Live In Position (68 page)

"Daddy," she exclaimed and ran out from between my legs and into his arms. He lifted her and kissed her cheek. Setting her down, she made her way back between my knees. I began to braid her damp locks.

"There is something that Soph…your mother and I would like to talk to you about." Our eyes met and I smiled small at him. His smile grew larger.

"What?" Victoria twisted her head and looked at my face.

The wet hair of her braid slipped through my fingers before I could secure it with the tie. I grasped her shoulders lightly and turned her back to Collin. Quickly grabbing her hair and securing the plait at the middle of her back.

"Tomorrow we'll be going to the doctors," I started. Victoria groaned.

"I don't want to go."

"Not for you, for Sophia." Collin clarified and Victoria turned her whole body to look at me.

"Are you sick? Are you okay?" Worry lined her face and filled her eyes.

"I'm fine. The doctor just wants to check on the baby." I bit my lip, waiting for her reaction.

"Oh," she paused and then her wide eyes looked back and forth between her father and me. "You," she pointed to my stomach, "you're having a baby?"

I nodded and her whole body began to shake with excitement.

"I'm getting a baby sister?" She started to bounce enthusiastically.

"Well, we can't guarantee it's a girl, but you're getting a sibling." Collin moved to sit on the bed next to me.

"It's a girl, I know it!" She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed.

"Eventually we'll find out for sure." I squeezed her back.

She dropped her head down to my stomach and pressed the side of her face to it.

"I don't hear anything." She looked up at me.

"It will take awhile before we're able to feel the baby." I rubbed her head and Collin wrapped his arm around me.

"Like Grace?" She blurted.

"Um, yeah, like that. Once the baby grows larger you'll be able to feel kicks and movement."

"Can the baby hear me?" She looked between both of us awaiting a response.

"The baby is rather small still. You'll have to wait until she or he is further developed." Collin tapped her nose with his long finger.

"Do I get to miss school?" She wiggled her eyebrows at us.

"No, you still need to get to bed. I will get you out early, but you still have to go in the morning." She frowned at my words.

"Fine," she began to climb into her bed, "but only because I get a baby sister." She slid under her covers as Collin and I stood up.

"I can't guarantee a sister." She wasn't hearing my warning for a possibly brother.

"It's a girl. I already told you." Her grin was infections and we found ourselves grinning with her.

After kissing and tucking her in, I left Collin to read to her. I was beat and needed to pee.

Once relieved, I turned on the tub. While the warm water filled up the large tub, I went to the dresser to grab pajamas. During my digging for something comfortable, I heard the ring of a cell phone. Looking around, I saw Collin's phone vibrating across the small coffee table. By the time I reached the phone it had stopped. The name of the missed call was unfamiliar, so I shrugged it off and headed for the luxurious tub.

With the jets on low, the warmth of the tub was easing away the tensions of the day. I was about to fall asleep when Collin's voice broke me from the jet induced meditative state.

"So, you've had no luck at all?" His voice was stern and frustrated. "I understand, but you've still not been able to actual find her, just a trail?"

There was a long pause and for a moment I wondered if he had left the room.

"No, I understand. Did he say if he knew anything?" He sighed heavily. "Fine, yes, keep me posted." "Thank you, goodnight."

Collin walked into the bathroom, setting his phone next to the sink before taking a seat on the edge of the bathtub. His face was lined with concern and I didn't know if I should question him or not. I opened my mouth, but closed it when he began to speak.

"There's still no sign of Grace." His brow furrowed. "The investigator has been tracking her trail, but only finds a trail of where she's been."

"So, we at least know she's okay?" I sat up.

"Those who have seen her stated she was fine and told the investigator where she said she was going, but it just turns into a dead end." He rubbed his face roughly. "I don't understand. Why would she go through all this trouble to see and get Victoria if she was just going to disappear and what about the baby?"

His concern was commendable, but I would be lying if I didn't admit that his concern for her and her baby didn't bother me.

