Authors: Michelle Love
JUDE
Standing in front of the judge, Mercy, Mia, Carter, and I become a legal family under one name. “I know pronounce you, the Hurst family,” the judge says.
Carter asks, “So now my name is Carter Hurst?”
The judge nods at him. “How do you like that?”
“I like it just fine,” he says with a smile and he turns to me and holds his hand up for a high-five which I give him. “So can I call you Dad, now?”
“You better call me that, buddy,” I say as I pat him on the back. “I’m your Dad now.”
Mercy picks Mia up and straddles her over her large baby bump. “You can call me Mom now Mia. If you want to.”
Mia takes Mercy’s face between her palms and places a kiss on the tip of her nose. “I do, Momma.”
That little girl has never been able to call anyone that before and it stirs my heart. I just might cry. But men don’t cry in my family so I sniffle and shake away the tears. “See you, Judge. I’m taking my family for pizza.”
Carter jumps up and down as he walks out ahead of us and Mercy puts Mia down to join him in his jumping as they shout, “Pizza, yes!”
I put my arm around her as we follow them out and whisper in her ear, “I love you, Mrs. Hurst.”
Her hand flows over my cheek. “I love you too, Mr. Hurst. We’re a real family now, aren’t we?”
I nod. “We always were but now it’s official.”
She runs her hand over her stomach. “And in about a week, we’ll have this little guy to add to us all.”
Our son will be born soon and then things will really be flowing with us. It’s hard to believe that less than a year ago I had no hope of ever walking again much less having an entire family of my own.
Mercy won’t let me talk openly about things like her days of tragedy being behind us all but I do think that’s the case. We’ve only had blue skies since my surgery to regain mobility and feelings. Which went better than the doctor ever expected it to.
I feel almost like the man I was before the accident. Thanks to his special work on my broken body and my continuous work on keeping it strong and healthy.
It seemed like forever until I could take those first steps but once I managed that, the rest went pretty quickly. And as we get out to the parking lot and we each grab a kid’s hand, Mercy and I look at each other and all we can do is smile.
All those little things that make people aggravated each day, roll off us like water off a duck’s back. We don’t sweat the little things. Not one bit. When you know you’ve come to the edge and made it back, it makes you see life in a whole new light.
As I buckle Carter into his car seat, I say, “How about you join me later to go fishing at the pond this evening. If you catch a fish, I’ll teach you how to clean it and Mom can teach you how to cook it.”
He holds up his little hand and I give him another high-five. “Cool, Dad,” he says with a laugh. “That feels funny calling you that. But don’t worry, Dad, I’ll get used to it. Dad!”
Mia laughs and kisses her hand then throws it at me. “Dad, wuv you!”
I’m having to fight back the tears.
Man, these kids are making it rough on me today!
So I mess up Carter’s hair and throw a kiss back to Mia and climb into the driver’s seat of the new Range Rover I bought to replace the Jag. I figured something a little more family oriented would be better than another speedy car.
Mercy takes my hand once I get going on the road and holds it on the armrest between us. She smiles at me. “Dad, looks like we have a pretty great day ahead of us, doesn’t it?”
“Why, yes it does, Momma,” I say and pull her hand up to give it a kiss.
Carter asks, “Can we name the baby, Rock?”
Mercy laughs. “No, Carter. We’re naming him Stanley after my father.”
I watch Mia in the backseat as she crinkles up her nose. “That name’s not good. Not at all. I don’t want to call the baby, Stanley.”
Carter nods. “Come on! Let’s name him, Rock. I think that name sounds cool.”
“I don’t want him to be cool. I want him to be my little man,” Mercy says as she turns to look back at the kids to try to explain to them for the one thousandth time why she’s insisting on that awful name. “Cool is not a thing I want any of you kids to be. Forget cool. Just be good and nice and kind.”
Mia giggles. “You can be all of those things and still be cool. And I don’t want to call my new baby brother, Rock, either. I want to call him Paco.”
I have to interject because it’s obvious all of these people are related and have terrible ideas of what a person’s name should be. “How about I get to name this one? And maybe if you guys can learn anything about picking out good names, one of you can name the next one.”
