Return to Corbin's Bend

by Corinne Alexander

  “What could you possibly have that will fix this?”

  “Close your eyes.”

  “Seriously?”

  Crystal slapped her bottom. “Do it or you’re not getting your surprise.”

  Carol rolled her eyes despite the smack before squeezing them shut, motivated by the distant hope that Crystal might just have the sperm hidden somewhere on her person. That was about the only thing that would fix this situation.

  “Open,” Crystal said, this time closing the door.

  “You have our sperm!” Carol screamed.

  “Shh. The windows are open. People around here are used to different kinds of noises escaping through the windows than that.”

  “Sorry. I’m just so excited.” She picked up the metal cylinder that was keeping their little swimmers frozen within its protective interior and danced around the living room with it.

  “Seriously, put it down. If you break it, we’ll be cleaning up a very different mess and we’ll owe a lot of money on that canister. It has to go back.”

  “Sorry,” Carol said, settling the precious cargo on the floor.

  “Thank you.”

  “What do we need? Are we organized?” Carol was close to being manic.

  “Stop or I am going to spank you, even if it’s just to calm you down.”

  “I’m calm.”

  “Good sit. We’re going to go through the booklet and make sure we know what we have to do.”

  “We’ve read it like a thousand times.”

  “I know, but this time’s for keeps. We need to be sure. I need to be sure. This is down to me remember?”

  “Let’s look.” Carol didn’t want to make a mistake either.

  “I’m really not hungry,” Carol said. “How can you even think about food at a time like this?”

  “Because I want to do this calmly. Bri isn’t here and I thought it would be romantic if we spent five minutes sharing a meal and enjoying each other’s company.”

  “Sorry. How was your day?”

  “Eventful, yours?” Crystal asked with a grin.

  “It certainly was but now everything’s working and I feel excited and relieved and a lot of things all rolled in to one.”

  “I know what you mean.”

  Crystal stood to take her plate to the kitchen. “You’re not going to eat anymore?”

  “I can’t. I swear I can’t.”

  “I’ll let you off this time.” Crystal took the plate and pressed her lips against Carol’s hair. “Why don’t you go and shower and I’ll see you in the bedroom in about fifteen minutes.”

  “Is that absolutely necessary?”

  “I think so. Carol, just do it, please.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Carol did her best to get to the bathroom without stomping. How hard was it to just get the stuff into the syringe and squirt it where it was meant to go?

  Crystal opened the bathroom door, blinking at thick steam. “Carol, you can come out now, honey.”

  Carol stepped through the doorway naked as she hadn’t thought to stop and pick up a night-shirt. She gasped. “Cryssy, it’s beautiful.” Across their dresser, on their bedside tables, everywhere that there was a surface except the one next to Carol’s side of the bed, were lit tea lights. On Carol’s side was the necessary needleless syringe. The lights were dimmed and Pink’s -Love Song- was playing in the background. The singer’s soft gravelly voice and the gentle tones of an acoustic guitar wafted over her, settling her with a peace.

  Crystal took her love into her arms and kissed her deeply. “Lay down. I don’t want to rush you but we need to do this.”

  Carol immediately climbed on to the bed and positioned herself as they’d discussed, she understood the time restraints. The effort that Crystal had gone to had blown her away but the thing that affected her more than that as she climbed on to the bed beside her was the tears that sparkled in her girlfriend’s eyes.

  “I love you,” she said with a voice so soft that Carol barely recognized it.

  Within seconds it was done.

  “Now for the fun part,” Crystal said. She hopped on to her knees and grabbed Carol’s feet.

  “What are you doing?”

  “You want to have the best chance don’t you?”

  “Of course I do,” she said with a strangled voice as her legs were hoisted skyward.

  “We discussed this. Gravity is not your friend.”

  “I know. Didn’t that leaflet say something about an orgasm helping?”

