Homestead was bustling with activity when they arrived, it was clear that there had been some damage from the quake, but Amanda was relieved to see that it was minimal. Seth took them directly to the medical clinic which was just as busy, the waiting room full, but Heather whisked them both directly to the back. After she gave Amanda a quick onceover, promising a more through exam later, she turned her attention to Theo and his ankle.
“You did a good job here, Amanda. I think it’s good that you didn’t take the boot off. For now, I’m going to leave it on, at least until we’ve gotten some x-rays, then we’ll think about getting it off,” Heather said, patting Amanda on the back.
It was several hours before Heather stepped back from Theo’s foot, a satisfied look on her face, her hands covered in plaster from the cast she’d just put on his ankle. “That should do the job. We’ll think about taking it off in six weeks,” she said, going to the sink and washing her hands.
When she’d finished, she turned to Amanda. “Now, I’d like to take a look at Amanda and then I want you two to go home and rest. I don’t see any need for you to stay for the night. Theo, that cast will be dry in about and hour. You were lucky, that four-wheeler could have crushed your foot, instead it only broke one bone, you’ll be back on your feet soon enough.”
Amanda followed Heather into another exam room, protesting the entire way. “I feel fine. Everything feels normal, we don’t really need to do this.”
Heather stopped in the hallway and looked at Amanda. “You’re seven months pregnant, have been through an earthquake, lifted a four-wheeler, and spent the night in a cave. Get in there and quit being a baby,” she said, and pointing to the empty exam room.
When she’d finished with Amanda, she declared that everything was fine and Amanda couldn’t help but say I told you so. Still she’d seen the baby on the ultrasound and had a fistful of pictures to show Theo, so it hadn’t been a total waste of her time. Now all she wanted to do was crawl into bed with Theo and sleep for days, the exhaustion had finally set in, making it difficult to even move her feet.
“I want you to eat something before you go to sleep, which I can see is all your thinking about now. Why don’t you go back to Theo and rest for a while? I’ll let Seth know that you two are ready,” Heather said, helping her down the hall.
When Seth picked them up a few hours later, they’d both slept a little and felt a bit better. The pain pills that Heather had given Theo seemed to be keeping the pain down to a dull throb that he could handle with a smile and thanks to the cast, he could hobble along at a slow but steady pace. They jumped at the chance to stop at the main house for food, both so hungry it felt like they hadn’t eaten for days.
“We’ll stop and get you something to eat. Hopefully, we can talk the cook into sending a care package home with you,” Seth said, when he stopped at the front door.
They hadn’t been in the dining room for more than ten minutes when a group of people came in talking about Seattle. Seth’s face paled a little and he quickly tried to distract them, but Theo had heard enough to raise his curiosity. “What’s happened in Seattle?” he asked, putting down his fork, a sick feeling in his stomach.
Seth set down his fork too. “It’s pretty bad, the quake was centered a few miles off shore, there’s a lot of damage to the harbor and the city. I wasn’t going to tell you until tomorrow, I probably shouldn’t have waited, sorry.”
Theo waved his hand. “It’s okay, but I need to find out what’s going on,” Theo said, patting his pockets looking for his cell phone. “I’ve got to make some calls.”
“Okay, relax, Theo. I’ll get you a phone, but you have to rest. It’s all still going to be there tomorrow,” Seth said, getting up from the table.
Amanda fell asleep that night curled up on her side pressed up against Theo, who had been on the phone since Seth had given it to him. He had his laptop open on his lap and his foot elevated on a pillow, each call worse than the last. Julien had spelled it out to him in the clearest teams, making it perfectly clear that he’d have to go home and soon; broken ankle or not they needed him there. The last thing he wanted to do was leave Amanda, but it looked like that was exactly what he was going to have to do.
The earthquake had devastated Seattle, with a death count that was too high and climbing daily. The harbor was in tatters, most of the boats damaged beyond repair leaving thousands of people without a way to make their living. The worst part was that no one was doing anything about the harbor. Theo understood that search and rescue was more important right then, but someone had to start thinking about how they were going to get the harbor open again.
“I think you have to come home and see what you can do, Theo. People respect you, they’ll listen to you,” Julien said, before they hung up.
“I hate to go off and leave Amanda again,” Theo said, surprising Julien.
“You can’t bring her here,” Julien said, thinking of the disaster Seattle had become, half the hospitals are damaged and the rest are full.
“I know, but that doesn’t make it any easier,” Theo said, dreading telling Amanda that he was leaving her in Alaska again.
Chapter 11
Amanda awoke to the feeling of Theo tracing patterns on her rounded belly, then realized that he was tracing the baby’s foot which could clearly be seen. When he saw that she was awake, he said, “It’s really in there.” Then he smiled at her.
“Oh, yes. I can tell you that for sure,” she said, rubbing the spot where the baby’s foot was poking her.
“It didn’t seem real until now,” Theo said, not hearing the longing in her voice.
“It’s been real for me for a while now. Sometimes it feels like the baby is doing summersaults inside me.”
Theo rubbed her belly again, wishing that he wasn’t going to have to miss these last few months, but knowing that he was going to. He was trying to figure out how to tell Amanda that he was leaving when she said, “You have to go back to Seattle.”
