Deathless Love (23 page)

“Oh my God, I'm so excited!” Stella said and promptly burst into tears. Kate wrapped her arms around her slim frame. “I'm sorry,” she said, wiping at her eyes. “It's just…it's not possible. I don't understand… but I'm so happy. I can't believe we're going to have a baby around here!” Then she pulled away and looked at Dom with startled eyes. “Please say you're not moving out?”

Dom shook his head. “No way. No chance of that.” Then he faltered suddenly and looked at her. “Unless Kate makes me,” he said seriously and her heart fluttered at his consideration. “So you two better make her feel at home,” he said with mock sternness.

“I will. And your baby's feet will never, ever touch the floor,” Stella swore.

Fox laughed. “I'll bet that's true.” Then he jumped up. “I'll be right back,” he said.

“So how is this possible?” Stella asked.

Dom shrugged. “I don't know. Maybe somehow when I resisted Roxanna's blood, I activated my own cells in a new way? Believe it or not, my hair has started growing for the first time since I was changed!”

Fox returned, his guitar in hand. “Do you think you could have more children?”

Dom looked poleaxed. “I don't know. I hadn't thought of it. Maybe I'll have my sperm tested to see what the docs say.” He turned to her. “Would you have more?” he asked her softly, a vulnerable pleading in his voice.

“Yes!” she exclaimed, smiling.

“How many?”

“I don't know…with four parents around to take care of them? I'm sure we could handle a whole litter.”

“Yes!” Dom said and Stella and Fox both gave him a high five.

“Here's my baby girl's theme song,” Fox said, grinning at them and struck up the Talking Heads “Stay Up Late.”
“Baby, baby, please let me hold her, I wanna make her stay up all night. Sister, sister, she's just a plaything, We wanna make her stay up all night…”

She rolled her eyes. “Great. How will she ever make it in kindergarten if you three have her staying up all night?”

They all laughed at that and Stella swatted her butt. “Now I know why you wouldn't take any alcohol or coffee.”

“But you still haven't told us what's with the ring,” Fox pointed out.

She pulled the quiche out of the oven and served it up to exclamations of how good it smelled.

“Kate has agreed to marry me,” Dom said when she didn't answer.

“Congratulations,” Fox said warmly. Stella gave her cheek a kiss. “I'm so happy for you both,” she said equally warmly, and she felt relieved. Though she'd never felt any jealousy from Stella, she didn't want there to be any tension, especially with her moving in.

“When's the big date?”

Dom looked at her. “We haven't really discussed it yet. My vote is as soon as possible, but I know women have ideas about how these things should go, and I want Kate to have the wedding she always dreamed of.”

Her eyes misted and she slid out of her seat to sit on his lap and kiss his temple. “I love you,” she murmured.

“I'm pretty fond of you myself,” he teased, reminding her of the first time she'd inadvertently uttered those words.

He looked at his watch. “So, I have a moving crew meeting you down at your place at 4 pm.”

“What?” she exclaimed.

“Well, you don't have to meet them, but I thought you might want to be there. In case there's stuff you don't want to move here.”

She stared at him and he held his hands up, palms out. “Not that I'm suggesting you can't bring all of it.”

She laughed, touched again at the exaggerated way he showed his consideration of her feelings. “No, I'll probably get rid of most of it. But I can't stay long there, because we have somewhere to be after sundown tonight,” she said with what she hoped was an air of mystery.

“We do?” He looked surprised. She supposed it was unusual for her to take charge of him for a change.

She hid her face in his hair. “Yes.”

“Are you going to tell me about it?”

“No,” she said in a tiny voice. It was hard to keep it from him. She wanted to blurt out her surprise all at once, but that would ruin it, of course.

* * *

“I want a real wedding with a white dress and cake,” Kate announced when he picked her up after sundown. She stuck her chin out a little, as if it took some resolve for her to admit that.

“You got it,” he said. “Your dream wedding, whatever that is. So long as I'm the groom,” he added.

“It will have to be soon, I don't want to be showing. But enough time to plan. How about in a month?”

