by Fox, Lizzie
“We haven’t seen you since Saturday! How did things go?” Sabrina asked, as Christi made “bow chicka wow” sounds under her breath. I snorted and gave her a playful slap in the arm.
“Fine, things went fine,” I replied, laughing. I couldn’t help the blush that creeped up my cheeks though.
“I’ll bet they did. Look at that glow!” Christi exclaimed.
“How many times did you do it? Like, fifty?” Sabrina kidded, and she and Christi laughed.
I feigned an offended expression. “It was only five days!”
“So… sixty?” Shane offered, and I offered him a shove of his own.
“You too, Judas? I thought you were on my side!” I protested, pretending to stomp my feet and pout.
“Oh forget that, I cannot wait to see those pretty babies!” Shane said excitedly, and I rolled my eyes.
“We’re going to wait a year, you know that,” I reminded him, and he let out a dejected sigh.
“I know. Ugh. Why?”
I rolled my eyes, as Sabrina asked, “Hey, aren’t you going to get your own baby fix here soon?”
Shane’s face lit up with pride. “Well, sort of. Little Emerson is almost two, now. I can’t believe we still have to wait through all this red tape. Why won’t his aunt just sign it away? Does she really care he’s being adopted by two gay guys? God, I swear… she’s just giving us trouble.”
I frowned, patting the side of his arm in solidarity. “I know. You’ll get there, I know it.”
“Thanks, darling,” he replied, shaking the sullen expression from his face. “No more angry stuff. This is a good day. Right ladies?”
“Damn straight. This is the best fucking beer I think I’ve ever had in my life,” Christi retorted, a pleasured look on her face after she had a long drink. “Ugh yes.”
“Chris!” Sabrina scolded, motioning to me.
“Really! It’s okay, I never liked beer. I preferred the hard stuff, or wine,” I said with a shrug. “Beer smells like feet to me.”
“Ew,” Sabrina grimaced. “What sort of things has Seth been stepping in?”
I tipped my head back and laughed. “The yard is a mess, you know.”
“We’ll square it away before fall,” Shane assured me. “That’s what family is for, right?”
I flashed him a smile. “Yes…it is.”
The crowd erupted into a huge collective cheer when Miles Madison took the stage, grabbing the mic. “Hey there Florida! Thanks for hanging around tonight! I wanted to come out here and personally introduce the next band. The lead singer has become a good friend of mine, whose opinion I value next to his immense talent. But, no singer is complete without the band, huh?” He pumped his hand outward, urging everyone to cheer and he grinned brightly into the audience, flinching as the spotlight flicked on as nightfall came on. “Anyway, I want to formally introduce to you a band all the way from Independence Point, Wisconsin—Night Addiction! With my friend, the newly married Seth Archer!”
Shane linked his arm with mine, nudging me as we cheered wildly. Even Sabrina clutched my hand and squeezed it, as Seth and the guys took the stage. The crowd went wild, and my breath stilled, feeling so proud of him. That was my man on the stage—my husband. He was just as wonderful as he was talented.
The rest of the band didn’t look too bad themselves. Ian took the keyboards and backup vocals and let Wes on lead guitar, Anthony was on bass and backup vocals as well, and Quin as usual took his place at the drums.
Seth took the mic and paused a moment to look out at the audience, smiling calmly with satisfaction, I thought. “Wow, this is quite a greeting. Thank you, guys, for letting us be here tonight,” Seth spoke into the mic, and the field filled with his husky timbre that I loved so much. “I want to thank Miles Madison for specially inviting us to be here. It’s been such an honor to work with him, and to play tonight for you. The beach has been great, a far cry from the overgrown yard outside my house, that’s for sure.”
The crowd tittered with gentle laughter, and Seth continued. I loved how he commanded his presence and always, always remained himself: black tank, dark gray jeans—belted of course so he didn’t lose them again—and black boots. His black lip ring was back and the only difference? The black wedding band on his left hand. I felt a surge of elation and fingered my own ring. The added band was a curvy metal with diamonds that matched the ring, and it just made it sparkle and shine that much more. I loved it, but not as much as I loved the guy who gave it to me.
