Start Again | Forbidden Book 2

7. Follow You Into the Dark

Olivia and Max still laid in front of the fire as the sun went down. Olivia had put on her yoga top and underwear,  while Max wore his boxer briefs and a blanket. Olivia laid with her back against the carpet while Max had Olivia's legs wrapped around him, his face resting on her abdomen next to the small bump. He was tracing his fingers around it absentmindedly, then he rested his forearms on the ground and moved closer. He started giving her small kisses all around her baby bump. 

Olivia giggled and brushed his hair with her fingers. She couldn't imagine Max having reacted like this the last time he was told he was going to be a father. She knew this was special, this was just with her. 

Max rested his face once more, now on her hip, his hand placed on her stomach. "So how far along are you love?" he asked curiously.

"I believe it's eight or nine weeks now" said Olivia thinking.

"Eight or nine weeks..." Max turned to the ceiling, doing the math in his head. Then he let out a laugh and turned to her belly once more "I think we made you in a bathroom" he said brightly to the baby. 

Olivia laughed "We are not telling her that!". 

"Her?" Max perked up and turned to her immediately "It's a 'her'?".

"No, no, no" Olivia corrected herself "I don't know why I said 'her' just now. I don't actually know" she chuckled.

Max sat up on the floor, his back against the couch. He pulled Olivia's legs over his lap, she chuckled and sat up, seating on top of him, one leg on each side. Max pulled her even closer and wrapped his arms tightly around her torso, resting his head on her chest. He took a deep breath, taking in the smell of Gardenias "Well, it doesn't matter if it's a boy or a girl. I'm just really happy right now".

Olivia stroked his hair lightly with one of her hands, it truly meant everything to her that Max was so clearly happy and excited about this baby. As much as she was. She kissed his forehead. 

"Who else knows?" he asked as he looked up at her. 

"Just you, me.. and Lewis" she said hesitant. She knew Max wouldn't like that.

For Max it did feel like a punch in the gut knowing that Lewis had found out about his kid before he did. Still, he didn't want to ruin this moment with jealousy "Ouch" he said as he nodded "So Lewis knew about the baby before I did?"

"If it's any consolation, he knew about the baby before I did too" said Olivia.

Max was confused "How is that even possible?".

"Well, when I was in Africa was when I realized I was late and Lewis kind of guessed I was pregnant because I wasn't drinking alcohol" Olivia started to tell him "But we were in the middle of nowhere so there was really no way of just going to a pharmacy and checking you know? So once we finally visited a city, after like three weeks, Lewis showed up in my hotel room with a pregnancy test. Apparently me being possibly pregnant and around wild animals was driving him a little crazy. So I took the test but I was so nervous I couldn't look at it" Max was listening intently to the whole story, his arms around Olivia "So Lewis looked at it first and I guess he was the first person to know" she shrugged, a small smile on her face.

"And that's why you left Africa early" said Max in realization.

"Yeah" Olivia shook her head "I actually wanted to stay because I was so afraid of coming back and seeing you again. But Lewis wouldn't let me continue the trip, he was set on having me rest and see a doctor, so we came here".

"Well for once I have to agree with Lewis" said Max, surprising even himself "Remind me to thank him for taking you and my baby away from the gorillas next time I see him" he smiled. Olivia chuckled, then he asked "What happened then?"