I'm posting early because this weekend I'm moving house and won't have internet for some time. Enjoy!
CHAPTER SEVEN
My body was stiff in a very, very good way. I was practicing some deep breathing, Clarice, my yoga instructor had taught me. I wasn't that great at yoga, but I loved doing it and had been trying it out for a few months now. I had tried to get Christian to do it with me, but after one lesson where he had pounced on me as soon as I bent over, we had decided it probably wasn't going to happen.
It was a beautiful May day in Seattle and the sun was out, making the city glitter at my feet.
We'd stayed the night at Escala, both being too exhausted to go home after the night we'd had. The kids were supposed to be coming over any moment and I glanced at my watch, noting that it was just a little after seven in the morning. I bent down into another stretch, enjoying the pull of my muscles as I practiced yoga out on the balcony. Inside the apartment, I could hear Christian talking on the phone, sorting through issues at work. I probably should have been doing the same, but I couldn't bother to pick up the phone and work this early in the morning.
So instead, I stretched.
"Yeah make sure Ros gets it. No, she knows what to do with it. Yeah, okay bye." Christian's voice was getting louder and I peaked up from where I was bent over to see him approach the glass door to the balcony. He was watching me with desire clear on his face. I smiled at him upside down.
"Everything okay at work?" I asked from my stretch. Christian stalked toward me, a predatory gleam in his eyes and I felt my body shiver deliciously.
"You are so beautiful Anastasia." He said reaching my hips and pulling them to him. He reached down to wrap his arms around my upper body and brought me up with him, his hands running across my body.
I was nearly a puddle of goo by the time he turned me to look at him.
"I'm so in love with you." He said brushing my hair behind my ears. I smiled at him and wrapped my arms around his neck.
"That's good, because I'm so in love with you too." I whispered, reaching up to kiss him.
As most of our kisses did, it went from chaste to steaming in seconds and in a moment, Christian had me pressed up the glass window as we devoured each other.
"Let's have another baby."
Christian's whispered words caught me so off guard I pulled away from him in shock. He pulled back a bit, his dark eyes staring into mine.
"What?" I asked startled.
"You heard me." He whispered, placing a gentle kiss behind my ear. I shivered. "Let's do it."
We hadn't really talked about having more kids after Ella. We had both decided to focus on the three amazing kids we had and the careers we wanted to pursue further. It had been almost nine years since we'd talked about having more kids and I could feel my head spinning with the sudden topic.
Before I could answer him, the door opened and I could hear the kids as they came into the apartment.
"Mom? Dad?"
I looked at Christian who hadn't let go of me yet.
"Hey guys." I called turning away from his burning gaze and slipping out of his arms. I walked inside and smiled at my children.
"Hi how was your gala last night?" Phoebe asked hugging me. I flinched at the mention of the imaginary gala Christian and I had said we'd be attending. I hated lying to the kids, but I couldn't tell them we were staying in Escala to have amazing kinky sex all night.
"Oh you know." I said waving my hand vaguely. Phoebe nodded, satisfied with my answer. I smiled at her and pulled Ella into a hug. "How are you?" I asked them.
"Ugh, Dana Fairchild tried to start another rumor about me yesterday." Phoebe said before anyone else could answer. I smiled at her and headed to the kitchen to start breakfast and she followed, talking about the drama that surrounded her at school.
Teddy plopped down on the sofa with Christian and Ella watched the two separate groups before following Teddy and crawling onto the sofa into Christian's lap. I couldn't blame her. Phoebe was notorious for ranting for hours on end. I had no idea where she got it from but once she started, she had a difficult time stopping.
I pulled out ingredients for breakfast and got to work as Phoebe settled at the breakfast bar and kept ranting.
"Honestly, you'd think she knew not to mess with me by now, but oh no. Dana is so stupid. I have no idea why people listen to her." Phoebe said bitterly. I humored my daughter with a slight smile to show her I was in agreement with her. To be honest, most of the time I couldn't keep up with who was who in her stories.
I worked quickly, but it still took some time to make eggs benedict for five. When I had finished, Phoebe was still talking. I smiled at her and interrupted her story to ask her to fetch the rest of our family. She nodded and slid off the stool, talking as she left to get her father and siblings. I smiled to myself and brought the plates to the rarely used dining table. I set it quickly and smiled at my family as they came over and took seats.
