"Hey, Mommy," Todd said, greeting her at the door. Blair came into the foyer, swept into his arms and his kiss. He rested his forehead on hers. "You're beautiful when you're pregnant. And when you're not."
"Oh, Todd," she said, softly, and her voice shook. Instead of continuing to face his searching eyes, she threw herself into his embrace again and held on.
"Hey, hey, what's all this about?" He said, aiming to pull back and see her face. She held fast. "Blair, come on. Let go. Tell me what's wrong? Is it the baby?"
She heard a slight alarm in his voice, and said, "No." She still did not let go. "Just hold me, Todd, and don't let go."
"I am, but . . ."
"Please, Todd?"
"All right, Babe." Not going to push her. Hormones. Again.
Little Ray came stumbling up to them and grabbed Todd's leg. "Daddy, up! Up, Daddy!"
Both Todd and Blair looked down. He could see she was crying, but at her request he didn't ask. He just thumbed her tears off her face. "Wait, Ray. Be patient, I'm macking on Mommy right now."
"Tawd!" she called out, slipping into a smile and soft laughter.
"Daddy, up! Mommy, tell Daddy."
"He's ordering us around already, another Starr in the making." Todd said.
"I know," Blair said, "Jack was the sweet one. Never caused much of a ruckus. But his sister, and this one . . ."
"He's getting scoochy."
"I'll say."
Todd lifted the baby off the floor. He hugged his father around the neck. "Hug, Daddy?"
"Sure, here's a hug, Buddy." Todd responded.
"Cookie?" The toddler asked, and looked pleadingly into Todd's face. Then he turned, "Cookie, Mommy?"
Blair laughed. "He's got those Manning genes."
She turned to go to the kitchen, and Todd yelled out "Ouch!"
She turned back and Little Ray was kicking. Her eyes widened. She said, "Ray, stop kicking Daddy! Right now!"
The toddler kept kicking and seemed to kick harder as one landed in Todd's middle, and he finally put the little boy down. He said, "Geesh." Then, "I don't want you picking him up anymore, until after the baby is born. If he kicks you, it won't be good."
Blair was crouched in front of the little boy. "That is not nice, you don't kick people." The toddler stared into her face. "Now, say sorry to Daddy."
"Sowwy, Daddy," he said with a sad little frown and a tear.
Todd said, "Well, don't do that again. You don't kick. That's not nice."
"Me don't kick, me don't kick," he said, repeatedly, running in circles around them.
Todd said, "Definitely my son, look at him. Going in circles." The little boy ran off into the family room and began to play with his toys.
Blair laughed again. "I guess he is. I wouldn't have it any other way." She slowly attempted to get up from her crouch and Todd hurried to her and helped.
"Don't go down on the ground any time soon, you might never get back up." He said, and smiled at her.
"I won't. So, how are you, Todd, today?
"I'm fine, Blair. I don't want you worried about things. It's all in here," he said, tapping his head, "and it will pass. I'm fine."
She didn't speak, she just kissed him.
***
"Junior year is almost over, Jack. We'd better start thinking of the future," Jenna said, sitting in her kitchen with him. Lynnette was puttering around the living room.
"I know. College. Trade school. Just work for my father. Not sure which thing."
"What do you want to be?"
"I think I want to be a mogul, like he is."
"Then the answer's obvious."
"They're going to want me to go to college. I know how they are."
"Nothing wrong with that. You could do business administration. Or something."
"Journalism. I kinda like writing. I enjoyed what I was doing when I was working for Zeus."
"The man who took your father's place?"
"Yeah. I did some stuff at The Sun for him. I liked it."
"Then I guess you're all set."
"What about you? It should be fairly obvious what you want to do."
"I know. I want to study at Yale. Fine arts. But it's a pipe dream, I think."
"Can you get in?"
"I think so. I have good grades, you know that."
"Well, then you'll go. My dad already said you'd go to college wherever you want."
"That's over $150,000. I could never ask him to do that."
"He's already said it. You're not asking. Just apply. Wherever you get in, you choose and go. Done deal. In truth, I'd rather not go to college, and just work for him. So, the money he would have spent on me, could just be for you. It doesn't matter to him. Really. If that's what you want to do, then you should. You'll get financial aid, the rest he'll pay."
She got quiet.
"I know what you're thinking, I think," he said.
"What?"
"You'll have to leave Llanview. Yale's in Connecticut. That's where you'll be going to school. But don't worry. It's fine, we'll see each other. No problem."
"It was always a dream of mine to go there. In some ways, it still is. In other ways, it's not. It's hard to explain."
"I get it. But I could visit you, and you could come home often."
"What if I go local, to somewhere here?"
"You could go to Llanview University. They have art."
"They do. I'll have to look into it."
"But one thing."
"What?"
"Don't put your dream aside because you don't want to leave here, or me. I'll still be around. It's going to be okay, and we have a whole year and a half before that."
"That's true." She said, he leaned across the table and kissed her.
"Excuse me, Jack, it seems your driver is here." Lynnette said, stepping into the kitchen.
"Okay, thanks Lynnie," he said, and grabbed his coat.
After he went out the door, Lynnette turned to Jenna. "You've wanted to study at Yale since you were old enough to say so. You're not dumping a dream for that boy."
"Wait a minute, you were listening?"
"You bet I was. Your dreams come first."
"That's what he said, which you already know from listening in."
"Maybe so, but you won't be sticking around here for any other reason than it's the best thing to do. Not because of Jack Manning."
***
"How did you do it? I mean, how did you get him to go in for a nap? He fights me tooth and nail lately." Blair said, still in the kitchen, prepping some items for dinner.