“We also want to thank our families for being here tonight to share in our success because after all, success is no fun alone, right?” Seth’s gaze tracked along the bottom of the stage and he smiled widely when his honeyed eyes landed on mine. “I specially want to thank my wife, Jessie Archer, for being here, and letting this interrupt our honeymoon.” He flashed me a wink and I beamed at him, offering a little wink. “Anyway, I’m Seth, and the guys behind me are Wes Greenway on guitar, Ian Mitchell on keyboard and vocals, Quin Greenway on drums and Anthony Flannery on bass and vocals. These are all the best friends a guy could have,” he said, turning over his shoulder and offering them a nod. The guys gave varied affirming gestures in reply. “All right, enough of that shit,” Seth said with a laugh into the mic, and the audience laughed. “We’re going to start with one of the songs my wife wrote for us, called ‘Black and Blue’. We hope you love it as much as I do and enjoy the show!” Seth blared the opening chords to the song; what had once been a heartfelt poem, the guys turned into a blazing rock song with high energy, and I loved it.
“Don’t hold your breath until you’re blue…waiting around ‘til I love you…” Seth crooned into the mic with his velvet voice and I nearly swooned into Shane at his amazingness.
The show was much better without alcohol, and Shane and the girls and I danced and swayed in the audience, loving every second of watching our guys live it up on stage. Everyone allowed Quin to have a rolling drum solo at one point that got the crowd rolling, and Seth even let Wes sing half of “Second Sunday” as lead with him. There was a certain light about him tonight; something different.
Perhaps, like me, he was feeling much more secure and optimistic about the future. A little more lighthearted knowing that, whatever shit came our way, we wouldn’t be alone to handle it.
We’d always have each other.
As Seth and the guys played the last notes to “The Darkest Day”, the song they loved to close with, and the last words he sang echoed into the night, “We will live to love another day…” and the audience exploded in a rolling cheer, I’d never felt more confident about anything.
Not only would we live to love another day, but we’d live to love for an entire lifetime. And that was fantastic…
35
Jessalie
Five weeks later
Seth pulled the earbuds out of his ears and dashed across the living room, pulling me into his arms and lifting me into the air, spinning me around.
“I cannot believe you did that! That was like, the second-best thing you ever could have given me! You are fucking amazing! Books or not, you could have a future as backup vocals with the band, huh?” Seth praised, setting me back down.
“You really liked it?” I asked hesitantly. I had been wary to let him hear the song for weeks. For a while I thought it was just cheesy, or that I wasn’t good enough but finally, I went ahead and sent him the file for it, and he’d just finished listening to it on his phone.
“Liked it? I loved it!” Seth exclaimed excitedly. “That was… how did you guys keep that secret?”
I shrugged. “Not hard. Shane is a sneaky bastard.”
He snorted. “Yeah he is. But… wow.”
“We actually finished it earlier, but I didn’t have the guts to give it to you,” I admitted. “After the whole…alcohol thing I felt like an ass enough, so…”
He shook his head. “No, don’t feel like an ass. I’m the one that nearly killed us on the highway, huh? It’s fine. But
—this is amazing! You sound…so hot.” He set his hands squarely on my hips and pulled me into him, and I smirked, feeling his hardness rub against my thigh. “Wait though… you said that was the second-best thing I could have given you?”
“Yeah?” He replied, leaning in to nip at my neck. Tingles surged through me and it was all I could do to stop myself from melting into him.
“What’s the first?” I asked, looking at him under my heavy eyelids, sliding my hands up his bare back, gently scratching his skin with my fingers, watching his head roll back onto his shoulders and a pleasured grin emerge on his face. I loved knowing exactly which buttons to push to turn him on, and he responded every single time. He loved to touch, and be touched, and I loved to do it. Not that it would, but after six months being together, it never got old.
“Oh…” he said finally, lifting his head, before sliding his hand down the front of my shorts, and seeking out the wet heat he found between my legs. I let out a low moan and slumped against him.