"I don't know. I've never understood her." It was the truth and the only thing I could say that wouldn't sound harsh.

"Of course you don't," he quipped. I stiffened for a moment at the words and the tone used to deliver them. He turned and looked down at me. "You are different than her, better." Slipping from the side of the tub onto his knees he leaned over the edge and pressed his lips to mine.

"You are far more than she could ever have hoped to be as a woman." The words fell from his lips as he pulled back from the kiss.

His words ignited me. Quickly grabbing the back of his head, I pulled his mouth to mine. Bringing my other hand to the back of his head, I held him against my mouth and devoured his. A groan left his mouth. I swallowed it.

The moment his hand touched my knee under water, desire burned through my bones. My body lit up like that first spark of a wooden match. His hand dragged up the inside of my leg and I exploded into a ball of fire with the caress of my thigh.

"Sophia," his breathless words against my mouth spurred my lust tenfold.

Grasping his hand I pulled his long talented fingers directly where the ball of fire waited. In the instant it took for him to slip through my submerged lips, sparks rolled throughout my entire being. Tossing my head back, I moaned and moved my hips forward against his fingers.

"You're so beautiful." The heavy breath of his words caressed my neck.

His lips pressed behind my ear and a flick of his tongue sent my hips forward harder. The first finger slid deep inside of me and my body rejoiced. The second finger sent molten impulses of heat around the ball of fire inside me.

I was still soaking in the feeling his fingers were providing when he withdrew from me. Before I could complain, his shirt covered arms were in the water and under my body. He lifted me out of the tub and onto the edge. Water dripping down my wet legs, I wrapped them around him.

His mouth on my left nipple instantly reanimated my hips into a gyrating motion. Collin's long fingers resumed their previous ministrations, forcing moans and expletives from my mouth.

His fingers were so distracting I didn't notice his sagging dress pants until he replaced his fingers with his length. Slipping into me fast and hard, I grunted and grabbed his shoulders tightly. The water from my body puddle on the edge and I was slipping around. One strong arm wrapped around my waist and a hand grabbed my thigh.

Collin pulled me from the edge and slid us onto the bathmat. His rhythm didn't once falter. The quick hard thrusts had my tiny flame blazing out through my limbs in no time at all.

"That's it baby."

As the molten heat filled my body, he grunted and slammed into me quicker. His mouth latched to my shoulder as he jerked into me with sporadic movements. His body stilled above me, both of our chests heaving for breath.

"I love you," he panted against my cheek before kissing it.

"And I you," I wrapped my arms around him, holding him tightly.

The next morning, while Victoria finished eating breakfast and I packed her lunch, Collin sat two chairs away from her talking to his lawyer in regards to the information he had received about Grace. Victoria started to pay a little too much attention to his phone call, so I rushed her away from the kitchen and out the door to the car.

"Did Grace go away?" Victoria's words were whispered down to her lap. My head shot up and looked at her in the rearview mirror.

"Um," I hesitated, not sure what to say. I tried to keep focus on the road in front of me.

"She left again, didn't she?" There was a small sniff.

I quickly pulled over and climbed from the car. Victoria's surprised eyes watched me from the rear window when I pulled open her door and took her into my arms.

"We don't know where she went or why." I answered honestly. "I'm sure she will be back."

"She never wanted me," Victoria sniffed. I pulled back and looked into her face.

"Who told you that?" Grabbing her chin in my hand I pulled her face up to look at me. "Who, Victoria?"

"I overheard her say it," she whimpered. My heart broke and a sob formed a lump in my throat.

"Oh baby," I pulled her back into an embrace and held her tightly.

"She was talking to the babysitter about how she only got pregnant so she could marry daddy." She choked out. "I was never wanted."

"Shh, baby, you are wanted." I ran my hand over her back in a small attempt to soothe.

"Not until you," she sniffed.

