The Journey Home

  I smiled against her lips. “I love you, Maddie.”

  She pulled back and looked adoringly into my eyes. She didn’t have an ounce of makeup on and her brown hair was beginning to fall down from her ponytail. She’d never looked so sexy. “You’re so beautiful. You steal the air from my lungs with just a look.”

  She began to chew on her lip.

  “Maddie, I wish like hell we could have sex, but…” I looked down at my leg and placed my hand on my ribs. “I can’t move without something hurting.”

  She began to gently slide down my sleeping shorts. “Don’t move. The nurse at the hospital showed me how to do this, and I watched the nurse here the last few days.”

  My parents had insisted on having a nurse come help for a few days. I couldn’t take the babying and sent her home earlier today. Maddie skillfully removed my shorts, and I hardly moved an inch. The worst part was moving my torso, because of the broken ribs.

  Maddie got up and walked into our closet and came walking back out with a bag. “What’s in the bag?” I asked as I raised my eyebrows in an expectant manner.

  “A welcome home gift,” she said as she began to slowly strip out of her clothes.

  She stood before me naked, and I began stroking my dick as best I could. I closed my eyes and moaned. I heard her pull something out of the bag and then I heard a buzzing sound. I snapped my eyes open to see her holding a vibrator in her hand.

  “I’m going to take care of you first.” She wiggled her eyebrows as she took off the nurse’s hat. “Then I’m going to let you take care of me.”

  I swallowed hard as she moved back onto the bed. She was on the right side of my body and she placed one hand on the bed next to my leg and the other hand on my shaft. She leaned over and took my whole dick in her mouth, moaning. I fought like hell not to move. One small jerk on my part had my ribs telling me to settle down.

  I watched as she worked her mouth slowly up and down as I ran my hand through her hair. I leaned back against the pillows and let out another long moan. “Feels so damn good, baby.”

  She picked up the pace and I could feel the buildup. It wasn’t going to take me long. I glanced at the vibrator on the bed and pictured Maddie working it in and out of her pussy. Oh, fuck. I began panting, which my ribs were telling me to stop doing, but I didn’t care. It felt so damn amazing. She let her teeth graze along my dick and I turned again to see the vibrator. “Maddie, baby, I’m going to…oh God!”

  I moved. Bad idea, but she’d begun to suck harder on my dick. She did something with her hand along my shaft. “Ah…” I cried out as I came in her mouth. She continued to move as she took in every ounce of me.

  When she finished, she sat back on her knees, smiling as she wiped her mouth. “I’ve been practicing on a cucumber.”

  I wanted to bust out laughing—she seemed so damn proud of herself.

  “Your mother almost walked in on me giving head to one in the kitchen. I bit into it and told her I was craving cucumbers.”

  I started laughing and then groaned. “Damn ribs.”

  She sat next to me, holding the vibrator. “Can you lean a little on your right side?”

  I didn’t have any broken ribs on that side, so I rolled over a little. Maddie lay next to me, smiling. “Can I rest my leg on your good leg?” she asked with a scrunched-up nose.

  I nodded and held out my hand. She was lying down, but close enough that I didn’t have to bend or really move much. She reached down and began pushing the vibrator inside her. When she pulled it out and pushed it back in, my damn dick started jumping again. I looked down and he wasn’t up, but he was sure as hell putting up a fight.

  “Oh God, Cale.”

  Her eyes were closed and I was hoping like hell she was picturing me moving in and out of her. I moved a bit more and felt the pain shoot through my ribs and left leg. Fuck. Watching Maddie work the vibrator in and out I knew she was close. I wanted to lean down and kiss on her nipple so bad.

  Screw this. Pain or no pain, I’m going to be the one holding that thing when she comes.

  I took the vibrator from her hand and began working it in and out faster. I had to bite down on my cheek to keep the pain at bay, but it was worth it to see the pure pleasure on my girl’s face. It didn’t take long for Maddie to scream my name. It must have been one hell of an orgasm, because she kept saying she couldn’t take any more. When she finally came down from her orgasm, and I pulled the vibrator out, she sat up and took deep breaths.

  “Jesus. I must have needed that,” she giggled.