“So, what name do you like, Dad?” Carter asks then laughs again. “Dad, that’s still weird. But anyway, Dad, what name do you like?”
Mercy’s forehead is creased as I think she’s not super happy with my idea. But I kind of hate the name Stanley too so someone has to step in and save this kid. “I would like to name him Rogan.” I wait and let the name sink into their brains for a moment.
“Rogan,” Mia says.
Carter echoes her, “Rogan.”
Then Mercy, the person I’m most worried about, looks out the window for a second then whispers, “Rogan.”
“So, what do you think?” I ask as I tug at her hand.
She looks back at me. “You know I hate to let you have your way all of the time, Jude. I don’t know how come you are so easy to spoil and give you everything you want. But, damn it! I like it. Rogan, it is then.”
I don’t know why it’s so easy for me to get my way either but I’m not trying to find that out, anyway. All I know is I get to call my son Rogan, instead of Stanley and I’m damn happy about that!
As I pull into the pizza place’s parking lot, I look back at Carter. “Bet I can beat you at Skeeball, buddy.”
“Bet you can’t!” he says as he holds up his little fist. “Cause I am the champion of that game, Dad!”
I know it sounds crazy but hearing that little guy calling me that just sends sparks of love all through me. And all I can think about is how lucky I am
. I’m so glad I took that horrible bitch to the spa that day!
MERCY
Getting out of the bathtub after a nice, long, hot soak as Jude puts the kids to bed, I find myself a little nervous about tonight. The baby turned six weeks old today and my doctor officially released me and I can get back into physical action with Jude.
I know we had a much longer time of no sex while he recuperated after his surgery but this time, it’s me who’s been through a body altering experience. I have a host of stretchmarks on my stomach and it’s a little saggy still. My boobs are pretty full of milk and I don’t know how that’s going to go.
But I pull on my robe and go out into our bedroom and find my husband lying naked on our bed. He turns to one side and watches me as I come out. “Lose the robe.”
I knew he was going to say that. I’ve been kind of keeping myself covered at all times since the delivery. My new body needs a major overhaul and now that the doctor has released me, Jude is planning how he’s going to work me out to help me regain my former body.
“Jude,” I whine.
He shakes his head. “Lose it.”
I do as he says and drop the robe on the floor and he smiles. “Don’t.”
“I can smile if I want to, Mercy. You look so gorgeous. Come here.”
I walk slowly toward him, not feeling one bit sexy. “Don’t expect a miracle. I feel like a deflated balloon.”
“I can fix that,” he says as I get to the edge of the bed and he reaches out for my hand and pulls me down to lie next to him, facing him. His finger trails over my lips then he kisses them.
Soft, sweet, and gentle, he kisses me as his hand moves over my back and down to my ass where he takes a handful of it and massages it. I move my arm around him and feel his tight muscles.
I wiggle my body closer to him until we’re touching. My breasts are pressed against his chest and the nipples are growing hard and starting to get a buzzy feeling around them.
Jude’s heart starts pounding so hard I can feel it and his kiss changes as his tongue moves into my mouth and strokes mine. His hand on my ass grips harder and I feel his cock going hard between us.
He flips me onto my back and hovers over me, pulling his mouth off mine. “You let me know if anything hurts you, baby. I’m going to go down south and get you fired up and ready to reintroduce you to my most favorite part of my anatomy.”
I giggle at him as he moves down my body. Kissing along my stomach as he goes. He takes my legs and pulls them up to bend my knees. My body is already quivering with anticipation.
He looks at me as he presses his lips to my little pearl and I hiss with how good it feels. He smiles and licks it as he continues to watch my response. “You like that, don’t you?”
I run my hands down to run them through his hair. “You know I do.”
He kisses it again then he turns all of his attention to what he’s doing and takes me into another world. My moan is continuous as the wet heat of his mouth sends me into a frenzy of nearly forgotten feelings.
I feel his hand moving over my leg then his finger is circling my opening and I get an ache to feel it inside of me. As he slips it in, I let out a sigh of sweet relief, “Yes.”
