Kneeling back beside her, he wrapped one arm around her middle, ignoring her protests, and buried his face where her shoulder met her neck. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry. Just breathe.”
At that point, the heaving had stopped, but she was still lightly sobbing.
“Breathe, Tinker Bell… in and out.”
“You’re such… a jerk.” Trying to catch her breath, she struggled to get the insult out.
“I know.”
He released her, and stood up to go to the sink. Filling the cup that was already on the counter with water, he hunched back down to give it to her.
Without saying a word, she took the cup, and brought it to her lips. After rinsing her mouth out a few times, she took a larger sip to finish off the rest. He chuckled as she held out the cup, silently asking for more. Standing up, he refilled her water, and handed it back to her.
When she tried to get him to give her more when she had emptied it, he took the cup, but set it back on the counter. “Come on. Let’s get you someplace more comfortable.”
Having moved to pick her up, she swatted away his hands with a little more force than before. “I can do it myself,” she snapped.
Sighing at her pigheadedness, he ignored her and grasped under her arms to quickly lift her up. Once he got her on her feet, he kept his hands where they were until she felt more stable, not letting go until she knocked his hands away again.
“Are you going to be like this the whole time?”
The whole time for what, he thought? Once his brain kicked into gear again, he remembered their previous conversation about the pregnancy. “Probably.” He shrugged his shoulders as if it was no big deal, but in actuality his chest was painfully constricting.
Walking out of the bathroom, he went into her kitchen, and automatically started looking through her cabinets to find her something to eat.
Pulling out the premade pie crust, he set it out to defrost while he prepared everything else. In the mist of slicing strawberries, he could feel eyes burning into his back. “If you wanna help, you can check on the pie crust. If it’s unfrozen, go ahead and cut out two inch circles.”
Without saying a word, she moved into the kitchen to do exactly as he said. She’s so much sweeter when she’s so compliant, he thought.
“Why are you doing all this? You’re not a nice person.”
Scratch that thought.
“I’m one hell of a person. You just haven’t taken the time to see it yet.” He grinned and looked over his shoulder, before winking at her.
Sighing in obvious exasperation, she set to the task she was given. In no time, they had miniature strawberry tarts in front of them, and Nicole was pouring them each a cup of coffee.
“Whip cream?”
“I don’t have any.”
“You had whipping cream, which was good enough.”
Her jaw dropped open, she gave him a strange look. “You made whipped cream from scratch?”
“Tinker Bell, if that amazes you; I will rock your world when I make you dinner sometime.”
By her reaction, he could tell that she had mixed emotions about his comment. With her cheeks bright red, he thought how cute she looked with that flush.
“Don’t call me that.”
“Call you what?” Picking up a coffee, he took a sip and relaxed a small amount as the flavor ran down his throat. Picking up the other mug, he dumped the coffee in the sink and rinsed it out.
“Tinker Bell.”
“It suits you though.”
Now sitting at the table, she huffed and looked away. Left on his own, he finished what he was doing and brought their food to the table. He knew it was unconscious on her part to lick her lips, but the reaction pleased him immensely. They might have some common ground to build on, if she liked his cooking.
Before sitting, he set down a cup of orange juice he had poured for her. Looking at her face, he watched the play of emotions run across it, but he refused to back down.
“Where’s my coffee?” He had to give her credit. Her face showed her anger, but her voice was even and steady.
“Dumped it.”
“Why?”
“It’s not good for the baby. This is better.” He nodded his head to indicate the orange juice.
She was shocked, he could tell by the way her mouth kept opening up to say something then shutting again. Eventually, sound started to accompany it. “You have no right… Been fine on my own… How dare…” Taking a deep breath in, she calmed herself enough to speak. “Who do you think you are to tell me what I can and cannot drink?”
He started putting the small tarts on their plates, making sure that she had enough. “That’s easy. I’m that baby’s father, and I don’t want him doped up on caffeine till he’s at least two or three.”
Keeping a straight face was hard, but when he saw her lips twitch, he couldn’t stop the smile that came. Reaching over, he placed a hand on her arm. “Humor me, please.”
After a miniature stare down, she groaned and stood up. Dammit. Short of tackling her down, he didn’t know how to stop her. There was nothing preventing her from ingesting whatever she wanted when he wasn’t around. It would just be nice to know that she wouldn’t do it around him though.
His musings were cut short when she plopped back down in her seat with a bottle of chocolate syrup.
“That’s not good for it either.” When he moved to grab it, he was shocked when she smacked his hand hard before he could reach it.
Pulling it as far away from him as she could, she glared in his direction. “Don’t even think about it. This is about the only thing that has helped get me through this sickness, and you will not touch it! Are we clear?”
Dammed if he didn’t like that spark in her. “What if I need to use it?”
“You will not touch it!”
