Awakening Lucy Page 12

  “What’s wrong, did I do something, hurt you or something?” I asked shakily. Nick turned to me ruefully.

  “No, but if you had kept doing that it would have been all over, and I’m not ready for it to be over yet. I just need a few seconds!”

  I laughed and rolled over so that I was laying on my back again.

  “Well, don’t wait too long, I’m getting cold again and need warming up!”

  Nick growled, and I heard him open the bedside drawer and then heard the sound of a little packet being torn open. I then felt Nick’s weight on the bed and turned to him, opening my arms wide and enfolding him in an embrace. Nick rolled over onto his back and pulled me over so that I was laying on top of him. Now this we had done before, so I knew what he wanted. I scrambled to a position where I was straddling him, and raised myself up so that I was centred over him and then lowered myself down until I could feel Nick sliding in.

  “Oh, so hot and wet”, Nick whispered, “so welcoming, I’ve missed this Lucy”.

  I had too, and couldn’t wait any longer, so I began using my knees to raise myself up and plunge down on Nick, pushing him in and rocking backwards and forwards each time so that I could feel the head of his penis nestled deep inside me. Nick thrust upwards at the same time, and we set up a rhythm that didn’t last long, as we both came simultaneously and I then collapsed on Nick, breathing heavily.

  After Nick returned from the bathroom he pulled the covers over us and we settled in for a nap. A couple of nights of poor sleep followed by some energetic sex meant that both of us were ready for a snooze.

  23.

  We awoke in the mid afternoon, and talked about cooking a late lunch, but one thing led to another and we ended up having an early dinner instead. Nick was happy to barbecue some meat while I prepared some side dishes – as it was winter I quickly made some scalloped potatoes instead of a salad, and served them with some julienned vegetables – luckily Nick had managed to find time to do some shopping this morning before picking me up.

  After we had eaten and cleaned up the al fresco area and stacked the dishes in the dishwasher, Nick suggested a trip into the city, it was Friday and the shops would all still be open. Not particularly needing anything, I agreed anyway and we drove to the railway station and caught the train. It was busier than we had expected – obviously late night shopping was popular tonight – and I declined to sit, choosing to ‘strap hang’ next to Nick, which meant I could stand close to him and enjoy his proximity. Nick had a gentle way of making me feel cherished, when the train jolted or swayed suddenly, he would use his body to brace mine so that I didn’t fall. I really didn’t need the help not to fall, but played along just for the sensation of being close to him.

  We arrived in the city just before the dinner hour, and had a hot chocolate at one of the specialty chocolatiers. Nick seemed to be looking for a shop in particular in the arcade, and I asked him what he was looking for.

  “Amelia’s birthday is coming up, and I always have trouble finding something nice for her. I thought you might be able to help. I was thinking about a nice necklace for her, but I’m not good with jewellery”.

  I didn’t know that Amelia’s birthday was soon, and resolved to get her something myself, but for now I would help Nick. We found the jewellery shop he was looking for, and went in. Nick explained his requirements to the assistant, and we looked through a few pendants, and although Nick liked one in particular, he also asked to see some earrings. It was while he was looking through the pairs of earrings that I wandered off to look around the shop. There were some interesting clocks on the wall, and they caught my eye. An assistant was cleaning some rings on a tray. We chatted for a while, and then Nick came over, carrying a little bag.

  “Did you get that pendant after all?” I asked.

  “Yes, and I found some earrings to match that I might end up buying for a Christmas present. That will save me thinking of something else at Christmas time”, Nick continued as we walked out. As we got around the corner, Nick suddenly gasped and shoved the little bag into my hands.

  “I left my credit card in the jewellery shop”, he said a bit abruptly. “I’ll just go back and get it. While I am there I might buy the earrings, just in case they sell them to someone else. How about you go and order us a coffee?” and he pointed me towards a nearby coffee shop.

