Her Anchor (93 page)

Afterwards we didn’t fall right into each other’s arms. After carefully moving himself off, Ben was up and away, to Zoe’s room. Throwing on his underwear but otherwise naked Ben went to check on his daughter. I went to get up to, to show him how, but stopped myself. This was his moment, his time. He was her father, he could care for her too.

I sat anxiously until Ben walked back in with Zoe in his arms, wrapped in a yellow blanket and sleeping peacefully. He held her perfectly, like he just knew. My heart soared at the sight of my strong, handsome naked lover holding our daughter so carefully in his arms. They were so different, she was tiny in his arms, and so fragile looking yet so carefully cared for. I knew she was safe, that we would be safe.

Ben spoke as he moved carefully to the bed and said, “She’s ours, May, I can’t believe it. So tiny and perfect.”

I smiled down at our daughter and stroked her little cheek. I couldn’t help myself, I didn’t want to wake her but I also wanted to touch her, to share in what we had created.

I said, “She looks like you.”

Ben shook his head and laughed, “She has your nose and your hair, and thank god she doesn’t have my looks.”

I laughed and fell back onto the covers for a moment as Ben held Zoe in our bed, grinning.

“You must be joking,” I said, “Mr. Former Male Model.”

Ben winced and joked back, “Hey now, she is never going to know about that. If there is one thing she will never do that is model or work in fashion.”

I grinned and teased him, “Will you be a strict Daddy, Ben?”

Ben looked affronted, and for real, and replied, “Of course! She’s not leaving the house until she graduates from college and that’s only to get married to a man of my choosing.”

I laughed again, pleased. I had worried about how I was going to raise a daughter on my own. I’m a strong woman but I wanted her to have a great male role model. Ben was that man, someone who had principles and acted on them, quitting his career at its peak to improve the industry we both love. Someone who believed in the rights of people, from consumers to daughters and fought for that. A rebel with a cause. And, looking at him looking down at Zoe adoringly, a rebel with a soft heart.

“Look,” Ben breathed, “She’s awake.”

I smiled, “She does that.”

“It’s amazing,” Ben said in awe as his daughter’s big eyes fixed on him.

He rubbed her tummy under the blanket she was wrapped in and Zoe let out a string of giggles much more easily than she ever did with me.

“Sucker,” I said with affection, “She’s already got you wrapped around her finger.”

Ben looked over at me snuggled under the covers and smiled a rueful open faced smile, “Well,” he said, “I think that was always going to be a given.”

I protested, “Hey! I am not going to be the bad guy in this partnership. Promise me I get to be fun mom too sometimes.”

Ben laughed and kissed Zoe on the head, “Oh don’t worry, Zoe will know her mom is the most fun. I can teach her never to drink but telling her how you used to choke on whiskey in bars and wind up with strange, strange men in your life.”

I snorted with laughter, “Oh really, are you going to hold my past against me? Two can play that game. I will teach her to play by the rules lest she nearly lose her career and future to a handsome Professor who likes to throw rules out the window.”

Ben stopped suddenly and covered Zoe’s ears, “Don’t let her hear that, she has to know the only way is to be a good girl.”

I laughed again, wanting to throw a pillow at him like I used to but this time he held our daughter in his arms as a shield, “Hypocrite!”

Ben defended himself with a lazy smile as he rocked Zoe in his arms, “Aren’t all good parent’s hypocrites? We don’t want our kids to repeat our mistakes.”

I looked at Zoe and at Ben, “Perhaps we should teach her sometimes mistakes lead to something great.”

Ben smiled at me and the three of us shared a moment as a family, “The best mistakes,” he said, “are all right here in this room.”

Something hit me then and I clutched the duvet to my breasts, “Ben! Speaking of mistakes. We didn’t use protection again.”

Ben smiled at me, “I didn’t care about it. Zoe is so perfect I thought what would be would be. Why not run full tilt at our family? There’s always room for more.”

I fell back into the bed and ran a hand over my stomach, wondering if new life was bring created. This time, though, this new life wouldn’t be a secret. Not that that my secret baby had turned out so bad after all, I thought with a happy look around at my family.

THE END

Chapter 1

While studying for his economy final, Nolan Moore’s phone suddenly started to buzz on his desk.  It was not unusual for the popular football player to be bombarded with text messages.  He was a star football player and incredibly handsome why wouldn’t he have a large social group?  Nolan leaned back on his chair and stretched, wondering which of his friends were texting him now.  He wondered if they were worth breaking away from his studying. 

As Nolan thought about it, he convinced himself that he had been studying for his final ever since dinner time, which was five hours ago and that he deserved a break.  Plus, he was hungry, so he agreed to take a fifteen-minute break, answer the text, and make a peanut butter sandwich. 

