Lumberjacked, page 18
“Sorry if saving my life and being comfortable is offensive to you,” I snapped. I knew how round I was; I didn’t need my skinny friend to keep pointing it out.
“Uh, I don’t think you’d be very comfortable if that thing was actually saving your life because we’d be crashing.”
“I can’t wait until somebody knocks you up and you’re a hundred pounds heavier. I’m going to tease you too.”
I glowered at her and she looked stricken. “Dude, I was just joking, I’m sorry.”
I sighed and clipped my belt shut. “It’s not you, it’s me. Everything fucking irritates me right now, you know that.”
“I kinda picked up on it when you flipped out at lunch for the missing pickle in your burger,” she grinned. “I think that waiter might have peed himself a little.”
“Just a wee?” I smiled back and we giggled. “I tipped him huge to make up for it though.”
“Well if he wasn’t celibate already, your angry pregnant lady rampage probably turned him off sex for a while.”
“Was it that bad?” I asked, looking at her and feeling tears well up behind my eyes. I hated being this out of control of my emotions. It had been hard enough to open up and feel vulnerable with Aaron, and then accept his family’s love and allow them to become my family, but this constant crankiness and crying was too much sometimes.
“Uh, yeah, you were,” she smiled and touched my arm. “You’re allowed to be though, you’ve got another human being inside of you.”
“For another month and a half, too,” I exhaled and pushed my bangs off my sweaty forehead. “I don’t know if I can make it that long.”
“I don’t know if any of us can,” Melanie winked and nudged me.
We laughed again and I had to abruptly get up to use the bathroom when I felt the baby hit my bladder again. Using an airplane bathroom at seven months pregnant is not something I’d wish on my worst enemy.
After finding the right way to turn around and go pee, I couldn’t get up right off the bat. I had to struggle and lift myself with the handicapped rails to finally get free.
I flushed and looked at myself in the wavy reflections of the airline mirror and almost started to cry.
My eyes were puffy, my face was bloated and I looked like I’d aged about ten years overnight. It was so unfair, everybody talked about the pregnant lady glow and all I got was acne and dark circles under my eyes.
I couldn’t wait to get back to Aaron, the only place in the world where I felt beautiful right now.
Aaron
I don’t know what had gotten into me, I’d never been a worrywart but from the moment Reagan’s plane had taken off yesterday to right now, I’d been terrified of losing her and our baby.
Every possible scenario had gone through my head in the time she’d been gone. Everything from a plane crash, to earthquake to zombie freaking apocalypse had kept me up all night thinking about the horror my life would be if I ever lost them.
We’d texted constantly, and I vowed to not be apart again for a very long time, if ever.
I paced the parking lot in front of the little Woodbridge Airport, if it could even be called that. It was more like the Woodbridge shack next to a strip of paved road small planes can land on.
I heard a rumble in the sky and looked up to find the little Dash 8 piercing the low cloud cover and heading right for the runway.
I practically ran into the waiting area and felt like a kid on Christmas morning. My princess was coming home.
I couldn’t stand still until I spotted her walking down the little steps they’d rolled up to the plane. I tried to push through the automatic doors leading to the tarmac, but a TSA agent blocked my way and said, “Sir, you’ll have to wait. This is for passenger arrivals only.”
“Sorry,” I grumbled and tried to control the urge to shove him down and run to my princess.
She looked tired, really beaten up. The plan to fly to the city for baby goodies had seemed like a fun girl’s shopping trip a few days ago when Melanie had suggested it, but I could see in Reagan’s face that she regretted it.
She walked slowly; in fact she waddled more than anything but I was a smart man, I would never tell her that. I would end up having to contend with tears or rage, or both, and I didn’t want to do anything to upset her.
At long last all the other passengers funnelled past me and Reagan made it to the doors.
They slid open, Melanie held her elbow to steady her, but Reagan couldn’t help herself. She rushed ahead and into my open arms.
I buried my face in her hair and said, “Never again, princess. You’re not leaving my sight ever again.” I inhaled her heady scent and felt her newly rounded body quivering in my arms.
“Oh god, I agree. I was a wreck without you, I was miserable and lonely,” she wailed and I realized she was crying.
“Thanks,” Melanie in a sardonic tone behind her. “I guess I’m chopped liver now that you’ve got your wood chopping lumberjack.”
I looked over Reagan’s shoulder at Reagan’s best friend, who had become a good friend of mine over the past couple years, and grinned at her. “It’s all about the wood, not necessarily the chop.”
Melanie snort laughed and stuck her tongue out at me. “Well since I have no wood to speak of, I’ll go get our bags and let you two lovebirds hug it out.”
“Thank you,” Reagan sniffled against my chest. She looked up at me, tears making her soulful blue eyes shine like sunlight on water, and said, “I love you, Aaron. Take me home, I need to climb into our bed and try to feel less like a whale and more like a woman again.”
“Yes, you must be exhausted from your flight. I’ll make you some tea while you nap,” I told her, soothing her worries and completely missing the mark.
She rolled her eyes, now drying after he little crying jag, and said, “No. I need to feel like a woman, not a baby machine.”
