Chapter 14 #2
The baby woke Janey from a deep sleep with a sharp kick to the ribs.
It was still strange at times to realize a life was growing inside her, letting its mother know that she was in for a wild ride.
She rested a hand on her belly, smiling when she felt the ripple of life travel from one side of her belly to another.
“What’s wrong?” Joe asked, yawning.
She took his hand and rested it on the baby bump. “Feel this.”
“Wow. That’s amazing.” He never failed to stir her with his excitement about the baby they hadn’t planned to have quite yet. “Does it feel weird inside?”
“Sort of. He’s kicking hard enough to wake me up.”
Joe kept his hand next to hers on her belly. “So he’s a he now?”
They’d decided not to find out what they were having and took turns coming up with nicknames and interchanging pronouns. “For the moment.” Seeking a more comfortable position, Janey shifted onto her side to face her husband. “Why are you awake?”
“No reason.”
“You’re thinking about the business.”
“Maybe a little. Nothing to worry about, hon.”
“I’ve been thinking, too.”
“About what?”
“Maybe I should take a leave of absence for a year—”
“No. No way. That’s not happening.”
“Hear me out.”
“I don’t want to hear you talk about not going back to school. You’re so close to being done. You can’t quit now.”
“I wouldn’t quit. I’d just be postponing a bit.”
“No.”
“Maybe this situation with Seamus is a sign.”
“A sign of what?”
“That we should stay here this year, so you can run the business and I can take care of the baby.”
“I’ll find someone to deal with the business, and I’ll take care of the baby so you can finish school. I don’t want you to worry about anything.”
How could she tell him that the closer she got to delivering the baby, the more conflicted she became about where she belonged?
Becoming a veterinarian was a dream come true, but having a baby and being a mother was far more important all of a sudden.
After Joe had sacrificed so much to make it possible for her to attend veterinary school in Ohio, how could she tell him that she was no longer certain she wanted to finish?
The thought of leaving the baby for hours on end to attend classes and labs and then to come home to all the studying…
What sort of mother would she be if her baby never saw her?
Joe gave her hand a little tug, encouraging her to come closer.
Janey never needed much encouragement to get close to him. She rested her head on his chest and sighed with contentment when his arms encircled her.
He kissed the top of her head. “Go to sleep.”
Never one to do as she was told, Janey ran her hand from his chest to his belly. Under the covers, she found him hard and ready. “Want to?”
He snorted out a laugh. “Always. It’s more a matter of whether you want to.”
“I really want to, but I’m not sure if the rest of me will cooperate.”
“You wanna find out?”
“I’m game if you are.”
He hesitated. “I don’t know if I can do it in my mother’s house.”
“Oh, please! You have no trouble doing it in my mother’s house.”
He rolled so he was above her but was careful to keep his weight off her abdomen. “That’s different.”
“How’s it different?”
“It’s not my mother’s house.”
Her slug to his shoulder earned her a laugh from her husband, who took her mind off the indignation by kissing her with passionate intent.
They’d had to be creative in bed since her burgeoning belly made sex difficult.
Ironically, pregnancy had made her ridiculously horny.
It was so unfair that she wanted sex constantly but had the ungodly belly standing between her and her husband.
She couldn’t wait to feel his chest hair against her breasts again. She’d missed that.
Janey ran her fingers up his neck to bury them in his hair, which he’d let grow a bit from the ultra-short style he’d favored until she told him she liked it a little longer.
“Tell me if anything hurts?”
“Mmm,” she said against his lips. “Hurry.”
“I’ll have to keep you constantly pregnant,” he said as he pushed up her nightgown and slid into her, nearly making her come from that alone. “I like insatiable Janey.”
“Mmm, I like her, too.” Janey closed her eyes and floated on a cloud of sensation as he gave her exactly what she needed—slowly, gently, reverently.
“Janey…”
She loved the desperate way her name exploded from his lips as his control broke.
He threw his head back and came hard but silently, triggering an explosive response from her.
Somehow, he managed to stay propped up on his arms until they wouldn’t hold him any longer, and then he rolled to his side, reaching for her.
“Quick and dirty,” Janey said with a smile he couldn’t see.
“Sorry.”
“For what?”
“Being too quick.”
“You weren’t too quick. You were perfect.” She kissed his shoulder and breathed in his endlessly appealing scent. “As always.”
“You’re easy to please.”
“I love you love you,” she whispered, rubbing his back as she felt him drift off to sleep.
“Hmmm, me, too.”
Janey kept up the circular motion on his back until his breathing deepened and she was certain he was asleep.
Then she carefully extricated herself from his embrace and got up to use the bathroom.
She was on her way back to bed when she heard the dogs stirring in the living room where she’d put their beds.
As she moved from the hallway to the living room to check on them, the front door opened, and Carolina came in. The two women startled each other.
“Jeez, you about gave me a heart attack,” Janey said.
Carolina had her hand over her heart. “Same here.”
“Where’ve you been? I thought you were asleep.”
“I, um, I had something I needed to do.”
In the faint light of a single lamp, Janey took a closer look at her mother-in-law. “Have you been crying?”
“No, of course not.” But as she said the words, tears rolled down her cheeks. She brushed them away, almost as if she hoped Janey wouldn’t notice them.
Janey, who’d never seen Carolina Cantrell rattled, let alone undone, took her by the hand and led her into the kitchen, urging her into a chair at the table.
Janey filled the kettle and put it on to boil.
While it heated, she rooted around in the cabinet until she found two packets of decaffeinated tea and set them in mugs.
“It’s nothing, really,” Carolina said. “You need your rest, honey.”