by Sadie Savage
“Four weeks,” he told her.
“Four weeks? No way. I can’t have a baby in four weeks!” she said.
“You can. You will. It’s just the way it is,” he said.
Joshua lay his phone to one side and nodded at her as if to confirm it. He smiled at her in an almost apologetic fashion as if to say they were sorry they were completely fucking up her life. Goldie wondered if they truly were though. In one way, maybe they were, but in another, they were freeing her. This might just be the best thing that had ever happened to her.
“Okay. We have a lot to sort out in short time,” she said, trying to remain calm.
“Yes, we do,” Joshua nodded, leaning forward to look at her. His eyes grew very serious as he looked into hers and asked his next question. “But before we begin making formal plans, there is one question you need to answer to yourself, Goldie. Forget what John and I want. Is this what you want?”
Goldie looked at him for a moment before glancing over at John, who was looking at her with equal intensity, awaiting her answer. She thought back to last night, how wonderful it had felt to have them both. Her mind wandered to consider how nice it would be to live with two men who could provide her with such different emotional and physical experiences. She couldn’t imagine any single man ever coming along that could make her feel quite as complete as the two of them combined.
“Yes,” she replied simply.
“Are you sure?” Joshua asked, still studying her face.
“I’m very sure,” she replied, not feeling an ounce of reserve. She really did believe that this could work and she could be happy.
“Well, then I guess we should make plans to move forward then,” John said.
After a hardy breakfast, the trio convened to the back room of John’s store to hash out their plans. The hardest decision was for Goldie to quit her job on the TV series and relocate to Bear Lake, but the upside to that was it would force her to finally take a chance on becoming more of an entrepreneur and consulting on costume design in her own capacity. John and Joshua were perfectly willing to support her until after the baby was born and she could focus on setting up her own business. In fact, they weren’t really concerned with whether she worked at all.
A visit to the doctor the following week made things just a bit more interesting. John and Joshua had told her she would not have a litter, but they hadn’t counted on what the doctor had to say about her pregnancy.
“Well, Goldie. I’ve completed my exam and gotten the results back from the tests we did,” he told her on the phone. “Are you sitting down?”
“Yes. Why? What’s wrong?” she asked, feeling an impending sense of doom.
“It looks like you won’t be having just one baby,” he told her.
“What do you mean?” she replied, envisioning quadruplets or some such nonsense.
“Twins. You are carrying twins.” he told her.
“Really? Twins?” she repeated.
“Yes. Two boys,” he told her.
“Thank you doctor. I appreciate your calling,” she said, feeling a bit speechless. Even twins were more than she had banked on.
“No problem. I’ll see you next week for your checkup,” he told her.
Hanging up the phone, Goldie felt like she was in some sort of a daze. She made her way to the bedroom and lay down on the bed, trying to gather her thoughts. Before she knew it, she had drifted off to sleep and was being awakened by John as he came in from work. Because Joshua worked longer hours, she had been staying at his place while they sold their places and looked for one more suited to their rapidly growing family.
“How do you feel?” he asked, rubbing his large hands across her massively pregnant belly.
“The doctor says we are having twin boys,” she told him.
“Really? That’s fantastic news!” he replied.
“Is it? Maybe for you. You don’t look like you swallowed a beach ball,” she replied.
“Don’t be silly. You look beautiful. Joshua and I couldn’t be happier. We both love you so much,” he told her.
“I love you too, but twins? How are we ever going to manage that?” she said.
“Just like anyone else that has twins. Plus, you have two fathers to help you with them,” he reminded her.
“I suppose,” she said.
“Have you told Joshua?” he asked.
“No, not yet. I was going to call both of you, but I feel asleep.”
“You should call him. He’s going to be through the roof excited.”
“Are we talking about the same man? Joshua is the poster child for calm, cool and collected.”
