Give Me Love (15 page)

“Hear, hear,” Andrew says as he raises his glass. The others follow his lead. “To new beginnings,” Andrew says, and they all drink.
 

Mikah is overwhelmed by Andrew’s candor and it warms his heart. In the two weeks before the night of the battle, the four men had spent a lot of time in close quarters, and as they all sit around tonight, talking about the things that have happened over the last two months, he is reminded of that time. At one point, to Mikah, Celeste, Andrew and Connor were simply a housekeeper and a couple of bodyguards. But that’s all changed now.
 

Vivienne watches Red lean over and kiss Kelly. Despite Red’s graying hair, he has a very youthful appearance. Especially when he’s with Kelly. She knows that he was being honest when he said he didn’t know. If he’d known about Vivienne – or any child of his, for that matter – the efforts he’s made now tell her that he wouldn’t have stayed away, and she takes comfort in that. But although Red may be her father, she also realizes that maybe a father-daughter relationship is not what they need. Or at least it may not be what she needs.

“How are you feeling?” Mikah whispers to Vivienne as she yawns.
 

“Great. Stuffed, but great.”
 

“Good.” He kisses her temple, and Vivienne watches as Andrew smiles at her before his eyes wander toward Celeste.
 

That could be rather interesting
, Vivienne muses.
 

“Umph,” Vivienne grunts. “Ouch.” She’s not sure what to make of what’s just happened. All eyes are on her.
 

“What’s wrong?” Mikah asks.
 

Vivienne can’t help but smile at the concern in his voice.
 

“I don’t know. It feels like Madison just flipped over and took my intestines with her.” She lets out a chuckle. She doesn’t want to concern anyone until there really is something to be concerned about.
 

Mikah leans back and puts his arm across the top of her chair. She can feel his fingers brushing lightly on her shoulder. She looks at him and smiles while the conversation around them continues, and the chatter fades into garbled static as she stares into his eyes. Nothing in the world matters but him, for right now at least.
 

“Well, I think it’s time to call it a night,” Red says as he and Kelly stand, effectively ending Mikah and Vivienne’s staring contest.
 

“It’s early,” Mikah says.
 

“Yes, but you haven’t seen her in two months. You don’t need us keeping you apart any longer.” He smiles warmly at them both.
 

Their other friends stand and start to clear their dishes from the table. “Leave the dishes. I’ll take care of them.” He looks to Vivienne. “In the morning.”
 

They all laugh and place their dishes on the breakfast bar, and they take their leave of the condo.
 

“That was a lot of fun,” Vivienne says as she rises from the table. Mikah comes to stand in front of her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her toward him.
 

“That was a lot of fun. We should do that more often,” he says into her hair as he kisses the top of her head.
 

She snakes her arms around him, holding him close. “At least once a week?” she says and he smiles.
 

“At least.”
 

“The five of us ate a lot of meals together while you were gone, and tonight was the most interactive an animated we’ve all been for months. It was nice to let our hair down, so to speak.” She hugs him tighter.
 

“Good, it should be like that all the time. Are you ready for bed?”
 

She nods into his chest. He pulls back. Their eyes meet, and again, nothing in the world matters more than each other.

FORTY-THREE

“Marry me?” he breathes into her ear. They’re both sweaty from their roll between the sheets.
 

Vivienne’s breath comes shorter and faster than it did just moments ago when they finished. “Mikah, we’ve talked about this.”

“I know,” he says, and she can hear the slight disappointment in his voice. “I just thought that maybe you were brushing me off because I was in your dreams, or that you were uncertain of our future. Do you feel that way?”
 

She twists toward him, dislodging him from inside of her, and his breath hitches.
 

“I never felt that way,” she says. “I really don’t want to have Madison in the middle of our wedding ceremony.”

He brushes the hair from her face. “I didn’t say we had to get married right away. We can wait, I just want to know that you will be mine forever.”
 

“You need a ring to know that?”
 

He smiles. “No, sweetheart, I don’t. I just enjoy the idea of you wearing my ring, telling everyone that you’re taken and reminding you that you’re mine.”

She smiles at his logic. “Ask me again,” she breathes.
 

“Vivienne Alison Callahan, I promise to care for you, cherish you, and love you for the rest of eternity,” he says.
 

Tears well in her eyes.
 

“Will you do me the honor of being my wife?”
 

Seeming to come from out of nowhere, a ring appears between his thumb and forefinger, a beautiful heart-cut diamond ring with two smaller stones on either side. The band is braided. It’s beautiful in its simple elegance.
 

“Yes,” she breathes, and the tears spill over.
 

“Do not cry, sweetheart,” he says.
 

He takes her hand and places the ring on her finger. Once it is in place, he lifts his lips to meet hers, strong and passionate. “Thank you,” he says between kisses, and she smiles at his excitement.
 

His hands begin to roam her body once again, and she is instantly lost in his touch. Desperate to have him inside of her again. To show him that she loves him, unconditionally.
 

This time, though, he skips the fanfare, eager to slip back inside of her.

FORTY-FOUR

“Okay, three things,” Dr. Alston says as she removes the gloves from her hands. “First, her lungs look great, maybe even a little ahead of the predicted due date. Which ultimately means that you could go into labor any day now.”
 

Vivienne’s eyes widen fractionally, but then a smile of relief washes over her face.
 

Mikah feels it too.
 

“Which leads me to point number two. If at any time you feel pain or tightening in your abdomen, check the clock, see if another one comes. If it does, start timing it. Once they start coming about ten minutes apart, give me a call.” She hands Mikah a business card.
 

“Ten minutes apart?” Vivienne asks.
 

“Yes. Sometimes you can experience what are called Braxton Hicks, otherwise known as false contractions. Those are usually random. If they fall into a regular pattern, try moving around or taking a shower. If they stop, you’re okay. If they continue even though you’re moving around, odds are they’re real contractions.”
 