Her eyes locked on mine meaningfully and my utterly gorgeous, about to pop, almost eight month pregnant wife slipped her hand down the front of me and squeezed my cock through my jeans.
It was instantly, painfully hard and I caught her drift then.
“Oh,” I said and bent to nuzzle her neck. “I get it, you want to fuck.”
“God do I ever,” she laughed breathily in my ear. “Get me home.”
“Happy to oblige, ma’am,” I grinned and pretended to tip my hat to her.
I helped Melanie load their luggage into the truck and swung by her boyfriend’s place to drop her off. I tried my best to not seem too over-eager, tossing her shit out as I basically sprinted back into the driver’s seat, but she knew what we were up to and she was visibly annoyed.
But whatever, I didn’t give two shits about Melanie’s feelings when my princess wanted to fuck.
I sprayed gravel speeding up our driveway, Reagan gripped the handle above the door in the truck and laughed at my excitement.
“What, it’s been a while,” I said, completely unapologetic in my need to have her.
“I know, but I think those mysterious third trimester hornies have finally kicked in.”
I ran to the passenger side, opened her door and pulled her into my arms, giant pregnant belly and all. I carried her inside, fumbling with the keys as she laughed and clung to my neck.
We didn’t make it to our room, but with some creative angles, the use of a couple pillows, and a lot of laughs, we managed to have sex on the couch for the first time in a long time.
Afterwards when we were in bed, after I’d made dinner and massaged her from head to toe of course, she fell asleep and I reflected on the last couple years of my life.
She fell asleep on her side, I spooned her and ran my hands across her swollen belly and revelled in the pure magic of her body.
I kissed her shoulder, not for sex but in reverence of the strength she possessed. She was creating our child, building our future together, the foundation of our family and our lives together.
I slid my hand along the gentle swell of her, settled it on her roundness, feeling our baby kick and tumble inside its mother.
“Hey little guy,” I said and leaned over her, talking to the baby. I had never told Reagan, but I secretly hoped for a boy. There was no reason for it really, perhaps just the comfort of knowing how to relate to a little boy. Or maybe it was that I wanted a big brother to protect his future siblings, like I had.
I’d always taken my duty so seriously, to care for my younger brothers, so I felt like if we had a boy I could teach him this kind of family loyalty.
I felt movement under my hand and laughed as our baby kicked me and wiggled away.
“Is that how it’s gonna be?” I asked in wonder and left my hand in place feeling the ripples of more kicks and movements. “Are you going to be a soccer player?” As if in response, the baby kicked my hand one more time and flashed away, like a fish under the water’s surface.
I smiled and realized something important.
I was happy.
I’d always been kind of a neutral sort with leanings to the grumpy side. People pissed me off; I had a short temper and didn’t find that many folks who didn’t make me clench my fists with their wilful ignorance.
Reagan had changed that. She’d changed everything inside of me and in my world, and she’d made them both better. She’d healed wounds I hadn’t even seen, and she’d mended placed I didn’t know were broken.
She was my everything, and yet lying here next to her, feeling our baby kicking and rolling around inside of her, I realized that the greatest part of her that I loved was a mystery.
She was an entire world, and entire galaxy, a universe of unknowns sleeping peacefully beside me and I loved her even more fiercely for that. She continued to surprise me with her joy and every day I discovered something new about her, something more to love.
I didn’t know when I’d become such a big, romantic sap, but I was happy to do it with a woman like Reagan by my side.
I slipped into sleep with my hand on her belly, feeling our baby kick and the love I had for both of them surging through me as I drifted off.
Reagan
“I can’t believe you’re still coming up here even without a guy to distract you,” I told Melanie with a grin. I was sitting on the sofa trying to relax while she helped tidy up the kitchen and took care of me while Aaron was away on a short jaunt to Juno for some meeting with a potential business partner.
He was expanding the mill’s operations and selling our wood all over the world now, and this investor was going to help us take production to the next level.
It always made me laugh when his family scratched their heads and marveled at Aaron’s business savvy, apparently before I came along he barely limped by with nothing new in the mill for years.
I guess I inspired him, as he inspired me. I was a week away from my due date and had just completed the most well received sculpture of my burgeoning career as an artist.
“You know if I hadn’t found out that bastard was cheating, I probably would have still been with him. He did me a service though, now I’m free and clear to find myself a real man. Maybe a lumberjack of my own,” she giggled and put the plates and cups away in the cupboard near the sink.
I shifted on the sofa; a strange deep twinge pierced my pelvis so I shifted again. I lifted myself up slightly and was about to reply, but all that came out was, “Oh my god.”
“What? I could see myself with a blue-collar kind of man. Somebody with nice strong hands—“
“Not that!” I blurted, cutting her off, looking down at the sofa in disbelief and alarm. “My water just broke!”
Tiger was snoring on the sofa next to me, he jerked awake and glared at me when I yelped.
“You probably peed yourself,” she smiled and rolled her eyes. “You’re not due for another week. You told me another week. Oh my god, is the baby coming? Why? What am I supposed to do?”
