McCallum Quintuplets

by Kasey Michaels

  “I don’t know if that’s good or bad.”

  “Good, very good,” she said, twisting her hand in his until their fingers were laced together.

  He pulled her hand to him, kissed it, then drew it down with his to his thigh. “Yes, very good.”

  He heard her sigh softly in the confines of the black Jeep. “Adam, who would have thought our lives would have gone like this. All that worry and trouble…” She sighed again. “Five babies. What a miracle.”

  He glanced at her, the love he felt for her beyond words. And his fear when he thought he would lose her as she was having the babies still lingered in the back of his soul. Losing her was beyond anything he could think about. They needed this time alone desperately. “Thanks for coming,” he murmured as he turned onto the gravel drive that led up the hill to the cabin and the lake.

  She didn’t respond, and he darted her a quick look. He was a bit taken aback to see her eyes closed tightly. Then they crested the hill in the road, which ended in the driveway to the sprawling cabin. The log and shingle structure his father had helped build the year before he was born was ahead of them, the steady rain robbing the afternoon of light and making the building look a bit foreboding.

  He drove under the protection of a jutting portico that shadowed the stairs that led to a wraparound porch and massive carved doors. He stopped the car and turned to Maggie, letting his gaze skim over her. She was achingly lovely even in an oversize gray sweatshirt, slender jeans and chunky boots.

  She’d taken him at his word. Nothing fancy. Not even any makeup. Her short, feathery cap of hair framed her delicately boned face, a thinner face since the babies had come. And those eyes that had shadows they shouldn’t have and looked tired too much lately. She wouldn’t take the offer of more help, almost frantic to be with each baby as much as she could be.

  She looked at him, a fleeting glance from under lashes that needed no mascara to enhance them. “I almost forgot about this place. It’s been so long.”

  This was the place they had first made love, and the place, he was certain now, the babies had been conceived. Their place. No one else in the family came out here anymore. Not even his father. It had become theirs until the babies were on the way. Then it had been shuffled to one side, the way so many things had been in the past months. But now they were here, together, and the magic was still here for him.

  He let go of her hand to lightly brush her cheek with the back of his fingers, deep shadows cast there by the soft green of the dash lights. Her body heat radiated into him. “Damn straight it’s been too long,” he murmured roughly, and leaned toward her, tasting her soft lips before pulling back. If he could have smiled then, he would have, but he felt unsteady, and his need for her was unbearable. “Do you remember the first time we came here?”

  He felt her tremble slightly, and she said, “How could I forget? I hadn’t ever been out of the city, and here I was in the middle of the wilderness.”

  “The wilderness? It’s a lake and some trees, not the end of civilization.” He smiled, an easy expression to muster as he remembered her thinking she could hike in suede boots or that he could be here alone with her and not want to make love to her. “Although I seem to remember that you thought it was when we couldn’t get pizza delivered and you were shocked that we used real wood in the fireplace and didn’t have gas logs.”

  Her soft chuckle sounded delicious to him. “The roles were changed, weren’t they? Me, the teacher, and you were teaching me about roughing it.”

  He remembered just what they taught each other that first time, and his body began to ache in the most wonderful way. “You taught me a lot, too.” He slipped his hand behind her neck, burying his fingers in the silky fringe of hair. “You taught me that two people can meet, a simple meeting, looking at each other, and that it could change my life. I fell madly in love with you.” He grinned at her. “We taught each other so much, and the second time we came here, we knew exactly what to do, didn’t we?”

  “Exactly,” she whispered and leaned toward him, her lips a feathery caress on his, then her breath brushing his skin with warmth. “I can’t believe that we found each other like that,” she said in a low, unsteady voice. Then he felt her tremble. “Can we go inside?”

  She didn’t have to ask him more than once. He moved away from her, got out of the Jeep and strode through the cold damp air to go around to her door. She opened it, and before she could get out, he reached for her, taking her hand again. “Come on,” he said, taking her with him up the two steps that led to the wraparound porch.

