Chapter Thirty-Five
Axton
Two weeks later…
I had everything in hand for my presentation. Belle was sitting on the sofa, and I was looking down at her with my materials in hand. We had a busy two weeks, and it wasn’t going to calm down for at least another two weeks. Kayla, my mom, Morgan, Melissa, Heidi, Steph, Wrenly, and even Addie were buzzing around planning our wedding.
She sat back and crossed her arms. “What’s the title of your presentation, Mikey?” She was treating me like one of her students.
I cleared my throat. “Yes ma’am, I call it the benefits of latex.”
I was relieved by the smile she tried to hide.
“Go on.” She prompted me.
“I have my research here, and I included a sample.” I handed her the stack of papers and the condom.
“And why exactly would latex benefit me?”
“Okay, hear me out. We take one chance on our wedding night. If my calculations are wrong, that’s fine. You’ll see I calculated your cycle and our wedding day, it’s a bit risky, but fine. I know what we want on our wedding night and it’s totally worth the risk, but if my calculations are right that thing in your hand may give us more time together. Feel free to take it out and feel it. I promise it’s not toxic.”
She crossed her legs. “Okay, tell me more about this time you’re speaking of.”
I put my hands out to the side. “Time to have lots of dates. You know I love date night, and if my calculations are wrong we won’t get as many. I can promise, if we made a little Belle, I probably wouldn’t want to put her down, let alone trust someone else to protect her so we could go out.”
She smiled. “So, my darling husband plans to be one of the cool dads like Creed?”
I shook my head. “Not like Creed, I’d be a lot cooler. Anyway, more time to show you the world, possibly take you to the ocean, or maybe even the Eiffel Tower.” I nodded my head yes hoping she would do the same.
She held the packet up. “Are there any health benefits to this little thing?”
“Absolutely, I’m glad you mentioned that, not only is it good for our physical health, but also our mental health. Have you read all the side effects of pregnancy?” I scrunched my nose. “Hemorrhoid’s, constipation, nausea, exhaustion, back pain, and not to mention labor and delivery. Don’t you think we should know each other better? I mean, at least get the embarrassment of the first fart in our relationship out of the way before we go straight into morning sickness?”
She scrunched her nose. “You already took care of that.”
I tilted my head.
“You fart in your sleep, Michael.” She blinked up at me like she didn’t appreciate that very much.
“Okay, this is good. You survived and didn’t leave me. You still have to share one though.”
She blushed. “Too late.”
I tilted my head.
She laughed then composed herself. “Remember when you complained about something smelling bad when we were watching Schitt’s Creek the other night?”
I nodded.
She scrunched her nose. “That wasn’t your feet, and I made you take a shower so you would leave, and I could let more out.”
I glared at her. “That was my second shower that night. I thought I had athletes foot starting or something.”
She shrugged. “That’s enough about that, tell me more.”
I cleared my throat again. “It has been proven the use of condoms could fight against unwanted dirty diapers, constant crying, and midnight feedings. They could also provide more orgasms for wives, better night’s sleep, and a cleaner more organized home.”
“Are you trying to talk me out of ever having children?” She asked.
My eyes grew. “No! Absolutely not, I want them, you want them, but just maybe not this year. I want more time alone with you because you’re my favorite human. We have good reason to rush things, but after our wedding day we can relax and enjoy every moment together.”
She stood. “What happened to all that business of being bare inside me?” She kissed my neck, and I swallowed hard when she ran her hand over my dick.
“I umm…what were we talking about again?” She started kissing up my neck.
“How much you are going to enjoy natural birth control.” She brushed her lips up my neck and toward my lips.
Said the girl with forty seven siblings. “I’m going to be an awesome dad.” I laughed just before she finally kissed me. If there was one thing I knew in that moment, it was how I was never going to look at a calendar the same way again.
The next morning, as I sat in the conference room waiting for the Originals, I scrolled through my phone and looked at photos of Belle. Then I tapped on a video Heidi sent me as a favor of Belle teaching the youngest students. They couldn’t quite pronounce Mrs. Axton, and her name came out as Mrs. Acton. She was teaching them their letters and I had to say, she was pretty damn hot standing up there feeding the minds of those adorable kids. I never took the time to think about the teachers I had in school and realize how important their jobs were. I also realized I was able to name every one of my teachers. That was probably because they were the first adults I was around every day that were stable and kind. It was while they stood in the front of that class and taught me, I wasn’t thinking about where I was going to get my next warm meal, and I didn’t owe those teachers anything more than my time and attention. They were there for me, not the other way around. I felt safe at school because of those teachers.
Creed walked in and I rolled my eyes. “What happened to paternity leave?”
He sat down and looked at me. “Morgan said I wasn’t allowed home from the hours of eight in the morning until noon. Something about me smothering her or whatever.”