  I raised my eyebrow and adjusted myself into a more comfortable position. “I’d say. I’m pretty sure Jack and Monica heard you screaming from across the lake.”

  She narrowed her eye at me and said, “Very funny.”

  She got up, put the nurses hat back on, and sashayed into the bathroom. She came out with a hot washcloth and began cleaning me off, naked. I couldn’t help but think I’d died and gone to heaven.

  THE DOOR TO the bedroom opened and I lifted my head to see Maddie walking in with a tray. I attempted to sit up some as I smiled at her.

  “Dinner time,” she said, all chipper.

  The smell of steak filled my senses and I moaned. She set down the tray, revealing a plate with a T-bone steak, a fully-loaded baked potato, and steamed broccoli on it. She also had a hot roll and a tall glass of tea on the tray. I licked my lips as I eyed the food.

  “Wow,” I said. “You have all my favorites on here, baby.”

  She grinned from ear to ear. “I even grilled the steak out on the deck. Let me go grab mine.” She hustled out of the room. I impatiently waited for her to return. Once she walked through the door with another tray, I began to cut into my steak.

  She sat on the bed and faced me. I looked up and saw she had candles on her tray. I smiled as I grabbed the lighter and lit them.

  “Are you sore or anything from earlier?” She asked, blushing.

  I chuckled softly. “Nope. The pain pills kicked in. I was dozing when you walked in. I heard the door open and I smelled steak.”

  She smiled and took a bite of her baked potato.

  I took a bite and sighed. “Man, Maddie this is delicious.”

  “Thank you. I’m glad you like it. Your mom wanted to order us something to be delivered, but I wanted tonight to be special.”

  I nodded my head as I took another bite. That’s when her wedding dress caught my eye. It was hanging on the back of her closet door. Why had I not noticed that before? My heart instantly broke in two. Maddie must have noticed me staring, because she turned to look, too.

  “I hung it up earlier while you were sleeping,” she said. “Monica had it at her house and thought that I might want it here.”

  I closed my eyes. “I’m so sorry, Maddie. I knew you didn’t want us messing with the boat on Lily’s birthday, and I didn’t pay attention to what you wanted. God, I’m so sorry I ruined our wedding.”

  She shrugged and cut into her steak. “I’m just glad you’re alive and the only thing wrong is a broken leg and a few ribs. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost you, Cale. You’re my whole life.”

  I swallowed as I attempted to hold back tears. “I asked the doctor about when I could walk down the aisle. He told me to take it one day at a time.”

  She gave me a warm smile and nodded. “I agree with him.” She pulled an envelope from under her plate. She ran her fingers across it and rapidly blinked her eyes.

  Oh shit. I bet it’s our marriage license. Damn it.

  “I thought I could wait until we’d eaten and had dessert, but I can’t wait a minute longer. The day of Lily’s party, when I came home from the doctor, I had something I needed to talk to you about, but everyone was already here. Then the accident happened, and your parents and Monica and Jack practically moved in. We haven’t been alone long enough for me to show you this.”

  She handed the envelope and I set my silverware down. “What is it?”

 
She sucked her lower lip in and sniffled. “Just open it. I wanted us to be alone for this. I wish I could have made it more…special.”

  I looked at her, confused. Turning the envelope over, I opened it. I pulled out the folded piece of paper and began to open it. There was another paper wrapped up in it. A sonogram picture. I just stared. I couldn’t pull my eyes away from the tiny peanut in the middle of the picture. I looked up and Maddie had tears falling down her face.

  “Maddie…are we?”

  She nodded and wiped away her tears. “Yes. We’re about eight weeks along.”

  My eyes stung with tears as I felt the emotions build. My lips quivered and my heart did the same crazy-ass thing it did the first time I ever laid eyes on Maddie. Pregnant. Maddie is pregnant with our child.

  A sob escaped my lips and I didn’t even care that my ribs were screaming in pain. “Maddie. We’re gonna have a baby? This is our baby?”

