Noah’s Journey(53)

“Those look real good, Bella,” I told her before I placed a kiss on her forehead. “You staying for dinner, Mom?” I looked up at my ma, and she nodded. Between all of us, she was rarely alone. She was surrounded with enough grandkids to keep her busy, and the rest of us filled in any downtime she may have been blessed with. I was sure my ol’ man was looking down from above with a huge grin on his face. He was watching her enjoy the next generation of Sawyers, and he was proud of them all. I had no doubt about that.



***



Bailey



“My feet hurt, my back aches, and my hands are swollen,” I whined as I tried to get comfortable.

“But you are still the most gorgeous woman I have ever laid eyes on,” Jackson said, and I knew he was just biased. He had to say those things; it was his fault I was fat and cranky in the first place. The man was always horny.

I smiled to myself as the thought rolled through my mind. Who the hell was I kidding? I was always horny too. Jackson had that effect on me. He always had. Since that first kiss in the bar that night, I was hooked. The man had one lethal tongue and the dirty mouth to support it.

“Do you want me to rub all the sore spots?” he asked with a grin.

“Yeah, because that worked out so well last time.” I lifted my head, daring him to argue.

“Well, sweetheart, any action that leads to you naked and writhing beneath me I would say is definitely a win.” His smile grew wider, and those perfect teeth of his shined in the dim lighting of the bedroom.

I was getting closer to the eight month mark, and this pregnancy was so different from Isabella’s. My sweet little boy growing inside me had me feeling nauseous more often than not. I had spent the first four and a half months barely able to keep down ice chips. It was more sporadic now, but when it hits me, it’s miserable. Thankfully, I had only gained just under twenty pounds this time around, but with Bella, I gained three times that.

But carrying Jackson’s babies was worth it all. He was the best thing that had ever happened to me. Yes, the road to our happiness was not a smooth one. We fight, and we are both stubborn as shit, but we are passionate. That passion kept everything between us so fresh and intriguing.

“I won’t argue with you,” I whispered as I let my head fall back against the pillow. “You have a way of making all the yuck turn to yum.”

His chuckle filled the room, and I couldn’t help but smile. “Baby,” he said through his laughter, “not that being inside you doesn’t sound like heaven, but I think I should stick to helping you relax.”

He slid his hands down my legs and brought them to rest on my feet. “You do too much during the day, babe. You need to stay off your feet more.” I didn’t have time to argue, because he began massaging my feet then.

“Mm, that feels so good,” I mumbled between moans.

“You keep moaning like that, beautiful, and I’m gonna need a cold shower.”

I bit my lip to stop the pleasurable sounds. Not that Jackson being turned on wasn’t pleasurable in so many ways, but this felt too good to interrupt.

“I love you, darlin’,” Jackson added, and my body began to relax from him rubbing my aching muscles. “You and our kids are my world, and making you happy is all I’ll ever want.”

“I’m so happy, Jackson,” I assured him as I began to fade. “I love you too, cowboy.”



***



Noah



I stood in the spare bedroom of my cabin, which had been converted into a nursery full of purples and yellows as I nuzzled Nora, my four-month-old daughter, close. She loved when I placed her against my bare chest. I think it made her feel safe.

Over the last few years, Alena and I went through some pretty dark times, and I wasn’t so sure we would make it, but I refused to let her give up. We found out she was pregnant just a few months after we were married, close to three years ago. But before she reached the twelfth week, she had a miscarriage. She fell into a depression shortly after, and I too was hurting from the loss.

For months we were always at one another’s throat, and I think we were both just looking for someone to blame. They say you always hurt the ones you love, after all. After I began to heal, I realized I hadn’t offered her the comfort she needed during that time because I was so consumed with my own grief. I felt like I deserted her, and I hated that feeling. But the truth was she didn’t want me anywhere near her.

I’m not proud of the road I took after the loss of our baby, but I’ve spent every day since then trying to make up for those choices.

Now here I stood, holding our daughter, the sweet little angel that had her mother’s nose and mouth but looked just like me in every other sense. She had her daddy wrapped tightly around her finger.