Page 36 of Blaze

They all laugh.

Reagan giggles so hard she holds her stomach.“Yep.I was there when you met him.It was about an hour after I gave Blaze a lecture about keeping his eyes peeled.I had a feeling he was going to meet his soulmate soon.I even suggested she would be on the hike I was leading, but all those women were nearly twice his age.”

I wince.“He’s twicemyage.”

Melody waves a hand through the air.“What’s twenty years plus or minus nowadays?”

Arianna leans forward.“A twenty-one-year-old woman with a forty-one-year-old man isn’t the same as a forty-one-year-old man with an eighty-year-old woman.”She giggles.

“True.”I chew on my bottom lip for a second.“It’s still weird.You all seem convinced that I’m moving in for good.I do have a job interview lined up in Phoenix.”

Emilia nods.“I had graduate school lined up.My degree is in early childhood education.In nine months, this entire mansion will be a nursery.I’ll be using my degree hands-on every day.”

Melody speaks next.“Brody said your degree is in art history.Wherever you were planning to interview, surely this place is more fascinating.”

“That’s a fact,” I agree.I rest against the cushions, trying to relax.It’s difficult.My mind is racing.I can’t wrap my head around this turn of events, nor can I believe this is possible.“And all of you are pregnant?”

Under normal circumstances, I would never ask that, but Claire told me they all are.I assume I’m not being rude.No one is showing yet.

Claire nods and pats her stomach.“I will tell you definitively that these Wilde men are fertile and not messing around.I guess it’s contagious.They might arrive with a brow lifted, but then they get the bug and decide they want to have babies, too.”

“It’s a lot of pressure,” I point out.“What if someone can’t get pregnant easily or never does or doesn’t even want children?”I’m musing out loud.

Emilia shrugs.“I doubt it would matter.This house is going to be filled with children.We’re like a strange commune.There will be plenty of babies to hold and share.Plus, most of the fun is in trying.”

She has a point.Surely some of these newlywed women have lost interest in having sex since they’ve got to be hovering over the toilet part of every day.That aspect freaks me out.And why am I even contemplating such a thing?

I.Met.Blaze.Yesterday.

“I’ve never actually been around kids or known anyone pregnant,” I admit.“Don’t you get, like, morning sickness?”

Claire groans.“Morning?Ha.More like all day for me.I’m hoping it will slow down now that I’m not in the first trimester.Kinsley says it’s possible, but some people suffer from nausea for the entire nine months.”She cringes.

“You met Kinsley yesterday, right?”Arianna asks.

I nod.“She was very nice.Do all of you go to her?”

“Yes.She’s the only doctor in town,” Emilia responds.“None of us has decided whether we want to actually deliver here at the mansion or go to a hospital in the city.”

“Did you meet Isabel?”Melody asks.

“No.”I glance around.I’m pretty sure these five women are the only wives living here.Am I missing someone?

Melody continues, “She recently started working with Gretchen.We keep adding more staff.Before she came here, she was a nanny in the city.She loves kids.We’ve been talking to her about getting certification as a doula.There are a few midwives in town, but if Isabel got certified as a doula,andif she moved into the mansion…”

I cringe.“Don’t you worry about complications?”Hell, I’m kind of panicked about the idea of being pregnant at all, let alone a home birth.Yikes.

Claire shrugs.“If there’s any doubt, we can get to a hospital in under thirty minutes.I haven’t committed to giving birth in the mansion.I don’t think any of us have made that decision.But we’re exploring our options because, chances are, at some point, one of us will, whether we intended to or not.”

This time, I wince.She’s right.That’s fucking scary.As I look at them all, I feel serious doubt seeping in.I’m not sure I want Blaze’s penis anywhere near my vagina, so it’s good that he doesn’t intend to do so before we’re married.

Married?I’m certifiable for even thinking such a thing.

Married…

I’m twenty-one.People don’t get married at twenty-one unless they’re knocked up.Ha.I’m certainly not pregnant.If I’m going to stay here for even a week, maybe I should call Kinsley and ask her to put me on birth control.

Blaze suddenly returns, his brow furrowed.“Sorry,” he says, his attention on everyone but me.“I need a minute with Victoria.”