“Oh god…” I sighed, feeling the desire ebb throughout me, but it was interrupted by a rolling feeling in my stomach. “Uggh…” I stepped back gently. “Sorry, I think that pizza we had is upsetting my stomach. It was spicier than usual, I think.”
“Yeah, I definitely tasted peppers in there,” he agreed, taking my hands and setting me on the couch. “Are you okay? Suddenly you look a little green?”
I waved him off. “I’m fine. Really.”
“You were sick earlier in the week, though.”
“Yeah but so were you. That salad bar just did not agree with us. I’m probably still not well from all that, so a little pepper is just… ugh.” I cupped my hand over my mouth, feeling the contents of my stomach burn and rise and nearly erupt, but I managed to keep it in until I reached the bathroom, where I fell to the toilet’s side and lost my dinner right in there.
“Shit. Jess, are you okay?” Seth had been hot on my heels, pushing my hair aside so it didn’t get full of vomit.
“I’m fine. I just…” I gagged, feeling another round of burning bile rise, and I clutched the cool sides of the porcelain, needing to feel it against my hot, clammy skin. Just when I thought I’d finished throwing up, I went another round. And another. And another.
After about thirty minutes of this, Seth shook his head. “Nope, there’s something going on. If it’s food poisoning again, I’m going to be pissed!”
“No, really... I’ll be o—oh shit…” I weakly gasped, and threw up again, even though there was nothing to throw up any more but acid. My stomach roiled, and everything ached now, and I tried to stand weakly, but couldn’t quite muster up the energy.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” He asked, with concern, kneeling beside me, offering me a towel to wipe my face.
I took it and clutched it against my chest. “Yeah... I’ll be…” I heaved, but since nothing was left, I just gasped loudly and coughed until my throat was raw.
He shook his head. “Nope, that’s it. I’m taking you in.” Taking me by the arms, he helped to weakly lift me to my feet, and helped me to the sofa. He swiped his hand over my face, and grimaced. “Damn, you’re on fire! You must have a fever or something.”
“Probably just some bug,” I offered hoarsely.
“Maybe. But… you can’t keep—” I interrupted him by shoving my hands over my mouth and gasped out another round of drive heaves. “Yeah. Something’s up. I’ll be right back.” He rubbed my shoulder quickly, disappeared for a moment, and returned with a large plastic bowl. “Just in case. Hang tight…”
Seth dressed and helped me on with my shoes—just flip flops—and he gathered me up, propping me under his shoulder and helped me weakly walk to the Challenger. He piled me inside and shut the door on me, and I slumped against the seat, feeling tired and weak. I began to shiver violently as he got into the driver’s seat, fired up the engine and peeled off down the road. The curviness of Lakefront Drive sent me into another fit of dry heaves, and Seth gave me a guilty look and slowed down.
Since it was after 8 P.M., the roads were pretty empty, and we made it to the county hospital in Eau Claire in record time I thought, anyway. I’d fallen asleep at some point, and didn’t wake up until Seth was dragging me to my feet and helping me into the E.R.
It was mostly empty, except for a young kid who appeared to be limping and complained of having a broken ankle or something, so registering took no time at all. Normally I would have gotten a little thrill out of watching Seth sign my new name, Jessalie Archer, on the form, but I was too out of it to care.
“This is worse than any hangover I’ve ever had,” I moaned in the waiting room, as we watched the kid get called and only we remained in the waiting room.
“I know. I’m sorry. Food poisoning sucks.” Seth grumbled, allowing me to fall into him. The heat of his body was blissful against the way I chilled and shook. “Are you cold?”
I nodded fervently, and he swore again.
“Jessie?” A nurse finally called, maybe about ten minutes later, and Seth helped me follow her down a bright corridor, and to a curtained partition past a reception desk of some sort, and a row of beds and wheelchairs.
A doctor—I didn’t get his name, but he was pretty attractive and any other time I would have felt intimidated having him see me look like shit, with my messy hair, smelly sweatshirt and dark blue capris.
“What seems to be the problem?” He asked, as Seth helped me climb on the bed. Woozily, I nearly slid off, but Seth held me still, with his strong hands on my shoulders.