"Victoria," I pulled back again to look into her face, "your father wanted you." She opened her mouth to protest. "Honey, he was lost and hurt because of your mother leaving like she did, but –"

"Grace," she cut me off.

"Yes, with the way Grace left, but he wanted you. Trust me, he did and still does. I know he didn't do enough to make you see it or feel it and I'm sorry." I hugged her again.

"You've always wanted me." She nuzzled her face into my shoulder. "That's why you're my mommy." We pulled away a little, but kept our arms around each other.

"I'm happy you chose me." I smiled, but Victoria shook her head. "I shouldn't be happy?"

"No, I didn't choose you." She grinned wide. "You were made to be my mommy and you just finally found me." I kissed that little girl all over her face, repeatedly.

"Thank you for correcting me."

After putting her back into her seat and buckling her up, I climbed back into the front. Before pulling away from the curb, I called the school to inform them Victoria would be out for the day. In the review mirror I could see her eager and curios eyes looking at me, waiting for an explanation.

With the completion of my call to the school, I called Collin to let him know Victoria was with me and I was going to have her for the morning. There must have been a tone to my voice, because he didn't question me. We hung up after declaring our love for each other and with the confirmation I would meet him at the house before the doctor. I drove us to a nearby salon and spa. Today I was going to have a date with my daughter.

Chapter Thirty Nine

With freshly manicured hands and feet we entered the house laughing. Victoria was still trying to talk like the Japanese women at the salon. I should have made her stop, but it was just too funny. Collin met us in the foyer with amusement on his face, which turned into laughter when he heard Victoria's attempts at Japanese.

"Seems you two had a nice morning," he stepped toward me and kissed me chastely.

"It was very nice," I smiled to him. He leaned down and kissed Victoria's head.

"It was awesome," Victoria cheered. "Look," her hands were fingernails forward in Collin's face. He flinched back just slightly and looked at her rainbow nails.

"Those are very pretty," speaking as he straightened up and turned to me. "Are we ready to go?"

I looked at my watch and furrowed my brow. "We still have time."

"We should get there early, just to be safe." His smile was like an impatient child waiting to open birthday presents.

"They won't see me any earlier than my set appointment," I chuckled and headed upstairs to clean the salon smell from me.

Stepping inside the bedroom I suddenly felt clammy and hot, pulling the collar of my sweater away from my body nausea swept through me. I covered my mouth and stumbled toward the bathroom. It wasn't until I was knees to the tile and bent over porcelain I realized this was all
self-inflicted. I had only eaten a piece of toast and drank some milk this morning. My body was alerting me to my mistake.

In between groans, I heaved and my stomach began to feel sore. As my abdomen muscles began to relax I sat back on my heels with my elbows on the seat of the toilette. There were a few small spasms, but it wasn't something I couldn't control.

"Mommy," Victoria's voice came from the bedroom, "look I matched my…" her voice died away. "Mommy?"

As quickly as my body would allow me, I flushed the toilette before moving to the sink. Splashing cold water on my face, she entered the bathroom.

"Mommy, are you…eww," she covered her face with her hand, "it smells in here." Her voice muffled behind her tiny fingers.

"Sorry," Speaking around the toothbrush I now had in my mouth. My cheeks flushed as I spit the light blue foam into the sink and rinsed it down the drain.

"Are you okay?" Her brow crinkled. I nodded and rinsed the bristles of my toothbrush.

"Yes, I just need to eat."

"Did you throw up?"

"I'll be fine." Trying to reassure her, I put my hand on her shoulder. "Let's go get a snack then we can get ready to go."

"I already am ready." She pulled away from my touch and posed. "Look, I match."

"Yes, you do," I giggled. Victoria stood with a rainbow striped sweater dress and rainbow striped leggings. "You're one big rainbow aren't you?"

"I'm your rainbow." She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed.

"Yes, you are, now let's go feed the baby." Taking her hand, I led her through the bedroom door.