  “It sure did but that wasn’t a pamphlet written for spanko’s. I have my own methods for that. It would be such a shame to waste this ever so convenient position.” She slipped Carol’s two feet against her shoulder and held them with one arm wrapped around them leaving the other free.

  “No!” Carol giggled, trying to squirm out of Crystal’s firm hold.

  “Stop! You’ll spill your sperm.” She slapped the wriggling white cheeks several times, clipping the underside of her bottom and the edge of her sex. “I quite like this.”

  “I bet you do.”

  “It’s fun don’t you think?”

  The smacks weren’t hard and if Carol was to be honest, she was enjoying the tingle that the smart taps were giving her, especially the ones that warmed her pussy lips. She couldn’t help herself, a finger slid between her lips and touched her thumping clit, flicking and circling in time with the smacks that were getting more solid all the time.

  “That’s it, baby, let yourself go.”

  With a final solid smack, Carol stiffened. Crystal stopped spanking and kissed her behind each knee and it was all it took to finish her. “I’m coming!” she cried as wave after wave pulsed through her.

  “Two birds with one stone,” Crystal said, finally lowering her legs on to the bed. “Now we wait.”

  “Carol, I’m going to tan your ass if you buy one more pregnancy test before it’s time.”

  “I can’t help it.”

  “You can help it. If it’s too soon, it won’t matter whether you’re pregnant or not, it’s not going to show.”

  “You keep saying all that but I just can’t walk past that aisle in the market.”

  Crystal felt for Carol. She’d been through this and she knew how tempting it was to keep checking but the fact remained that this hadn’t been a cheap process to start off with and they just couldn’t afford to spend upwards of fifty dollars a week on useless pregnancy tests, especially if God willing they had a pregnancy and birth and another child to worry about. “Then stay out of the market. I’ll shop.”

  “I won’t buy anymore, I promise for another week, then it’ll be time.”

  “Good girl.”

  “But, Crystal?”

  “Yes, honey?”

  “Can I use the ones I already bought?”

  “How many do you have left?”

  “Two. You can’t get mad about that when I already had them.”

  “You can use those,” Crystal said, shaking her head. “Not today. Wait two more days before you use one and then two more days for the next.” Maybe it was a bit harsh to cut her off cold turkey. She might be able to eek her out until a few days before her period at least.

  Carol did as she was told and waited two more days. She even considered waiting a little longer but the draw of not knowing was too much. Crystal was making breakfast so she had time. Bacon was their Sunday morning treat. She loved Sunday morning breakfast; all the good stuff as well as the salty meaty goodness that wasn’t part of their health routine at any other time. She brushed her teeth and tied her hair into a ponytail and then glanced at the stick. No.

  “Crystal!” she yelled. “Crys!”

  “What’s wrong?” Crystal ran down the hallway and thumped on the door when it wouldn’t budge. “Open the damn door, it’s locked!”

  She clicked the lock and Crystal burst in, horror all over her face. But she melted when Carol held up the stick. “We’re pregnant.”

  Epilogue

  C
rystal narrowed her eyes. Carol had been getting increasingly bratty. She’d stopped spanking her as soon as they found out she was pregnant and the result was her girlfriend’s return to teenage Carol. That was a slight exaggeration, but still fairly accurate. “I’ve asked you to take it easy, Dr Marcus has told you to take it easy, and so has the midwife. Now I’m telling you, I’m going to start a diary and when all this is over, you are in for a shock.”

  “I don’t really think that shock’s the right word. I mean, we do live in Corbin’s Bend,” Carol said with a grin.

  “Are you trying to get yourself spanked?”

  “Now why would I do that? Do you think I’m a sadist or something?”

  “Carol, stop.” She didn’t know if it was the sass talk that got to her or the smart ass swagger that Carol was sporting lately but this little woman who was now nearly as wide as she was tall, was pushing her buttons big time.

  “Stop what?”

  “Stop bating me, miss, or you might just get what you’re looking for a lot sooner than you think.”

  “You won’t.”

