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That evening is the very first day Snow and I spend together in our tiny house. The bed finally arrives and is carried into the room on the first floor. The whole house is only about thirteen feet wide, and this bed is at least seven feet three inches, so the sides are crammed tight against the walls, but on the mattress itself there’s plenty of space.
After showering in the small bathroom we built here, the one for which I personally picked out the tiles and fixtures, I walk into the bedroom and find Snow sitting cross-legged on the covers, playing his harmonica.
On the only chair that fits into this tiny room, there’s a huge pile of nesting materials stacked so high it looks ready to topple over. They’re the ones Snow brought over from my old room in his parents’ house. That was thoughtful of him, one of those small gestures I value so much, the way he keeps me in mind.
I bite my lower lip and then flop down onto the bed beside him with enough force to make him bounce a little.
"Have you ever heard of something like breastfeeding a baby even if you didn’t give birth to it?" I ask timidly.
Snow studies me for a moment before a slow smile curves his lips. Not a smile, a full grin, his white, even teeth showing.
"Hey!" I pout. "Don’t tell me you knew what I was going to say before I even opened my mouth."
Snow rolls his eyes.
"You know perfectly well that’s not how my gift works, Summer. I don’t see exact sentences or words. What I see are bigger, more significant events in my life, expressed as energetic information."
I bite down on my lip, remembering that brief flash I once caught when I absorbed his essence, that glimpse of an alternate reality. I could never interpret it, but Snow has had thirty years to learn how to read things like that.
So I take a deep breath.
"I want to breastfeed our children. Even if I couldn’t give them a full supply, even if it was just a little, I’d want to try."
Snow looks at me, his eyes holding an ocean of gentleness. "Maybe I should invite my uncle, Dr. Nolan-Carter? I don’t know if you realize, but he’s an obstetrician. He could give you some advice, prescribe hormones…"
My brows shoot up. "Wait, that’s it? You’re not going to react to this in any other way?"
Snow laughs softly.
"And how else should I react, Summer? Other than with joy, and with support for what you want? It’s beautiful… what you want to offer to these children, even though they’re not your blood. It’s a piece of yourself, of your body. Your… love." His words trail off and his gaze drifts to my chest.
I raise my eyebrows questioningly as his gaze lingers on my nipples, clearly visible beneath my thin shirt.
"And… I’m more than willing to help stimulate your glands to get them working."
A hot blush spreads across my cheeks. "Wait, uh… what do you mean?"
"Didn’t you hear about it? I read somewhere that regular sucking can help stimulate them. The doctor would probably prescribe hormones to simulate pregnancy, somethingto increase the chance of lactation, but physical stimulation definitely wouldn’t hurt."
He read about it? Seriously? Since when does a composer read about lactation? The level of pro vocabulary Snow used makes me almost certain that… one way or another, he’s seen it in the future. And I guess it’s a good thing if it’s already taken a tangible shape in his visions, because that means this whole endeavor might actually work out. But I don’t plan to dwell on it. I plan to go through it normally, step by step.
Snow leans in a little, his lips brushing over my hard nipple as he lightly pinches the other one. "I offer myself as a lactation servant," he murmurs.
I swear my cheeks are about to explode with crimson. It sounds so embarrassing, and yet at the same time it… does something to me, excites me.
"You’d do that for me? You’d help me with—"
"Summer…" He kind of rolls his eyes, which is a rare grimace for Snow. "Do you even have to ask? I’d do anything for you."
"So would I," I answer with sudden seriousness.
Well, in another reality, I was ready to destroy the world for him. "You have no idea what I’d do for you…" I whisper, my voice fading, melting into shy silence as Snow watches me closely.
His fingers trace lightly across my chest, up to my collarbone, then brush against my neck gland.
"Sooo… You’d really do anything for me?"