Christian caught my eye and I knew that he was looking for an answer to his question. I still couldn't believe he'd asked me that. Another child? I was going to be 40 this year. What the hell was he thinking? I'd be at least 58 by the time the child in question would be ready to move out, and that sounded just too old to me. I wanted to be young enough to enjoy our empty nest when it finally happened. Having a child now would just prolong that another 18 years at least.
"Kids, your mom and I have something really important to tell you about." Christian said snapping me out of my thoughts. My head whipped up and I stared at him with wide eyes. Was he going to bring up another baby to the kids? We hadn't even talked about it!
I could feel myself starting to panic and I quickly prepared to stop the conversation when Christian continued. "Recently we found out that I have a biological half sister." He announced.
My panic subsided, and in it's place anxiety rose to a new level. Jesus he wasn't wasting any time with this.
I looked around the table at my children as they stared at him in shock. I wasn't surprised. He never mentioned his biological family to them, ever. I wasn't even sure if they knew he was adopted or not.
"What?" Teddy finally asked, breaking the silence. Christian nodded.
"Her name is Katarina Reid and she is 21 years old." He said slowly.
"We have another aunty?" Ella asked smiling. I took her hand and gave her a small smile.
"Yes." I said quietly.
"Is she nice?" Ella asked. I nodded but looked to Christian.
"She is. Would you like to meet her?" He asked. The kids stared at him in shock.
"No."
We all looked at Phoebe who had sat back in her chair and crossed her arms, shaking her head.
"Excuse me?" Christian asked, more surprised than angry.
"I said no. You never talk about your past. Whenever anyone brings it up, you get pissed. If this woman is from that past, I don't want her around us. It's just going to make you angry." She reasoned. Christian stared at her, obviously surprised. I reached out to Phoebe and took her hand.
"Honey, it's okay that you feel like that. It's a bit scary for all of us. But this is your father's sister. Wouldn't you like to at least meet her?" I asked gently. Phoebe didn't say anything.
"Who knows about her?" Teddy asked Christian. My husband shook his head.
"No one. So please don't tell anyone about her." He said quietly. The kids nodded, though Ella looked confused.
"Not even grandma and grandpa?" She asked. Christian shook his head.
"Not even them. It's very important that no one knows about her right now, alright?" He asked. The kids nodded again.
"Then why are you telling us?" Phoebe asked.
"Because we don't want to lie to you guys." Christian said giving her a gentle smile. She melted, a little under his gaze and sighed. Her resolve was wavering.
"What does she want?" Teddy asked frowning. Christian sent him a look but didn't answer him.
"So what do you think? Do you guys want to meet her?" I asked trying to steer the conversation back. The kids glanced at each other.
"Can we think about it?" Ella asked.
"Of course you can sweetie." I said smiling at her. She grinned back at me and turned to her food. Teddy and Phoebe both glanced at each other then turned to their breakfast. I looked up at Christian who was watching me silently. I gave him a slight smile and turned to my breakfast, hoping for a distraction from his burning gaze.
The rest of breakfast passed with easy conversation, free of topics such as long lost siblings and babies.
We spent the rest of the day together as a family. Teddy had a soccer match that afternoon and Ray came down to watch it, like he did with every one of Teddy's games. Ray had been ecstatic to hear that his grandson was interested in the sport and had insisted on being there for him. Christian, who would not be outdone by anyone, had made it a family rule that we all attended Teddy's games, as well as the games Phoebe cheered at and all of Ella's recitals. It had been a strict rule with few exceptions and I was grateful for it. Though it was stressful sometimes, it kept us together, kept us close.
So that afternoon we all headed down to the school to watch Teddy play. Ray was already there when we arrived and I smiled at him as soon as I spotted him sitting in the still empty bleachers.
"Hey dad!" I said as we approached him.
"Annie!" He said standing and pulling me into a hug. "Christian how are you guys?" He asked shaking Christian's hand. Christian gave him a small smile.
"We're fine dad." I said for the both of us. He nodded and turned to the girls.
"How about you two?" He asked pulling them into hugs.
"We're good Grandpa." Ella giggled.
"Good, good." He said settling back down on the bleachers. I took Christian's hand in mine and sat down next to Phoebe. No matter how many games we went to, I never got used to seeing Christian here in this environment. High school clashed so much with who he was.
Christian turned to me and smirked, catching me staring at him. "Want to go make out under the bleachers?" He whispered. I blushed despite myself and giggled.
"What are we teenagers?" I giggled. Christian's eyes grew darker.