He stopped rubbing and leaned up on one elbow to look at her. “What makes you say that?” he asked, wondering if she wanted him to leave.
“I heard enough last night to know that they need you there, people depend on you. I don’t think you’re the kind of person to let them down. I’m guessing that I’ll be staying here,” Amanda said, wishing it wasn’t true, but knowing that it was.
“I wish you didn’t have to, but Seattle is no place for you now. I’ll try to come back and visit, I really wish it didn’t have to be this way, but Heather and Seth will take good care of you and I will come back when the baby is born,” Theo said, his words husky when he realized just how much he loved Amanda and how much he didn’t want to leave her now that he knew.
“I’ll be okay here, Theo, and you won’t have to worry about me if I’m here. I understand, I really do,” she said, pulling his head down and kissing him, so he’d know that she meant what she said.
That kiss ignited something in Theo and he knew that he couldn’t leave without making love to Amanda again, without feeling her velvety wetness surrounding him once more. He shifted just a bit, not breaking the kiss but instead intensifying it, delving his tongue into her mouth over and over until Amanda’s body began to respond and little whimpers escaped her throat. When he slid his hand down between her legs, she pulled away from the kiss and looked at him.
“Theo, I don’t think, I mean with your foot and my belly, I don’t think we can…” But Theo cut her off.
“Sweetheart, where there’s will, there’s a way,” he said, taking possession of her mouth again as his hand slid between her legs. “There are other ways to bring pleasure, but I promise you before this is over I will be inside you.” Amanda’s heart skipped a beat. Just thinking about Theo inside her made that tight knot of pleasure begin to form deep inside her so she spread her legs and gave herself to him.
He growled and thrust his finger deep inside her, unable to stop himself, but pleased when she moaned and thrust her h
ips up in response. She was hot and wet, more than ready for him, but first he wanted to take her over the edge again and again until she was begging for him like she had the other night. Amanda’s body was as luscious as he’d said, soft and yielding in all the right places, a feast for any man and he intended to take everything she had to offer.
Sucking one of her swollen nipples into his mouth, he teased it until it was stiff and Amanda was squirming. He worked his finger inside her, thrusting it in then slowly sliding it out, each thrust bringing her hips up off the bed. Amanda whimpered when he slid his finger out all the way, then gasped when instead his finger found her clit and began to rub it, until with a strangled cry, she tumbled over the edge, her orgasm making her entire body tremble.
Gasping, she held on to Theo until her body calmed, then moved by a desire so deep inside her she hadn’t known that it existed, she knelt up on her knees and took his swollen penis in her hands. She looked up at him as she stroked him, a surge of pleasure rushing through her when he threw his head back and moaned. Then feeling brave, she lowered her head and slid her tongue across the tip of his throbbing cock, making a single drop of cum leak out.
Theo was sure that he was close to the breaking point when Amanda took all of him into her mouth, but he gritted his teeth and held on not wanting the pleasure to end. Amanda had never felt so powerful or confident with a man, had never know that she was capable of giving so much pleasure, and was eager to see just how far she could take it. Licking, sucking, and stroking him, she explored him with her mouth and tongue, elated when she found a spot that made him growl like a bear.
She was sure that she’d driven him to the brink and planned to continue her ministrations when Theo pulled her back up and into his arms. His mouth came down on hers in a kiss that left her more breathless than before and suddenly desperate to feel him inside her just like his tongue was. She desperately wanted him to be inside her but wasn’t sure how they’d accomplish it, when Theo broke the kiss and grabbed her by the hips and lifted her on top of him.
Her legs straddling him, she could feel him rubbing against her clit and gasped at the contact. Theo smiled up at her and said, “I told you I was going to be inside you.” Then he lifted her by the hips and positioned himself just outside her throbbing core.
Amanda was instantly frantic to feel him inside her. “Please, Theo, I want you,” she said, not caring that she was begging, only thinking of the release that only he cold bring.
“I’m yours, sweetheart,” he said, then brought her down on his swollen shaft.
Amanda cried out when he filled her, every fiber of her being sure that this man was the only one for her, that she’d never be happy unless he was with her. Each thrust of Theo’s hips drove him deeper inside her, and when he grabbed her hips and ground himself into her, she was sure that he’d reached a place he never had before. Her pleasure exploded in a rush, making her grind her hips into him and rock back and forth. Theo feeling her pleasure, thrust into her again, marveling at the way her muscles gripped him.
Moaning, Theo drove himself into her over and over again, each thrust of his hips taking him closer to the edge. Wanting to feel Amanda’s body gripping him at the moment of his satisfaction, he reached between them and found her clit. When he began to rub it, she stiffened at the sudden pleasure, but then began to ride him, crying out his name as her body shook with spasms of pleasure that made her throw her head back in ecstasy.
Theo, finally reaching the height of his passion, emptied himself inside her, his hands gripping her hips until the skin turned white, everything but the pleasure he was feeling gone from his mind. He moaned as the pleasure washed over him, buried deep inside Amanda, gripped tightly by her body, then breathless collapsed back on the pillow, but not before he gently helped Amanda lay down beside him. Panting, they lay side by side until speech was possible, but neither said a word, the strength of what they’d just shared enough.