Vivienne nods her understanding.
 

“Don’t play down the pain. If you feel something, don’t hide it,” she says, looking at Vivienne.
 

“Okay, I will say something,” Vivienne says, and Mikah squeezes her hand.
 

“Lastly, your blood pressure is a little higher than I’d like it to be, but it is still within the normal range. So I’d like you to take it easy. Soak up the chance to lie around in bed, watch TV, read a book or two. Don’t do too much,” she says, raising her eyebrows at Vivienne.
 

“I don’t do much now. Walking and yoga, sleeping, and that’s about it.”

“Good, though I’d cut back on the yoga to once a week. Twice a week only if you feel it is helping you to relax. Otherwise, walking is okay, just take it slow.”
 

“No problem,” Mikah says.
 

“You’ve already started to dilate. Only about a centimeter or so, and that’s perfectly okay at this stage. Other than that, we will see you back here next week. Same time?” she says.
 

“Perfect,” Vivienne says as she tries to sit up. Mikah helps her up.
 

“Okay, I’ll let you get dressed and you’re free to go. Is there anything else?”

Vivienne shakes her head. “No, I don’t think so.”
 

“If you think of anything, just call me.”

FORTY-FIVE

“Jeez, Mikah, she has more clothes than I do,” says Vivienne, taking stock of their purchases. Mikah had a little more fun shopping than she expected, but it was so much fun to watch him.
 

“She deserves it. And it’s not just clothes.” He kisses her as he passes on the way to the dining room table, where all the other bags are. “There’s still about six more bags downstairs.”
 

Before he even finishes his sentence, Andrew and Celeste are halfway out the door.
 

Vivienne rolls her eyes. “You’re too much,” she says. As Mikah stalks toward her, she giggles.
 

“But it was so much fun.” He smiles at her.
 

“Yeah, I suppose I didn’t kick and scream too much.”
 

Mikah laughs at her. In fact, she hadn’t kicked or screamed at all. “You had fun.”

She smiles at him. “I did.”

Before too long, Andrew and Celeste return with the last of their shopping spree.
 

“I’ll pull all the tags and get everything washed up,” Celeste says to Vivienne.

“I’d like to do it. If that’s alright with you?”
 

Celeste smiles at Vivienne and nods. “Of course. But make him lift all the laundry.” Celeste points her thumb at Mikah.
 

Vivienne laughs. “I will, don’t worry.” She smirks at Mikah, who seems all too eager to dig into what they bought today. Andrew and Celeste take their cue and leave.
 

Mikah starts to pull things from the bags. “We got clothes in different sizes. Should we separate them by size?”
 

“That sounds like a plan.” She walks over to Mikah and wraps her arms around his midsection from behind. “Thank you.”
 

Mikah turns in her arms to look at her. “Of course. Hey, what’s wrong?” He asks in response to a shift in her demeanor; she almost looks sad.
 

“I’m scared.”
 

“Oh, sweetheart, of what?” he says as he takes a seat in a chair, pulling her toward him. He places his hands on her hips and kisses her belly.
 

“Of everything. That she won’t be healthy, or that she’ll come too soon, or that something will go wrong, or that I’ll do something wrong.” By the time she’s done talking her tone is nearly hysterical.
 

“Oh, sweetheart. You’ll do amazing. And anything that could happen, we will deal with when the time comes. But don’t stress yourself out over something you have no control over. When she’s ready, she’ll come.” He kisses her belly again and reaches up to brush the back of his knuckles against her cheek. “It’s been a long day for you. Why don’t you go lie down for a while. I can work on getting this stuff sorted out.” He stands, taking her hand. “I’ll separate everything and then, when you wake up, we can go through it all.”

She nods and he leads her into the bedroom. He turns down the bed and she climbs in.
 

She reaches over for one of the other pillows and tucks it underneath her belly and between her legs. He smiles, realizing that last night she slept the exact same way, only it was him she wrapped herself around, not a pillow.
 

He tucks her in and kisses her.
 

“I love you,” she breathes against his lips.
 

“As I love you.”

FORTY-SIX

Vivienne and Mikah spend the next few days dividing their time between laundry, organizing, and putting everything away to get ready for Madison’s arrival. Mikah notices that Vivienne has less and less energy each day and is taking longer, more frequent naps.
 

One afternoon she wakes up and all she can seem to do is organize and reorganize Madison’s room, and he realizes that she’s started nesting. He watches her work, mainly because she refuses his help and insists on doing it herself. After a few hours of reorganizing, she stops and takes a break to have lunch with Mikah.
 

“You okay?” He asks her as they sit down to eat her favorite, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
 

“Yeah, why?”
 

He doesn’t want to embarrass her, but he looks down and her gaze follows his.
 

“Well, crap,” she says, and he busts out laughing. “I guess it’s time to get the pumping thing going.” She smiles.
 

“I could help with that.” The tone in his voice is suggestive.
 

“Wha—? How would...?” She wrinkles her nose, trying to understand what he’s implying. “Isn’t that kind of gross?” she says innocently, and his eyes dart away from her. “Mikah!” she says, laughing, and she throws her napkin at him.
 

“What? They’re just so much fun to play with, it just kind of happens when I suck on them.”
 

“Oh, for Pete’s sake, why didn’t you tell me?”

He laughs harder. “And spoil my fun? Never,” he says as he places a potato chip in his mouth.
 

“How in the world did I not notice that?”
 

He wiggles his eyebrows at her and she blushes. You’re usually otherwise...” He clears his throat. “Occupied.”
 

She has no argument for that.
 

Mikah watches her as she mulls over what he’s just told her. It’s rather cute to watch the little furrow appear in her brow when she’s thinking about something.