"We can pretend." He said kissing me gently. I smiled against him.
"You would never have given me a second glance in high school. I was so mousy." I said shaking my head. Christian shrugged.
"I would have noticed you. You would have hated me though. I was so angry." He said quietly.
"Well maybe I could have helped with that." I said kissing him softly. His eyes grew dark and we both shifted uncomfortably. I couldn't believe I'd just said that. It wasn't me who had been there to help with his anger in high school. It had been Her.
I scrambled to steer the conversation back to safe grounds before things got strained.
"I'd love to make out with you under the bleachers but first I think we should at least pretend to watch our son play." I said smiling up at him. He looked down at me and smiled, letting the frown fall away. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his side, kissing my hair.
"I'll hold you to that Mrs. Grey." He whispered. I smiled and wrapped my arm around his waist, perfectly content.
Christian made it all of twelve minutes into the game before he stood up briskly, bringing me up with him. "Ray can you watch the girls? Ana and I are going to get some snacks. Do you want anything?" He asked quickly.
The girls, who were used to Christian's abruptness, shouted out orders while Ray fumbled for words.
"Uh, just a diet coke." He said finally. Christian nodded and pulled me along behind him as we made our way down the bleachers. The stadium was cement and so we couldn't actually make out under the seats, but Christian didn't seem to mind. Finding a quiet corner, he pulled me into it and pressed me back into the wall.
In an instant our hands were all over each other, desperate. I couldn't believe how insatiable my appetite for this man was. I had expected it to ease up at some point, but it never did. If anything, I wanted him more than ever.
"Mmm Ana. If I'd known you in high school, I might of actually enjoyed the experience." He said kissing his way down to my neck. My breathing hitched and I giggled.
"And If I had known you in high school, I can guarantee you we would have had Teddy much much younger than we did." I giggled. Christian grinned against my skin.
"That would have been fine by me." He insisted. His words reminded me of his question earlier and I pulled away to look at him. He looked surprised by my movement.
"Were you serious this morning?" I asked holding his face in my hands so I could look at him clearly. Immediately he knew what I was talking about.
"Yes." He said quietly. I stared at him, unsure.
"What brought that on?" I asked finally. He sighed and lifted one shoulder in a shrug.
"I just," He paused and smiled. "I love seeing you pregnant. You're so beautiful and you glow." He said kissing my neck. "It makes me feel so amazing that it's my child that you're carrying around." He said possessively. I leaned my head back; giving him more access as I let his words wash over me.
"Yeah but Honey, I'm almost 40. You're going to be 47 soon. You really want to start over?" I asked quietly. He pulled away and looked at me, his face twisted in thought. "That's adding another 18 years until it's just you and me again." I whispered. He considered my words.
"I don't care." He said finally. I was surprised. It seemed that he really wanted another child.
I leaned in and kissed him softly.
"Let me think about it, okay?" I asked softly. He nodded, pacified with my temporary answer, and wound his arms around me tighter.
"Come on, let's go get the snacks for everyone." He said pulling me into his side. I wrapped my arm around his waist and ducked under his protective arm, happy to be by his side.
"Ana?"
I looked up from the snack table surprised. Sure I knew a few parents at the school, but not many. Not enough to be recognized frequently. I spotted the woman walking toward me. She had gorgeous blond hair that was wrapped perfectly in a stylish French twist and she was tailored down to her delicate set of pearls around her neck. She looked perfect and I gave her a small smile.
"Missy." I said trying to sound more enthusiastic than I felt.
"Ana darling it's so great to see you! It's been ages!" She insisted, pulling me into a small hug and kissing my cheeks when she was close enough. I smiled awkwardly.
"Yes I suppose it has been." I said stepping back from her. "You've met my husband right?" I asked gesturing to Christian. Missy eyed him appreciatively.
"I don't think I've had the pleasure." She purred. I would have been itching with jealousy and possessiveness, but that was just Missy. She hit on everyone, married and unmarried alike.
"It's nice to meet you." Christian said coolly. She nodded to him and smiled.
"So was it you two I saw making out under the bleachers?" She asked giving me a wink. I blushed and bit my lip.
"Absolutely." Christian said, turning me even redder. Missy laughed.
"How exciting! Ah I do so love to see couples still obsessed with each other." She said wistfully.
"How are you?" I asked, trying to steer the conversation away from Christian and me.