Chuckling at her bravado, he held up his hands in a show of surrender. His laughter quickly died when she poured it into her orange juice and started stirring it in. When she took a sip, he could have sworn he threw up in his mouth.
“That’s nasty.”
In response, she took another big sip before placing her glass down. “This is nothing. You should see it when I eat broccoli.” Looking up, she laughed at the mortified expression on his face.
It was then that he vowed to never serve her the vegetable when he came over.
They started to eat in comfortable silence. Eventually, it would get to where they could talk about things, but right then, it was an improvement that they weren’t yelling at each other.
Before he knew it, he helped clean up the kitchen, and she was walking him to the front door. Once they got to the door, he turned to look down at her. “So yeah, um…” He was not used to trying to make plans for another day. “I’ll call you tomorrow to see how you’re doing.”
She looked as if she was going to argue, but nodded instead. It didn’t matter anyway because it was not something he was going to be told no on.
“I also want to know when you have your next appointment. I would like to go with you.”
“You don’t have to—”
He gave her a look that said she shouldn’t argue, and it silenced her. “If that’s my kid in there, you’re stuck with me. I would start getting used to it.”
Redness quickly engulfed her cheeks, and she reached around him to open the door. Once wide enough, she tried to push him out. She was pissed. Oh well, she would have to deal with him being around. He was responsible for the mess, and he wasn’t about to let her go through it alone.
Eventually, her measly shoves started to annoy him, and he walked out into the cool winter air.
“Now, Gemariah Slater, you listen, and you listen well.” This should be amusing, he thought as he turned back around to look at her. “I am not someone that is intimate with every person of the opposite sex that shows interest. That is you. Plus, now that I know what it’s like, I have no desire to ever do it again. Therefore, when I say that
you are the only one I have been with, trust me… you are the only one I’ve been with. Good night.” He was still standing there with his jaw clinched tight when she slammed the door in his face.
Shit! There were so many parts of her tirade that didn’t sit well with him. He left the house feeling just as angry as when he came, but instead of it being at her it was directed all towards him.
When he thought her anger was because she didn’t want him around, that was one thing. Little did he know that it was because he had said “If he was the father”. Why was it so hard for him to believe she hadn’t had sex with anyone else since him? Because it had been over two months, that’s why. That length of time was inconceivable to someone like him.
Someone like him? What was that supposed to mean? Even as he asked the question, he knew. All the women he had been with were just fun to him. Never had he thought that anything was wrong with it… until then. Frustrated with the way his thoughts were going, he turned to walk back to his truck.
Once inside, he started the engine before pulling out his phone, and dialing Malachi’s number. After a few rings, the deep voice of his friend came through the line. “Get everything squared away?”
“Yeah.” He didn’t think he had the strength to explain everything just yet. “Is your wife around?”
“That depends. Have you cooled down?” Always so protective.
Letting out a deep breath, he released some of the tension he had been holding. “Yeah.”
“Then she’s right here.”
After a pause, and some muffled words he couldn’t make out, a sweet voice, so unlike the she-warrior from before, said, “Hello.”
He forewent the greeting, and jumped right into why he called. “A little heads up would have been nice.”
“She made me promise not to tell you.”
After a collective pause, he thought back to the scene at the office. “You can be a manipulative and devious woman, you know that, right?”
“Stuff has to get done somehow.” When he didn’t answer, she whispered, “Are you okay?”
“No.”
“Is she okay?”
Thinking back to her speech at the door, he cringed. “She’s pissed at me, but what else is new?”
He heard her sigh on the other end of the line. “What did you do?”
“Why is it always my fault?” When she didn’t answer, he figured she knew him well enough to know. “I could have implied that I didn’t know if I was the father.”
“You didn’t.”
“Well, how am I supposed to know, really?”
“Okay, I need to tell you something. One, to clear this up, and two… this might be something you need to know.”
He didn’t have a good feeling. “What is it?”
“At the doctor today, she touched me and I could feel my emotions start to be altered. That’s how I knew you were the father.”
It took a minute for what she said to sink in. “What the hell happened?” This was not good. If a civilian had their abilities, the outcome could be devastating for them all.
“Well…” He could tell that she had become very nervous. “First, there was this nurse.”
“There was someone else!” he yelled.
“It was all very strange, and I didn’t know exactly what had happened. When the nurse fled the room in tears, I thought it was strange, but didn’t put two and two together.” She had started talking a mile a minute, obviously trying to get it all out in the open. “It wasn’t until she grabbed my arm and said something about feeling her fear of needles, and I recognized the change. She never told me who the father was, but it was then that I knew it was you.”
There were so many emotions going through him right then, he didn’t know where to focus first. Pushing everything aside, he had to deal with the immediate threat. “Does Malachi know any of this?”
“Um… He does now.” He noticed her voice had become somewhat shaky. “He doesn’t look too happy either.”
“Let me talk to him.”