He moans and it vibrates my clit and sends a jolt of pure joy through me. His mouth grows hotter as he licks me over and over until I’m a quivering mess who can only shriek his name again and again until I can’t take it anymore and yank his hair to make him come up.
Moving up my body, he looks at me like a wolf who’s come after a sheep and is about to eat it all up. His mouth is shiny with moisture and he moves right on up and kisses me with my taste in his mouth and I feel his hard cock on the edge of me.
Slowly, he moves it into me and I groan with the feeling. My body remembers him and stretches to conform to him again. I feel the heat as the delicate tissues move to accommodate his massive organ and I can’t stop groaning.
Once he’s all the way in up to the hilt, he pulls his mouth away from mine. “Is it all good, baby?”
“Better than good, Jude. Show me what I’ve been missing these last six weeks.”
He makes one long stroke and my stomach tightens. I trail my fingers over his back as he makes another and another then he leans back against me and kisses my neck, sending me into oblivion. I moan and arch up to meet his strokes that are getting faster and harder. My breasts are smashed between us and I feel a sudden wetness.
He doesn’t stop stroking me as he pulls his upper body back and looks down to see what the hell is going on. “You’re kind of leaking there, Mercy.”
“Oh, God!” I shout. “I’m sorry!”
He just laughs a little and leans back down on me and starts rubbing his body up and down mine as he continues his hard and fast strokes. “Don’t be. This feels awesome!”
It feels great to me. My tits are hard and tingling and so is my personal pleasure zone. And if he’s not grossed out by having my milk all over his chest then we have no problem here.
His movements get more frenzied as he lets out an animal-like growl as he goes faster and deeper. Then my body goes over the edge of the cliff and I’m shrieking with the orgasm he’s created inside of me.
My nails sink into the hot flesh of his back as I wrap my legs around him to hold him to me. He moves in and out of me faster and faster, then he goes stiff and I can feel the heat I love to feel so much as it fills me.
He leans on me and I haven’t felt that comfortable weight for what seems like forever. His mouth is hot on my neck as we breathe heavy and hard. “I love you, Mercy.”
“I love you, too. That was awesome. I missed you.”
He trails little kisses along my neck and over my cheek until he finds my lips. “I missed you too.” He rolls off me. “I’m squishing you.”
I roll to face him. “I like the way you squish me.” I kiss his lips again and love the way I feel all wet and hot and kind of sticky. “I think a shower is in order. I can’t believe I oozed milk all over us.”
His hand moves up and down my arm as he looks at me. “I think it’s cool.” Then he rolls away and gets up then comes around the side of the bed and grabs me up in his strong arms. “And now I’ll give you a nice long shower to get rid of the stickiness.”
I gaze at his handsome face as he carries me. A thing I was never sure he’d be able to do again. “I’m glad you hunted me down, Jude.”
“Me too,” he says then kisses me. “You’re the best trophy ever.”
I think he is!
JUDE
“You see that footprint right there, Carter?” I ask him as we walk through the woods to our hunting blind.
“Coyote?” he asks.
“Good job, buddy. Do you have the new camera I bought you in that backpack full of snacks you brought with you?” I ask him as we start walking again.
“I sure do. I hope to add some new animals to my collection today. When do you think we’ll see one of those jack-a-lopes, Uncle Ram told me about?” he asks as he steps over a fallen tree.
“I’m afraid your uncle was kidding you about that. Those aren’t real,” I tell him as I chuckle.
“He showed me a picture,” the little six-year-old tells me as he looks at me from underneath his orange hunting cap.
“Some people put little deer horns on stuffed jack rabbits. That’s how he showed you a picture. I’m not about to start lying to you about anything, Carter. But your Uncle Ram’s just pulling your leg, son.”
“Well how about me and you get a picture of something and add some things to it and pull his leg right back?” he asks with a grin on his little face.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about. I saw a fish one time that had the bottom half of it covered in hair. That had to be a joke,” I say as we get to our hunting blind and I help him climb up to the long seat that’s up in a tall tree.
“I like it up here, Dad,” he says as he climbs up and gets all settled in.
