crave | 16+

XLIV

JOSIE
9 months later

"HABIBTI, PUT THIS IN your mouth, and my grandchild will be born," my mother-in-law tells me, handing me a clove. I look at her, with a wary look. She pushes the clove into my hand, insisting. I hesitate, and as if God has seen my struggle, he sends my husband to me. I smile when a pair of big arms wrap around my belly.

"Mama, khalas," Elijah drawls in a sing-song, causing his mother to tsk at him.

"Walak, have you given birth to three children or have I?" she says, not missing a beat. Elijah places his head in the crook of my neck, and I bite back a smile when I feel the rumbling chest of his own laugh against my back. Amina Christ–my mother-in-law–turns her body to face mine and I nudge my elbow into Elijah's side, silently telling him to stop laughing at his mother.

"Yoo-say, hayati, trust me. It will work," she tells me. Elijah's laughs intensify when he hears his mothers pronunciation of my name. She never really learned how to say it right, but I didn't blame her for it, and being frank it's brought us closer. Smiling at her, I bring the clove to my mouth, and start doing as she's been egging me to do for the past 30 minutes–I suck on the clove.

I grimace at its taste, but Amina looks satisfied as she turns on her heel, walking toward the living room that's filled with Elijah's family. This time, the laugh Elijah lets out is loud and unhinged. I manage to wiggle myself out of his arms, and I give him a scowl. His mother is only trying to help.

"I'm sorry, love, but it's just so funny," he croaks out, between laughs. I cross my arms over my grown boobs, not finding any of this funny. Being frank, the clove tastes close to shit, and my laughing husband doesn't make it better.

"I should've said no to you on that damned altar," I murmur, turning my back to him, to clean some dishes.

"Oh, come on! It's funny!" he laughs-yells. Ignoring him, and the hands that wrap around my belly, inching closer to between my legs, I grab a glass and start soaping it up. "Come on, Josephine," he says against my jaw, before leaving sloppy kisses along the curve of my jaw. I'd expected him to detest my body, like I do, but he can't get enough of it. "You can't resist me, love, who are you trying to fool?" he says in my ear.

I close my eyes, forgetting the foul taste of clove in my mouth. Elijah continues to leave kisses on my jaw, and slowly moves down to my collar bones. His hands roam across my naked thighs under my summer-dress, over my round belly and then up toward my boobs. His teeth softly sink into my throat, as his hands grab my boobs in handfuls. "Fuck, I love these. I loved them before, but they're so fucking big, darling, I love it," he says gruffly into my ear.

My throat goes dry. "Your family is just in the other room, Elijah," I whisper. Where the hell did my voice go? I feel a grin against my throat.

"Afraid you won't be able to keep quiet, hm?" he retorts back, clearly amused. His hands find their way back to under my summer-dress and he pushes my underwear to the side, like it's muscle memory. He does it so smoothly. And then his hands find the one place that's aching for him. His grin against my throat grows into a smile, when he runs a finger into my wet slit.

He carefully enters a finger inside of me, causing me to drop the glass into the sink. I bite my lower lip, trying my best not to make a sound.

"Shu hadt?" I hear from the living room. My Arabic still isn't the best, but I do understand a few phrases here and there. And right then, I understand very clearly that my mother-in-law is asking very loudly what that was.

"Wala eshe," Elijah yells back. Nothing. His mouth finds mine in a hungry kiss, as his fingering intensifies. "Am I making you lose focus, darling?" he teases. My mouth drops open when he curls his finger inside of me. "I think you dropped something, Josephine."