“Trust me, when you get to know him better, you will see so much more of him. He might be reserved, but he feels just as deeply as the rest of us. Joshua was raised in an orphanage. He doesn’t express himself like we do, but he is full of a passion that is just as breathtaking as yours and mine,” John told her.
“You know him well,” Goldie replied, wondering how her two loves had become so close and feeling just a tad envious that, in some ways, they were closer to one another than they were to her.
“Yes. I do. One day, you will know him just as well. I’ve just had more time to see behind the walls he puts up. Don’t underestimate him, Goldie,” John told her, kissing her on the cheek and handing her the cell phone. “Call him and tell him the exciting news.”
Goldie hit speed dial and waited for Joshua to answer. He sounded a bit preoccupied with work at first, as if he had picked up his phone without looking at the caller ID, but then looked at it and realized it was her.
“Well, hello gorgeous. What’s up?” he said after an initial answer that had consisted simply of “Joshua here.”
“I was calling to tell you that we are having twins,” she told him.
“You’re shitting me!”
“I shit you not,” she replied with a laugh.
“That’s fantastic! I’m even more excited now. I would offer to bring home some champagne to celebrate the good news, but I know you can’t drink. I’ll buy a bottle for after the birth instead. Tell John that he and I are having celebratory beers at least,” he told her.
Two weeks later, Goldie gave birth to twins boys. They were fraternal. One had a full head of black wavy hair and the other was sandy haired. Both had the most incredible blue eyes just like their fathers. Goldie couldn’t help but wonder if it was possible for them to have two different fathers, but as it turned out, she didn’t have to ask.
“Fascinating,” the doctor said as he tended to their new sons.”
“What is fascinating?” she asked, Joshua and John both completely involved in fawning over the boys once they had determined that she was fine.
“It would seem that multiple births born to humans are just the same as those born to bears out in the wild, but I’d need to run tests to be certain,” he told her.
“I don’t understand,” she told him.
“Bears mate with different suitors when they are in heat. As a result, it is not unusual for them to bear cubs that are the offspring of multiple fathers. While I can’t be certain just from looking at them, their coloring and facial characteristics reflect that your sons are quite possibly of two different fathers. In other words, one looks exactly like Joshua and the other looks exactly like John. Do you care if I do DNA testing to be certain?” he asked
“I appreciate your curiosity, doctor and if you would like to put your theory to rest, then I will allow the testing, but I ask that you keep the results to yourself. As far as I am concerned, these children belong to both fathers and always will. I don’t want to differentiate between them in any way,” she said.
“That seems fair to me,” he said with a wink, turning to retrieve the babies from their doting fathers and finish checking up on them before leaving them to start their lives with their parents.
Joshua and John stood on either side of her bed, beaming down at her with pride.
“Aren’t they beautifu
l boys?” she asked.
“Almost as beautiful as their mother,” Joshua replied, a rare sentimentality from him. She smiled at him and then over at John before closing her eyes and resting for a while. This was the beginning of what would be a very long and interesting life with two of the most perfect men she could have ever hoped to find. Somewhere, her search for what felt good had ended in something that felt just right.
THE END
Back to the Bear
Chapter 1
Walking on her tiptoes, carrying her shoes and stepping over the squeaky spot on the floor, Joy moved slowly and cautiously towards the front door. One wrong move would wake up Aris, and she couldn’t risk waking him up again. Several giant beer bottles were strewn around the room and all of them seemed to be pointed at her, ready to tell Aris who had dared wake him up from his always light, fitful sleep.
In order to get to the door, she would have to walk right by him. Aris had insisted on moving the couch right next to the front door of their cabin style house. “In case you get any ideas,” he’d explained, and now going out often meant stepping over at least one corner of the couch. Luckily, some of his awful friends had come by last night so he’d had to move it about halfway out of the path to the outside world. If she was very careful, she might just be able to open the knob, slip out, and make a run for it.