"You mean my baby sister." She corrected. She released my hand and skipped around me. I shook my head and followed after her.

Entering the kitchen I went straight to the fridge. Pulling out turkey, ham, and pepperoni, cheese, lettuce, pickles, and mayo, I set them out one by one. Victoria brought the wheat rolls from the bread drawer and we made a large sandwich to share.

While I cut the sandwich in half Victoria grabbed sliced carrots and apples from the fridge. We sat next to each other at the bar and dug in.

"I guess you were hungry," Collin chuckled and examined my mouth as I chewed on an
extra-large bite.

"Mommy got sick." Victoria spoke without looking at her father. She bit into her sandwich and chewed.

"Are you okay?" His warm hand on my arm sent a shiver down my spine. I nodded and swallowed.

"Yes, I'm fine. I hadn't eaten since this morning that's all." I shrugged.

"You're sure that's all it is?" Long smooth fingers tilted my face up to look at him.

"I'm sure." Smiling, I placed my hand on his before turning back to my food.

"Be sure to tell the doctor about it today."

My mouth was still full, so I just nodded and chewed. The smoky flavor of the turkey breast mixed with the spicy pepperoni, causing my taste buds to rejoice, nausea forgotten.

The waiting room of the doctor's office was lined with black and gray chairs against the walls. Small tables with health magazines sat at the end of each row. Two women sat waiting. One was a younger woman in a business suit. Her blackberry to her face as her fingers moved rapidly over the phone keys. The other sat with a swollen stomach filling her lap and a child around four playing on the floor at her feet. She smiled warmly as Collin, Victoria, and me pass her by to sign in at the window.

We took seats with Collin on my right and Victoria on my left. It was silent for a few minutes, while I completed paperwork, until a nurse called for the business suit woman to go back, and then the four year old boy walked over to Victoria.

"Hello," she spoke sweetly.

"Hi, I Joshua Allen Granger." I stifled a giggle when he introduced himself.

"I'm Victoria Bishop."

"I have DS," Joshua held up his blue game system for Victoria to look at.

"I have one of those too." Sitting a little straighter, I felt pride filling me with how sweet Victoria was being with the boy. She would be an amazing big sister.

For a moment my thoughts drifted to Grace. Would Victoria ever know her other sibling? Would Grace ever appear and if she did would it be to simply cause more drama? Part of me was sad Victoria may never know her brother or sister.

"Sophia." My head snapped up when the unfamiliar voice called my name. It was a tall thin nurse with long red hair.

"Yes?" Standing, I approached the open door. Victoria and Collin following close behind.

"Come with me." Her thin lips parted into a bright white smile. Walking by the desk behind the sign in window, she led us to an open large room. I caught sight of the scale and groaned. "Have a seat." The click of the clipboard on a counter caught my attention as I sat down.

"Okay, so I'm going to ask you a couple of questions and then just get your basics." With a wide black nylon cuff she approached and wrapped it around my arm, pumping it up. "So, when was your last period?"

"Um, a couple of months ago, I don't really have an exact date. I got the depo shot and my cycle became erratic."

"You were on the depo shot?" She looked at me astounded.

"Yeah, why?"

She shrugged. "It's not one hundred percent, but it's rare to have someone get pregnant while on the shot." Her attention turned to Victoria. "Are you excited to be a big sister?"

Victoria's head nodded rapidly. "I'm gonna have a baby sister."

"You're hoping for a girl?" The sinewy nurse smiled in amusement.

"I know it's a girl." Victoria was matter of fact in her statement.

Getting on the scale wasn't as bad as I imagined it would be. The worst part ended up being when I had to answer the symptoms question. Collin jumped right in to tell them how I got sick most mornings and did before we came to the appointment today. Victoria decided it was also time to elaborate on how horrible the bathroom smelled.

The nurse escorted us to the exam room and instructed me to strip down, put on the gown, and take a seat on the table. I looked at Collin hoping he wasn't going to stay while I changed into the gown. When he took a seat with Victoria I sighed. I quickly changed from my street clothes to the gown and took a seat.

