessing that you want to do something more than just kiss me.”
“I want to make love to you,” he groaned in her ear, as he planted kisses on her neck.
“I can tell.” She giggled, gave him a quick kiss and pushed him until he rolled off her.
“I guess morning sex is out of the question.”
“Pancakes first.”
Tobias laughed as he watched her make her way out of the room. He worried when he noticed that she was having some trouble walking. It looked like she was waddling around like a penguin. He grabbed a T-shirt, pulled it over his head, and followed her. Tobias found her at the top of the stairs and just as she was about to take the first one, he rushed to her side. Wrapping his arm around her while she held onto the other one to steady herself, they took one step at a time.
“I swear I wasn’t this big yesterday.” She moaned as she took the last step.
“I love how big you are,” Tobias said as he kissed her belly.
“Good morning, guys.” Tobias noticed the surprised tones in Chris and Jessie’s voices.
“Pancakes,” Marietta said as she eased into a seat at the dinner table.
“Morning, guys,” Tobias responded as he pulled his chair closer to Marietta.
“Did I hear someone ask for pancakes?” Mrs. Bennett emerged from the kitchen with a plate full of pancakes.
Tobias laughed when Marietta begun to clap and rejoice. It looked like everything was much clearer since the secret was out. Her eyes were clearer, her laughter more melodic and her face seemed relaxed. It was like she was a new woman. But Tobias felt like everything that she had let out the night before had settled inside him. He didn’t mind taking his wife’s burdens.He just had to figure out how he was going to offload them before they weighed him down.
“You are really big for six months,” Mrs. Bennett pointed out with a worried frown.
“I’m seven months in two weeks,” Marietta scoffed out in between bites.
“When is your next doctor’s appointment?” Tobias asked as he rubbed her belly.
“I don’t have a doctor. But I thought I would go in two weeks, just after Christmas.” She looked away from her plate and to Chris.“Nearest hospital?”
“Twenty minutes from here.”
“Good, I was just making sure.” Tobias saw something in her eyes that he wouldn’t be able to take away from her even if he tried. The loss of their first baby was ever present in her mind. He saw it in the way she asked for the nearest hospital.
* * * *
Marietta could feel her stomach turn. The way Jessie kept on looking at her with pity in her eyes didn’t sit well with her. She didn’t like to be pitied, things happened for a reason. Marietta had to believe that God just didn’t watch bad things happen without there being a greater plan.
“Just ask, because you are giving me indigestion,” Marietta put in.
Jessie hesitated at first, but Marietta urged her on. There was nothing she could ask that would surprise her or make her feel worse than she used to. This morning she woke up with a new goal, a new perspective, and to achieve that she had to get rid of all the bad stuff.
“You told me Chris was your first?” Jessie asked after Chris’ mother left the room.
“I love you for who you are…” Marietta begun.
“Through your eyes I see the purest of souls,” Chris finished.
“What was that?” Tobias asked.
“That was what I told your wife before I looked up her skirt.” Chris laughed.
Marietta chuckled when Tobias used his hands to cover his ears as he shook his head. He was just like a little boy trying not to listen. But then she hadn’t answered Jessie’s question. “My father never touched me with anything other than his hands.”
“Why do you call him that?” Tobias put in. “I’m going to be a father and the only thing I can think about is how her eyes are going to look, going to her ballerina recitals, getting a shotgun when she’s sixteen and walking her down the aisle.”
“You don’t want to hear the answer to that.” Chris groaned.
“Maybe I should start calling him Robert. He no longer has a hold on my life.” Robert Samuels had always been her father. Seeing him as anything but that, as his true self only caused her pain. But now with all these people around her she knew that she could see him as the monster he was and not feel like she was drowning.
“I second that,” Tobias said as he kissed her.
“I third it,” Jessie called out.
“I fourth,” Chris said.“A shot gun?”
“Too much?”
“I was thinking of something like a grenade. That way you blow them to bits before they are in your drive way.”
“I like how you think.”
Marietta looked at the two men who were going to be a constant in her daughter’s life and she couldn’t feel more secure and proud. She knew they would protect her baby with their lives and that put her more at ease.
Chapter Ten
Christmas and New Yearshad flown by and now Valentines was knocking on the door and so was the baby. Marietta stretched on the couch as her parents in law fussed over her. Elizabeth kept on bringing her freshly squeezed juice while Edward propped up her pillows. At the start she loved the attention but now she wished she had insisted on tagging along with Tobias on his covert mission. It was the day before Valentines and he was trying to make sure that it was romantic. They had decided that this would be the first time that they made love since their separation.There was a lot of pressure on Tobias to make it just right.
Chris had taken Jessie into town for that weekend, while his mother and her parent’s drove her insane.