I shook my head. “It’s because you won’t stop staring at her while she’s breastfeeding. How in the hell you find that hot is beyond me.”
“Have you not seen my wife?”
I tilted my head. “Have you not seen mine?”
He nodded his head. “Good point.”
“We’ve all seen Creed’s wife.” Magnus wiggled his brows as Bolton pushed his wheelchair into the room. “I believe she’s the cause of the clean sock shortage of 2007.”
I burst into laughter.
“Fuck you, Magnus.” Creed growled.
The whole gang showed up and took their seats.
“I believe I have good news.” Irons took a seat.
“You’re implementing a don’t ask don’t tell policy for pint sized sadists and their tiny peckered submissives?” Granger asked.
Irons paused and thought. “That’s actually not a bad idea.”
“Fuck all of you, assholes. It’s not tiny, it was the Santa hat that… made it appear that way.” We finished Drakos sentence for him.
“On to the good news, the MS-13 gang that evaded the police seems to have high tailed it out of Indiana. The bad news is we’re all going to have to testify and Carter has been placed on administrative leave for discharging his weapon. There’s going to be an investigation.” Irons broke the news.
I groaned. “Whose asses do we have to kiss now?”
“Kayla is looking into that now, but our friends in DC are going to step in and see what they can do. These were terrorists and I think they’re going to smooth things over, but just in case Kayla is looking into it anyway. The next good news concerns our risk level. The fact that MS-13 ran with their tails between their legs and the Devil’s Rejects are dismantling, which satisfies the Cartel, we’re at our lowest risk level since before Morgan came along. Crazy fans of course keep us from lowering it to its lowest ever.”
Creed turned to me and smiled. “It looks to me like you’re going to get that church wedding you were hoping for, since we can come off lockdown finally.” He looked at everyone else. “Put us on level yellow, we still need to be cautious and if nothing changes we can fully have it lifted by next week.”
That was fucking awesome. We already started taking the required Pre-Cana classes and now we wouldn’t need to bother with bringing Father Meyer inside the gates for our wedding. We also had to get a dispensation from the local bishop. I could invite Gloria and my grandparents, so it was great news. Plus, Belle would have been so happy to go dress shopping instead of borrowing one of Morgan’s red-carpet dresses. It also meant… “I’m taking her on a honeymoon.”
Creed snorted and I turned to him. “Shut the fuck up, I said honeymoon, not whatever you’re thinking.”
Belle
Why should I have cared that I was in a bridal shop looking at dresses while it looked like we had sixteen stalkers surrounding the place? Why should I have felt guilty that I was going to have to use a credit card with the name Bellamy Axton printed on it and I’d never see the bill? But I did feel guilty since I completed my life skills courses and had a better understanding of money. So, what my mother and Merriam were getting weird looks because they refused to stop wearing the dresses papa approved of for them? So, what that one of my bridesmaids was a famous actress which made even more people stare at us?
“Mama please, just try it on.” I held up the gorgeous mother of the bride dress.
“Absolutely not.”
“Ugh fine.” I guessed I should have just counted my blessings she was going to walk into a Catholic Church. Also, she didn’t totally freak out when Felicity accidently scheduled her to clean the bliss rooms at Club X. I mean, at least people got a kick out of watching a little pudgy Amish looking woman try to climb the fence of Creed’s Lake to escape. My stress level was high because there wasn’t enough time for alterations, so the dress would either have to fit just right, or Jenny volunteered to help me alter it. I was relieved when I finally found a dress I loved that was available off the rack.
I let Morgan and the girls loose with planning the wedding. I had never even been to one, so I handed over the reins.
Then we had to choose bridesmaids dresses and finally Addie’s little flower girl dress. Morgan and her mother were baking a cake, and she said something about Indiana fried chicken dinners, so the catering was settled. I dove into wedding themed movies and decided the planning wasn’t for me, no thank you. I showed up where I was told to show up and went with it.
There was a bridal shower two days later and I was overwhelmed by the amount of gifts we were given. We received everything from a new toaster to home décor. Then we played some very strange games, but there was cake so that was a highlight as well. I never felt as accepted or at home as I did in the days leading up to our wedding.
When I came home from the bridal shower, my husband was waiting for me with a warm dinner, music, and soft burning candles. The best part of being married to Michael, was how much he loved dating me. We laughed through dinner, he pulled me into him for a slow dance in his arms, then we curled up together to watch television.
Michael dated me morning, noon, and night. He always woke me with soft kisses, helped me make breakfast, and always had a goal of getting at least one laugh out of me before work. Then at lunch he would always make a quick stop in at my classroom to give me a kiss and tell me how much I was on his mind. He usually left Creed’s Lake for lunch at a small general store, but dinner was always set aside for me.