"Easy. I used Momma." Todd smirked, taking her hand.
She was easily led by him toward the staircase, "What do you mean?"
"She put him down. He quiets around her, almost immediately. Sorta weird. Maybe because she makes no noise, he figures he shouldn't."
Blair followed her husband. "So, we're going upstairs, then."
"We are. Time for a nap for Mommy and Daddy, while Little Ray has his."
"A nap?"
"Yeah, what did you expect? The kid's asleep, how often do we get that?"
She smiled, and when they got to the top of the stairs, he said, "Come on, just a little further."
"I'm not a cripple."
"No, but you're starting to wobble."
"Oh, stop, will you? Just stop."
He turned to face her, and then ran his hands up her arms, and said, "You'll be telling me the opposite in a bit," he kissed her neck.
She tilted her head to allow him to work his way down to her collarbone. "I will?"
"You will. And you know it."
She said, "And what about you? What will you be saying?"
He pushed open the bedroom door with his hand, and his kisses were now landing on her mouth. Still connected, they backed into the room together. "Nothing," he said, taking her face in his hands to kiss her passionately. She felt her knees weaken.
He took his mouth from hers. "I know what I'll say. I want to make you feel good," he was whispering, and he moved his mouth back to her neck, just below her ear, along her jaw, "the way only I can."
She closed her eyes and let him sweep her to the bed. She didn't open them, even when the cool air of the room in Winter touched her skin as he opened her blouse and ran his hands over her breasts and stomach. "The way only we can," he corrected himself.
"No one is like us," she whispered back, still not opening her eyes. He loved looking at her this way. She excited him as much as she ever did, even with her full middle. You just love her, you fool. Nothing could make her less than beautiful to you.
Her breathing was heightening, and with her eyes still closed, she said, "Love me."
He knew that command like a hymn in his heart. He'd heard it, time and time again. She'd never been crass with him, always demure and tender.
Class.
She was his queen, and he knew it. Even during the times when he hadn't shown it, or didn't want to admit it, she had made him king, and she was his queen. His princess.
I love her so much. She loves me enough to carry my babies and stay with me even when I don't deserve it.
She was basking in his love and under his touch. Still keeping her eyes closed, her desire was building, and she wanted him, so badly, that she felt all of the sudden too warm. He saw her flush, her chest and neck and cheeks becoming tinged with crimson in the early-afternoon light coming through their windows. He ran his fingers over her lips, and brushed her chin with his thumb. He traced a trail from her neck and between her full breasts. She repeated herself, softly, "Yes, love me, Todd."
Seeing her intoxicated with the expectation of him was almost more than he could take, and he feverishly began to pull back her bra and suck on her nipple, and a visible quiver went through her. With her hands in his hair, she let out a soft moan of pleasure, and the work with his mouth became more urgent.
He finished with the right and moved to the left, working her nipples and himself to full erection. As he positioned himself over her, his thumb in place on her, rubbing in circles how he knew she ached for, he used his other hand to touch her cheek. She finally opened her eyes. There he was, like a sculpture. Chiseled to perfection, his broad shoulders flexed gently as he fingered her; his thin waist was flanked by taut muscles on his stomach and in his thighs. She sucked in air a little, at the beauty of him; it never got old.
She reached down under her belly, and took him in her hand. He shook at her touch; it was almost enough to make him end onto her torso. Instead, he threw his head back, and she heard him sigh out, longing enough to resemble a groan of desire.
She let go and patted the bed next to her. He knew what she meant, and why she did it. He'd made love to her this pregnant before. He went onto his back, his body firm and poking upward for her, as she ran her tongue up its length and back down. He made exquisite sounds that made her longing stronger, and the ache between her thighs even greater.
Kneeling, she slid herself onto him until he disappeared inside her. Both of them moaned in a state of deep, physical paradise; so much so that they both felt their ends approaching. He moved his hand to locate her center, and put his thumb in place, as she moved up and down, slowly and rhythmically. His moans escalated in a way that spoke untamed abandon - primal and seductive. In this way, they fed off each other; she moving in ways that brought waves of decadent pleasure into his groin and down his legs, and he moaning and filling her with a desire to feel him release inside her.
She couldn't hold off any longer when she shifted her position enough to bring him to his end, the angle that drove him wild. It wasn't enough to make love to him; she wanted to please him in the ways he thirsted for. She pressed herself forward, changing the angle of his thrusts, and pressing her sensitive spots harder against his hand. He cupped her bottom with his left hand, and warned her with beautiful voice that he was coming. In hearing his words, she felt herself spasm against him. The warmth inside her was him, all of him. It moved through her, and then, he sat directly up, almost crushing his hand between them. He could feel her pulsate against his fingers and around his body. He pulled her into a close embrace as she finished. With his hand, he hoped to draw her finishing out as long as he could, until finally she had to ask him to stop. And once again, it happened, as he was sure it would. "Todd, stop, it's too much," she squealed, and then, "Oh, God, it was so . . .oh," as she fell toward him. He rested himself back down, his wife on his chest.
Their breathing almost perfectly matched. She found herself almost drunk; she could barely lift her head, and he said, "It's time to rest."
She fell almost instantly into sleep.
He was awake, still breathing moderately heavy. He stroked her hair and stared up into the sky through the glass pane above his head. For a moment, everything was still and quiet, until Jewel kicked him, lightly in the side, and he smiled.
I love this. Is someone up there?
His eyes blurred slightly with moisture.
Don't take this from me. I know I don't deserve any of it, but please. . .if you're there, give a guy a break.
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
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