Marietta was also trying to get into the Valentine’s spirit. It wasn’t as hard as before, but now that she had told Tobias everything she seemed to be on a new emotional journey. And that journey included mourning her brother on his birthday. David had been a Valentine’s baby and it suited him, because all he had was love for everyone. Tobias didn’t know about this and he misunderstood her somber mood to be how uncomfortable she was beginning to feel. Marietta was as huge as a house, it didn’t help that Jessie kept on referring to her as a whale. She certainly felt like one.
Mrs. Bennett and Elizabeth kept on pointing out how odd it was that she was that large but the doctor had reassured them that things were going smoothly. Marietta had resigned herself to the fact that she would be giving birth to a ten pounder. She could almost see her chubby cheeks and her short pudgy legs and arms, but no matter how she looked or weighed, she was going to be her baby.
Marietta had already come up with a few names for the baby, and she wanted to surprise both her husband and mother in law. According to her, the name was appropriate and thoughtful.
She watched as the sun came down and sighed with relief. The Spencer’s would soon be going to bed and she would finally be free of their fuss. They didn’t have dinner together because Tobias’ Valentine marathon began tonight. She went into Jessie’s room and changed into a dinner dress Elizabeth had brought with her. She didn’t bother with putting on shoes, her feet wouldn’t fit in them anyway and she was more comfortable bare foot. She looked at herself in the mirror,the white chiffon flowed beautifully over her body and did the impossible, down played how huge her belly was. Marietta giggled when she felt a flattering sensation in her belly. She wasn’t sure if it was the baby or the nerves.
When she looked back at her reflection she caught sight of Tobias staring at her. He was donned in full black. His silk shirt clung to his body like a lover desperate for a kiss.
“What do you think?” Marietta said as she twirled around making a note not to step on the long dress and fall down.
“You take my breath away.” He whispered as a smile played on his lips and pure desire burned in his eyes.
“I know just how you feel. The baby seems to be taking my breath away,” she joked.
But her teasing didn’t meet the reception she hoped it would. A worried frown formed on Tobias’ brow as he moved closer to her. He put his hand on the top of her belly and patted.
“I’ve noticed you find it harder to breathe these days. I know what the doctor said but I’m still worried.” He lowered his lips to her belly and kissed her.
“Just four more weeks and she will be in my arms and not on my lungs.” She laughed.
“Why don’t you go to the hospital and get another checkup?”
“No, I don’t want to leave this house. Besides if something was wrong I would have known.”
“Is it because of him or is it because you don’t want the rest of the world to know you are pregnant. You never liked the Hollywood lifestyle, the attention and the paparazzi.” He stroked her cheek a sympathetic frown on his lips.
Marietta couldn’t help it. At times she wished she could still walk up to someone she had never met before and introduce herself. Now they chased her down the street, asking for a signature she didn’t think was important. She missed walking onto a movie set a stranger and leaving a friend. She didn’t like that people knew her and she didn’t know them.“I miss my life of anonymity. But I have you, that’s all that matters.”
Tobias smiled at her then lowered his lips to hers. He didn’t kiss her at first, but brushed his lips against hers and whispered ‘I love you’. Ever since she got pregnant everything Tobias did was erotic to her. Her libido was on overdrive and it didn’t help that her husband paid more attention to his fear of harming the baby than to his own desires. But tonight it was definitely going to happen. They had been planning and anticipating the day for the past couple of weeks.
“Are you ready?” He asked. He looked at her feet and an amused and questioning expression claimed his face, “I know you’ve got baby brain but shoes aren’t something someone easily forgets.”
“My feet are too swollen for shoes. Besides I’m more comfortable like this,” she pouted.
“That’s fine with me. Let’s go.”
Marietta took Tobias’ hand and let him lead her to the bedroom that they shared. At first she didn’t want to step foot in the room, sure that she would ruin the whole picture. The room was dimly lit just by tens of candles surrounding the room. She took a step inside the room and felt something soft beneath her feet. White and red rose petals were scattered everywhere on the floor and the bed. On the floor there was a small picnic, a bottle of what she assumed was apple cider was in a bucket of ice, thick juicy looking strawberries lay in a bed of chocolate and there were two covered plates on the mat.
Responding to the urges within her, Marietta headed for the chocolate covered strawberries. She turned towards Tobias when she heard him laugh, “Don’t judge me I’m pregnant. Besides it’s your fault I can’t stop eating.”
“Do you want some company down there?”
“Only if you’ll let me eat dessert first.”
“That is definitely not dessert.”
Marietta felt a smile creep up on her lips. Everything inside her rejoiced, finally she was going to have a piece of her man candy. She licked the chocolate off her fingers as she pulled him down next to her.
“How about we skip dinner and go straight to the dessert,” she said as she drew a line of chocolate on his neck and sucked on it.
She smiled when she felt him shiver. She loved how he responded to her. She might not like her appearance very much but to Tobias she was perfect. After everything that had happened between them, they had somehow managed to reach this point, sitting on the floor licking chocolate off each other.
“The things I would do to you if you weren’t pregnant,” he growled.