Later, they got out of bed and ate a huge lunch, neither wanted to talk about Theo leaving but knew that they were living on borrowed time. “I’m going to leave in the morning,” Theo finally said, when they’d agreed that staying in bed seemed like a good idea.
“I’m going to miss you, but those people need you more than I do,” Amanda said, trying not to cry.
“I promise that I’ll be here when you need me,” Theo said, pulling her into his arms, needing to feel her there.
Theo had been gone for a month, the situation in Seattle much worse than either of them could have ever imagined. But he’d made a great deal of progress in that short time, using his own money to repair the harbor and offering interest-free loans to any ship’s captain who needed one to repair their boat. The fishing and shipping industry had taken a big blow, but thanks to Theo’s hard work it was beginning to come back to life and as much as she missed him, Amanda was proud of him.
Instead of doing things like the other big companies and suspending his employees’ pay, he continued to pay them, only asking that they contribute to the cleanup of the city in any way they could. He’d gotten a lot of press, not for who he was or how much money he had or what social function he’d just been to, but because of his willingness to put his interests aside and help Seattle rebuild. The last time she’d talked to him, there had even been rumors that he might run for governor.
But she missed him now more than ever, the baby was growing bigger every day and it seemed sad that he was missing it. With only a month to go before her due date, she’d been staying alone in the little cabin that had become home, perfectly happy to be alone. It wasn’t that she didn’t see people, she took all her meals at the main house and enjoyed every minute of the time she spent there, but she craved the silence of the cabin more and more.
She was sitting at an easel trying to paint, a new hobby she’d taken up after the trip to the village, when there was a knock at the door. Surprised that anyone would be visiting, she put down her brush and walked over to the door and opened it to find a woman she didn’t recognize standing on the porch. The woman looked her up and down, then sniffed as if she expected Amanda to smell bad.
“Can I help you?” she asked, wondering who the woman was and why she was dressed the way she was, her smart suit and heels way out of place in Homestead.
“Well, you could start by inviting me in,” the woman said, pushing past Amanda, then sniffing the air again when she was inside.
Amanda watched shocked as the woman walked around the cabin, opening doors and drawers, until she finally came back to where Amanda was standing. “Are you going to ask me to sit down?” the woman demanded. “Or don’t people have manners in Alaska?”
“Most people from Alaska or not would have introduced themselves before they barged into someone’s home,” Amanda said, crossing her arms and resting them on her stomach.
The woman stared at her, then scoffed. “I guess I should have known that you wouldn’t recognize me, after all we don’t exactly run in the same circles,” she said, then extended her hand, finger limp and announced, “I’m Bridget Taylor, Theo’s mother.”
Amanda’s heart sank. This was not how she’d imagined meeting Theo’s mother; of course she also hadn’t imagined that this mother would be so rude either. “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Taylor, won’t you please sit down?” Amanda said, trying to sound calmer than she felt.
Bridget looked around her, then chose a chair by the window, but before she sat down, she pulled a handkerchief out of her purse and dusted off the seat. When she’d settled herself in the chair, she looked at Amanda who was still standing shocked in the middle of the room.
“Aren’t you going to offer me something to drink?”
“I’m sorry, would you like something to drink? I have coffee and tea but not a lot else I’m afraid,” Amanda said, wondering what had just happened, how Theo’s mom had suddenly appeared in Homestead.
“I’ll take coffee and it better not be decaffeinated. You are drinking decaffeinated cof
fee and tea, aren’t you?” When Amanda nodded her head, his mother continued. “And I’d like something to eat while you’re in there. It was a long trip and I find that I’m a bit hungry.”
Amanda found herself in the kitchen following Theo’s mother’s orders before she realized what she was doing, but she was still reeling and it seemed like the easiest thing to do just then. When she brought the coffee and sandwich she’d managed to put together from the meager supplies she had in the kitchen and set in down in front of Theo’s mother, the woman wrinkled her nose.
“A sandwich? I travel all this way and you give me a sandwich?” she said, then mumbled under her breath, “I don’t know why I expected anything more.”
Amanda had taken all she was going to take. “I’m afraid that’s the best I can do. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m the only one here. I don’t eat my meals here, nor do I have a cook to prepare you food. If you want something more I’d suggest that you go to the main house like I do,” she said with a false smile plastered on her face.
Bridget stood up and huffed, then said, “Well then, I guess that’s just what I’ll have to do. Anything would be better than this.”
Amanda followed her to the door without saying a word, anything she might say right then would only make things worse. When she got to the door, she was horrified to see that the woman had driven her car through the tender grass that grew in front of the cabin and right up to the door, leaving deep tire tracks in the ground. She opened her mouth to say something but shut it again, holding her breath until Bridget was in the car and was driving away. Then she pulled her phone out of her pocket and called Lauren.
When Lauren picked up, Amanda didn’t even give her a chance to speak. “Theo’s mother is here and on her way to the main house.”
Carry My Baby Page 11
