by Cheri Chaise
Cole came up from behind and wrapped his arms around my enormous middle. His warmth eased my burden as he rubbed and stroked, burying his face in my hair. “Everything’s cleaned up.”
As much as I wanted to remain in the comforts of my husband’s embrace, the bandages on his hand were tattered and dirty. I cradled and turned it over to see the tinge of blood seeping through the fabric.
“Everything except your hand.” I struggled from his grasp and started for the kitchen to get the salve, a pan of water, and clean cloths.
But he pulled me back. “Sit down and rest for a spell. I’ll get ‘em.”
Gladly I sank into the sofa cushions with a groan. The sensation of pinpricks raced through my swollen feet, and I stretched them out along the cushioned comfort. As feeling returned to my body, the baby within kicked and jabbed as if he sought to fight his way out from under my skin.
Nighttime. He always woke at nighttime and kept me up just when we both should be falling fast asleep.
I closed my eyes and smiled to myself. I’d cautioned Cole against always referring to our child as a son. But the way the baby punched and kicked my spine and ribs to try and make more room, it was obvious this one was going to be a strong, male addition to the Carston family.
But I didn’t want to encourage his hopes for another boy, as if ours would ever be able to replace what Cole had already lost. I rubbed a hand over my swollen belly as another kick threatened to release my bladder.
How would my husband respond to having another son? He was already quite overprotective of this little one, and he had yet to even be born. Would he coddle him too much, as he did me of late? Neglect other children in favor of this one?
That was ridiculous, I chided myself. My husband was a hard worker, an excellent provider, and a thorough lover. If there was one thing I’d witnessed repeatedly in the last two years, it was that Cole always – always – saw to the family’s needs. Most times even at the expense of his own.
As evidenced by the blistered and raw appearance of his hand as he returned, and I unwrapped the tattered bandage to survey the additional damage he’d accomplished today.
“The blister is oozing,” I commented as I gently cleansed the wound in the warm water. “We really need to keep this clean and dry so it can heal properly.”
The twitch beneath his eye was the only sign of discomfort my ministrations caused. I hid my own grimace as the baby continued to forcefully make his presence known, then smiled as I slid salve across Cole’s palm. We were both quite good at hiding our aches and pains from one another, so it seemed.
“There.” I tied off and tucked the ends of the clean bandage away. “Tomorrow I want a clean bandage on there after each meal.”
He grumbled as he sat at the end of the sofa to tug my shoes off and massage my swollen feet. “Only if you promise to stay off your feet a little more tomorrow.”
The deep groan escaped as his fingers expertly brought feeling back into my aching feet and non-existent ankles. “And how am I supposed to do that when you’re all working so hard and there are mouths to feed?”
“Just don’t go to so much trouble tomorrow then. Just put out the cold cuts and pie left over from today. Men will eat almost anything after a hard day.”
“What cuts left over? Did you see anything left on the table besides plates scraped clean?”
“You need to stay off your feet, Stella.” His tone held nothing but concern this time. “That baby can’t come until we can at least get the walls all set in and the roof laid.”
“You mentioned that earlier.”
“Yeah?” His brows furrowed in thought as if he was trying to remember – or worried about going senile. “Well…I gotta keep reminding our little one too.”
“I thought you wanted our little one to arrive.” I skimmed my toes across his manhood – his always ready manhood. “As a matter-of-fact, I distinctly remember the effort last night to bring your son or daughter into this world sooner rather than later.”
Even though his length hardened beneath my foot and twitched at my touch, Cole didn’t join in my teasing. His expression grew even more serious. “The air is freshening. You should know what that means by now.”
Concern tugged at my mind and stopped my foot cold. “That winter is right around the corner?”
He nodded. “Which means we’ve got to focus all our efforts these next few days on getting this new addition fully enclosed before the first storm hits.”
I removed my foot from his lap. “Then tell me how I can help.”
He stopped his glorious ministrations to my aching feet, stood up, then planted a kiss on my forehead. “Just hold onto our baby a little while longer.” He tugged me to my feet then lifted my enormous body to carry me into our room as if the two of us weighed little more than a feather. “Which means plenty of rest, and no more family playtime…for now.”
“We’ll do our best,” I murmured against his strong chest.
Not long after my head hit my pillow, I drifted into sweet oblivion and barely stirred when Bret’s warmth pressed against my backside.
But I was already wide awake in the wee hours of the morning when two sets of boots skittered over the front door’s threshold and tiptoed up the stairs.
And by that point, I wasn’t sure this baby would cooperate with his father’s plans.
Chapter Eight
Cole
We were never going to finish in time.
After a chilly night, the chinking hadn’t solidified to Drew’s satisfaction, and we couldn’t continue until the afternoon. Cutting in the windows had to wait, so we contented ourselves with what felt more like busywork.
I had a baby coming any day, dammit, not to mention a house to finish before the first winter storm hit. I wanted nothing more than to tell everyone we could fuck the windows. But this addition was for Stella, and I wanted it to be perfect for her.
And I did promise her that window seat.