Her hysteria mounted as she spoke, but instead of getting me worked up, her anxiety had the opposite effect on me. I became incredibly calm, almost Zen-like, and told her, “Call Aaron first of all, I don’t care if he’s in a meeting, you need to get him on the phone. Second, please get my hospital bag from my room, put the dogs in their room and then we’ll go in as planned. It’s just a little early, but everything will be fine. Oh and don’t forget to call the gallery to let them know I’ll be away for a week or two.”
I listened as she called Aaron, demanding to be put through, and then babbling about the baby coming as her voice got more and more hysterical.
I smiled and rubbed my big belly as the first hard contraction rippled through me, leaving me breathless but excited to finally meet this little person.
I looked down at my hands as I rested, placing them on top of my stomach. My wedding band looked like a beautiful diamond ring circling a stuffed sausage, I was so swollen. I wouldn’t take it off though, from the moment Aaron surprised me with it a week after the positive pregnancy test, to the ceremony itself, I wore it. We hadn’t bothered with an engagement ring; it seemed silly seeing how we got married so fast. Tiger waddled over to me and whined, laid his head on my hands and stared up at me.
“You’re going to meet the baby soon,” I said and petted my little dog. He’d been my constant companion for years now, but life had changed and the baby was going to take up a lot of my time. I hope he’d adjust and learn to love our child as much as I was sure they’d love him.
As Melanie raced upstairs, I laughed about the ridiculousness of this entire situation. Of course Aaron would have to be a plane ride away at the worst possible time, it was just a day trip and of course our little one would choose that moment to make his or her entrance into the world.
I breathed and focused on good thoughts of a healthy baby and Aaron by my side when our child made the entrance into our lives.
Our wedding had been really lovely by all accounts. I’d never dreamed of any type of wedding as a girl, so anything would have been better than nothing.
Penny had gone all out though; we’d ended up with a few hundred people in an outdoor event on her picturesque farm, next to the pond and framed by rolling green hills.
Dad had come, along with his girlfriend du jour, a much too young starlet and latest celebrity sensation according to the news rags.
He and Melanie had tried to get us to film it for a follow up show, just to let the nation know about our lives after Lumberjacked, but we’d categorically agreed to not go for it.
As much as we appreciated the show for bringing us together, we wanted to put it behind us and keep it there.
The paparazzi had been annoying though, buzzing us with helicopters as we’d said our vows and publishing the photos all over the internet, but we couldn’t keep them away so I’d chosen to accept the fact that people were celebrating our love along with us.
And I’d looked really great, so there was that too. I couldn’t help but think about Nick or Peony looking at them and seeing us there in all our happiness and joy, and I was a little smug about it then.
And then of course somebody had leaked photos of my belly, and the nation went crazy over our pending parenthood.
But once again, they actually caught me on a day when I looked like a glowing pregnant woman and Aaron looked like a protective, hot-as-fuck husband.
So there, take that Peony and Nick and any other haters.
Okay, positive thoughts, positive thoughts…I breathed deeply and hear Melanie clatter down the stairs talking a mile a minute about things she’d brought along just in case.
I looked up and saw her holding my hospital bag, the one I’d packed weeks ago just for this moment, but in her other hand she had my ratty old bathrobe, a hairbrush from the bathroom and a winter jacket.
She skidded to a stop in front of me, her eyes were glassy and her breathing was rapid. “Is this good?” she exhaled.
“It’s fine,” I replied and stood slowly, grabbing my bathrobe and putting it between my legs. “I need to clean up first.”
Tiger jumped off the sofa as if offended and walked away towards the room where he and Tipsy had their beds and bowls. He gave me one last reproachful look before heading through the door to join Tipsy for a nap. Silly little beast.
“Oh, I could have brought a towel,” she replied and looked at the other items in her hand. “Or anything useful at all, god why did I grab these?”
“Panic,” I laughed, taking them from her and dropping them on the floor with the bathrobe. “We’ll worry about this later, after the baby is born. I just need the bag, it’s got all my stuff for the hospital.”
“Of course,” she chuckled. “God, this is crazy, I’m a mess and you’re so calm and you’re the one who will have a little human marching out of you any minute now.”
“We’ve got a few hours,” I said, “my contractions aren’t too bad and they’re not that close together yet.”
She locked the dogs in their room, helped me to my SUV, got into the driver’s side and took me to the hospital. Once my cell service kicked in, I texted Penny and Dad, to let them know what was going on.
I could practically hear Penny’s excited shriek through the phone when she texted back. She was coming into the hospital right away.
I texted Aaron and didn’t expect a reply, but he got back to me immediately to let me know the earliest flight wouldn’t get him back into town for seven hours.
I felt tears rise up behind my eyes when I read that, and I felt a flutter of panic tighten in my chest, but I refused to give into it. I told him I would wait, and I vowed to hang on until he got there.
We drove up in front of the hospital, and things all blurred together until we were set up in my private room, the only birthing suite available in our small town but luckily I was apparently the only one giving birth around that time.
“So what happens now?” Melanie asked, looking worriedly at my stomach. “Does it just come out? Or is it like the movies? Help me out here.”
“I have no idea,” I laughed. “I’ve never done this before, remember?”
