by Jamie Knight
At her home.
I had written down her home address on a post card and put it in my wallet.
As soon as the semester was over, I was going to go to her house and tell her how I felt about her and make her mine.
That is, if she still wanted to be mine.
If she ever really did.
I leaned back and closed my eyes, grateful to usher in sleep knowing that better days lay ahead.
I was going to get my girl.
Chapter 18
Jace
Driving away from the campus felt much like leaving one world and going into another one. It wasn’t until the collosial building disappeared behind me in the horizon that I realized how long I had been at the university. Other than a few intermittent trips back home, I really hadn’t had any other reason to leave.
I felt at home at the university. Everything in my world seemed right when I was there teaching. It wasn’t until meeting Izzy and feeling like something had been missing from my world that made me realize that I had to have her, even if it did mean costing me my tenure or anything else.
But it was enough for me to prepare my mind (and possibly my jaw) for whatever her father might throw my way. I knew that how I felt about Izzy was much more than skin deep, even though the physical part of our relationship was one that lingered right under the surface in my memory, making me crave her even more. If it meant that I would have to fight her father to be with her, then so be it.
As I turned down the street that was the one where the GPS said that I would find her house, my heart started beating a little bit faster. I wasn’t sure if it was from the thought of finally being reunited with Izzy, the woman that had come to have a very special place in my heart or if I was afraid that it might end with me taking a trip to jail or, worse, the hospital. I tightened my grip around the wheel, my knuckles turning white as I willed myself to get a grip mentally, too.
I crept down the block, searching for the house. It came into view, an old gray house with fading aluminum siding. The house was well-kept with a neatly trimmed yard. It was a simple house, not much in the yard to show signs of life. It wasn’t fancy. You could tell that the people who lived in this house didn’t waste much time out in the yard, like they figured that their time would be well-spent elsewhere. I respected their to-the-point lifestyle and it made sense why their daughter excelled. I turned off the car and stepped out, lifting my head high as I walked up the walkway toward their house.
I rang the doorbell, my fists clenched by my sides as I braced myself for what was to come. After a few minutes, the door swung open. I almost thought that it had opened on its own until I looked down and saw Marilyn standing in front of me, her head barely coming up to my chest.
I jumped back startled, almost falling backward down the two steps leading up to the large oak door.
“Oh my,” I cried out. “I hadn’t expected—“
“Well, I’ve been waiting for you,” she said, her eyes squinting at me angrily. “It’s about time you showed up.”
My eyes snapped open wide.
“Huh?” I asked, not at all sure what she meant.
“Don’t worry about it,” she said, waving her hands and stepping to the side to let me in. “Izzy’s in her room. I’m assuming that you came to talk to her. You two definitely need to talk about what’s been going on and what you plan to do.”
Her words were coming fast, and my head was spinning. I walked down the hallway, feeling like I was floating in a dream, passing pictures of Izzy and her family over the years. It was like a window of her world that I hadn’t even thought of, her progression, all leading to the closed door that her mother had pointed toward, the door that would lead me to my girl.
I knocked on the door gingerly and waited, leaning forward to hear. I heard feet shuffle toward the door and it slowly creaked open. I pushed my way inside, fumbling along the wall for a light in the dark room. I found it and a bright light from overhead flooded the room, making Izzy wince and put her arms over her face. She was sitting at a desk in the room in the dark.
“I thought you were my mom,” she said, a thick blanket wrapped around her up to her chest. She looked like she had been sitting at the desk for a while, sleepily staring at the screen. When I came in, her sleepy state was quickly replaced by frozen shock.
“Your mom let me in,” I explained, walking into the room slowly. I felt somewhat out of place in her room, still filled with decorate pieces fit for a little girl. I felt like I was intruding on her space. But I remembered why I had come and focused on Izzy.
Her face looked rounder and her cheeks, once pale and thin, were red and round. Her eyes shone, and her lips looked more full.
“Okay, well, I wish she would have warned me,” she said, shifting uncomfortably in her chair, turning her body toward the wall away from me.
I moved closer to her. I missed her. I wanted to hold her.
“I just came to see how you were doing,” I said, my voice even and low. “How is everything?”
It seemed like the most simple question, one that was both really vague and one that was pointed. What HAD she been up to in all of the seconds, minutes, and hours that we had been apart? Had she missed me as much as I had missed her? Why did I feel this awkwardness between us?
I folded my arms, waiting for her answer.
“I was actually in the middle of an online class,” she said, her eyes bouncing back to the screen in front of her.
I moved even closer to her, sitting on the bed about a foot away from the desk where she sat. She wrapped the blanket tighter around her, frowning.
“And why are you taking classes online instead on campus?”
She looked at me, confused.
“You can’t be serious about that question,” she said, shaking her head in disbelief.
“I am very serious,” I said, scooting closer to her.