“Yes. Now where are we going?”

“Take Broadway to Country Club.”

He sighed. As out of character as it was for Kate to lead their date, it was equally odd for him to be the follower. Not uncomfortable exactly. Well, maybe it was uncomfortable. He didn't like not knowing what to expect, or where they were going. She directed him to a residential address. When he pulled up and parked, he turned to look at her. “You have to tell me what we're doing here,” he said.

She smirked. “You can't stand not being in control, can you?”

“Don't get too sassy. I still haven't tried out either of those paddles you bought me yet.”

That brought a beautiful blush to her cheeks and the sweet smell of her blooming arousal. “This is my doctor's appointment,” she said, making quote marks with her fingers for “doctor's appointment.”

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I'm not using an Ob/Gyn. I'm using a midwife. We're having a homebirth, so you can be there.”

He felt a wave of excitement and some undefined raw emotion pass through him at that. Followed by concern. “Shouldn't we discuss this? How safe is a home birth?”

She smiled smugly—she had researched it all morning and was prepared with all kinds of facts if he needed them. “It's actually far safer statistically that a hospital birth, for maternal and infant injury of any kind. But come on, you can ask her about it. Her name is Jenny.”

They knocked on the door of Jenny's house and were admitted by a classic Tucson hippie. She was about forty and sported two braids and a pair of overalls. Her face somehow managed to convey maternal wisdom, and her laid back manner did not come across as incapable. She let them into the “exam room,” a bedroom that featured a scale, exam bed and a table and chairs. She indicated the chairs for them to be seated.

After they had imparted all their pertinent information, he grilled her on the safety aspects until he felt assured. She carried oxygen and could administer Pitocen in the event of hemorrhage. She had an entire list of possible events that would cause her to transport Kate to a hospital.

Jenny weighed Kate and had her pee on a stick. Then she gave Kate fillable forms to track her daily intake of protein and other required foods (two eggs per day, fruits, vegetables, etc). The amount of protein necessary was somewhat staggering.

The midwife's fee was cash only, which didn't bother him in the least, and at $1800, was probably way less than a hospital birth would cost. Which reminded him that he needed to be sure Kate and their baby had health insurance.

“I told her about you working third shift a lot and that we were willing to pay extra for the evening appointments,” Kate said brightly in what he figured was the first of millions of lies she would speak on his behalf in their lifetime together.

On that cue, he pulled out his wallet and dropped five hundred dollar bills on the table. “Yes, we really appreciate your seeing us this late. Thank you,” he said standing up.

Outside, he drew Kate into his arms. “Are you sure you're comfortable with this?”

She grinned. “I've always known I wanted a home birth. It's just a coincidence that it works out best for you, too.”

He stroked her cheek. “Thank you,” he said, his voice closing with emotion. “This was a wonderful surprise.”

“Except you hated the surprise part,” she teased him.

He smiled. “It stretched my comfort zone a little. But don't worry, I know how to get you back,” he said waggling his eyebrows at her.

She kissed him and they got in the car. “You didn't know I'm really a hippie at heart, did you?”

“Artist, hippie, they are somewhat interchangeable.”

“I plan on nursing our baby till she's at least two. Maybe three,” she said with a note of challenge in her voice.

He smiled and shrugged. “That's how it was done in my day,” he said mildly.

She looked surprised for a moment. “Oh yeah, right. And I'm sure you had a home birth then, too?”

He nodded, the memories of his daughter's and granddaughter's births rushing at him again, overwhelming him with emotion. He'd been this way since the moment he found out Kate was carrying his baby. And it was supposed to be the woman who was emotional during pregnancy.

“Are you going to spank our daughter?” Kate asked somewhat hesitantly.

“Of course not. Are you?”

She looked extremely relieved. “Of course not. I just wasn't sure…”

“No, spanking is a pleasure I will reserve entirely for you.”

“So does this mean we're going to have a domestic discipline marriage?”

“It's hard to imagine us not, isn't it?”

