“Okay, I think that’s probably enough for tonight.” Stone tightened his grip around her waist. “Let’s get you home.”
“Why?” She smiled, her teeth capturing her bottom lip before it popped free. “You want to fuck another baby into me?”
“Mae!” Lily shouted so quickly that Mae’s eyes went wide.
“Oops,” she giggled, laying her head down on Stone’s shoulder. “I don’t think I know what I’m saying right now.”
“I know, sweetheart. Come on. Let’s get you home and into bed.”
Mae tripped over the threshold only a second after Stone got the door open.
“Hey.” He reached out, steadying her hips. “Easy there, tipsy lady.”
Mae turned in his hands, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him. Stone could taste the tequila on her tongue. God, she was going to hate that decision in the morning.
“I meant what I said at the bar,” she whispered against his lips.
“What’s that, beautiful?”
“I want you to fuck me. I want you to put another baby inside me. I want you to take away this empty feeling that’s making me feel crazy.” Her voice caught as she patted his chest. “I would be a good mom. And you would be a good dad. We should have…” Her sniffle broke his heart.
“I know, Michaela. We should have had the chance.”
Her eyes went wide, and she smiled. “You’ll do it then, Sully? I mean, we’ll do it? We’ll try for another baby? The doctor said I could.”
Stone sighed, his hand slipping off her hipsas he grabbed her hand, helping her over to the sofa. He wanted to tuck her into bed and get her to rest, but Stone knew walking towards the bedroom right then would give Mae the wrong idea.
“Come on, handsome. We can start right here. Who knows where the baby was made before. I’m guessing it was the night we did it in the kitchen. But it could have been the time we roll played?—”
“Beautiful. We can’t. I can’t…”
Her face dropped. “You don’t want to touch me like that?”
“Of course I do,” he groaned. “I love you. I don’t want to hurt you. The doctor might have told you it’s okay to get pregnant again, but I want to be sure you’re okay before we try. And this… this isn’t a Mae who’s okay.”
Mae’s breathing changed. Her chin quivered as she shoved her lips together and nodded.
“Got it.” Her hand slid from his as she stood, teetering for just a second before turning her back on him. “I’m going to change and get ready for bed.”
“I’ll be there in just a second,” he nodded, not knowing why he bothered because she was already marching away from him.
Stone stood, his hand running over his face before he walked into the kitchen. He needed to get some food into her stomach, so Stone grabbed a protein bar out of the cupboard and filled a glass with water from the fridge.
He made his way down the hallway, expecting to see light coming from the guest bathroom. But the light was off. And a painful heaviness pulled deep in his stomach as he turned into their bedroom. Light was shining out from under the closed bathroom door.
“Mae?” Stone set the glass of water on the nightstand and made his way to the bathroom. He’d been watching her. Every time Mae excused herself from the bedroom, or the livingroom, or the kitchen, she never stepped foot inside that bathroom. She was still only using the guest one. And he couldn’t blame her. It was hard for him not to hear her screams the second he walked in there. But walking into the bedroom, seeing that bathroom door closed, he knew something was wrong. Stone pressed his ear to the door, and that’s when he heard it. The sound of a gut wrenching sob, somehow muffled because she didn’t want him to hear. “Mae, I’m coming in.”
Each step inside, each cry he heard, brought him right back to the night they’d lost their baby. All the blood. Her lying in the shower. The overwhelming panic that he felt when he didn’t understand what was going on.
But none of that compared to what she went through.
“Mae.” Her whispered name left his lips as he slid down the wall and sat next to her. Should he touch her? Should he just sit silently and wait for the emotions to pass? Did she want him to be there? Would it have been best to leave her alone? There was a part, deep in his heart, that knew exactly what to do once he made his way through all that worry.
“I d-didn’t mean to c-come in here. W-Why did I come in h-here?”
“Shh. It’s going to be okay.” Stone’s arm wrapped around Mae’s back, pulling her half onto his lap, and half onto his chest.
“I c-can’t do this.”