It was like I was drawn to her like a moth to a flame. I wasn’t even sure what I was going to do once I got close to her, but I needed to be near her, to feel her. I sat up on the edge of the bed, my knees open over hers, my frame towering over hers. I could see her chest starting to raise and lower, first slowly, then faster and faster.
She reached up and put a hand over her breast. I could see her nipples getting hard and she tried to stop me from seeing it. I reached up, pushed her hand away, and cupped her breast in my hand. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she moaned.
At first, I thought that she was really turned on. But the way that she moaned made me think that maybe she made the sound for another reason. Was she in pain? I kneaded her breast gently and noticed her wince. Her breast looked like they were bigger than they had been before. At first, I thought that maybe I was imagining things. But, then, I was sure of it. I squeezed then, trying to see if maybe there was silicone in them or something from a recent surgery. I almost caught myself getting angry at the thought that the reason why Izzy had been gone from school was because she was getting some silly surgery done.
We still hadn’t talked about much of anything and now my questions were only becoming more. I needed a deeper explanation about what was going on.
“What’s happening with you?” I asked, starting to become more worried as I watched her lay her hands on her chest, soothing herself.
“I-I don’t know how to tell you this…”she began, starting to push the chair back and stand up.
“Tell me what?” I asked, not sure why she was moving away from me.
Her lip trembled as she unfolded the cover, revealing herself wearing a tight pink t-shirt.
And her belly was swollen.
I gasped, shocked by what I was seeing. I just stared at her in disbelief, trying to let what I was seeing register. Izzy stood in front of me, her shoulders slumped. She had bags under her eyes. What I thought had been a glow was nothing more than the result of her being pregnant.
Out of all of the possibilities of things that had run through my mind, t
his had not been one of them. Her stomach wasn’t really large. In fact, if I hadn’t known her, I might not have even thought that she was pregnant. Maybe just overfull from having eaten a meal. Or a few pounds overweight. It looked like she still had a ways to go.
I sat there, putting together a timeline, and realized that Izzy had had all of the time and opportunity to let me know what had been going on with her, but she chose to leave me in the dark instead, leaving me to find out what was going on by bursting into her parents’ home unannounced.
If her father had already been upset about the possibility of us rumored to have slept together, he would have been well within his rights to have pulled out a shotgun as soon as I had showed up on his doorstep. The more that I thought about it, the angrier that I started to get at Izzy. It was like she had set me up, let me walk into a trap to my death. She didn’t even have the decency to tell me. As far as she knew, all of this could have put me in a position to lose everything that I have worked so hard for.
I couldn’t believe that I had driven all that way for someone who kept showing themselves to be so selfish.
“How dare you?” I roared, feeling more anger than I had in a very long time. “How could you have kept such a huge secret from me? I demand an explanation!”
I started pacing back and forth, my fists clenched at my sides. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe her. After pacing a few times, I looked over at her and saw that she was sitting there, silent. Her eyes were filled with sadness and her bottom lip trembled. Tears filled her eyes and then came streaming down her face. She put her hands up to her face, turning away from me.
As angry as I was, seeing her cry made me feel guilty about yelling at her. She looked so delicate, like she needed my love and protection, not to be assaulted by my harsh words. I leaned down in front of her on my knees, gathering her in my arms. I laid my head on her chest and heard her heart beating fast. I closed my eyes and squeezed her tighter.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” I said, my tone velvety soft. “I didn’t mean to attack you like that. Please don’t cry.”
I reached up to wipe away her tears with my hand and she pulled her face away like my fingers were fire.
“That’s not why I’m crying,” she said, sniffling. “It’s just that – you didn’t even ask if the baby was yours. You just assumed that it is.”
Now it was my heart’s turn to beat fast. I could hear my blood drumming in my ears as I tried to make sense of what she was saying. Maybe there was more to the story than she was letting on. I decided that it would smart for me to tread carefully.
“Well, it IS mine…right?” I asked, bracing myself for the possibility of shock.
“Yes,” she said, quickly. “It’s just…I’ve been here going over and over every possible scenario in my head. I didn’t tell you because I was already confused on what our relationship was when we were just sleeping together. My grades started slipping and what was worse was that I really was struggling to even care about that. The only thing that I could think about was you, spending more time with you, having you inside of me.
“And right when I thought that I was finally going to get it all together, I find out that I’m pregnant. And then, the meeting with Belva happens and my parents rushed me back home. And all I kept thinking about it what you must be thinking. And how to tell you that, in the middle of everything, you’re about to be a father. Look, I know how much you love teaching and I know that this could mess up everything for you. But, that’s the truth of it.”
Silence hung between us like a thick blanket. Her head hung down, her eyes filled with fear, as she waited for me to respond. I was still trying to process everything that she had said.
The more I thought about it and sat watching her, fidgeting uncomfortably in her chair, the more pity I felt for her. She had been through a whirlwind and was still going through it. Everything in her world had turned completely upside down. And there I sat, intruding her personal space, making demands and accusations, while she felt the weight of the world on her shoulders. She was wringing her hands together in her lap, which was quickly disappearing under her rounded belly. I grabbed her hands, wrapping my own around them, and kissed them, closing my eyes, hoping that she could feel the depth of love that I felt for her in that moment.