  She took two steps at once to keep up with him. He let her go long enough to get the key out of his pocket, unlock the door and swing it open. Then he turned to her. The ancient trees that framed the front of the cabin, the way the rain blurred the day around them, were lost on him. All he saw was Maggie. “Twenty-four hours,” he murmured. “I’m not wasting any of it.”

  She grinned, a fantastic expression that hit deep in his being, then she was moving past him into the cabin, breathing, “Amen.” He moved with her, thankful Grace had taken care of everything so quickly. The cabin seemed as if it was waiting for them, aired and ready. Maggie flipped on the overhead light and turned to him, inches separating them. “Okay, we’re here, and I’m open to anything,” she said, a slight huskiness in her voice. “So, swimming is doable in the rain. Hiking? Nah,” she said with a shake of her head. “Fishing is questionable.”

  He swung the door shut before he went closer to her, sensing her heat but not touching her…yet. It was just like old times. The slight smile. The teasing. That connection, and for a moment, he couldn’t remember why he’d been afraid for them. “Can I add to your list of possible activities?”

  “You can do anything you want.”

  He touched her then, lightly cupping her chin with one hand. “Anything? Are you sure?”

  She pressed her hands flat against his chest, and he knew that his heart was hammering. “I trust you, and I’m very sure,” she whispered. His breath caught when her hands slowly moved lower and her hand found the fastener at the waist of his jeans. She tugged at it, unsnapping it. “I’m very sure.”

  As she said those words, all the things that had made these twenty-four hours happen were more than worth it. Missed business meetings, a deposition that wouldn’t happen on time, paying Louise double to stay with Grace and Douglas, getting past the fact that his father had seen what was happening to them so clearly.

  “Okay, you’ve got it. We’re going back to the beginning, to when it all started,” he said as he swept her into his arms. He stopped just long enough to kiss her fiercely before carrying her into the bedroom at the back of the cabin, into shadows and the sound of rain beating on the French doors that lined the back of the room.

  Maggie had never lived in the past. The present and the future fascinated and intrigued her and were full enough to keep her more than busy. But for that split second, she was back at the beginning, to the first time Adam had picked her up like this in the cabin. To that moment when she knew that she would give herself to him because she loved him, and knew that her life was never going to be the same because of him.

  She held him, her eyes closed tightly as she tried to absorb the overwhelming feelings that flooded through her. Love and completeness. Everything she’d wanted all her life, everything she’d found in this man from the start, everything she’d forgotten in the middle of the business of their new lives. They moved together, his voice a rumble against her cheek where it rested in the hollow of his shoulder. “I love you,” he said, his voice as unsteady as she felt.

  Then he was easing her down into the coolness of the linen, and she opened her eyes to the main bedroom in the cabin, to the vaulted wooden ceilings, whitewashed walls and the sound of rain against the windows that overlooked the view of the water. Adam was with her in the bed, gathering her to him, and in that moment, nothing else existed.

  A crack of thunder made her jump slightly
, then a flash of lightning washed the room in brilliance, moving over Adam so close to her. It exposed the lines etched in his face, the plane of his strong jaw, eyes filled with a fire that echoed in her. She reached to touch him, feeling the prickling of a new beard at his chin, then her forefinger touched his lips, so soft, such a contradiction to the hardness of the man.

  He took her finger into his mouth, into heat and warmth, and the seductive act made her tremble. Love was such an inadequate word for what she felt for him, and loneliness was such an inadequate word for what she felt when he wasn’t there.

  He shifted, his hand slipping under her sweatshirt, and his eyes never left hers. A smile came when his hand skimmed on her bare skin, finding no bra, just the weight of her full breasts. His smile was crooked, his chuckle rough. “You really didn’t dress up, did you?” he murmured.

