He kissed me then, while I gripped the ring tightly.
“What do you say, Maya? Marry me?”
Sleepy and sated in the way a woman can only be from excellent sex with the man she loved, I lay on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
Sleep edged ever closer.
I wasn’t ready to sleep though.
Lifting my hand, I studied the ring, smiling. I couldn’t remember the last time—
Abruptly, I sat up, staring out the window.
Glenn stirred next to me, then reached over to rub my back. “What’s the matter?” he mumbled. “Can’t sleep?”
“Get up,” I said urgently. “We have to go to the river.”
“What?”
I shook him. “Get up.”
I climbed out of bed and half-stumbled over to the dresser. He was out of bed a few seconds later. “Are you…Maya, is the baby okay?”
“The baby is fine.” I turned on the lamp. “We have to go to the river.”
“Why?” He held a hand in front of his eyes, standing naked by the bed.
I was too frantic to take notice. “I have to throw my locket away.”
That caught his attention.
Slowly, he reached for the jeans he’d discarded earlier. “The locket. The one that…”
“Yes. Yes. Hurry up!” I shoved my hands through my hair and went into the bathroom to pee.
When I came out, he was dressed and standing by the dresser where the jewelry box sat. Nothing was in that jewelry box, save the locket. “Will you get it out?”
He nodded. “What about the journal?”
“I haven’t seen it,” I said, my voice tight. “Let’s go. I want to throw it away.”
“If you do that…” Solemnly, he turned his head and met my gaze. “You’ll never be able to go back. You won’t see your mom and dad again.”
My heart clutched. My eyes stung. “I know. But you’re my home now, Glenn. Let’s go.”
It only took a few minutes to go from our house in Queen Village to the river. It wasn’t anything close to what it would be in my time, although there were ships still moored there. I didn’t even know if the area was called Penn’s Landing now or not, but there was still a sense of familiarity to it.
Glenn held the necklace loosely in his right fist. With his left, he held my hand.
“You’re sure?” he asked quietly.
“Yes.” As we stopped there, the river a rippling stream of silver in the moonlight, I squeezed his hand.
He nodded, and then, as I closed my eyes, he threw the necklace.
“What now?”
“Take me home,” I said quietly. “And make love to me.”
In the end, it wasn’t Glenn who made the move once we got home. A soul-deep need for him had taken root, just like the panic to get rid of the locket. Now that the locket was gone, the need was taking over.
It was a miracle I didn’t jump him on the street.
Once the door closed behind us though, I turned and grabbed him, moving against him in a rush.
Glenn made a surprised noise in his throat, but it turned to rough pleasure as I arched into him. Gripping his hips in my hands, I rubbed against him, feeling the heavy length of his cock against my belly. He was already hard, already thick. Wanting me as much as I wanted him.
He went to pull away, whispering against my mouth. “Bedroom?”
“No. Here. I can’t wait.”
He turned us around and boosted me up, bracing my shoulders and back against the wall. The skirt I’d pulled on was shoved to my hips. He slid one hand up my thigh, brows arching. “No underwear, Maya.”
“I was in a hurry.”
“Now or then?” The slightly wicked slant of his grin hit me hard and I shuddered, then shivered again as he reached down and stroked me, his thumb parting my flesh.
There was no way he couldn’t notice how wet I already was.
No way he couldn’t notice the way my nails bit into his arms as I rocked against him, whimpering low in my throat, my need almost painful in its intensity.
“Shhh…” he murmured soothingly as he leaned in to kiss me gently.
But I didn’t want gentle. I caught his lower lip and bit down. It wasn’t hard, but it wasn’t a soft little love bite either. “Don’t make me wait,” I said as he lifted his head.
He gave my clitoris a slow, thorough stroking and then set me down. My stomach clenched with need, my heart thudding painfully against my ribcage.
“I want you naked,” Glenn said.
With that, he reached for the zipper of my skirt and jerked it down so savagely, I thought I heard fabric rip. The skirt was gone in seconds, followed by the blouse I’d pulled on sans bra. His t-shirt and jeans soon followed soon and then he caught my hips and boosted me up. “Hold on,” he said in a voice just above a growl.
I didn’t have time to do much more than take a breath as he positioned himself at my entrance.
Then he filled me with one deep, hard stroke.
He withdrew, then filled me again.
Over and over, he thrust into me, hard and fast, and I scrambled to hold on, to cling to him as the world threatened to spin away from us.
Nothing else mattered in that moment. The rest of the world, time, people, all of it was gone.
Glenn twisted his hips, slanting mine in at the same time.
I cried out as the pleasure took hold, whipping through me, then exploding.
Again and again, over and over, he moved.
Then, his body went rigid, one hand gripping my ass. Panting and barely able to wheeze out a breath, I buried my face against his chest.
He slid his thumb up the seam of my ass, then back down.
“Don’t ever leave me,” he said in a raw, low voice against my ear.
His mouth took mine then, demanding my obedience to his command. I held him more tightly, determined to never be apart from him again.