My mind tipped back and forth between frustration and concern like an unbalanced scale as the morning wore on. Waiting was going to be the death of me – on both fronts.
Drew got to work building some contraption to hoist the logs into place for the second level and supports for the next floor and the roof trusses. That would make things move more quickly once the walls were in place, if we ever got back to that again.
Bret took time with some of the hands to see to the needs of the animals around the stables and the barnyard, while Evan and I saddled our horses and headed off toward the river to locate some more tall and straight pine logs.
I figured if we ended up not needing them for the walls of the house, Drew would have more than enough to craft some mighty fine furniture over the winter months to fill the new spaces.
But with the wife out of sight and so far away, I continued to stew and worry over her and our little one as we surveyed the trees reaching toward the clear, blue sky. “Do you really think we need more logs?”
Evan shrugged then climbed from Thunder’s saddle. “Wouldn’t hurt.”
I stayed atop Buck as my brother communed with the woods, going up to each tree to sniff, rub, then look her up and down as if inspecting a horse’s haunches – or a whore’s body.
“Let’s start cutting then.”
“Gotta find the right ones.”
Trees were trees at this point, what with my Stella all the way back at the house and probably doing too much. If I didn’t keep my mouth busy, my mind was going to keep spinning like one of Meg’s toys.
“That was good of Russ to let Dirk stay and help instead of heading off with them this morning.”
Evan moved on to another pine to prod and poke it like Bret had Stella’s swollen belly the other night. “Yup.”
I’d momentarily forgotten which brother I was talking to until the one-word quip. Conversation with Evan was hard to come by on a good day. But it didn’t stop me from continuing to try to keep from worrying over Stella and the bab
y.
“Think we should debark the logs out here before hauling them in or wait until we reach the house?”
“Hauling removes bark.” He apparently found one he was happy with and returned to his appaloosa for the crosscut saw. “Makes our job easier.”
I dismounted and left my buckskin to enjoy some of the last shoots of grass before winter shriveled up the prairie. After identifying a handful, we made quick work felling logs and spent the next hour trussing them up behind the horses with a hitch.
We had to keep the horses together to drag the logs, so it was gonna be slow going. As we rode back, I had to keep pulling up Buck when he’d try to nose ahead. My horse was as eager as I to return. Probably sensed my agitation as I squirmed in the saddle. All I wanted to do was nudge his flanks and send him into a gallop back to the homestead.
Back to Stella.
I continued to try and keep up some semblance of conversation with my brother. But it was hard when it was so one-sided.
And when the house came into view over the rise, my attempts stopped altogether. I gritted my teeth to see Stella waddling around the yard, once again feeding and caring for our brood. Meg was right there too, a hand tangled in her skirts and practically guaranteeing to trip her mother.
“Relax, Cole.”
I again reined in Buck and only grunted in response as I ground my teeth. I guess Evan wasn’t the only one short of conversation sometimes.
Evan spat a dark brown stream of tobacco juice between us. “She’s stronger than you give her credit for.”
“How would you know,” I bit back. “You’re hardly ever around to notice.”
The moment the harsh words were out of my mouth, I wished like hell I could shove them back in. I deserved no less than a swift boot up my ass for snarling at my brother like that when all he’d tried to do was temper my concern before I did something stupid – like entangle the harness and trip our horses.
But instead of barking back at me, Evan just stared over the lunch scene.
“You’re right, Cole. Haven’t been around as much as you all.” The steady jangle of the hitch filled the momentary silence. “But that affords me a perspective the rest of you numbskulls lack.”
“And what’s that.”
He swiveled his head to look at me then. “Trust.”
“Trust?” That wasn’t anything near the response I expected – and frankly deserved after my biting retort. “How you figure?”
“When I come home after trapping season, there’s always changes.”
“What…like her books and dishes scattered around?”
He spat again before muttering under his breath. “Blind fucking assholes, the lot of ya.”
“Just one damn minute,” I sputtered. “I do a lot to take care of this family, Evan. I’ve had to since Ma and Pa died, and it’s not a responsibility I take lightly.”
“Didn’t say ya did.”
I wished he’d spit it out like he did that tobacco. Raise his voice and yell at me with a stream of invectives. But that just wasn’t Evan.
It was more like me. “Then what are you saying?”
He didn’t even try to hide the eye roll. “I’m talking about changes that can’t be quantified?”
I snorted. “Quantified? You been reading Bret’s sciencey books lately?”
He pulled up Thunder sharply, causing me to do the same with Buck to avoid tangling the harnessed hitch.
“Don’t make me climb off this horse and whoop your ass.”
“You can try.”
“Don’t tempt me neither,” he shot back, punctuating the air with his finger pointed my way like Pa used to do.
The image of me doing that to my son someday popped into my head and tempered the frustrated response just waiting to leap from my tongue. Instead I just sighed and waited for my tense and touchy brother to continue his quiet tirade.
“The atmosphere’s what’s changed,” he finally said, swirling his hand in the air. “Estella brings a kinda grace…a dignity to our family.”
“She is well-read.”