"Are you nervous?"

"A little bit."

Collin stood and took my hand just as there was a knock on the door. Doctor Marshall entered the room with a bright smile.

"Doctor Bishop?" His eyes were full of awe and respect.

"Yes," Collin answered and extended his hand. They shook firmly but briefly.

"I wasn't aware you were, well that your wife was a patient." He looked back down to the chart.

"My future wife," Collin stated with a smile, "as well as the mother of my children." His hand tightened around mine. My heart fluttered at the word children - plural.

"Oh, well, I guess double congratulations are in order." Dr. Marshall took a seat on a stool and began to confirm the pregnancy test results, go over my symptoms, and prepare me for the upcoming exam.

"Can you take Victoria out for this part?" My voice was barely a whisper, but the furrow on Collin's face let me know he heard me.

"I want to be here."

"I know, but I don't think she is ready to experience the internal exam." Realization broke over his face.

"Oh, of course." With a kiss to the back of my hand, he released it and reached for Victoria. "We need to give the doctor and mommy a minute alone."

"I want to see the baby," Victoria whined and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Victoria," Collin warned.

"The nurse out front has lollipops," Dr. Marshall interjected. "Tell her I sent you to get one for you and your mommy, okay?"

Victoria jumped from the seat and ran for the door, not waiting for Collin. The moment the door was closed the doctor got down to business.

The familiar cold touch of the devices and the discomfort of being internally examined lasted no longer than a normal pap smear. When he was finished, Dr. Marshall called Collin and Victoria back into the room.

"Do we get to see the baby now?" Victoria spoke around the large lollipop bulge in her cheek.

"Not today," her face fell, "but you do get to hear the baby." Her eyes came back up to his, excitement all over her face.

Dr. Marshall moved the material away from my stomach and applied a small amount of gel. From his deep white pocket he pulled out a beige box and ran the wand over my abdomen. It took him a few moments and I could tell Collin was getting more anxious than Victoria.

When the swooshing sound filtered out of the box Collin relaxed with a large grin. Victoria's face furrowed.

"What's that?" Her nose wrinkled up.

"That's the baby's heart beating." Dr. Marshall answered as he wiped off my stomach and helped me to sit up.

"That was it?" Victoria blurted.

"For today," Dr. Marshall grinned at her. He turned his attention to Collin and me. "I want you to make an appointment for an early ultrasound, so we can determine how far along you are. Okay?"

After discussing a few more things and agreeing to make the appointment with Dorothy, the nurse at the desk, he left me to redress. Collin kept Victoria busy while I slipped back into my clothes and discarded the gown into a hamper in the corner of the room. At the desk we set up the appointment and decided we would eat out tonight.

It was only a week later, the Friday before our wedding, and we found ourselves back in the doctor's office. Sitting with an uncomfortably full bladder, I was crossing and uncrossing my legs. Victoria giggled. I looked to her amused face.

"You're doing the pee dance," she giggled again.

"You think it's funny huh?" I tickled her side with my fingers. She began laughing louder.

"Sophia?" A short black nurse leaned out of the door.

I stood and walked toward the door with Collin and Victoria in toe. She led us back to a room with multiple entrances and an exam table. The nurse rounded the table stepping up to a machine with a monitor on top.

"Can you lie down on the table, please?" She gave it a pat.

With a deep breath I hopped up onto the table and lay back, my head resting on a small pillow.

"I'm going to apply some gel to your abdomen," she began pulled my shirt up over my midsection and then stuffed some white tissue into the top of my pants, folding it over the front. "It's warmed, so there shouldn't be any discomfort." She smiled.

"Okay," I breathed out nervously. Collin took my hand.

"Are we going to see the baby?" Victoria looked over my body to the small monitor.

"I need to get a few measurements first, but after that, yes." Victoria almost squealed with happiness.