Fateful Encounters

Chapter 43

Lisa woke to the ringing of the house phone. Her first instinct was to drowsily and blindly grope around for the receiver, before she remembered. The phone was not her problem at all since she was still happily, warm, and snug in Michael's bed. His house, his job to answer the damn phone. Blindly, she threw her arm over to the other side of the bed, but since she did not feel his hot body pressed up against her back anymore, she was pretty sure he was up already. Every time she had woken up during the night the past days, he was right there with her, either sleeping or watching her, but always in very close physical proximity. He seemed very reluctant to leave her side, and she had no complaints. Rolling over, her suspicion was confirmed. Well, at least the ringing had stopped.

"Michael?" She cleared her throat, her voice still sounding sleepy and hoarse. Funny, how a three day love making marathon could not only take your breath but also your voice away. Three days of pure bliss. Three days of pushing all nagging and painful thoughts to the periphery of her consciousness and allowing herself to be happy without any thoughts of the future. Three days when her universe had shrunk to only include this bedroom, the ranch, Michael, his son, and their own baby. Well, today, she had to break out of her cocoon and drive home since her other children were returning and it was time to face the real world again. Too bad the real world included such challenges are her mother, Danny, and Michael's lovely wife, who so far, had possessed the good sense to stay away. She was not sure she was up for another round with Debbie. No, dealing with Debbie had been put on the backburner of her mind. For now, while she had the luxury of denying that anyone existed for Michael but her. Still...

What had they really accomplished in those three days? Her future still looked as uncertain and sketchy as before. It was as if every time she could make out the shapes, colors, and forms, someone tilted the etch-a-sketch of her mind and it all became a blank again. Michael was still married and she was still pregnant with his baby- well, that last thought was a blessing. However, the time spent together had not been in vain: even as she once again faced the familiar nagging insecurities, she was aware that they seemed to have come light-years closer emotionally in the past days.

Sitting up too fast, Lisa closed her eyes against the slight dizziness. She knew she better find some food, as she had discovered her morning sickness was controllable as long as she ate before becoming too hungry. How nice of this baby- with both Riley and Ben she had been nonstop sick for 5 months, no matter what she did. Maybe this little guy was a bit more cooperative. Or maybe he was just behaving, all snug and sated from the repeated blood rushes to his environment, courtesy of his father's never-ending efforts to drive his mother from one orgasm into the next. Funny, how she thought of the baby as male. Really, she had no preference as to the gender, but the male pronoun seemed to predominate her thoughts.

Lisa reached over and found some crackers Michael had stacked the nightstand on her side of the bed with, after helping her figure out how to keep the nauseous waves at bay. Seems that he had become a walking encyclopedia on pregnancy and prenatal care. He also had informed her that after several months it would be advisable to switch up their positions when making love as to not put pressure on the baby. As if they ever stayed in the missionary position too long anyway. A smile snuck onto her face and a rush of heat cursed through her, remembering their activities from the past few days. Michael had been insatiable- even more so than normal. There was also a tender streak that had been absent in the last year, or when it had risen to the surface in either one of them, had been suppressed.