  “Well, we were short on time, and I didn’t want to waste any of it with any…” Her voice stopped on a shudder when he bent toward her and touched his lips to her throat, finding a spot by her ear that sent signals deep into her being. Then the shirt was being slipped off, and the jeans followed. Adam’s hands against her naked skin, his heat mingling with hers and the beating of the rain on the windows only echoed her heartbeat.

  There was an urgency in her, a fierce need for him that shook her. It had only started the other night. She tugged at his clothes, needing to feel him, to know him, to be part of him. Then his clothes were gone, tossed away, and she and Adam lay together, their bodies entwined in the cool linen, her head against his heart, his breath ruffling her hair as the storm built outside.

  “I want this to last forever.” He breathed roughly as his hands slipped lower, skimming over the curve of her hip, then circling to the front, splaying his fingers on her stomach. “For it to never stop.”

  She felt a slight hesitation as his hand explored her, the way her body had changed after the babies still bothering her a bit. Adam stopped, his hand still on her abdomen, and he drew back to look at her. “What?”

  She felt foolish and vain, but she told him the truth. “I wish…” She bit her lip, startled at the tears that burned behind her eyes. “Oh, shoot,” she muttered, falling back to stare at the ceiling. “I wish I worked out ten hours a day and jogged every morning.”

  “You do a lot more just taking care of the babies,” he said, so close to her that his breath played warmly across her bare breasts.

  She was shocked that she hadn’t thought of the babies for a while. She’d forgotten to remember, and that brought her up short. “Do you think I should call Grace?” she asked as she twisted toward him, their legs tangling together.

  “No.” The single word came out abruptly, then he softened it. “It’s only been a few hours, and she’s got the number here.”

  “I know, I know, but what if—”

  He touched her lips with two fingers, hushing her completely. “Maggie, love, stop it. Twenty-four hours. The two of us. Remember?”

  “I remember,” she said, trying to focus, to regain that feeling from just moments ago.

  “I thought you said I could do anything I wanted to do,” he whispered, and moved, startling her when his lips found her nipple. It peaked immediately, and she groaned spontaneously, her thoughts jumbling from the pure pleasure of his touch on her. “I want to do this,” he murmured against her skin, and his hand slipped lower, tracing the curve of her hip. “And this.” He touched her stomach again, then slipped lower. “And definitely this.” He breathed hoarsely as he found her center.

  He pressed his hand against her, moving slowly, and she arched against his touch without even thinking about what she was doing. Every thought was gone. She wanted him. She needed him. Then his fingers slipped into her, and she gasped, lifting her hips to meet his hand. She felt him deep inside her, then he was gone, and in the next instant, he was over her, and she felt him against her again. His hard strength touched her, tested her with its velvety heat. Then, as she wrapped her legs around his hips, he pressed into her, deeply and completely into her.

  Both of them were motionless for a long moment, savoring the sensation, the oneness, then Adam was moving, slowly at first, then faster, a pace that matched her aching need for him. She met him, over and over again, feeling that building of ecstasy that threatened to shatter her into a million pieces. Until the apex came. The final thrust, that instant when there was nothing between the two of them, when for a split second in eternity, she melted right into Adam and became one with him.

  She heard a voice cry out and knew that it was hers, the pleasure beyond anything she could absorb, the climax together, pure sensation and release. Then she was with Adam, tangled with him, holding him, the rain beating outside and his heart beating against her cheek. The babies had been conceived on a night like this, that one time in all those months when their lovemaking had been intense and spontaneous, without any mention of the thermometer or it being “the right time.” They’d come to relax, and they’d ended up making the babies.

  She snuggled closer to Adam, holding him, loving him for being a part of the five tiny lives. But even as she rested with him, she had to fight the urge to call home and check on those lives. So tiny, so fragile. She felt his breathing start to even out, and she made herself lie there. She made herself close her eyes, and she made herself try to not think about anything but the moment.