Twenty-Four
Glenn
March
The restless shifting in the bed woke me. Maya was still mostly asleep, but I had no doubt I’d gotten more rest than she had. Rolling onto my side, I reached out and placed a hand on her lower back. As I started to stroke, she sighed and settled down more deeply into the mattress.
After a few minutes, I stopped and shifted more comfortably into my pillow.
I drifted off again.
But a few minutes later, I was wide awake.
So was Maya, rolling onto her side and pushing up.
“Need some help?”
She shot me a dirty look. “I can get up to go pee by myself.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “I know you can. I was just offering some assistance.”
“Just because I look like a beached whale doesn’t mean I am.”
“Hey…” I rolled out of bed and came to stand in front of her just as she managed to sit up. “You don’t look like a beached whale. You look beautiful.”
She rolled her eyes, but a smile appeared on her lips, and she let me take her hands to pull her out of bed. I bent down to kiss her, then I bent lower to kiss her belly. “Hello, beautiful,” I said to the baby. “And hello, beautiful wife, beautiful mother.”
Now she laughed. “You're too much,” she said, shaking her head. “I need to go pee.”
I stepped away, then sat down to watch as she hurried into the bathroom. Once the door shut, I fell back onto the bed and closed my eyes.
If I could get another hour’s sleep…
“Glenn!”
Her panicked voice had me leaping off the bed.
I shoved open the bathroom door without thinking twice. She was standing by the sink, her nightgown pulled halfway up her thighs. There was a puddle of something wet on the floor.
But then she said, “My water just broke.”
My brain went blank.
“Huh?”
She frowned. “My water broke.”
“What’s that mean?” Panic reached up and choked me. “I
s…do I need to call the doctor? Is the baby okay?” Striding toward her, I grabbed her arms. “Are you okay?”
She looked bewildered as she studied me, then she sighed, shaking her head. “I guess this is another one of those time gap things. You don’t know much of anything about this, do you?” She didn’t wait another second. “It happens. Not all the time and not with every pregnancy, but often enough. I’m pregnant, remember? Now I have to go to the hospital.”
“Sir, this is highly irregular!”
The nurse in her starched-up uniform glared at me as I settled myself at Maya’s side.
Four other nurses had also told me something along those lines too.
I’d been told I could stay with her as long as I wanted—until it was time for her to deliver. I’d told the doctors and the nurses I’d leave when Maya was ready for me to leave. She’d grabbed my hand and said, If you leave, I’m going, too.
That was reason enough for me to stay.
She’d insisted she didn’t want any of the medication they often gave moms, and I had to stay to make sure it didn’t happen. I didn't trust the doctor on call to not dismiss everything Maya said simply because she was a woman. I'd also stay because she wanted me there, and I wouldn't do anything she didn't want of me.
Maya had taken this pregnancy thing by the horns. She’d hunted down a doctor, a woman doctor who'd recently set up practice in Philadelphia, specializing in obstetrics. When I’d voiced concerns about a female doctor, I learned quickly that had been a mistake. Maya had given me a pointed look and asked who I thought knew a woman's body better, a man who went to school and studied it, or a woman who already had the body and went to school to study it.
There was no arguing with that logic.
She’d dragged me to almost every doctor’s appointment, something that had apparently delighted the doctor and befuddled her staff. I’d coasted through most of it in a hot, uncomfortable haze where I’d blocked a lot of stuff out. Probably things like her water breaking.
But I hadn’t blocked out crucial details like I want Glenn in there with me. Can you make that happen?
Dr. Bernadette O’Neill had assured us both that the delivery room was her domain, and she’d make whatever she wanted to happen, happen.
Right now, we were waiting for her to show up.
The obstetrician who was on duty at the hospital had assured us he could handle everything, but Maya had given him the sort of glare that had made better men back off. The good news was that I’d notified Dr. O’Neill before leaving home. Her staff had assured us she’d be there shortly. She had a partner who would cover her patients at the office.
Now we were just left to figure out how long shortly was.
“Dr. Slaughter, this is not acceptable,” the nurse who’d fussed at me said in a low voice.
Maya groaned, covering her eyes with her forearm.
“Dr. Slaughter,” she mumbled. “I cannot have a baby delivered by a man who calls himself Dr. Slaughter. I mean, that’s like…like…having a baby delivered by a Dr. Demento or Dr. Hitler or something!”
She half-wailed the last part, and I covered my mouth to keep from laughing as the doctor lifted his head to stare at us.
I shrugged, giving him a what can you do look.
After a few seconds, he went back to speaking with the nurse.
Maya lowered her arm. “It hurts,” she said. Arching her back, she sucked in a breath, then blew out it. A minute later, she drew another breath in.
“Just keep breathing,” I said, rubbing her knee. “That’s it…”
“I’ve got something for the pain here—”
“No!” Both Maya and I shouted it.
Dr. Slaughter looked from me to her then back to me. “It’s simply some pain medication to make it easier.”
“I don’t need it,” Maya said, her voice hitching.
“She doesn’t use pain medicine. She can’t tolerate it,” I added.
His eyes narrowed, and he opened his mouth, no doubt to ask who I thought I was, questioning him...but before he could, the doors burst open.
“Hello, hello, my fine young friends,” Dr. O’Neill called out. “Are we ready to bring a beautiful baby into the world?”