“Pretend that I’m not.” Marietta rose to her feet and stepped back so that he could see all of her. Although she was kind of hard to miss.
“I can’t do that,” he said as he stood up and pulled his shirt out of his trousers, “My baby is staring right at me.”
“Then just imagine that I am well rounded.” She laughed when Tobias begun to chuckle, “It’s perfectly safe. The doctor said so.”
“He did? Well then-,” Marietta didn’t hear the rest of the words as her claimed her neck. All she felt was his hot breath against her skin and it made her tremble. She felt a slight twinge in her lower belly but it was immediately masked by the desire raging inside her.
She quickly unbuttoned his shirt and caressed her hands over his muscled chest. It reminded her of the first time she called his body hers. But this time it was different. She was herself, a new woman and that meant a whole new feeling. She gasped as he kneaded into her tender breasts. She felt his hands move to her back and felt him slide the zipper of her dress down. Soon the chiffon was gathered at her feet and she was left with a slip that held onto her every curve.
“You are so beautiful,” he said against her lips.
Marietta followed as he pulled her towards the bed. He carefully lowered her to the bed and stood over her as he took off the rest of his clothes. She chuckled when he decided to leave her slip on. Somehow the silk slip was the barrier that made him not cower away in guilt. She had perfect knowledge of how beautiful making love with Tobias always was. But this time she felt a more powerful pull towards him. She felt how cautious he was and she pulled every trick in the book to persuade him to let himself go. She was quickly rewarded when the waves of orgasms rolled through her one by one.
Marietta rolled to her side and watched her sleeping husband. He looked so peaceful with a smile on his face. He was content and so was she. This was how she wanted them to be, true to each other in every aspect of their relationships. It was worth going through all the pain to get here tonight. She looked over at the clock and saw it was a few minutes past one. It was Valentine’s Day and her brother’s birthday.
At first she thought she would go at it alone, but quickly decided against it. They were going to share everything together. It broke her heart to have to wake him from his sweet slumber but she had to.
“Wake up!” She waited until his beautiful eyes flattered open, “I need you to do something with me.”
“Is the baby okay?” He mumbled as he sat up, his hand dropping to her belly.
“The baby is fine, a little hungry but fine.” She chuckled.
“Well we did skip dinner.” He kissed her softly, “What do you want me to do with you?”
“Everything, but I thought we could start with celebrating my brother’s birthday.” She was nervous at how he would react. “He would have been twenty nine today.”
“You do this every year?” He asked as he slipped his jeans on.
“Nope.” She tied his robe around her round belly, “I thought since I was doing this ‘turning a new emotional leaf’ thing, I would go through all the processes that I neglected to all these years.”
“Okay.” He held out his hand for her but she hesitated.
“Maybe you should put on a shirt.” She could already feel her center begin to tingle, and every sexy nerve on her wanted to lunge at him.
“Really?” he looked at her as if he didn’t believe her.
“Really.” Marietta bit on her lower lip as her eyes took in all of him. She watched as he pulled on a t-shirt, his muscles tightening and stretching as he did.
“I’m absolutely sure you were some Greek god in your past life,” she mumbled.
“And you were my goddess.”
“Smooth.”
They made their way to the kitchen where Marietta retrieved one of the cupcakes Mrs. Bennet had made. She searched the drawers and found a candle. It was obviously too large but she used it anyway. She held the lit
candle and gave Tobias the cup cake.
“What now?”
“We crawl under the table.” She laughed at the skeptical look on his face, “I can still fit under a table.”
“I never said you couldn’t,” he lied, “You want me to help you.”
“Definitely.” It didn’t take too much effort on her part. Tobias lifted the table and lowered it over her once she was settled. The space was tiny but this was how she and David did it on each of their birthdays.
“You want to say something?” Tobias asked once he was settled across from her.
“Umm…,” she could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. She didn’t bother hiding them and let them fall free, “Hey little one. I’m sorry I never celebrated your birthday all these years, but it was a bit too much for me. But now I feel almost normal and it’s because of this guy with me. Toby has been awesome with this whole thing, Chris too. I guess we both know how to pick the best out of the crop. Happy birthday little bro, and know that I love you so much.”
She almost blew out the candle when she saw Tobias’ tear stained cheeks. She had neglected a few other people, “Tell mom I said hi and not to worry I will be celebrating her birthday too this year. There was someone else who left us before his time. He’s little and probably looks a lot like Toby. Tell him that his dad and I miss him very much and that we will never forget him. He shouldn’t worry about his little sister, we are going to watch out for her, and love her.”
“Do you mind if I-,” Tobias cut in, “Tell my little boy that we love him and we will never forget him. I am going to be a better man for his mother and sister.”
“You already are.” Marietta squeezed his hand and he squeezed back, “I need to get out from under this table.” She chuckled. “I miss you David, and I love you. Happy birthday.”
Denouement Page 14