"Oh you know." She said waving her hands around. "With Andy going to Brown next year we've been scrambling to make sure he's ready for the move." She said referring to her son who was Teddy's age. "And of course Paul is a typical 15 year old. Kill me now!" She joked. I smiled at her. "How are your kids? Where is Teddy headed next year?" She asked.
"Harvard." I said proudly. She beamed.
"Wow! How incredible! He's a bright boy, your son!" She insisted. I smiled and glanced at Christian.
"Just like his father."
Christian frowned at me, but didn't say anything. Missy kept talking.
"I can't wait until Andy goes to college. He's driving me mad!" She said dramatically. "Honestly, the day can't come soon enough. Of course I love him, but I think our relationship works better if he's on the other side of the country." She said. I shifted uncomfortably. That was the thing I never understood. All the moms I' had met had been so excited for their kids to leave. I couldn't be dreading it more.
"Missy it was so great to see you, but we have to get back to our kids." I said turning to Christian. He nodded and wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me to him.
"Of course darling, of course." She said coming over to kiss my cheeks. "We must do lunch soon. Call me!" She insisted as we started away. I waved to her in acknowledgement and turned to Christian.
"She was horrible." He said frowning. I smiled at him.
"And she's one of the parents I can stand at this school."
Christian gave me a look that made me laugh and I wrapped my arms around his torso, stopping our movement. He looked down at me, surprised.
"I love you." I said reaching up to kiss him. He smiled and pulled me closer.
"I love you too baby."
…
We had dinner with Ray that evening after Teddy's game. His team had won and though it was a team sport, Christian and Ray both insisted it was because of Teddy they'd dominated.
Teddy, who had developed a healthy amount of modesty, had accepted the accolades but had given the victory to the team.
We did dinner at Dahlia's restaurant on 4th. While Dahlia's had some amazing food, it was their donuts that we all went for. In my opinion, they were the best donuts on the west coast, trumping the extremely popular Voodoo donuts of Portland. I couldn't get enough of them.
When we were in the car on the way back home, Phoebe spoke up, demanding our attention.
"Okay." She said. All conversation stopped and we looked at her quizzically.
"Okay?" I asked. She nodded.
"I'll meet your sister." She said to Christian. Teddy and Ella glanced at each other and Christian's grip on the steering wheel tightened.
"Are you sure?" He asked glancing at her in the rearview mirror. Phoebe nodded, her red hair bouncing around her. I looked to my other two children who both nodded.
"I'm on board." Teddy said softly. Ella smiled.
"Me too."
I looked to Christian who was watching the road, a look on his face I couldn't quite figure out.
"Babe?" I asked placing my hand on his arm. He glanced at me.
"I'll call Katarina when we get home." He said quietly. The car was silent and I turned to the kids to give them a reassuring smile.
We got back to the house and the kids piled out of the car. I slid out and waited for Christian to come around. I wove my fingers through his and gave him a small smile.
"Are you sure about this honey?" I asked looking up at him. He nodded, his brow furrowed.
"Yeah, this is important." He said softly. I smiled at him and reached up to pat his cheek.
"You're very brave." I whispered. He gave me a sarcastic look before kissing me gently.
"You make me that way." He said against my lips. I smiled and pulled him inside. "I'm going to make a phone call." He said slipping away. I nodded and walked into the den where the kids were gathered around the TV. Kicking off my shoes, I crawled onto the sofa and curled up with Phoebe. Ella was tucked into Teddy's side and it warmed my heart to see.
Christian came in a few minutes later and I sat up, eager to talk to him. I followed him into the kitchen and watched as he poured us glasses of wine.
"We're going to meet her tomorrow. She'll come round for brunch at 11." He said handing me a glass. I took it and nodded.
"Sounds like everything is set." I said quietly. He nodded, eyeing me over his wine. "How are you feeling?" I asked.
He ignored my question. Instead he took a sip of his wine and then came around the island to wrap an arm around me.
"Come on baby, let's go be with our kids."
He led me out to the den and sat down next to Phoebe who right away curled up into his side. He pulled me into his other side and I smiled at him. He gave me a gentle kiss before turning to the TV. We sat there, all cuddled up as a family while some mindless movie prattled on the TV. I didn't pay much attention to it though. My family was here, and we were safe and I treasured that moment in its entirety.
Just a quick note. Dahlia's restaurant on 4th and Virginia is seriously amazing. If you ever get the chance, go get those donuts! They are to die for!