“She’s beautiful.” I slumped in a chair that was more uncomfortable than anything I’d ever experienced in my life. But I was completely satisfied. If I stayed here the rest of my life, I wouldn’t complain. “Isn’t she beautiful?”
Maya didn’t answer and I looked up, only to find her sleeping, half-curled on her side and facing me.
There was a smile on her face and her lips were parted, her breaths coming in a slow, steady rhythm.
“Mama’s asleep,” I said to the tiny girl in my arms. “I think you wore her out.”
Our daughter yawned.
“I guess you wore yourself out, too.”
Her big eyes seemed to focus on my face and she blinked. A few seconds later, she blinked again and her lashes lingered down longer this time. “You go ahead and sleep, angel.”
Nobody was going anywhere.
Twenty-Five
Maya
May
“Your baby is such an angel.”
Smiling up at the airline attendant, I said, “Thank you.” Ava curled up against me, her face puckering up as she yawned. I’d found a local seamstress who’d helped me design a sling that I used to carry her, and that was how she’d spent the trip flying across the country, snug against my breasts and sleeping.
It was how she spent a great deal of time, really, especially in car rides. I was trying to figure out the ideal way to keep her safe once she got too big to be protected while riding in the sling. I hadn’t figured out the solution yet, but I would. The brand-new invention called a 'car seat' had been around only a couple years, and I didn't trust them to keep her safe.
“That’s a very clever contraption,” the woman across the aisle said as I rose and stepped aside to let Glenn out. He nodded at her and her husband, but stayed quiet. Glenn had enjoyed being out of the limelight ever since we’d left Hollywood behind months ago, even more so after he’d finished his first book last month—and sold it almost immediately.
“Where did you buy it?”
Tugging my attention away from my soon-to-be husband, I smiled at the woman. “I designed it and had somebody make it for me.”
“Oh.” Her eyebrows shot up into her hairline. “Oh, really.”
She shot her husband an avid look and smacked his shoulder. He was still half asleep, yawning and stretching as the people around the plane hurried to unload their carry-on bags.
Just before I would’ve started down the aisle with Ava, the woman patted my shoulder. “Here. My card. Call me. I’m a designer—not fashion, per se. Things that make life easier for us girls. That wrap there, it would make life much, much easier.”
Slowly, I dropped my eyes to the card, then looked back at her.
She waggled it.
I took it, shifting my attention to Glenn.
He gave a small shrug and smiled.
Curling my fist around the card, I let him lead me off.
“To the bride and groom!” Florence held Ava in one arm and in her free hand, she held a flute of champagne.
Astor sat in the chair opposite me and smiled, lifting his glass. “To the bride and groom.”
Also present, Harrison, who spoke in unison with his boss.
There wasn’t anybody else.
The preacher had excused himself after a toast and a piece of cake.
We hadn’t wanted anybody who didn’t want to be there, and Glenn had washed his hands of Peter after an incident he still didn't like to talk about. He hadn’t kept in touch with anybody in California save for Astor, Florence, and Harrison, and they were here with us now. They were the only ones who really mattered.
I’d made some friends in Philadelphia, and there were hopes they could become good friends, but for this, we’d just wanted family.
&nbs
p; And that was who we had with us.
Florence cuddled Ava closer, nuzzling the baby’s cheek. Astor and Harrison both lifted glasses in our direction once more.
I smiled and sipped the punch we were having in lieu of champagne. Since I was nursing, I couldn’t have any alcohol, and I knew Glenn didn't drink anymore. He hadn’t talked about it at all. But I’d noticed.
When Florence had asked what I’d like to have for the small reception she was planning, I’d told her just that cake and punch would be perfect. She hadn’t asked any questions about it, nor would she, especially since she knew more about Glenn's downward spiral with alcohol than I did. Her quiet, unwavering support for both of us was simply there.
“I will tell you something, Maya,” Astor said. “That baby has got Glenn’s eyes, but the rest of her…I can already tell she’s going to be a beauty just like you.”
I grinned at him. “She’s barely two-months-old. But…I think you’re right.”
Glenn tipped his glass toward Astor. “Same here.”
We talked more as Harrison asked to hold the baby. Soon, she’d made her way back to me and she started rubbing her face against the front of my dress demandingly. “I think it’s time for me to feed her.”
Grabbing the diaper bag, I settled Ava more firmly against me and headed into the house.
“Let’s go get you and your hungry little belly full,” I said.
She cooed up at me.
Twenty minutes later, she was sound asleep. Turning her over to Glenn, I checked the diaper bag one more time.
Florence came up and hugged me. “You’ve already checked and rechecked everything, honey. Relax…little miss Ava Kathleen is going to be fine.”
I sniffed. “I know that. I just…” Rolling my eyes, I said, “I didn’t think leaving would be so hard.”
“If it gets too hard, just come back.” Florence shrugged.
Nodding, I looked back as Glenn kissed her on the forehead, then went to lower her into the crib Florence and Astor had bought for the nursery. I’d told them they didn’t have to go all out, but Florence loved going all out, especially for her god-daughter.