Nolan picked up his phone and his eyes opened up wide as he read the message.  He stared at it as his phone started to shake in his hand.  He could feel his heart racing in his chest and a cold sweat broke out all over his body as he struggled to stay standing. 
No… this couldn’t be right.  This was some sort of joke.  It had to be.
  Nolan tried to convince himself it was just some cruel joke but as he reread the words, over and over again, he couldn’t shake the feeling that this was
real
:

“Hey Nolan… I know you don’t want to hear this especially not at midnight on a weekday but… I have to tell u something… well… I don’t really know how to say this… but you have a baby… Congrats dad!”  Nolan stared at the text.  It had to be a joke.  How could this be real?

Nolan sat down, unable to stand.  He looked around and grabbed his water bottle, taking a chug, trying to calm down and breath.  When he finally stopped shaking he looked at his phone again before typing a response:

“Hey… This is a joke… right?  You guys are funny haha you got me!  But it’s a little early for April Fools… It’s not even Christmas yet…”. His phone buzzed again as his friend responded:

“I wish it was man… I’m sorry… but do you remember a girl by the name of Emma Jones?  She just gave birth to a little girl that looks just like you… she says she remembers fucking around with you during spring weekend… something about fancy whiskey… You should come here… Trinity Hospital.  Pls she needs you…”  Nolan read over the text slowly, digesting every word. 
Emma Jones? Fancy whiskey?

Why couldn’t he remember?  This was important, why couldn’t he remember?  Shouldn’t he remember the mother of his apparent child? This is
if
she was even the mother of
his
child.  This could all be some sort of misunderstanding. Nolan desperately tried to remember spring weekend, but it was all such a big blur.  Nolan sighed, wondering what to do.

The right thing to do would be to drive to the hospital and see her.  However, a part of him was petrified.   Was he ready to be a father?  Nolan was lucky if he knew how to take care of himself at times, let alone another human life, who would depend on him for everything. Nolan sighed before picking up his phone and texting back, “Okay.  I’ll be there ASAP.”

With a pale face and a shaking body, Nolan got up.  As he did, his roommate walked into the room, noticing his appearance.  “Nol… are you okay?  You don’t look so good…”  Nolan shook his head in response but said nothing before grabbing his jacket and leaving.  As he walked through the door he passed a calendar.  It was four days until Christmas.

Chapter 2

Nolan was surprised when he made it to the hospital safely.  Even though his mind was running a mile a minute and his hands were shaking with nerves, he had somehow managed to stay in his lane and drive to the hospital without incident.  Either way, however, the drive to the hospital had been the longest forty minutes of his life.

When Nolan reached the hospital, his shaky condition only got worse.  He was about to meet his
child
.  This couldn’t be real.  He was too young to be having a child.  This had to be some sort of cruel joke.  This was like something out of a soap opera.  It was four days before Christmas for Pete’s sake.  It just seemed so unreal.

If this Emma girl was really having his baby why hadn’t she tried to contact him
before
?  Nothing made any sense to Nolan.  Nonetheless, he walked through the automatic doors entering the sterile environment of Trinity Hospital. 

Nolan looked around, immediately feeling intimidated.  Everyone around him was rushing around and there were beeping sounds everywhere, piercing his skull.  He didn’t know what to do, where to go, or what to look for.  Was he even in the right hospital? 

He looked around and spotted the general waiting room, the most inviting environment he could find.  He retreated into it slowly, spotting the refreshment table.  He gravitated toward it, his eyes distant as he tried to figure out what to do.  He was about to make himself a cup of coffee when everything hit him.  He remembered everything.

******

It was spring weekend, just like Emma had said.  It had been a crazy time with booze, girls, and boobs everywhere.  Nolan had been drinking the whole time, showing off his masculinity to anyone who cared to notice.  He was in a constant state of drunkenness, and he had met Emma in this state. 

It was a Saturday.  He had met her during a beer pong competition.  The winner would receive a very expensive bottle of whiskey.  The bottle, prettily labeled and refined through its age was calling Nolan’s name.  He needed the bottle in his life so he entered the competition, plowing his way through all of his competitors until he found himself in the finals. 

To his surprise, his last rival was a girl, a very beautiful girl with long blonde hair and blue eyes.  She had a delicate look to her as if she could shatter at any moment.  He could feel himself become distracted by her beauty and, for this reason, he ended up losing the competition.  At the end of the night, she was the one walking away with the whiskey bottle in her hands. 

Chapter 3

Luckily, whiskey was not the only thing the girl walked away with.  She decided to take not only the booze but also the boy as her prize.  Emma had loved the look of him from the moment she laid eyes on him.  Maybe it was the liquor talking but if she didn’t know any better she would have called it love at first sight.  So, when she ended up winning the competition (a feat of pure luck) she decided to take a chance and invite him to go home with her. 

He had, of course, said yes.  So, after the tournament the two of them stumbled their way back to Emma’s home.  Well, not exactly home, she like many others, lived in a dorm room, but the tiny prison cell by another name had become home for her.  Either way, in their state it didn’t matter much.  They were both smashingly drunk from their game of beer pong and were now holding each other and falling over as they walked.

Eventually, after fumbling with the lock, Emma finally succeeded in entering her dorm room.  They were nothing more than balls of giggles at this point.  The moment they entered the room they had stumbled and collapsed onto Emma’s bed.  Luckily for them, Emma lived in a single room and therefore, from the moment they locked the door they were free to do whatever they wanted. 

