I glance at Anastacia, hoping she’ll want to be part of this family once the baby is born too. There hasn’t been any talk of her leaving, but I don’t want her to.
I don’t know what the plan was when she was with Snapper, and if they even talked about her staying with the baby, but I brought her here so she would be safer, and we haven’t once talked about how long she would stay. Neither of us have brought it up, but maybe we should. She’s told me she likes to focus on the day, taking it one at a time, which I can understand. After being through so much, it’s probably hard to look into the future and imagine one at all. When you think you’re going to die, you don’t think about all the shit you’re going to miss out on. That only makes it worse.
But maybe if I keep telling her and showing her how safe she is, how wanted she is, how welcome she is, she’ll start planning a future. A future with me.
I scrub a hand down my face, then turn back to my brother and sister-in-law.
“Has she eaten?”
“She woke up late and had breakfast around lunch time. She fell asleep right after, so hasn’t eaten again,” Kelsey says. “I made dinner though. So there’s something for her to eat when she wakes.”
My brother puts his large hand on my shoulder. “Let her sleep; she obviously needs the rest. Let’s eat.”
“No, I want to wait for her. You two go ahead.”
With a long look, he finally nods, and they go into the kitchen. Dishes and silverware clank softly as I head over to the recliner, angling it so it faces Anastacia instead of the TV and pulling it close enough that I can touch her. I sit, and I watch, and I wait for her to wake up. Which happens nearly an hour later.
Her eyes flutter open, darting up to me. A soft smile graces her perfect lips. Lips that I can not stop thinking about ever since she kissed me. Sometimes, I don’t think it was real. That I imagined it. Neither of us has said a word about it, and it hasn’t happened again. Of course, that is the least of her concerns. She’s about to have a baby. And if what happened today is any indication of what’s going on, it’s going to happen sooner rather than later.
We don’t know how far along she is exactly, Lucian was only able to guess, but I think it’s safe to say she’s around the forty-week mark, or at least close enough that delivering would be okay.
I hadn’t thought to ask what happens if she doesn’t go into labor… I know some women have to be induced, but we don’t have anything for that.
Snapper had said she was all set for a hospital visit over the border, that he handled it all, but when do we take her? And how the hell are we going to get her through the woods so quickly? Did he think of that? There’s a road for a lot of the way there, but then there are a couple miles that no car will go down smoothly. If she’s in labor, bumps can’t be good, right? And how quickly do babies come out? What if we wait too long and she has a baby in the middle of the damn woods?
“Hi,” she says in the softest, sweetest voice.
“Hi, Angel.”
Her smile widens, and I get up from the chair to kneel in front of her, brushing some hair away from her face and tucking it behind her ear.
“How are you feeling?” I ask.
“Tired.”
“Are you hungry?”
“God yes.”
I chuckle. “Kelsey made some kind of pasta. I don’t know what it is, but it smells good.”
Her eyes dart to the windows, noting how dark it is. “Why haven’t you eaten yet?”
I run my hand over her head, unable tonottouch her while I’m so close. I want to touch her always, to feel her and make her feel comfort. I want her to know that there are good touches, touches that feel good, and not everyone is a fucking monster.
“I wanted to wait for you.”
She pushes to sit up, groaning and wincing. I frown as I watch her, wanting to help but not knowing how.
“My back hurts,” she says.
“I can give you a massage,” I offer.
“That’s sweet, but I can’t lay on my stomach.”
“So lay on your side. I’ll figure it out.”
She holds my gaze, blinking a few times, then smiles. “After dinner?”