“I know that all of this has been a lot for you to deal with,” I said, my words even and calm. “I am so sorry that you have had to go through this alone. I want you to know that I am so happy to hear that you are pregnant with my child.”
She looked so surprised all of a sudden that I was sure that she was going to fall out of her chair.
“Really?! You aren’t just saying that to be nice?”
Her fan scanned mine, searching for any signs of a lie. I looked back at her confidently.
“Yes, really,” I said, smiling. “I know that you’ve got your whole life ahead of you and being a mother probably was not something that you had factored into your great life plan right now, but it’s amazing. I came here with the intention to come and get you. Everything is working on perfectly and there is nothing that will get in the way of us being together.”
Izzy’s eyes darted toward the door and she looked away.
I felt stupid. Here I was pouring out my heart to her and jumping to conclusions yet again when she hadn’t even attempted to reach out to me. I had made the trip all the way to her house to confess my love to her, riding in on my white horse, I hadn’t even paused to remember that she didn’t answer any of my calls or texts nor had she tried to reach out to me, on my cell or at the university. I frowned dejectedly as I kicked myself for not thinking more deeply about things before carrying out my poorly thought-out plan. I pulled away from her and stood up, jamming my hands in my pocket as I tried to sound as nonchalant as possible.
“I mean…I came out here with the idea that I would tell you how I felt and let you process things if you needed time. Because, clearly, you needed time since you left school so abruptly and haven’t bothering returning any calls or texts. But, now, I feel like the baby changes all of that.”
My words sounded more whiny than I hoped that they would. She stood up quickly, taking a step toward me to clear the short distance between us.
“You have no idea how many times I have wanted to call you. As a matter of fact, I probably called and hung up with the university so many times, they think that someone is stalking the school. I just didn’t want to get you into too much trouble. My parents were so anxious to get me to come home that they literally stuffed me into a car right after the meeting in Belva’s office and I didn’t realize that I had left my phone behind until after I had gotten here. So, that’s why I hadn’t answered any of your messages.”
It was like a light bulb had gone off in my head. Of course. She hadn’t answered my calls or texts, not because she didn’t want to talk to me, but because she didn’t have her phone. I hit my head with the heel of my hand, chiding myself for not putting it together sooner.
I wrapped my arms around her waist, landed a kiss on her lips with a quick peck, and smiled down at her. I wanted her forever.
“Let’s go get married right now in Vegas,” I said. “I’ll drive. We don’t need to wait a moment longer.”
Izzy laughed, pulling away from me playfully.
“You’re so silly,” she said, giggling. “I haven’t seen my phone in months. Layla says that she’ll drive up after the semester is over and bring me the rest of my things. I’ll have my phone back then.”
“I’m serious,” I said, staring at her soberly.
Her laughter melted, and she stared back at me. She eyed me questioningly, like she was still trying to decide if this wasn’t some attempt at an extended joke.
“You aren’t just saying that because of the baby, are you?” she asked, her voice riddled with so much worry, it shook. “Because if you are…”
I put a finger up to her lips, motioning for her to stop talking. She did, snapping her
lips shut sharply.
“When I got into my car and had decided that I was coming here to make you mine and take you home, I had no idea about the baby. I love you and I want to make you my life. The baby just makes this that much more perfect.”
Her face softened, and her smile looked like a ray of sunshine through the clouds. She was beautiful.
“Izzy, I got tenure,” I said, excited to finally share my good news with her. “It’s like everything is finally falling into place perfectly. I have a secure career for us to start building a life on. I can give you the life that you deserve and the zillions of orgasms that I know you want and need…”
I leaned over and brushed my lips across her neck. She sucked in air through her teeth. I could tell that she was started to weaken to me. To seal the deal, I leaned down and slowly planted my lips onto hers, kissing her tenderly. It felt like fireworks were exploding throughout my body. I parted her lips with my tongue and our tongues danced, intertwining between our lips. Our hot mouths tangled greedily as we sucked in every essence of passion in that kiss standing in the middle of posters of TV heart throbs and stuffed animals. Izzy’s eyes were closed as she kissed me back hard.
Her eyes snapped open and she pulled away from me, looking up at me accusingly.
“I know what you’re doing,” she said, pointing a finger at me. “You’re trying to stifle my brain with passion.”
“Guilty,” I said, pulling her back to me, holding her so that she couldn’t get away, and kissing her again, melting into her as our tongues danced and swayed.
My dick was starting to stiffen in my pants when the door swung open so wide, it hit the wall with a loud thud.
Standing in the doorway looking like a raging bull was Izzy’s father, Jack. Veins bulged from his neck as he stood huffing, his crazy eyes locked onto me like a laser beam. He bounded toward me, letting out a guttural cry, his hands lifted like he was going to attack.