  I ordered two coffees and took a seat. Nick arrived, carrying another little bag just as our coffees arrived. He took the earrings out of the bag and showed me how nicely they matched the pendant, as if they had been designed that way. Amelia was one lucky lady I thought, not only to have a husband and children who loved her, but a brother who quite clearly doted on her too.

  We walked around the shops for a while longer, and Nick stopped at a pharmacy to stock up on contraceptives, even though I was an adult I was still not comfortable about my sexuality around strangers and I tried to wander off and look as if I wasn’t with Nick at that point. Nick clearly knew what I was doing but wisely didn’t comment, playing along with my pretence and ignoring me until we were out of the shop, when I rejoined him.

  “Coward” he said to me with a smile, and I smiled back shyly. On the trip home in the train, I concealed the two little bags in my handbag, not wanting to draw attention to the fact that we were carrying expensive jewellery with us, and we made it back to Nick’s place without incident.

  As we climbed the stairs to Nick’s room, I pulled the bags out of my bag and handed them to Nick, then headed to the bathroom to wash my face and ready myself for bed.

  When Nick was in the bathroom I changed into the one nightgown I had brought, a silky one that I hoped I would not be wearing for long, and from the look on Nick’s face when he came out of the bathroom and saw me standing at the window in it, I knew that my wish would soon be granted.

  24.

  The next morning, I was woken by the sound of clattering crockery. I sleepily opened my eyes to see Nick standing by the bed with a breakfast tray. I hurriedly sat up and Nick put the tray next to me, sitting gently on the other side.

  A girl could get used to this, I thought, seeing the coffee, juice, toast and fruit on the tray. The only times I had ever had breakfast in bed before was when I was a sick child, and Mum had brought food in to me. This was luxurious, and I told Nick so, around mouthfuls of toast. Nick nodded and continued eating his fruit. I snaffled the last piece of toast from the plate, and as I lifted it up, I saw something shiny on the plate under where the toast had been. I stared at it in shock. Was that a ring?

  I looked at Nick to find him watching me intently.

  “What’s this Nick?” I asked, although I could clearly see for myself what it was.

  Nick rolled his eyes, picked up the ring, got up from the bed, walked around to my side and knelt down.

  “Ok, if you want this to be more traditional – Lucy, will you marry me? I realized yesterday how much I missed you and I also realized that I don’t want to be without you any longer. I want us to be a family Lucy. If that means only you and me, then that will be enough. If it means children too, that will be better. Either way, I need you to be with me Lucy. I want to see you in the morning when I wake up, and in the evening when we both get home from work. I want to go to sleep with you in my arms, after a night of making love to you. I don’t care how, when or where we get married, but I want to get married”. He took a deep breath, “You’re not saying anything Lucy, and I’m getting nervous”, and he appeared to hold that breath.

  I launched myself at him, hearing the clattering of crockery behind me.

  “Of course I will marry you Nick. For all of the reasons you have just said to me, plus the fact that you are an amazingly patient man, putting up with me when I was giving you mixed signals, and gently persisting until I worked through my fears. You’ve woken me up from a long, deep sleep Nick, and I’ve never felt more alive than when I am with you. When did you get this ring by the way?” and I picked it up, and put it on. It was a little b
ig, but very close to my size.

  Nick felt the ring and frowned. “That’s a shame. We might have to go back and get it resized. Last night, remember when I went back for my credit card? I never left the card there Lucy – I just needed an excuse to go back and see the clerk to ask which ring your eyes were drawn to – you might not have realized you were looking at a particular ring, but you were – it was this one, wasn’t it?”

  I realized that I had, and Nick had known it all along. The whole thing with the credit card, and the earrings had been a ruse so Nick not only had an excuse to go back, but also to explain why he was gone as long as he was. I was going to have to watch this man – he could be sneaky when he wanted something, and I was very glad that it was me!