She stepped over an overturned chair, and as her foot came down the floorboards squeaked just a bit. She froze. Aris shifted on the couch and turned towards her, but after a few moments he went back to snoring. She waited anyway, hesitant to keep going, but once she was sure he was asleep she continued walking as silently as possible.
The door was now within reach; all she had to do was squeeze between the end of the couch and the massive bag of empty cans sitting precariously on a pair of sneakers long abandoned by the door. Joy reached out to twist the doorknob and gave the door a little push, but it wouldn’t budge. She pushed again; nothing. Something was blocking her way out.
Carefully moving alongside, the couch, Joy was careful not to let the hem of her dress touch any part of Aris. Even though he snored on, she had a chilling sensation that he wasn’t really sleeping but rather allowing her to believe he was unconscious so that he could lure her closer. It wouldn’t have been the first time.
The large bay window was behind the couch, but Joy couldn’t see the porch with the couch in the way. She would have to lean over it to see what was going on. Very carefully, she put a hand on the back of the sofa and leaned like a plank directly over her snoozing husband, her skirt tucked between her knees. Through the window, she could see the enormous body of Joe Hatchet, Aris’ largest and drunkest friend. He had passed out right by the door and would be dead asleep for most of the day.
The sight of Joe’s mountain-shaped frame made Joy let out a little sigh and the sound of it immediately woke up Aris.
When he opened his eyes, he saw his barefoot wife Joy standing and smiling like a happy recruit to his army of anger. He rubbed his face, thinking he was dreaming, but no; she was there with a big smile on her face.
“Hi honey! I just came down to check and see if you wanted any coffee.”
Aris smiled back. “Hey, this is how I like to wake up.” He reached for her hand and held it gently, swinging it a little. “A happy wife, ready to make me coffee. You know how I like it. I think Joe’s around here somewhere.” He looked around, a little confused.
“I haven’t seen him hon.” She moved into the destroyed kitchen, started the coffee, and then desperately started washing the dishes. Dammit, dammit, dammit. Today had been her day to get out. She had been sure it would happen today. There was still a chance; if Aris and Joe went out fishing she could get out then. Assuming he would leave her behind, which he only did occasionally. She knew if she was extra chipper, his good little wife, he’d let his guard down. Maybe.
Aris stumbled around the living room, kicking things out of the way. “Joe! Joe, my man. Where’d you go?”
From outside came a “What?” and Aris headed to the door.
Through the door, Joy could hear the two of them laughing about how adorable they were; getting drunk, passing out—weren’t they crazy? They were always quick to congratulate one another any time they overdid it, sure that they had been hilarious and fun the whole time they were destroying the furniture, breaking the TV or the refrigerator, or whatever they got their hands on. Joy always wondered at how a person could be happy about waking up in a pile of refuse over and over again. She honestly didn’t get it.
The coffee finished brewing and she poured out two extra big mugs, adding a tablespoon and a half of sugar to Aris’ mug and keeping Joe’s black. For the finishing touch she gave Aris’ a tiny splash of heavy cream just at the top, no stirring. Then she rushed around the living room—sure the two party boys would be back in any moment—picking up furniture, bottles, and garbage. She shoved it all into garbage bags and suddenly realized, she would have to walk these out to the curb. She could dump them and make a run for it.
The two men stumbled in, arms around one another, talking about some girl that Joe had been flirting with the night before.
“She wants me, I know it and you know it.” The two of them sat at the counter on the restaurant-style stools and drank their coffee. “It won’t be long until she’ll be making me coffee the way your little Joy does. Lucky bastard.” Joy continued cleaning. There was no reason to wait for a thank you or an invitation to join them; it wasn’t coming.
Joe watched Joy whip around the house, picking up, getting the spilled beer off the floor, anything to put things back in order so that Aris wouldn’t have anything to fault her for. “How did you get this little angel to marry you, Aris? How come a jerk like you has such a great little woman and I’m still single?”