I pull the safety bar up in front of us and settle in for our front-row seat to nature’s movie studio for the next few hours. “I like it up here too, Carter. My grandfather and I would sit up here almost every morning and every evening during hunting season when I was a kid.”
“Yeah, but you actually shot the animals with a gun, Dad.” He looks at me and shakes his head. “You said I can’t have a gun yet.”
“You’re a bit on the young and small side yet, son. Learn how to shoot them with a camera and later on when your old enough to make your own decision about actually shooting them then we’ll talk about getting you a gun and teaching you how to shoot. It might not be a thing you want to do.”
He nods and points to a squirrel at the bottom of our tree. “You think he’ll come up here?”
“No,” I say and point to a hole in the bottom. “I think he’ll go into that hole. I bet that’s his home.”
We sit and watch the little animal scurry around for a while then he slips into that hole and Carter seems amazed. “How did you know that?”
“When you spend a lot of time in the woods, you learn things. So how was school today?” I ask him as we settle back and look up into the tree above us. The sun’s light is filtered through the already sparse leaves as fall is setting in well and most of the leaves have fallen off the branches.
“It was okay,” he says then he bumps his shoulder to mine. “I think this girl likes me. Her name is Trudy and she’s kind of pretty. She’s missing one of her front teeth right now but I can see past that and see that she’s pretty.”
“Well, that’s good. But the main thing is this,” I tell him. “Is she nice?”
“Well, she had an apple in her lunch today and she asked me if I wanted it cause she hates them now on account of it was one of them she bit into and that’s how her tooth came out. So I think that was a nice thing for her to do,” he says then points at a cardinal as it flies into the tree and lands on a branch not too far from us.
“You should get out your camera,” I tell him.
As he takes his backpack off and digs through it to find the elusive camera, the bird flies away with the noise. But he finally finds it and takes it out. “I’m ready now.”
With a nod, I look around and so does he. A little baby deer comes out of the brush and I touch his shoulder to get him to look that way. He pulls the camera up and takes the picture then shows it to me as he whispers, “I got it!”
“You did!” I whisper back and pat him on the back.
When I was a kid with my gramps I just thought I loved doing this. But I found out it’s even better on this side of the game. The teaching side.
Every single day these kids teach me a little something I never knew about myself. I learned from Rogan that I am an expert diaper changer. I’m much faster than Mercy is at it. A thing I wish I hadn’t gloated about so much because now she uses that to get me to do most of the diaper duty.
Mia taught me that I can braid hair like a professional. She likes the way I do her hair so that’s another thing that I’m the go-to guy for. And Carter has taught me that being a good role model is my top priority. That little guy watches my every move so I have to be on my game when he’s around.
Never did I think the thing that would make my life better than it had ever been would be having a family to call my very own. Life is good and it just keeps getting better.
MERCY
Sitting in a rocking chair on the wrap-around porch of the ranch house we recently bought, I rock little Rogan to sleep as I watch Jude teaching Carter and Mia how to rides the horses he just brought home for them.
He spoils these kids the same way he was spoiled. Not a thing comes out of their mouths that they have the slightest interest in that he doesn’t show up with one day out of the blue.
At first, I was all over him about doing that. But in true Jude fashion, he was going to do what he was going to do. So, like everything Jude-related, I got over it and let him have his way. There’s no stopping the man, anyway.
That determined spirit he has might seem like a real pain in the butt at times but it got him through a patch of his life that would’ve been devastating if he didn’t have that. So I have to respect that aspect of him.
Jude has made my life so much more than what my initial plan was. To become a lonely woman who lived her life merely to work and raise kids and leave romance and relationships out of it.
He forced his way into my world and I can’t stop thanking God that he did that for me. Pulling the baby off my shoulder, I look at his sleeping face. He’s a combination of me and the man I love with all of my heart. A testament to our love and our commitment to one another.
Our family will be strong because if Jude and his love for us all. And I’ll never take that man for granted. He is a gift to us and I’ll always treat him like that.
The day Jude Hurst came into my life is a day I’ll never forget and I will cherish the gift I was given on that day for the rest of my life, and then some.
The End