  But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t sleep, and she couldn’t get past the niggling feeling that something could be wrong, that the babies might need her. She felt Adam’s heart against her cheek, felt him take one easy breath after the other. He was sleeping, and all she could think of was being so far from the babies.

  Grace would call her, she told herself. She’d promised. Then thunder tore through the cabin, followed by the brilliance of lightning flooding the bedroom. What if the phones were out? The cell phone was in the car. Maybe the cabin phone hadn’t even been hooked up. She should have checked. She should have made sure.

  She waited as long as she could, then eased back from Adam. She’d just check. And if the phone didn’t work, she could get the cell phone. Adam would never have to know. He’d sleep, and she’d be back before he woke and knew anything about it. She’d just make sure.

  Chapter Four

  Adam woke to soft darkness, rain beating against the cabin windows and an empty bed beside him. He shifted, felt coolness in the sheets, then opened his eyes and pushed himself to a sitting position. “Maggie?” he called through the shadows as he looked around. The room was empty, and it was night. The rain was really coming down, and a damp chill was in the air.

  “Maggie?” he called again. Nothing.

  He got up, and without bothering with any clothes, crossed to open the bathroom door, but Maggie wasn’t there. He turned, listening, but couldn’t hear anything. He went to the bedroom door, opened it but only found shadows, chilly air and the echoing sound of rain beating on the windows. No Maggie.

  “Maggie?”

  Nothing.

  For a moment Adam had the real fear that Maggie had gone, that she’d driven off back to the house. The he saw that the front door was ajar. As he started for it, he heard footsteps on the porch, then the door was pushed open and Maggie was there.

  With the stormy night at her back, she looked almost waiflike in the gray sweatshirt, bare legs and feet, her eyes deeply shadowed. “Where in the hell?”

  She held up the cell phone. “The house phone is out, and I went out to the car to get the cell,” she said, coming in and closing the door.

  “Why?”

  “I told you, the house phone isn’t working.”

  She came closer, and he could see the way she was holding the phone, as if it were her lifeline. “What’s going on?”

  “I just…” She bit her lip and was so close that he could catch the scent of her in the air. “Adam, I was going to call Grace,” she said, then added quickly, “just to check.”

  She tilted her head, watchin
g him, trying to read him, and all he could think of was he sort of liked her short hair now. It exposed the sweep of her neck when she tilted her head that way, an enticing invitation.

  “I need to check, Adam,” she said when he didn’t respond. “You can understand that, can’t you?”

  Of course he could, and he did. “Just what do you think’s going on?”

  “That’s just it, I don’t know.” She shrugged, a painfully vulnerable action of her slender shoulders. “I’m going to call,” she said, but didn’t move to put in the number. She watched him with a touch of uncertainty.

  Did she think he’d forbid her to call? Had he come across as that heartless? That pained him. “Go ahead and call,” he said, then added, “then we can get back into bed.”

  He’d meant to be suggestive, to retrieve a trace of that passion that had been there between them so recently, but that didn’t happen. Before he’d finished his statement, she was dialing the number to home on the cell phone and pressing the send button.

  “Grace, it’s Maggie. I just…” She glanced at Adam. “I wanted to make sure everything is okay.”

  As he watched her, he saw the uncertainty change. Her eyes widened slightly, and her mouth tightened. “What?” she asked with a touch of tension in her voice.

  He went closer, catching her eyes, motioning to the phone. “What’s going on?” he whispered, but she barely looked at him.

  “Exactly what did he say?” she asked.

  She listened intently, and when Adam laid his hands on her shoulders from behind, he felt her jerk with shock. She twisted, looked at him, then spoke into the phone again. “I knew it. I shouldn’t have…” He felt her release a shuddering breath. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” She closed her eyes tightly as she listened for a brief moment before saying, “I said I’ll be there.”

  She hit the end button, dropped the phone on a chair then slipped out of Adam’s touch and headed to the bedroom. “What’s going on?” he asked, going after her.