All the Waters of the Earth (Giving You ... #3) (30 page)

“You did—”

He sighed, exasperated, and shoved his hands in the pockets of his slacks. “I want you to agree, temporarily, that you’ll accept less in child support. Trial run. I want to spend some more time with Rob.”

“No you don’t.”

“Don’t tell me what I want to do.”

I rolled my eyes to the ceiling. “Carlos. This is bullshit. When you said you wanted to spend more time with him, you left him with your mother.  You left him in a hotel room with a tablet.  You left him with me for twelve years.  You’ve never been interested in your son. Why are you starting now?”

He gave me a weird look.  Almost like he was embarrassed. “Yeah. That’s how I’ve been. It started with just the money. But I’ve been hanging out with him, and he’s a cool kid.”

“You haven’t been hanging out with him, your mom has been watching him while you worked.”

“Not the whole time.”

“Whatever,” I muttered.

“Give me a chance. One extra day. And this much in support,” he said, shoving a piece of paper into my hand. I read it.

I could live with that amount.

Ugh.

The legal test was the best interest of the child. But that was also how I should act. What would be best for Rob? Not what was best for me. What was best for me was to never see Carlos again as long as I lived. But while Carlos was an asshole to me, and he’d been stupid in Vegas, he’d never hurt Rob. Actually, I think the hurt that he’d done had been through abandonment, not through attention. If Rob spent more time with him, well, maybe that would be healthy.

Fuck.

Fine.

“Okay,” I said.

He did a double take. “Okay?”

“Temporarily, okay. I want your paycheck still docked.  I want all the hearings to go away.  I want Rob to tell me all the wonderful things you do with him, because I’ll ask.  We’ll try it this month. And we’ll take it one month at a time. Do. Not. Fuck. Up. Your. Son.”

He looked down at the ground. “I don’t think that I can fuck him up, Lucy, because you’ve been his mother. No matter what I’ve done, he’ll always have you.”

What?

Something nice out of Carlos’s mouth. True, he wanted something out of me, but for now, I was going to take it.

Like the evidence that I was building with Jake, one day at a time, building a relationship, I’d give Carlos that chance too. One day at a time, he could build a relationship with his son. And I was going to be vigilant to make sure that he really was doing that. But if he did, I think it was in Rob’s best interest to have a relationship with his dad.

I nodded at Carlos. “We’re done here. The attorneys can write it up.”  And I left, going back to Amelia.

When I left, later, after signing the papers, somehow, I felt lighter.

Reaching up, I cradled his shoulder blade with my curved hand. It jutted out at an angle, covered in soft skin and muscle, and I yet again appreciated the strength of his upper body. From this position, as he looked me in the eyes, one arm hooked around my neck, the other arm holding him up over me, hand next to my ear, I enjoyed the sensation of his body against mine, the way his torso felt over me. Warm. Solid. Comforting. I slowly ran my hand from his shoulder blade all the way down his side.  The edge of his torso spread wider than my hand, even though he was a lean guy, so I took my time and explored. Again, stroking his skin, no clothes on, noticing the way it felt to run my hand all the way down him, slowly, from just under his arm to his hip, reveling in being able to touch him, uninhibited. I pressed my hand into his gorgeous flesh, feeling his muscles, holding him to me.

Rob had spent the night at Carlos’s house. Jake and I got naked and stayed that way. And now, his hard cock filled me and he gently moved inside me. My twelve-weeks-pregnant belly rounded slightly, meeting his trim waist. 

He closed his eyes, and I watched the look of agonizing pleasure come over his face, as he slid out and in, out and in, and then he opened them again and brushed his soft lips against mine. He’d already made sure that I’d come. Three times. It was his turn.

“Do it,” I whispered.

He nodded and kissed me again, this time wilder, wetter, more passionate, and he changed the angle that he was thrusting.

My breathing got heavy, because God that felt good.

“Come, lover, do it,” I whispered, and with a shudder and a quiet groan, he climaxed, for a moment out of control, out of the world of cell phones and time and into a world where only he and I existed.

And then he collapsed onto me, lips against my neck, his thick hair all that I could feel of his head, and stayed there.

A moment later, he hoisted himself up, pulled back and pulled out, and went back on his knees, so that he could kiss my belly. Staying there for a moment, running his hand lightly around my navel, he rubbed his nose on my skin and then peppered it with kisses. Then he came up behind me, my back to his front, and he drew me in his arms, spooning, kissing my neck.

“We need to tell people,” he said against my neck. “Your belly is starting to show.”

“Okay,” I agreed. “Rob first.”

“Yeah,” he whispered. “Definitely first.”

We lay there for a moment and he spoke again. “What do you want to do about us?”

I shrugged. “I want to be with you.”

