5. Josh
Watching my wife get ready for bed was normally a highlight of any day. Tonight was different.
Tonight, I was anxious because I sensed that Claudia was pretending that something was not bothering her. While she could fool many, she could not fool me. Her sisters and mum, the only others Claudia could not hide from. And tonight, my beautiful wife was worried about something or someone.
Counting silently to fifty, I gave Claudia that time to tell me what had her rubbing her hand lotion in with more vigour than needed.
Forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty!
“Okay, baby spill it,” I demanded my patience running out.
Looking at me through her vanity mirror, Claudia tried her wide eye innocence on me, but I wasn’t buying it.
“Spill what exactly, hubby?”
Sighing in frustration and from plain old tiredness, I slowly got up from the bed where I had been sitting and waiting for Claudia to finish her nighttime routine, I walked over to my wife and turned her so she couldn’t hide her eyes from me.
“Don’t do that baby,” I admonished her gently, “tell me what is wrong.”
“Josh why do you always think something is wrong? Maybe I just have business things on my mind or debating on whether to let dad repaint our house. Again.” Claudia huffed, but they were just stalling tactics. Every Blessing woman used them, I’d been dealing with her and the Blessing women for most of my life.
“Okay, what business issue has you rubbing the skin off your hands?” I asked instead, playing it her way.
“You are a pain in my rectum, Josh Gallow,” Claudia growled at me, making me grin wickedly at her. Claudia knew where my mind went, her moisturised hand whacking me on my bare arm.
“Don’t even think about it, mister. Don’t you know that is not the way to get pregnant.” She sassed at me, finally giving me her beautiful smile.
“You know,” I began wiggling my brows at her, “it’s been a while since we?—”
“Joshua!” Claudia screeched, slapping a hand over my mouth, and wildly looking around our room as if she would see someone in here with us.
Laughing behind her hand, I gave the inside of her palm a kiss.
“Who are you looking for baby? There is only me and you here.”
“Mum can hear a bee fart and you know it Josh. I don’t need my parents knowing how kinky we get!” she exclaimed outrageously.
I didn’t bother arguing that her parents lived down the street about five hundred metres from our place, it would just be a waste of my breath.
Instead of getting into what her parents did and didn’t know, I grabbed hold of Claudia’s waist and pulled her down with me to the bed, her bottom hitting my lap with a slap, her arse bare of underwear.
“No panties?” I asked, running a hand up the outside of her thigh until it came to rest at her the creased skin at the top of her leg.
Smirking at me, Claudia wiggled her butt, “I thought I’d save my panties from your inner caveman,” she said pouting prettily. “I’m running out of underwear.” It sounded like she was complaining, but I knew better. Claudia loved my inner caveman; in fact, she provoked him out of me deliberately most of the time. My obsession with knocking my wife up and my addiction to her body was hardly my fault.
Claudia shared the same long blonde hair as her sisters and the Blessing signature blue eyes. Their features were also shared with a few subtle differences. Many people often mistook them for triplets, but I personally couldn’t see it.
All I saw was Claudia.
She consumed my every thought when I was away from her. If she left our mechanic shop to see her sisters or to drop in on her parents, I spent the whole time dreaming about her beautiful face, worrying if she remembered to eat, or if she made it to Miracle’s school safely. Lucky for me I could work and daydream about my wife at the same time, after years of practice I had it down to a fine art.
“Okay baby, you’ve had enough stalling time, now out with it,” I demanded. All this talking was taking up valuable sexy time. I had another big day tomorrow at the workshop, but I still wanted to make love to Claudia before getting some much-needed sleep.
Groaning at me, I could tell my persistence was working on her.
Ha! Score.
Pecking my lips, Claudia sighed in defeat. “It’s nothing serious honey,” she began but if Claudia was worried to me, it was very serious. “It’s Elle,” she admitted.
“What about her baby?”
“She is all gung-ho about going away for a girl’s weekend but neither Gisele nor I can go. She wasn’t interested in changing the date, according to her it must be this weekend.”
I thought on what she told me for a moment. Claudia wasn’t the only person worried about the eldest Blessing sibling. Jock mentioned that he was concerned about his first born since Jake had been arrested and his secret life revealed. Blessings was a small town with small-minded people, ready and willing to gossip whether they had the facts or not. And from what I’d heard myself from the rumour mill Jake and Elle’s marriage was topic number one.
Jake’s behaviour and bad choices had nothing to do with my sister-in-law.
“So, what you are telling me is, Elle is doing her usual and pretending that you have no reason to be worried about her, and this weekend getaway is her acting strangely?” I surmised correctly.
“Exactly!” Claudia cried out in frustration. “She refuses to wait for Gissy and me to accompany her, instead she is taking Dani.”
“And this is a bad idea because?” I asked still a little confused.
“Because Josh, Dani is not the best person to take as a wing-woman. Duh!”
“Elle needs a wing-woman?” What the hell did a wing-woman do? A married one I mean.” I understood the male reason for needing a mate at his back where alcohol was involved, but Dani was a happily married woman.