  We had to get up to clear away the mess from the breakfast that had been spilt on the bed, and to remake the bed, but we didn’t get very far, as soon as we had remade the bed we ended up making love in it. Several times that day in fact. At some point during the day I decided to wash the clothes I had been wearing yesterday so that I would have clean clothes the next day, and called Mum to tell her I was staying another night at Nick’s.

  “Good”, she said, “I was hoping it was going to work out. Percy will be so pleased”, and she hung up before I had a chance to ask exactly what she and Percy had been talking about. Clearly they had been scheming again.

  That evening, Nick’s phone rang, and he answered it, finding that Adam and Sarah had returned from their honeymoon. Nick and Adam talked for a short while, and then made arrangements to meet at a local café for lunch the next day. Just before he hung up, Nick said:

  “Oh, and I will be bringing Lucy with me, so book for four”. He then hung up and dropped the phone on the couch that we were sitting on, laughing.

  “That will give him something to think about”.

  It gave me something to think about too. My boss was going to become my brother in law. This was going to be an interesting lunch.

  It turned out that the café that we were lunching at had some interesting artworks displayed on the walls – photos that Sarah had taken. I remembered Adam telling me about a photograph he had purchased quite some time ago, I didn’t realize that Sarah was the photographer. We talked about her art for a while, then their honeymoon, and talked about the things we had done in New York, then the conversation stilled. We all stared at each other. Finally Nick leaned forward.

  “Ok, it’s elephant in the room time I suppose. Sarah, I noticed you looking at Lucy’s ring. Did you want to say anything?” he asked cheekily.

  “Well, yes I did”, Sarah began indignantly. “When did this happen? It was clear on the cruise that there was something going on between you, and judging by the outfit Lucy bought in New York, I can imagine there was a lot going on between you, but this is news! Congratulations!” and she got up to come around the table and give me a hug.

  After Adam had also congratulated us both, we told them that we had only got engaged the previous day, and that we hadn’t set a date for the wedding, it was all so new. We also asked them not to say anything to anyone else until we told our respective parents. Lunch arrived, and we all ate while we discussed potential wedding dates and venues, and where Sarah was planning to go for the delivery, and then Nick and Adam talked about Amelia’s birthday which would not be for another two months. I glared at Nick, the shopping trip had not been about Amelia’s birthday at all, it had been a set up from the beginning.

  As we left and went our separate ways, I heard Adam querying Sarah about the outfit she had mentioned, and she was shushing him and telling him they would talk later. I flushed, thinking about what Sarah was going to tell Adam about the outfit his receptionist and soon to be sister in law was buying!

  We then drove to my house, where Mum dissolved into tears at the news.

  “I’m so happy for you Lucy,” she sniffled. “I was so hoping that you would find the happiness that comes from sharing your life with someone special, I was worried that it was not going to happen for you. I will admit that I will be sorry to see you go though”.

  Nick jumped in at this, “There’s plenty of room in my house”, he offered, “You can always come and live with us”.

  “You are a lovely man, I can see why Lucy loves you so much” – and she patted his hand – “but newlyweds don’t need the mother in law staying with them – I would only get in the way. But I will come and stay from time to time when the babies come – just to help you understand”.

  Oh dear, Mum was going to be so disappointed if there weren’t babies, but I didn’t have the heart to remind her that women of my age often took time to conceive. Mum insisted on coming with us to tell Percy, and he only had to look at her face when he opened the door to know that all their scheming had worked.

  Percy insisted on opening a bottle of champagne, but I didn’t want to drink any – just in case – only having a sip so it appeared that I was drinking. There was no point in saying anything right now – it would only disappoint them if we had to give them bad news later. In fact it was while I was thinking of this that I decided that Nick and I should keep the possibility of a pregnancy to ourselves for the time being. Not only did we not know if I had fallen pregnant, but even if I did, there was a possibility – given my history – that I might miscarry this one as well, so it might be an idea to wait.