“I am with you,” he answered. “But don’t you want more than that?” I could feel the pulse racing in his body. His breath got shallower and his voice was huskier than normal.

I started to shrug again, and then changed my mind. Nodding, I said, “Yeah, I do.”

Because I did. I wanted to be with him forever. Yes, this pregnancy was unplanned, and yes, we were still in a new relationship, but it wasn’t so new anymore, and with each day I spent with him, I fell in love with him deeper and deeper. I’d never felt this way about anyone before. I had no idea how I’d been able to write romance novels without experiencing the way he made me feel—like I was a precious treasure that he had to care for. Bringing me presents, spending time with me, and making sure that I had what I needed. He never missed a doctor’s appointment. The workaholic in him was winding down.  It wasn’t a linear slow down, but he wasn’t working anywhere near what he used to. We were talking about what he was going to do to transition even more from the craziness that he had hid himself in for so long. Soon. He was changing, and he told me that he planned on making a bigger change, once he figured it out what it would be.

And the way he was with Rob made me fall for him even more. He listened to Rob chatter and went to the effort to make sure to read the same books that Rob was reading so that they could talk about them. 

I was sure.

“Do you want to marry me, Lucy? Before the baby gets here?” I turned over and looked at him.  He looked completely sincere and a little scared. I felt my heart race, and I was just as scared as he was. “I love you,” he continued, “and I want to make sure that you know that.”

“I do know that,” I whispered.

This wasn’t the first time that we had talked about it. It wasn’t the first time that I had thought about it. But it was the first time when I knew, I just knew, that I wanted to make our relationship formal and show the world. We were together.

“So will you marry me?” he asked again.

And I lost it. Pregnancy hormones. The release of good sex. Being secure in his arms and knowing that this not-perfect, but real guy wanted me. Yes. I wanted it forever.

“Yes,” I whispered, a tear coming down my cheek. “I will.”

“You will?” he said, sounding shocked.

“I will,” I laughed, and he wrapped his arms around me and held me tight as I sobbed into his neck. “We’ll tell Rob all of it at once.” And then I paused and breathed and said in a rush, “Oh my God, we’re getting married.”

He laughed and kissed me, then turned me over on my back and started kissing me down my neck, down my breasts, down to my belly. “Wipe away those tears, honey, we’re getting married. Go get a dress.” And he climbed off of the bed, went to his jacket, and pulled out a small box. “I got you a ring,” he said shyly, and pulled it out.

It was a square cut diamond, big, with two blue sapphires on either side. Like his eyes.

My stomach dropped.  Not a far journey.

“If you don’t like it, I can return it and we can get a different one. I just thought that it reminded me of you and me and Rob, with the three stones. And the ring is our new baby, holding us all together.” He climbed back on to the bed and pulled me up to sit next to him, and gently took my hand.

I let him slide the ring on.

It fit. I’d never worn a ring there. 

It was too much. Too beautiful. Overwhelming.

But I opened up and decided to let it in. The good. The amazing. The wonderful.

“I love it and I love you.”

He looked giddy with relief. “Is it too soon to get married this week? I can make an appointment with a judge I know. Or we can go to church, whatever you want.”

“Judge. Maybe after the baby comes, we’ll do something bigger.”

He nodded and kissed me.

I took a deep breath and thought about what had just happened. And mixed with the excitement, I felt an even bigger peace than I’d felt in my whole life.

The End.

Delete.

Ugh.

I rapped my fingers on my desk.

Was I done? I never really liked to write “The End” on my stories, because in my mind, they were never done. There was always something else that the characters could do. My characters took on a life of their own, and I never liked to say goodbye.

I thought about it for a moment.

Yeah. I had finished my new novel. On deadline. And I was pleased with it. I started typing again.

The End.

Time to finalize and send it off to my editor.

After the birth of this creative project, I felt relieved and sated. But there were other things that I needed to do.

Like tell Rob that he was getting a new sibling.

And a stepdad.

I got up from my desk, my body achy from pregnancy, rubbing my fingers on my gently protruding belly. Having made it through the first trimester, I couldn’t wear my fitted clothes anymore. Since I normally wore yoga pants to write in, so far I’d been able to hide my condition, but it was at the point where I needed to tell everyone. I’d managed to hide it from my friends and family by saying that I couldn’t go out since I needed to finish my book. But now that it was done, I needed to show my face and start telling people. It was time to tell Rob about the baby.

I also needed to tell him about Jake and me.

Wandering down the hall, I walked into his room. It was the sweet spot of time after he’d arrived home from school and had finished his homework, but before dinner. I knocked on his open door to politely announce my presence. Rob sat inside, reading a book, his skinny frame draped with a t-shirt that hung from his frame, ankles hanging out the bottom of his pants.

Yes, that was my son, nose in a book.

“Can I talk with you?”

“Okay.” He reluctantly set the book down.