Aris watched his wife over his cup’s edge. “She knows I love her no matter what. Isn’t that right, sweetheart?”
Joy stopped for a second to flash him her best smile. “That’s right.”
Joe just grunted and raised his eyebrows. “She sure works hard.”
“She likes it.” Aris put his cup down and watched his wife for a moment. “Hon, come over here for a minute.”
Oh no. She tilted her broom against the wall and walked over, the two pairs of eyes boring into her. “Your coffee okay?”
Without a word, Aris smacked her across the face. “I just thought you needed a little color. Seeing as you didn’t bother to put any makeup on.” He turned away from her and went back to his coffee. No one spoke. The only sound was that of Joe loudly slurping his coffee.
Joy stood, not quite sure what to do next, her face on fire from Ari’s slap. Finally, she shuffled back to her broom and quietly swept, the broom making a soft hush, hush on the wooden floor.
The two men focused on their mugs and their contents, neither looking at the other. Aris finally turned to Joe. “You going fishing today?”
“Can’t. My truck needs some work. Remember, I came here with Tully.”
“Oh yeah.” Aris picked up his cup and looked into it. The bottom of it was visible. “Joy, get over here and get me a second cup. Do not make me get it myself. I’m in no mood for your tricks.”
Walking fast, Joy swung around the two and into the kitchen, grabbing the pot and carefully pouring Aris his refill. She put it back and grabbed the cream, giving him a little dash in the top. Joe still had plenty so she moved around the counter again, but Aris grabbed her arm.
“None for Joe? What is this, national women’s lib day? Don’t be so rude.” He dropped her arm and she returned to her post by the coffee maker, settling in for a long wait. Joe glanced at her and she tried to send him a mental message. Help me. Be on my side, just once. Tell him to take it easy on me. Unfortunately for her, Joe’s alcohol and drug-soaked brain was unable to pick up pleas for help.
“It’s okay. I should mosey on home. Take a shower, give my own little cutie a call.” Turning to Joy, he added, “Sorry, doll. Be
off the market soon. Hate to crush your dreams but a man’s gotta follow his heart.” At the word heart he thrust his pelvis at her and then laughed hysterically. He waited for Aris to laugh with him, but his friend was silent.
The long, awkward pause didn’t affect Joe in the least. He just chuckled to himself, put on his hat and went out the door. Aris turned to Joy, his eyes deader and blacker than she’d ever seen.
“What was that about?”
“What hon?”
“You’ve been waiting for Joe? Carrying a torch for him? What’s going on?”
“I don’t know. I have no idea why he said that.”
Aris picked up his mug and threw it at her hard and fast. She ducked and it shattered against the wall.
“Don’t lie to me! What is going on between the two of you? Why are my friend and my wife keeping secrets?”
Joy stayed crouched near the floor, her hands up in surrender and her eyes squeezed shut. “It was just one of his dumb jokes, I don’t know why he said it!”
“Come here.” Joy stood slowly, already sobbing. He always said if he ever caught her cheating, he’d kill her. She believed it and she felt confident today was the day. “Faster. Do it. You know better than to lie to me and then hide in the kitchen. Get your butt over here, Joy.”
Joy glanced up and saw her purse hanging on the coat rack. It was only a few feet from the door. Aris was still sitting down and she had a clear path to freedom. She moved slowly, trying to keep her face blank, but angled her feet to the living room.
She only had a millisecond to do it, so she just didn’t think. At the last possible moment, she faked Aris out and sprinted for the door. Her bare feet flew across the now-clear floor, her left hand grabbed her purse and she flew out the door.
Behind her was a screaming, irate husband breaking everything in his path. He was massively hungover but angry enough that he was like a hurricane coming after her. “I’ll kill you! You stupid bitch, you think I won’t? Get back here!” She didn’t look, just focused on jumping over the steps and then racing around to the car port behind the cabin, one hand digging in her purse for the extra set of keys Aris didn’t know about.
