Annabel Joseph Deep In The Woods (pdf)

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

her eyes alight. I guess you were right.
Dave threw his arms around her and started whooping right there in the store,
bringing a look of alarm to the cashier s face.
In the car on the way home, Sophie hugged herself, feeling emotional and excited.
Another pregnancy. A new chance at life again. It was amazing how life kept
throwing her second chances. Into the woods and back out again, and again.
What are you thinking about? Dave reached for her hand.
Sophie squeezed it and sighed. You know, it s really weird. I lost a baby on the
ground, in the woods on a dark winter night. And now this baby, it was conceived
On the ground, in the woods on a dark winter night. I know. Believe me, I ve been
thinking about that too.
Do you ever think this is all just& I don t know& fate? I mean, if I d had that baby,
Barry would have used it to keep me with him. I never would have met you. Who
knows how things might have ended up. Me and the baby would probably both be
dead by now.
I know what you mean. I think about that all the time. It s like, life sends you on
this path or that path, and you never know where you re going to end up, or why
things happened the way they did. It seems so random, and yet& when you come out
on the other side&
Mm-hm, Sophie agreed. Totally random. You never know.
But I know this, he said, kissing her hand. For me now, forever, all paths lead to
you. However we got here, I m so happy with you, honey. I m so happy with our life
together.
Me too, said Sophie, resting her other hand over her still-flat tummy. God, me
too.
120
Deep in the Woods
Epilogue
Nine Months Later
Sophie looked in the mirror to fix her lipstick, then combed back her hair, which
had grown quite wild in the last year. It was amazing the changes pregnancy wrought,
even now, almost two months since she d given birth. She was finally starting to feel
like herself again. And her big boobs, well& she hoped those never changed.
She heard baby Hunter start to whine in his bedside crib. Cerby thrust his big black
head in the door to the bathroom and woofed softly at her.
I hear him, Cerb. I m coming.
She took one last look at herself and went into the bedroom to find Cerby peering
down at Hunter. She smiled at the dog as she picked the baby up.
Where would we be without you, Cerb? How would we know when the baby
needed something? Or when the baby was crying? She was teasing the overprotective
mutt, but he gazed back, smiling his happy canine smile. Cerberus was special to
Sophie and Dave for many reasons, and his love for Hunter was just one more. Since
the day they d brought the baby home from the hospital, Cerby had never been more
than a few feet from the newborn s side. Every time Hunter shifted in his sleep at night,
Cerby awakened and looked up attentively. Baby okay? Every time Hunter coughed or
sneezed or made the tiniest whimper, Cerberus would nudge Dave or Sophie to be sure
they knew it. Yes, Cerb, we heard.
And when Hunter cried, which wasn t often, Cerby would pace and worry until
Dave or Sophie had the baby calmed down. It was endearing, if somewhat annoying.
Sophie only hoped Cerby relaxed a little before it was time to send Hunter off to school.
She smiled imagining the big dog with his nose pressed to the window of Hunter s
classroom, keeping watch all day. At least Hunter wouldn t have to worry about
bullies&
Ready, hon? called Dave from the living room.
Coming.
Sophie dressed Hunter in a soft blue velour crawler. They were taking a family
photo for holiday cards and presents, and Dave had his tripod and digital camera set up
and waiting.
I hope I look okay, Sophie fretted as she came out. Dave had snapped hundreds
of photos of her during the pregnancy and after the birth, and she thought she looked
like a bloated whale in all of them, although he framed them all and mounted them in
every room of the house, blown up to tragic proportions. Gorgeous, he sighed over each
one. She couldn t nurse Hunter without Dave whipping out the camera. That, at least,
121
Annabel Joseph
she understood. She loved the photos of Hunter nursing. She felt so motherly and
content when she fed him. She loved all the photos, she supposed, just because she
adored her baby boy.
Hunter had been born in mid-September, seven pounds even and healthy as a
horse. They had originally toyed with the idea of calling him Forest, because of the way
he was conceived, but it seemed too kitschy. They settled on Hunter instead. After the
birth, Sophie s and Dave s parents had all descended on the household. They got along
well, thankfully. Sophie barely had to do anything with all the help around the house,
only hold her baby and nurse him when he was hungry. All in all it had been a
wonderful experience, but Sophie and Dave both breathed a sigh of relief when the
parents finally left.
Now they were settling in to being their own family. Dave, Sophie, Hunter and
Cerberus, of course. Sophie and Dave had even resumed their D/s playtimes after the
standard six weeks of recuperation gingerly at first, but they were definitely picking
up steam. Only the nipple clamps were verboten, for fear they might interfere with her
nursing. Everything else they had played around with the last week.
Dave smiled at Sophie, perhaps remembering their early morning lovemaking,
stolen moments before Hunter woke. She smiled back and sat on the sofa where he
pointed. She arranged little Hunter on her lap and scooted right or left based on Dave s
directions as he focused the camera. He pushed a series of buttons that set off a blinking [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Linki