  “Well we won’t have long to wait either way will we?” Crystal kissed Carol’s head determined to stop the argument; that wouldn’t help to lower her creeping blood pressure. Besides, there was a bigger argument coming. Unless her blood pressure lowered significantly and stayed there, the home birth Carol had her heart set on wasn’t going to happen. “Because I love you, I’m going to explain this one more time. You are on bed rest so that we can get you better in time for the big event that you want so badly.”

  “You mean giving birth? That’s going to happen whether I leave my bed or not.”

  Crystal pressed her lips together in frustration. “You know what I mean.”

  Carol’s smart ass grin dropped. “I will give birth here in our home and both the baby and I will be fine, I can feel it in my bones.”

  “If the midwife says you need to go to the hospital, then you’ll be going to the hospital.” Crystal thought Carol wasn’t taking a blind bit of notice of her but she was apparently wrong, because the next minute her girlfriend was in tears.

  “I’m so bored.”

  “Are you saying that laying in bed with me doing a jigsaw puzzle isn’t exciting?”

  “Maybe,” Carol said with a sniff. “Are you serious? It’s like watching paint dry.”

  “I tell you what; you go and pop back in bed and have a nap and I’ll get you a surprise.”

  “Really?”

  “Really.”

  “Could there be chocolate involved?”

  “There may be some chocolate.”

  “Yay.”

  Crystal smiled as Carol leaned up and kissed her and then waddled back to bed, her usual night-shirt hiked up to look almost like one of Bri’s t-shirts. “Good girl.”

  She sighed. It had been almost eight months and things between her and Carol’s friends had still been strained. Not by her; as far as she was concerned it was over, but Jen and Sienna and Erin had avoided her where ever possible. They weren’t rude, but they only made small talk and then scurried off with an excuse. It was high time she cleared the air.

  Crystal stood nervously on Jen and Brock’s doorstep. At one time this had been like a home away from home as the two couples, sometimes all the couples, played cards or board games. That hadn’t been the case for a while. Things had been awkward. More and more Crystal was worrying that that was the cause of Carol’s stress. Her pregnant girlfriend still saw her friends but not as much since her leave had started. She’d taken all her vacation days to be with Carol and prepare for the baby. The girls had given their house a wide birth. Suddenly the door swung open.

  “Hi,” Jen said. “Oh my, there’s nothing wrong is there? She hasn’t had the baby or gone into labor?”

  “No, to all of the above, sort of. No baby yet.”

  “You better come in,” Jen said with a smile.

  “Here’s the thing,” Crystal said, perching on the edge of Jen’s couch. “I wanted to ask you...”

  Jen was just sitting there waiting to hear what she had to say.

  “Jen, I’m sorry,” Crystal said.

  “What for?” Jen asked, her face masked with confusion.

  “I don’t know really, for making you feel so weird about things that you don’t feel you can come around.”

  “You didn’t make me feel weird, Crystal. I guess if anything, I was embarrassed about what we did. Brock made me see that I, we, had stomped all over your business and your privacy, so it’s me that should apologize to you. I’m sorry for all that we did.”

  “Why don’t you come around, because I’m there?”

  “No! Nothing like that. You took time off to be with your family. None of us wanted to intrude.”

  “I see. What if I was to tell you that I have one very impatient, pain in the ass girlfriend that needs a spanking and can’t have one, that is bored and lonely and in the need of some friends?”

  “Really?”

  “Really. It’s not just Carol. We miss you guys and I’m really worried about her. She needs a distraction.”

  “I have the perfect thing!” Jen said, the beaming smile she hadn’t seen for a while plastered across her face. “A baby shower.”

  “That would be great! I don’t know what we’re having though so I can’t tell anyone what color to buy.”

  “That’s fine. It doesn’t matter about colors. It matters about games and food and all the fun stuff.”

  “So long as the games involve Carol laying down. She’s on bed rest.”