“It’s not the same for women as opposed to men,” Claudia said, “it’s more like you need a friend there so you don’t go home with a man. Or if you do that, she has all his contact details.” She explained, hoping that I got it.
I got it.
“Ahh so basically Elle needs supervision.”
Nodding vigorously Claudia beamed at me. “Exactly!”
“So why aren’t you or Gisele going?” I really didn’t want to be having this conversation but if I was going to get sex and sleep tonight, then this was very necessary.
“Josh, Gisele can barely handle Jami going to Gracefield every day, she practically stands at the bridge waiting for him to return.” Claudia said using that voice that said I should already know that.
“And I can’t go because Elle wanted to use the weekend to get our yes tattoos, but I can’t get a tattoo until I know if I’m pregnant or not.”
My body went rigid under her, my breathe suck in my lungs. We started trying again smack bang in the middle of her cycle, it had only been three weeks, but we had been going at it like rabbits. Was it possible Claudia was carrying my baby already? The thought was mind reeling.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa woman,” I demanded holding up a hand to stop her tirade. “Are you saying you could be?”
Nodding shyly and hesitantly by way of answering me, Claudia managed a weak but hopeful smile. “My period was due two days ago.”
Picking up what she wasn’t saying, I made a move to get up to go to the bathroom where Claudia kept her tests. Only to have her pull me back to her stopping me.
“No Josh, I don’t want to do a test yet.” She protested her nails digging into my arms harder than she probably intended because she quickly relaxed her grip and rubbed the half-moon marks on my skin.
“Sweetheart why?” I asked stupefied by her reaction. Overly dramatic fitting for a Blessing woman but no less worrying.
“I want to wait another week, Josh.”
“Again baby, why? Why for the love of God, why?” Close to losing my cool with my wife, I waited for her to explain her reasoning.
Huffing at me, Claudia tapped my arse, her silent signal for me to roll us. Huffing back at her, but still acquiesced to her demand and wrapped my arms around her and rolled us so I was on my back and her on top of me.
“Go and it better be good woman or I’m getting that test and standing there while you pee on the stick.” I threatened. Our dream to become parents, her period was late. What possible reason could she have to postpone finding out if my guys hit their target.
“Josh,” Claudia said using her placating tone usually reserved for her niece or her mother, Claudia’s mother not Miracle’s.
“Claudia,” I rebutted using my own adult voice.
“It’s too early. You know my periods are irregular when I’m not on the pill,” she reasoned sensibly. “I just want to wait one more week just in case it comes in the morning or the day after. Going with Elle means drinking and I don’t want to drink alcohol if it’s possible I’m pregnant.”
It sounded like a plausible reason but a big part of me wanted to know right that second if my wife was carrying our child.
Feeling her silky soft hands stroking my chest, my skin was suddenly covered in hundreds of tiny goosebumps.
Just like every time Claudia touched me.
“Josh please try and understand. It’s just as exciting for me honey, believe me I want to know if your swimmers hit the mark, but I’m also scared it’s going to be negative.” I heard her, understood her but I wasn’t ready to give up trying to change her mind.
“Claudia, baby. You know it’s a very real chance we won’t be successful the first try after the miscarriage,” I said gently, combing my fingers through her gorgeous long blonde curls.
“I know,” she agreed nodding sadly, “that’s why I want to wait Josh because this is our first try since losing the baby. I’m not ready emotionally to see a negative sign yet.”
I remained quiet, enjoying her hands on my skin and my fingers stroking her hair, digesting what Claudia told me.
My wife was an incredibly strong woman, she was the voice of reason when her sisters bickered, and she was the best verbal sparring partner when it came to going toe-to-toe with Georgina. Since losing our first pregnancy I had noticed that Claudia strayed from the subject of babies, whenever Gisele mentioned something regarding Miracle when she was a baby, she would change the topic of conversation to something safer.
It wasn’t until now that I understood how hard it would be for her to take the test. Mentally she was ready, but emotionally she was still stuck in that horrible night a year ago.
Nodding I gave in, not that it was hard. Seeing my wife upset clawed at my heart, being the reason, she was upset was like being attacked by a sword.
Painful.
Excruciatingly painful.
Looking into her blue eyes, I saw the pleading deep inside. There was no other choice but to agree to wait.
“Claudia Chanel Blessing-Gallow, if you want to wait another week, then we wait.”
Looking down at me, Claudia sniffed, a tear falling down her cheek, before she could brush it away, I sat up and kissed it. My arms holding her so close to my chest you couldn’t fit a piece of paper between us.
“Negative or positive, it doesn’t matter to me, baby. All that matters is that you love me, and that you never stop until I’m dead in my grave.” I promised her honestly and with all the love I felt for her. “We wait until you are ready.”
“Thank you, Joshy,” Claudia whispered back, “I love you so much. I want your baby so bad. I guess I still have a few ghosts haunting my thoughts.”
“Hey, baby don’t do that,” I rushed out when I saw her eyes start to cloud over. “Now how about we get to the sexy stuff.” I said trying to lighten the dark conversation and chase away Claudia’s ghosts.
I had some of my own, but I was a male, it is my job to protect my wife from anything upsetting.