  She laughed. “Yes. I’m so sorry you weren’t there for the first sonogram. The doctor wanted to do it as soon as possible. I haven’t told anyone else, since I wanted to tell you first. I kind of think Jack knows, but he hasn’t said anything. Tim knows. He figured it out the day of your accident.” She looked at me with such sadness in her eyes.

  “Baby, it’s okay. I’ll be there for everything else, I swear. Now, will you please move these trays so I can kiss the mother of my children?”

  Maddie froze. Something moved across her face…an emotion I’d seen before, but slightly different. She stood and set her tray on the dresser, then reached for mine and did the same. She crawled back onto the bed and was about to kiss me when she stopped just short of my lips and smiled the biggest smile I’d ever seen.

  “I could never in a million years tell you how that just made me feel. I love you, Cale Blackwood. I love you so much.”

  Placing my hand on her cheek, I brushed away a single tear before sliding my hand behind her neck and pulling her lips to mine. Our kiss was passionate, and full of love.

  She pulled away and giggled. “Our dinner is getting cold.”

  I smiled and whispered, “Let it get cold. Where is that vibrator?”

  “YOU KNOW, YOU really can’t do that anymore.”

  I turned to see my father standing in the doorway of the baby’s room, shaking his head. “If Cale saw you standing on that ladder, he’d be furious.”

  I laughed. “Help me down?” I asked as I held out my hand. My father held my hand as I stepped off the small ladder. “Daddy, you know I was only two steps up?”

  “Doesn’t matter. Just because you’re not really showing, Maddie, doesn’t mean you’re not pregnant. If you need something done in the nursery, just ask one of us to do it, sweetheart.”

  I saluted my father. “Yes, sir.”

  He kissed me on the forehead as he chuckled. “Where is my granddaughter?”

  I looked around the nursery and smiled. We’d decided to use the guest bedroom downstairs as the new nursery. I had no clue if I was having a girl or a boy, but I had a feeling that it was a girl. So I’d started decorating in a French country theme. Cale thought I was crazy, but something in my heart told me I was having a girl. Plus, I had been insanely sick the first three months, and Mary assured me that meant it was a girl.

  “She’s with Cale and Mary,” I said. “They took her to the park so I could rest, but I couldn’t sleep, so I started messing with the baby’s room.”

  “How are the plans for the second wedding going?” My father asked, walking out of the nursery and toward the living room.

  I slapped at his arm as I passed him by to sit on the sofa. “You’re so mean. How’s your wedding plans coming along with Michelle? You know, Mom called me the other day and was asking all kinds of questions.”

  He sat in the recliner and rolled his eyes. “I hope you didn’t tell her anything. With the amount of money I gave her in the divorce, I figured she’d just stay in Paris forever.”

  I giggled. “Daddy, that’s so mean.”

  He had a serious look in his eyes when he asked, “You don’t agree with me, Maddison?”

  I held up my hands. “Now, I didn’t say that! I wasn’t surprised when she took off for Paris. She always loved it there, and said she wanted to live there.”

  He let out a gruff laugh. “Well, she can stay there forever as far as I’m concerned.”

  My cell phone rang and my father jumped up and grabbed it from the sofa table behind me. When he handed it to me, I saw that it was Jack. My heart beat faster.

  “Hello?”

  Jack yelled, “Her water broke! Her water broke!”

  I stood up quickly. “What?”

  “Her. Water. Broke. They’re coming. Finally!”

  I smiled at my dad and gave him a thumbs-up. “Okay, Jack, calm down. Where is Monica?”

  I could hear Monica in the background talking. “I’m heading on out to the car. Honey, grab my makeup bag, will you?”

  “I don’t know what’s wrong with her, Maddie. She’s too calm. She’s about to give birth to twins and she is so chill. She walked to the bedroom, changed her clothes, grabbed a towel and told me to meet her in the car. And she wants makeup. Why does she want makeup?”

  I tried to hold back my laughter. Monica was so ready to give birth to the twins. She was nine months pregnant and they’d told her she’d deliver earlier. She hadn’t, and she’d been one pissed off pregnant woman the last three weeks.

  “Jack, just grab the makeup bag and head to the car. Did you call the doctor yet?”

  “Fuck! I forgot. Son of a bitch.”