  As it turned out, no-one was disappointed at all. After a few weeks of waiting for a period that never arrived, I bought a few test kits from the local pharmacy and Nick and I stood in his wonderful bathroom, watching the little sticks change colour. We turned to each other, each of us looking searchingly into the other’s eyes, and reassured by what we each saw, started hugging and kissing enthusiastically. Even though I was much closer to forty than thirty, it had only taken one failed contraceptive, and Nick and I would become parents. How wonderful.

  I shooed Nick out of the bathroom, cleared away the wrappers, and took my little surprise out of the vanity unit. I hadn’t worn this outfit since that night in New York, but thought that maybe it was time again. After all, soon I wouldn’t be able to fit into it.

  I opened the door, and Nick turned, his eyes widening as he took in the red bustier, g-string and stockings worn with high heeled shoes. He rose from the bed where he had been sitting to take off his shoes and socks, and came towards me with a wondrous smile on his face.

  “I didn’t know whether you still had those clothes”, he said quietly. “To think, you were wearing that outfit when we made our baby. Ha, now there’s a story we can never tell the little one!” and he buried his face in my chest, nuzzling gently. I threw back my head, not realizing as I did, my breasts started to rise out of the bustier, leaving only the nipple covered. I felt the top buttons be released, Nick was slowly undoing the bustier, and once he had removed it, he stood back and admired the sight of me, standing in only g string, stockings and shoes. He knelt at my feet, and hooked his thumbs through the string of the tiny panties, slowly lowering them down, and replacing them with his mouth. I widened my legs a little to allow him easier access, and placed my hands behind me, bracing myself against the wall. Nick lapped at me and then used his tongue to thrust into my moist heat, and then stood and carried me to the bed. He returned to my lower body and slowly unclipped the stockings from the suspender belt, rolling them down my legs and, after first removing my shoes, took a stocking from each leg. Finally he slid the garter belt down my body, following it with his mouth, kissing along the insides of my thighs, causing me to flinch and twitch in expectation. By the time Nick worked his way back up my body, he had removed his clothing, and I could feel his hard length against my soft skin.

  Nick teased me with his fingers, and I slapped them away, thrusting upwards with my pelvis and demanding more. Nick obliged and set a steady pace that soon had me bucking and pushing, trying to draw him as deep inside as I could, so that when my release came, I got extra pleasure from the feel of Nick’s shaft inside me as my inner walls pulsed a
nd massaged him. Tonight was very different from previous nights, as we had discovered that I was pregnant we had now dispensed with the condoms, and I felt the hot spurt of Nick’s seed as it pulsed from him during his orgasm.

  Afterwards we slept, but we made love several times more that night, whispering plans in the dark to each other. When should we marry? Should I officially move in, as I was spending so many nights at Nick’s house now that I was virtually living here anyway? When should we tell people about the baby? What were we going to name it?

  25.

  As it was, we had plenty of time to set our plans in motion. We waited for the summer and held a wedding at home. Nick’s house and garden – our house and garden – were spacious enough to host a celebration with a our friends and family. We hired a caterer and decorated the house with lots of flowers. I had two attendants, Amelia and Sarah, Adam and Robert stood up for Nick. Josh and Lana were pressed into service as well as attendants, ushering people to their seats in the garden.

  By this time, little Hannah, Adam and Sarah’s daughter had been born, and she attended our wedding too, alternating time between the laps of Mum or Percy, who clucked and gooed at her unmercifully. By the time we married, I was large with our child, and proud of it too. I had been living with Nick since when we discovered that I was pregnant, Nick did not want to miss a minute. I think he was secretly very worried about me, but was hiding it very well. Because of my history, and my age, we had a lot of tests done to be sure that everything was ok with the baby, and we decided we wanted to know the child’s gender. We were going to have a little boy, but decided to keep that secret to ourselves. It was often difficult when discussing the pregnancy to keep referring to it as an ‘it’ not a ‘him’, but we managed. Nick and I decided that our son would be called William. We couldn’t wait to meet him.