“Well, what if I don't want to be spanked anymore? What if I change my mind and I…I just don't want it in my life?”

He smiled affectionately at Kate. She had created a lot of little worries since he'd seen her last. “Then we won't have a domestic discipline marriage.”

She looked at him doubtfully, as if she wasn't sure if she believed him. “I have many ways of maintaining my authority over people that don't involve spanking,” he said and she giggled.

“True. Are you saying you'll be the head of household regardless of whether I give you my consent to be spanked?”

“Yes. Can you live with that?”

“Yes,” she said with a satisfied note. He smelled her arousal. He took it to the next level.

“All right, so listen up. Those charts that Jenny gave you? I expect you to fill one out every day. If you haven't consumed the required 75 grams of protein by midnight, I'm going to pull down your panties and spank your bare bottom raw.
Capiche
?

Kate squirmed in her seat. “Okay,” she said in a tiny voice.

“Any time you make it to 90 grams, you'll be rewarded.”

She shot him a sidelong glance, her mind clearly still on the imagined spanking.

“Dom?”

“
Piccolina
?

“How do you feel about me still singing in the band? You know, while I'm pregnant or after I have the baby?”

He looked over at her lovely profile. There was a nervous tension coming from her.

“Singing makes you happy,
amore mio
. I wouldn't take that from you for the world. But if you're getting too tired or stressed, we might need to put a limit on it. Okay?”

She nodded, and he felt the tension dissipate.

Chapter Fourteen

“
I think you need a little stress relief.”

“Dom, you can't spank me on our wedding day!” she said, her stomach plummeting. Not that she didn't truly deserve it. She had just been horribly bitchy to her mom and sister who had stopped over for brunch and had already snapped at Dom three times, despite the raised eyebrow “look” he kept giving her. Her mom and sister had just left the house to get their hair done and she was busy cleaning up the dishes from brunch.

She stopped what she was doing now and stared at her husband-to-be in dismay.

He gave her a slow, lazy grin. “Oh yes I can,
cara mia.
Leave the dishes. Go downstairs.”

She felt childish tears burning in her eyes as she threw down the dish towel and stalked to the basement door. She felt like throwing an “it's not fair” tantrum.

Dom didn't make her wait more than a minute and he didn't draw it out. He pulled her to sitting on his knee and said, “The way you spoke to your mother and sister was horrible. They flew all the way out here to celebrate with you, the least you could do is keep your temper.”

She started crying. She already knew that and she already felt badly. Dom lifted her off his lap. “Pull down your panties,” he commanded.

Her shoulders sagged. She complied slowly, feeling ridiculous. She started to take them all the way off, but he stopped her. “No, just down, not off.”

That was utterly humiliating. She was standing before him like a naughty girl with her panties pulled down to her knees. Dom guided her her across his knee. She hunched her shoulders, waiting. Waiting for the first smack was always the worst part.

Smack. It was sharp. She gasped and felt the tingling burn spread across her skin. He continued slowly, deliberately, alternating first one cheek and then the other. After about ten slow spanks, he gave her 20 hard and fast smacks that made her gasp and writhe in pain. Then he stopped and rested his hand on her already blazing butt.

“
I know you have a lot on your mind and a huge list of things to get done for the wedding,” he said and then launched another volley of smacks. Tears were starting to squeeze out of her eyes. “I'm going to help you relax.” She gritted her teeth and struggled against him.

“
This is
not
relaxing me!" She bit out.

“
I know,
cara
, I'm not finished,” Dom said as if he were being perfectly reasonable.

She struggled harder, knowing this meant it was not even close to being over. He only smacked harder and faster, not stopping to let her catch her breath, his hand slapping her again and again on her sit spots until the burning flesh started to go numb. He smarted the backs of her thighs a few times, causing her to yelp and wiggle helplessly.

“I want you to feel this spanking all night tonight and remember that you belong to me. You're my
piccolina
and you always will be.”

Something in her released with those words. She felt a surge of love and appreciation for Dom that made her more willing to surrender to his judgment.