He heard the phone shift on the other end before Malachi’s voice to his wife rang through. “Go wait for me in the living room.”
“You can’t tell me what to do.”
“Now, Trinity!”
There were no arguments after that, and he could picture her huffing away.
“Yeah.” Malachi’s voice sounded strained, laced with scorn.
Gemariah had fucked up royally, and he knew it too. “What do we do now?”
“There’s only one thing to do. Whenever she leaves the house, someone has to follow her. If they see her touch anyone, they have to intervene.” He figured as much. “That person will be you the majority of the time, since you have the same ability.”
As realization sunk in, he found that the man who always fought commitment just got a whole lot more committed to a certain little woman. Swallowing the lump in his throat that had formed at the thought, he silently nodded in agreement. After remembering that Malachi couldn’t see him, Gemariah cleared his throat to say, “Okay.”
“Oh, and G…”
“Yeah.”
“Congratulations, Dad.”
With those two words, a new fear engulfed him and threatened to take over.
CHAPTER 5
Nicole didn’t understand why he wouldn’t leave her alone. Almost everywhere she went, she ran into him or he went with her. It had been three weeks since he found out she was pregnant, and she thought he was taking the whole role of doting father, a little too far.
Her entire body had started to ache on a regular basis, and she found that it helped to go for walks in the evening. When she walked out her front door one evening, he was standing there waiting to go with her, just like he had again that evening. So, they walked in silence around her neighborhood.
She sighed in annoyance at the thought of never getting to be alone anymore. Admittedly, he had gotten better, but he still said the most pigheaded things at times that made her want to smack him over the head. At least their arguments had decreased considerably over the weeks. Once they adopted the policy of, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all,” they were more often silent than not; which was why they were so quiet on their walk that night.
They had started to discuss her day at work. When she had mentioned one of the kids that was having a hard time adjusting and was lashing out, he had tried to order her off the case. In return she had yelled something about him not being her keeper, and he responded by saying that he was just that, and more. Instead of firing back something hateful, she bit the inside of her cheek to stay silent.
It wasn’t always bad to have him around though. The other night, she had an intense craving for strawberry ice cream, drizzled in chocolate, and spooned out with pickles. He had called her on her way out, and insisted that he would pick everything up and bring it over. His face was comical when he watched her eat, but he took it like a pro, and even offered to get her more after she was done.
Still smiling from the memory, her thoughts went to the recent doctor’s appointment that he tagged along to. He had been so curious about all the gadgets in the room, just like a kid would have been. He tried out everything from the blood pressure cuff on the wall to clicking the lamp on and off. She had felt like a mother to an overgrown child, continually telling him to stop touching things. When he pulled the stirrups up and out from the bed, he grinned at her before saying, “Hmm, this has possibilities.” She couldn’t help but giggle and hit his hands away, before pushing them back in.
The best part of the appointment though was when they checked the baby’s heartbeat. At first, he was nervous the device would hurt her or the baby, but once the sound came through, his smile had been devastating. When the nurse moved it to check the remaining stomach, he reached out and moved her hand back to where the heartbeat had been. The nurse and she had laughed at his enthusiasm, and in that moment her heart had thawed a little more towards him.
After t
aking a recording of the heartbeat, he waited patiently as the doctor finished the exam, and when they found out that at the next appointment a sonogram would be done, his excitement was almost tangible.
“Does that smile mean you forgive me?”
His comment brought her back to their walk. “No.” When his frown returned, she smiled and bumped him with her shoulder. “I was just thinking about the last doctor appointment?”
That had the desired effect, and lightened up his mood. He chuckled, obviously remembering the appointment as well. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his phone. “Do you wanna hear it?”
Laughing at his excitement, she shook her head. “Sure, why not?”
A moment later, the sound of rhythmic thumping came out, and an immense calm settled over her. That was her baby. Something so small, so fragile, and the only thing protecting it was her body. How she could have ever thought to terminate the pregnancy, she didn’t know. The little person inside of her was relying on only one person right now, and that was her. Placing her hands over her rounded stomach, she vowed to not let the little person down.
The sound continued for a couple more seconds before it stopped, and they were plunged into silence once again. Once he put his phone back into his pocket, he grasped her hand in his, and kept walking.
When she moved to pull it away, he gripped it tighter. “So, I’m feeling a little nostalgic right now… humor me.”
Giving him the one condolence, she relaxed and held his hand as they walked. Nostalgia or not, she had to keep her emotional distance from him. It would be just like her to get attached, only to be kicked to the curb when he lost interest. She had promised herself years ago that she was never going to fight for love and approval from someone incapable of returning it, ever again.
He must have felt her stiffen at the thought, because he let go of her hand and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Before she could shrug him away, he pulled her flush against his side, and he said, “I’m sorry… for earlier.”
The Divine Whisper Page 11
