“Done.” I kissed her on the cheek, walking back to her bedroom to start the water. Once I had a suitable temperature, I looked through her supplies and picked out a few I liked, dumping them in. Once the water was going, I walked back into the bedroom, finding Loren and Wells getting the dogs settled for the moment.
Lifting my sweater over my head, I dropped it to the floor, toeing off my shoes and socks. When they heard the clink of my belt, they both turned, stopping to watch me as I pushed my pants and boxers down in one go, stepping out of them. Winking, I turned, my still erect cock pointing in the direction I was headed.
The water was at a reasonable level, so I shut it off and stepped in, settling back against the corner. Loren had one of those jacuzzi tubs. It would’ve been perfect for two people, but three would be tricky, but I had faith in us to figure it out. My cock peeked out of the bubbles, and I grabbed it, giving it a tug, my head falling back against the wall. I hadn’t wanted this to be sexual, only to provide Loren with some comfort.
Using all the things that would make me soft, I kept repeating them over and over in my head. When I felt the water rise, I opened my eyes to find Loren smiling at me. Holding out my hand, I pulled her down into my lap, laying her against my chest.
“This is perfect, thank you.” She brushed my chin with her nose, leaving me a kiss. Wrapping my arms around her, I pulled her tight to me, loving the feel of her against my skin.
Wells stepped in a moment later, settling between my feet, taking Loren’s legs into his hands as he reached up to me.
“I vote for a bigger tub when we all get a place together,” Wells grunted, causing Loren and me to look up at him.
“A place together? Did you just say you wanted to move in with us?” I asked.
“I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what he said,” Loren said, agreeing.
Wells lifted a corner of his mouth, not answering as he laid his head back, his hands wrapped around my foot and hers. We looked at one another, shrugging. It was quiet for a while as we all soaked in the tub together.
“You ready to tell us, Kitten?” Wells finally asked. Loren sighed, nodding.
“Yeah, I am.”
I sat up some, taking the washcloth and running it over her skin in soothing motions as I pretended to wash her. Slowly, I massaged her neck, arms, and back as I dropped water over her skin.
When Loren started to speak, it was low, her voice barely above a whisper. “I was pregnant once,” she said, the words freezing my movements. “When I was about 33 weeks, I had a fall, and it started premature labor. Everything is a blur and disjointed. I don’t even remember how I fell, honestly, just the pain and fear are clear. I know that they put me on medication to slow down the labor, and there were a lot of tests performed. No matter what they tried, though, the labor couldn’t be stopped, and I was rushed into emergency surgery.”
She sucked in a breath, and I pulled her back into my chest, wrapping my whole body around her. I felt her tears hitting my arms, and I knew this was hard for her. Wells leaned forward, linking his hand with hers.
“What happened next, Kitten?”
“No, Wells, she doesn’t have to tell us.”
He glared at me, shaking his head, not listening. “Kitten.”
A grunt left my mouth as I moved to kick him in the balls for being an asshole right then. Loren stopped me, placing her hand on my shin. “No, it’s okay, Monroe. I need to do this. I need to say it. I know it’s important.”
Rubbing her arm, I kissed her temple, trying to give her all of my strength.
“They rushed me into the room, and I remember the look on the nurse's faces. It’s so vivid when I look back, their stares of pity are locked into my memory, and I knew my odds weren’t good. I prayed to whoever would listen to just grant me this one thing. I’d been good my whole life. Surely I deserved this? I was owed that much, I thought. When they finally pulled my baby out, I was exhausted, the delivery taking so much out of me on top of all the drugs and trauma my body had been through in the past twenty-four hours. I followed the nurses' movements as they took her over and started to clean her up. The doctors were working down below, but I wasn’t even focusing on that. I watched the nurse use that sucking thing, cleaning her eyes and throat. I kept waiting for her to cry, to hear her voice. Their movements became more frenzied as they shouted things, turning her over. I cried out at that point, and they moved to block my view. It felt like hours as I waited. When the nurse turned, my baby was wrapped in a blanket, and I thought I must’ve zoned out and missed her cry because they were bringing her to me.”
She looked up, glancing between Wells and me, tears streaming down her face. I looked over at Wells, and I saw his pain at hearing her story, and I let go of the anger I had for him. He knew she needed to do this and had been willing to push her when I hadn’t. Loren sucked in a breath, wiping her eyes. She grabbed both of our hands as she told the last of her story.
“They placed her down on my chest, and I stared at the most precious face. She was so beautiful. I didn’t hear their words at first, too happy to stare at my baby, thankful she’d been given to me finally. But when she didn’t move or make a sound, I looked up to meet the nurse’s eyes, and the sadness I saw there told me everything I needed to know. She told me that they’d done everything they could but that she was just too small, her lungs underdeveloped to handle the birth. That’s when I knew it didn’t matter that I’d been good my whole life. The world didn’t care. It took what it wanted, and it had taken my baby. When they took her away, a piece of me left with her.”
“Where was your husband during this?” Wells asked, a growl slipping out through his teeth.
“I don’t know. I never asked. He was there when I woke up later. My mother had met me at the hospital when it first happened. That was back when I thought they both had my best interests in mind.”
“How does what Christine told us connect?” I asked. She turned to me, some of her fierceness returning.
“When I woke, Brian told me I was responsible for losing our child and that my incompetence had caused me to not only lose the baby I carried, but any future ones. The labor had been difficult, and I guess while I was watching them with Violet, they were trying to save my life. Apparently, there’d been extensive scarring on my fallopian tubes, making it impossible for me to ever conceive. It doesn’t matter though, because they also told me I was infertile.”
“I’m not a doctor or anything, nor a woman, but that doesn't sound right. Did you ever talk to the doctor?”
“No.” Loren shook her head, a puzzled look coming over her face. “But that’s the part that doesn’t make sense. If I’m infertile, why was Brian paying to have ovum stored? And just whose are they?”
“I think I might have the answer to that,” a deep voice said from the doorway, causing us all to jump. The dogs were sitting next to his legs perfectly still, and not for the first time, I realized just how much power Atticus weaved.
“Fuck, dude,” Wells hissed, sitting forward to cover his junk. “And you two,” he glared at the dogs, “some watchdogs you are.” They both whimpered, laying down with their heads on their paws. Atticus rolled his eyes, but never once looked at us.
“I’ll give you a minute to, um, get decent.” He turned, and a sound I hadn’t expected to hear from Loren erupted out of her as she lost herself in a fit of giggles. I looked at Wells, and we soon found ourselves joining her. Clothes were tossed into the bathroom, only causing us to laugh more.
“Don’t run into any walls while you’re squinting,” Loren shouted, giggling even more as she started to climb out of the tub. The only response she got back was a one-worded reply.
“Two.”
The door shut, and I looked at her, and she shrugged, but I noticed her face heating as she dried off. The three of us dressed quickly and made our way out to the suited man, who seemed to have all the answers.