  Then my phone beeped. I pulled it away and looked at it. “He hung up on me,” I said to my dad. “He didn’t even say goodbye. He just hung up. What the hell?”

  I heard Mary and Cale come in through the front door. “Maddie!” He yelled.

  “I’m in the living room with Dad.”

  Cale came rushing into the living room. I could tell he was still having a bit of trouble with his leg.

  “She’s in labor,” Cale said. “We have to go.”

  He walked back down the hall and all I could hear was Cale rummaging through the hall closet. I looked over to my father and then to Mary who was holding Lily. She set her down and Lily quickly made her way to me. I kneeled down and took her into my arms. She smiled at me and then gave me a slobbery kiss.

  “Mom, James? Can one of y’all watch Lily while we go to the hospital?”

  I stood up and Lily screamed excitedly and pointed to Cale. I stood there, staring.

  “What the hell is that?” Mary asked as my father laughed.

  Cale was holding a camel. A giant camel.

  “Wait, where was that thing?” I asked as I walked over to him. He frantically looked around. He pointed and said, “Your purse. Maddie, get your purse. We have to go.”

  I shook my head. “Right now, I’m more curious about the giant camel in your arms.”

  He looked at me like I was crazy. “The camel?” he asked, surveying the room.

  I placed my hands on my hips. “Daddy, up. Up!” Lily said, pulling on Cale’s jeans.

  “Yes, Cale. The camel. What’s the story with the camel?”

  He looked down at Lily and smiled. He dropped the Camel to the ground and she laughed and crawled all over it. “Well, it’s kind of a joke,” he said. “Er, um, well…not a joke I care to share right now.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Cale…”

  “Really, Maddie now might not be…”

  “Oh just tell the joke, for Christ’s sake,” my father said.

  Cale ran his hand through his hair and sighed. “Fine. The first time Jack ever saw Monica, he made a joke. She was wearing these tight pants…and, well...”

  The moment he said it I was taken back to the night we meet Cale and Jack. “I think we should go now.” I blurted.

  “Oh no, I want to hear this joke now.” Mary said.

  Cale sighed. “Jack looked at Monica and said, ‘To hell with kissi
ng that girl under the mistletoe, I’ll kiss her camel toe instead.’”

  I closed my eyes and shook my head as my father and Cale’s mother both laughed. “You are not bringing that to the hospital. Are you insane?”

  “What? He’ll never see it coming.” Cale said with a smile.

  My phone buzzed, notifying me of a text message.

  Monica: Please tell me you’re on your way. I’m about to kill my husband.

  Me: Same here. Leaving now. Don’t worry. It will all be okay!

  I looked at my father and Mary. Mary smiled. “Go. I’ve got Lily. Go be with Monica and Jack.”

  I bent down and kissed Lily. “Mommy loves you, Princess.”

  Lily waved bye-bye and I waved back. Her light brown, curls fell to her shoulders and her green-blue eyes lit up as I waved back. She was the spitting image of Cale.

  Cale went to grab the camel when I pulled him away from it by the arm. “No, Cale.”

  “Aw, Maddie. Don’t be such a killjoy.” Cale whined.

  I walked out to the car and got in first, followed by Cale. He started the car then told me he’d forgotten something. He jumped out of the car and ran back into the house. When he came back out with the camel, I rolled my eyes. I’d clearly lost this fight.

  I COULDN’T BELIEVE how insanely beautiful the twins were. Monica and Jack named them Craig and Lucy. Craig had been named after Jack’s dad and Lucy was named after Monica’s grandmother. I glanced up and saw Cale holding Craig. I looked down at Lucy and smiled.

  Lucy yawned and made the sweetest sound. My heart slammed in my chest as I thought about the child growing in my own stomach. “Hey there, little one,” I whispered. Welcome to this crazy world.”

  Jack came into the room and smacked Cale on the back of the head. “Get that damn camel out of this room. Now.”

  Cale laughed as Monica asked, “What’s with the camel anyway?”

  Cale went to explain, but Jack stepped in front of him and said, “Don’t even think about it, Cale Blackwood.”

  I giggled and shook my head.

  “How are you feeling, Monica?” I asked.