If they wanted to they could drink the entire bottle of whiskey in one sitting, or they could get more booze and just get completely wasted, or they could do something totally unrelated to booze.  They could take off all their clothes and go at it all night if they wanted to.  It wasn’t like they were virgins.  They were both experienced at sleeping around and fucking and tonight would just be adding another notch to their belts.  What would be the risk? 

With these thoughts in mind, Nolan smiled to himself.  Emma was really pretty, and he wondered if he would get lucky tonight.  But, was there anything stopping him from going at it with her?  Fueled by this possibility, Nolan chugged his shot of whiskey, feeling the warm sensation spread through his whole body, giving him the courage he needed in order to do something he might later regret.

Nolan leaned forward and kissed her.  Of course, in his intoxicated state, it was a very sloppy kiss, but it was a kiss nonetheless.  He pressed their heads together, his fingers tangled into her long hair, keeping her close.  He was already addicted to her.  He could taste the whiskey on her lips and somehow the mixture of the two made the booze taste even better.  Who needed a bottle when Emma was around? 

He continued to kiss her, intoxicated by the taste of her lips, the sweet mix of fine whiskey and cherry lip gloss.  Nolan kissed her harder, wanting more of her.  In his excitement, he had spilled his whiskey on the floor but they didn’t care.  Emma didn’t even care, and she was the one who would pay for the carpet stain at the end of the semester. 

Emma was equally intoxicated by Nolan’s kiss.  Nolan’s lips were rough, almost flaky, but for some reason they were really turning her on.  She didn’t know why, but for some reason at this moment Nolan was the sexiest man alive.  Maybe it was the alcohol talking, but all Emma wanted to do was rip off his clothes and fuck him wildly all night long.

She was about to do just that when she remembered her own drink in her hand.  Knowing she couldn’t waste quality whiskey she pushed Nolan away from her.  He nearly whimpered as their lips were pried apart.  He watched her, bewildered, wondering if he had done something to upset her.  He really hoped this wasn’t one of those girls who led you on and then rejected you at the very last minute. 

He looked at her, a questioning look on his face as he watched her down her shot.  She put down her glass before pulling him even closer to her.  She smothered his face into her chest as he smirked to himself.  He reached up and started to fondle her breasts through her shirt before getting annoyed.  Breasts just didn’t feel the same when there was a shirt in the way. 

Determined to get to his prize, he ripped off her shirt suddenly before attacking her bra.  Unfortunately, her bra was too much of a puzzle for him to solve in his drunken state.  He couldn’t, no matter how hard he tried, unclasp her bra.  Emma, figuring out what was happening, giggled and reached back, undoing her bra with one hand.  Nolan was completely amazed by her magic but then quickly recovered.

Emma was now naked from the waist up in front of him.  He looked at her, staring at her, and if it wasn’t for the whiskey running through his veins, he would have said that she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. 

Overwhelmed by desire, Nolan suddenly leaned forward, pushing her onto the bed until he was laying on top of her.  They both giggled at the situation, knowing exactly what was about to happen.  Nolan started to kiss her again frantically his dick growing harder and harder by the second.  Soon they were in a mad rush to undress as quickly as possible. Before they knew it, there were clothes decorating the entire room, from the desk, to the floor, to the lamp.  Emma’s panties had even managed to find their way to the ceiling fan. 

Nolan looked down at her naked body and couldn’t help himself any longer.  His eyes looked over her body slowly before looking at her, his eyes asking a silent question: if it was okay to continue.  She nodded.  If there were anything she wanted right now, it was Nolan.  Screw the whiskey, Nolan was the only thing she needed to get drunk tonight.  She would get drunk off his love.

Emma, in her desire, moved forward and kissed his neck, taking in his scent.  He smelt like a mixture of cologne and peppermint and while it was unique, it was still oddly sexy.  She pulled him closer, wanting to bathe herself in him.

Nolan, meanwhile, couldn’t keep the smirk off his face, as he noticed Emma getting turned on.  He could feel her wetness against him and took it as an invitation to plunge deep inside of her.  Luckily, he was already rock hard from the sight of her beautiful body and so plunging into her hadn’t been a problem. 

As he pushed his way deeper and deeper inside of her, they grunted in pleasure.  As he got about halfway in, he stopped, as if unsure of what had just happened, but then adrenaline and lust took over and he was thrusting like a piston, in and out of her.  Nolan went harder, fucking Emma with a vigor that rocked her whole body. 

Emma continued to kiss and bite his neck, leaving a prominent hickey on his neck.  They both smirked, and kissed, getting even closer.  In all this excitement, Nolan had completely forgotten about putting on a condom.  It was too late by the time he remembered.  He was already cumming deep inside of her, holding her close to his body. 

Nolan thought about saying something but then figured she was probably on birth control.  What girl
wasn’t
on birth control these days?  Convincing himself that nothing bad would come out of his moment, he held Emma, thinking that it had been one of the best days of his life.