  “That’s no problem at all. Will it be a surprise?”

  “It will.”

  Carol paced up and down, stretching and trying to relieve the stupid back ache that wouldn’t leave her alone. Crystal thought she was doing her a favor by making her stay in bed but she was making it worse. It couldn’t be good for a person to lay down so much. When she saw their car on the driveway, she hurried to get back in bed.

  “Did you get out of bed again?” Crystal asked as she possibly saw Carol bounce onto the bed.

  “I went to the bathroom, that’s all.” This was slowly driving Carol crazy. She was so bored that getting up and scrubbing the kitchen floor was starting to sound appealing. Doing laundry would be a thrill.

  “Okay then but no more.”

  “I won’t, I promise. Where’s Bri?”

  “In her room doing something,” Crystal said.

  “Doing what?” Crystal had a weird look on her face like she was hiding something.

  “I don’t know. Making a surprise for the baby I think.”

  “Aww, that’s cute.”

  “She is cute. She so wants a baby brother. She says she’s absolutely a hundred percent sure it’s a boy.”

  “Well she’s at least half right,” Carol said. She watched as Crystal turned on the TV.

  “I thought we might watch a dvd,” Crystal said, answering the unasked question.

  “Which one?”

  “Glee,” Crystal said with a grin.

  “But you hate Glee.”

  “That’s how much I love you. I’ll even let you have the sound up.”

  “Shouldn’t we ask Bri if she wants to come and watch it with us?”

  “I think Bri is happy doing what she’s doing. I already asked her.”

  “Okay.” Carol shrugged.

  “It was so nice of Zach to mind all the kids so we could do this,” Sienna said. “It is so hard to keep them all quiet at the best of times but when it’s for a surprise.”

  “I know,” Erin said. “The girls so wanted to come, until they found out all the kids were coming to our house.

  Jen giggled. “I bet Zach has his hands full.”

  “He can handle it. I’m just glad that he’s a teacher and wasn’t at work like all the other guys.”

  “The twins didn’t want to come, they were only too pleased to go to your house.”

  “What time is everyone getting here?”
Sienna asked.

  “In about an hour and a half,” Jen said.

  “Keep still,” Crystal said, running her hand up and down Carol’s arm. “Try and relax and watch the show.”

  “I am trying,” Carol said.

  Crystal frowned as Carol’s face was very pink. “Do you feel okay?” she asked, pressing the back of her hand against her forehead.

  “I’m just going a little stir crazy from being stuck in bed.”

  “Well lay still and if you’re a good girl, I’ll take you outside later and you can lay on a lounger.”

  “That’d be nice,” Carol said, snuggling into the crook of Crystal’s arm.

  “Do these kids, and I say that loosely, I’m sure some of them are like thirty. Do any of them actually talk? They seem to sing everything.”

  “It’s a musical,” Carol said, yawning.

  “I never really understood musicals.” Crystal turned to look at Carol and realized she’d dozed off. Even in her sleep she seemed uncomfortable. Maybe they should look at a new mattress or something. Suddenly, Carol’s eyes sprang open.

  “I’m going to be sick.”

  Crystal leaped up and ran over to Carol’s side of the bed where she was just stumbling to her feet. “You okay? Do you want me to carry you?”

  “No,” Carol said, shoving past Crystal and staggering into their bathroom. “Um, Crystal?”

  “What is it, honey?”

  “Ahhhh,” Carol yelled.

  “What is it, honey, are you okay?”

  “No, I have pain.”

  Crystal was there in a second, just as Carol threw up.

  “Did it feel like a contraction?”

  “How would I know? It felt like a pain. I’ve never had a contraction before.”

  “Did it feel like a wave that kind of started slow and built up?”

  “I don’t know. It was probably nothing.”

  Crystal racked her brain for what Carol had eaten that day. There was nothing that could have been suspect. “If you think you’re in labor, then I think we should make our way to the hospital.”

  “I’m not in labor.”

  “But-”