Evan shook his head. “It’s not her book learning or fancy city ways. It’s her. She accepts us just like we are. All of us.” He stopped for a moment as if searching for the right words. “She’s patient. Giving of more than we deserve. Willing to be everything we need her to be. She trusts us to take care of her and gives us so much more in return.”
“Evan, are you saying you’ve been fucking Stella on the side without us?”
“I’m not talking about her body, Cole. I’m talking about who…she…is!”
I just sat there in stunned silence at the end of my brother’s long and impassioned speech. Shocked to my core at the insightful observations that had spilled from his mouth like water. So unlike the Evan I’d always known.
The Evan we all just expected him to be – and it’d only taken Stella two years to peel away the layers to reveal to this blind fucking asshole of a brother the man who lay underneath.
We hadn’t just married a goddess in human clothing. We’d married an angel. An angel who performed miracles – like getting my mostly silent brother to sing again. And to give thought-provoking speeches that set me in my place.
Like I deserved.
I reached between us and placed my hand on his shoulder. “Well said, brother.”
Green eyes that matched mine stared out from bushy, honey-colored eyebrows before he gave a firm nod. “Trust Estella with your son, Cole. She’ll bring him safely into the world just like she did Bret’s little Meg.”
Wise advice. I just wished I could so easily heed it. When it came to Stella and our child, something in me coiled tighter than a spring.
Trust.
I took a deep breath – and noted the cool snap in the air. Okay, if Stella could trust us to get this addition finished before the winter storm set in, I could trust her to take care of our child until he was safely delivered.
Or I’d sure as hell try.
We got momentum going again and finished hauling the logs into the pile far behind the house for debarking later, and then joined everyone for a quick bite. Evan filled his plate and sat near Dirk, while I had to content myself with sitting across from Stella, since Drew and Bret occupied either side of her from their log perch.
I wasn’t sure if my wife’s grimace was from the uncomfortable position on the wood, or if she was experiencing the first signs of birthing pains. But I reminded myself of Evan’s words and trusted Stella to tell me when it was time.
Holding my silence was the hardest five minutes of my life.
“Drew,” I called over the small distance that separated us. “How are things looking to cut in that window?”
“Could probably use a few more hours to cure,” he said between bites. Then he looked up sharply as if I’d growled or something. “But with this sun, I think we could get away with going ahead.”
“Good.” I nodded once then raised my voice. “Shovel it in, gentlemen, and let’s get back to work before we lose the light.”
“Your hand,” Stella said, setting her plate on Bret’s knee. “I need to change the bandaging again.”
She struggled and wobbled, but she wasn’t going anywhere without help getting off that log. I reached over and plucked her up, cupped her chin and gave her a solid kiss.
“Later.”
“Cole…you promised.”
I tugged off my glove and flexed the still-intact bandaging she’d trussed up this morning. “See, it’s still good.”
She just hiked that dark brow and firmed her lips.
I sighed. I was never going to win with this woman. “Let’s go inside then.”
Stella took care dressing my hand again, which was a little raw from all of the sawing Evan and I had done this morning. But at least this time there was little blood.
I took note of each and every twitch in my wife’s cheek. Each cringe and sigh. I was so in tune with her body that I knew she was hiding something from me.
“Stella.” She glanced up with tired – and pain-filled – eyes. “Have the birthing pains started?”
A sweet and understanding smile caressed her face. She shook her head. “No…just more of the false ones that come well before the birth.”
I placed my other hand on her stretched stomach. “Are you sure?”
She nodded this time. “I had the same thing with Meghan.” Another grimace before she adjusted in the chair and rubbed her belly. “This one’s simply taking up every available inch of space in there.” A groan. “And then some.”
I made a decision then took her by the hand and led her to the sofa. “Then we need to get him out.”
“Cole,” she started then hushed as I laid her against the cushions. “I thought…”
“Your safety…and comfort,” I clarified, “is my primary concern right now, and that will only come about once you’ve given birth.”
“But…what about the work on the house?”
“Drew can manage the windows without me.” I tucked up her skirts and tugged at her bloomers.”
“But Meghan.”
“She’s napping, right?”
“Yes, but…”
I placed a finger over her lips to silence her and offered up a wicked grin. “Then you’ll have to be quiet when I make you come.”
Stella grinned then. “If she hasn’t awakened with all that noise outside, I doubt anything we do will.”
“We’ll just have to wait and see.”
Her glistening wetness greeted me as I pushed Stella’s knees apart. A stroke through her seam sent a shudder quivering her thighs.
She couldn’t reach my head, so she gripped my hand atop her knee. “Oh, Cole…” Her moan ended on a sigh as my mouth nestled into place to suck and lick her hot and swollen pussy.
I reveled in the taste of her. The sweet essence of her juices as I swirled my tongue in the vat of her wine. A scrape of my teeth over her nub brought forth a gasp.
All the while, my cock hardened and throbbed. Soon – very soon – we’d once again be able to slide more than our tongues into her heat. Do more than clamp down and suck that swollen nub. More than lap up every last drop of her dripping and clenching pussy.