“Gentle.” He reminded me. “Now very slowly, press your foot down and you’ll feel the side by side inch forward.” He was teaching me how to drive the side by side. He already made me take a written test. I had to know what the signs around Creed’s Lake meant, and memorize the rules about driving before he would show me how to drive. I loved the feeling of freedom it was giving me the further I drove.
Between dates and work, Michael was enjoying the skating rink, and he even suggested putting in an indoor rink since the sport was going over so well with everyone. The guys loved hockey, and it showed. Creed said something about his family owning a team many years ago. Once March rolled around, we were enjoying better weather with highs in the upper fifties. I loved my life with Michael. Some things became easier, like learning the best ways to communicate and other things were harder like avoiding sex. That didn’t mean we didn’t have some fun fooling around in bed.
My brother also made some decisions after doing some job shadowing. He was always kind of a science geek, and after working in the lab, he submitted several college applications. In an agreement with Creed’s Lake, he would continue helping out in the lab while on school breaks and they would help him pay for college.
Michael had a total meltdown when the guys tried to throw him a bachelor party at Club X. Instead, they threw a bachelor/bachelorette party at Morgan’s house, and we had a lot of fun. The gag gifts were hilarious, but the gift Scott and Melissa brought were very inappropriate, even for adults. I thought he was going to punch Scott when we opened the two foot long thick black dildo. Then Scott tried to hug him, but Michael put a stop to that right away. Oddly enough, that thing disappeared from the gift table and suddenly Creed’s Lake had a new mystery to solve. Who stole the cock of doom and what were they planning to do with it? Melissa was on it like a bloodhound, she wanted to find that damn thing. She then came up with an idea to write an erotic mystery book. God help anyone that ever bought that book.
I couldn’t help but listen in on Michael’s phone call. “Now they’re threatening my dad’s family, and they think I give a damn?” He chuckled.
It was quiet for a moment.
“Oh, so now we have two mountain families at odds.” He chuckled again. “And why would I care? Let the problem fix itself. The only innocent bystanders to be hurt is the old man’s one eyed goat he named Sally, and Uncle Roy. From what I hear, he has been sitting in that damn recliner on the front porch for like a week and someone I know hasn’t gotten around to do a well check.”
Pause…
He laughed. “I thought you were the sheriff now, Broughton. Isn’t that your job?”
Pause…
“No, the turkey buzzards aren’t going to do the job for you. I know you don’t like that mountainside, but…well I would say they pay your salary, but they’d have to have jobs to pay taxes, wouldn’t they?”
Pause…
Michael laughed. “Exactly, they probably walk right by him but will only care once the coroner shows up. They love the empathy, and the part of an obituary where it says donations may be made to the family.”
Pause…
“No, nobody is going to think they’re just too lazy to take down their Halloween decorations.”
Pause…
“Yeah, just send in CPS to remove the kids and let them shoot it out. Problem solved. God knows they have money for plenty of ammo and beer, but not a damn dime when they try calling me.”
Pause…
Michael sighed. “I’m fine with providing a DNA sample, but don’t send anyone up here. I’ll be down in a few weeks. They’re scheduled to demolish mom’s old place, and I’d like to see it. I need those notice of evictions served sooner than later, Broughton, and you need to do that wellness check before I arrive. I don’t want to see that shit.”
Pause…
“She’s what?” He was laughing really hard. “How the hell did you write that in the arrest report?” He was wheezing from laughing so hard. “A blow job for twenty but for a hot fifty she’d take out her teeth?”
He was laughing so hard I worried he would stop breathing.
“Hell no, she’s not my relation. Loretta Joe married my cousin’s step dad after her mom got lost at Walmart and was finally declared dead, then when he got drunk at his still and drowned in the creek, she married his brother, then his other brother when the second husband died in that meth lab explosion ten-years ago. Then she forgot she even married that last husband when she married the traveling preacher. I have no idea why she’s living with Big Mike’s parents.”
Oh my….
“Praise God and don’t ask me how, but my buddy here did my family tree, and I have actual branches. From what he could tell the mountain life didn’t even start until the 1980’s. Big Mike was born in Washington State. Make that make sense. His parents actually chose that life, which in my opinion makes it worse.”
What kind of people were on that mountainside? At least Michael had branches on his tree.
“It’ll be a few weeks before I can get down there, and like I said, you might as well do that wellness check. Since the judge dismissed their wrongful death case, I’m sure you’ll be called down there for Linda Sue’s outbursts anyway.”
Pause…
“Thanks for the best wishes, Belle and I appreciate it. Talk soon.”
Pause…
“You can come in now, Belle.” Michael laughed. “I already told you I don’t have anything to hide.”
My face was red before I even opened the door of our bedroom all the way. He caught me and I was guilty. He pulled me down on his lap. “Any questions?”
I nodded real big, but remembered something he said once. Ignorance is bliss. “I think I’m good.”