“I’m guessing it’s food poisoning. We had it earlier in the week and I stupidly got food from the same place,” Seth explained, as the doctor proceeded to prod me with thermometers, stethoscopes, whatever. I barely noticed, I felt so horrible.
“So you’ve been vomiting?”
“Yes,” I managed to reply, and Seth nodded.
“Chills? Fever?”
“Yep,” I replied.
“Well, that’s not uncommon with dehydration,” the doctor said. “Food poisoning sounds likely, but it’s hard to prove. Stomach flu is more likely, I think.”
“I really—” Seth started to say, and I suddenly clutched my stomach again, stifling the urge to throw up. The doctor thrusted a bag at me, and although I had already lost everything in my stomach before, I managed to violently throw up a bunch of stomach acid that left my throat burning and my mouth tasting rotten.
“You say this is the second time this has happened in a week?” The doctor asked, with a raised brow.
Seth nodded, and the doctor continued.
“You didn’t stop or start any medications?”
I shook my head. “No…”
“I see. Okay well I’m going to run a few little tests on you. You just need to urinate in a cup, no big deal. All right?”
I nodded weakly, and the doctor instructed that everything I needed would be in the bathroom down the hall. I tried to slide gracefully out of bed and nearly toppled over, but Seth was there to hold me up.
“Need help?” He asked, his face wrought with worry, and I nodded thankfully.
He helped prop me up, so I could get to the bathroom, and I struggled to clean myself and hold the cup steady to catch my pee, but I managed. Barely. I left it on the counter like I was instructed, and Seth helped me back to the bed, where I curled up into a ball and shivered. “You’re gonna be okay…” he said over and over, in soothing comforting tones. He pulled the thin blanket up and over me and sat next to me on the bed, his legs dangling off the side and I rested in his lap, thoroughly enjoying his body heat next to how cold I was.
A couple of times I started to gasp, but with a deep breath I managed to keep the heaving to a minimum, and I didn’t barf on him or the floor—thank god.
“Where is he…?” Seth muttered in dismay after the doctor had been gone about fifteen minutes. I thought, anyway, I couldn’t be sure because I kept nodding in and out, feeling incredibly fatigued and listless.
The curtain parted then, making a metallic sound as the rings scraped against the metal pole overhead, and the doctor emerged carrying a folder.
“Well, everything looks good, really; I don’t think it’s food poisoning. I ran some other tests just to be sure,” the doctor explained, and Seth sat upright immediately, apparently sensing a sudden change in the doctor’s demeanor.
“So, if not that what is it? Stomach flu?” Seth demanded. “It came on so suddenly and she’s so weak.”
“There’s a good explanation for that. I don’t know if congratulations are in order, but Mrs. Archer, you’re pregnant.”
I sat up immediately, wincing at the pull and ache in my muscles. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion.
“Come again?” I demanded, with an uncomfortable laugh. I glanced over at Seth quickly; he was wide-eyed and sat completely still, like a deer in the headlights of a semi.
“By my estimation from what you gave us about your last period… I’d say about six or seven weeks along,” he said, flipping through some pages in his folder.
“But…” I stammered, laughing uneasily. “I’m on the pill!”
“Right. Um… I don’t suppose you happen to have them with you?”
I shook my head.
“Can you remember what they looked like? Pink case, Mars laboratories on the back?” He asked, and I nodded. “Yeah. You were supposed to have been notified, but there was a voluntary recall on those about two months ago or so. Laboratory reported a problem with manufacturing, and some of them weren’t effective as they should be.”
“What?” Seth finally spoke. He still held onto my hand, but his grip was suddenly tight. “You’re kidding me? How can they do that!?”
“It happens unfortunately.” The doctor sighed. “I take it this is bad news?”
I opened my mouth to speak, still blindsided and stunned and… not sure I heard right.
“Are… you sure? I thought there would be issues?” I asked, and he smiled. “There must be some mistake.”
“Ah, no… I see no issues. The hormone that indicates pregnancy was quite high in you, there is little chance it’s a mistake,” the doctor explained factually. “What you’ve been feeling is morning sickness, and unfortunately it doesn’t always happen in the morning.”