Chapter 9
Eggy walked exhausted into the hallway and dropped his overnight bag on the floor. It had been a long, harrowing few days and he was glad to be home, knowing that his wife would be waiting somewhere in the house with a warm kiss and no doubt more in mind. He'd been over to Aylesbury to visit Nude Nut in Stoke Mandeville Hospital where he was receiving treatment following a bike accident in July. It hadn't been easy seeing his once active friend sitting in a wheelchair but he had held his thoughts in and done his best to cheer his mate up. The rest of Two Section and the boss all took it in turns to spend time with him as they were the only family he had and, although they loved him like a brother and felt guilty about their thoughts, he knew each and every one of them was thanking God that it was him and not them in that chair, making their visits ever harder. It was so ironic really that they had all returned from Afghanistan relatively unscathed, okay so Smurf had been shot twice, the silly bastard, and the boss had suffered severe enough injuries to result in the end of his army career, but on the whole they'd been in good shape, only to have Smurf die suddenly of a bleed on the brain and now Nude Nut, paralysed from the waist down. Life was so bloody unfair and so fucking unpredictable.
Running his hand over his short cropped hair, he hung up his hoody and followed the wonderful smell of suya cooking, it was one of his favourite dishes, meat coated in chilli powder and grilled kebab style. If he didn't know better he'd think his mum was visiting.
The iPod was playing his favourite album, Bob Marley Legend, and she was singing along at the top of her lungs so he knew she hadn't heard him come in. Silently pushing open the kitchen door, he saw his beautiful new wife leaning down to take something from the oven, hips swinging in time to the music. Sneaking up behind her, he wrapped his arms around her and planted a kiss on the back of her neck, making her scream and drop the baking tray from her hand, scattering cookies all over the floor. 'You silly bugger, look what you made me do,' she said as she turned in his arms. Eggy made a grab for one of the fallen cookies, 'thirty second rule' he laughed and shoved the whole thing in his mouth, puffing to try and cool it down before it burnt his tongue. 'You needn't think you're kissing me with that mouth after putting floor food in it' she said, pushing him away from her and picking up the rest of the cookies, dropped them into a nearby bin.
Lord he loved this feisty woman. Despite knowing her for the past four years, it had taken him a long time to pluck up the courage to ask her out for a drink, and even then she'd turned him down. She hadn't wanted to get involved with anyone in the forces, knowing first-hand the torture being separated for long periods of time put on relationships and families, especially when one or both of them was on tour. Eventually he had worn her down with his persistence, the fact that he had left the army had also helped, and they had started seeing each other. She was still unsure of where their relationship was going so had asked him to keep it between them for the time being and not tell the rest of Two Section and he been happy to agree, knowing the piss taking that would come from his mates. It hadn't been easy managing the relationship, periods apart and only the occasional date in the first few months and though it had got easier, travelling between her home and his had been a bloody nightmare, juggling their time together and the requirements of their jobs. He'd asked her to move in with him so many times he'd lost count and she'd managed to come up with loads of excuses not to until finally agreeing to a trial period to see how it went. His next aim was to make their relationship a bit more permanent, but again she'd put up barriers and it wasn't until a month ago when they'd found out she was pregnant that things had come to a head. It hadn't been planned and neither of them could understand how it had happened, well okay they knew how it had happened, but they had been taking precautions so it came as a bit of a shock to both of them. Determined that all three of them would have the same name when the baby came, he had waged war on her until she had given in. It had been a quiet wedding with just their parents in attendance, and skipped the honeymoon, as his mum had commented tongue in cheek, it looked like they'd already had it anyway. At first she'd been reluctant to give up her career but with the move and the baby it was impossible for her to continue as things had been.
The first time he'd introduced her to his mum, she'd immediately taken her to heart and insisted on teaching her to cook proper Nigerian food. As a wedding present she had presented them with a recipe folder full of recipes passed down through the Azikiwi-Kinders family and now, with the added recipes from her mother, the book was turning in to a family heirloom which they fully intended to pass down to this baby be it a girl or a boy. Thankfully she loved to cook and the house was always fragranced with the smell of the different herbs and spices of both their cultures. Just as well, he owned, as he had been banned from doing any cooking after burning three of their best pans so now all he had to do was eat the delicious foods she produced and make sure they had plenty of exercise to burn off the calories.
Reaching forward to turn off the grill, to avoid the suya from burning, and being accused of ruining yet another meal, he took her hand and led her through to the conservatory. Amazingly it was still quite warm for the first week in October and the sun was shining through the glass roof. He'd missed her so much while he'd been away, only two nights but even that was two nights too long for the newlyweds. Pulling her down on to his lap, he wrapped his hand around the back of her head, running his hands through her long dark hair. When he'd first met her she'd worn it in a bun and it was only when he'd convinced her to go for a drink with him that he'd seen her with it down. He loved her hair, so soft and silky, different from his own tight afro curls which he always kept closely cropped, it always smelled of lemons from the shampoo she used. Lifting a strand he ran it through his fingers and let it fall across her shoulder, using his other hand to bring her head down for a kiss. He wasn't the only one who had missed this and she smiled against his mouth, tracing the tip of her tongue along his bottom lip until he opened his mouth and gave her entrance. Their tongues duelled with each other as their hands roamed over each other, loosening clothing and pressing against muscles and curves. There was only the slightest swell of her stomach where the baby lay but he knew it was there and gently caressed his growing child. How did he get so lucky?
His hands moved down to pull her blouse up and over her head, admiring the firm ripe breasts before him, like her stomach, the baby was beginning to make changes to them too and his heart beat faster at the thought of what he was going to do next. Reaching around her to unclip her bra, he eased the straps down and dropped it on top of her blouse on the floor before leaning down and gliding his tongue over the rosy nipples in front of him, moving from one to the other, watching them change and peak from his administrations. She held his head in place as he worked first one nipple into a turgid peak and then the other, moaning quietly in her throat as she became aroused. Much as this was turning her on, it had been two long lonely nights since they'd been together and she wanted more. Running her hands down his back, she tugged at the bottom of his t-shirt, pulling it loose from his chinos, and grazed her nails along his back as she brought it up and over his head. Pushing her breast into his solid muscular chest she threw her head back and exposed her neck to his kisses. 'Her man knew exactly what to do to please his woman and they hadn't even got all their clothes of yet!' she thought. She could feel him growing hard under her thighs and wriggled herself around to help him along, smiling to herself that she was probably helping herself along at the same time but that was okay.
Swiftly placing his hands under her buttocks he flipped them around so that she was sitting in the chair with him leaning above her. Without any thought for finesse, he pulled up her skirt, down her knickers and his trousers and plunged into her wetness. 'Sorry babes, I just can't hold back' he growled into her ear as he set up a steady rhythm, 'I'll go slower next time I promise'. Placing his hands on the arms of the chair he leaned forward and captured her mouth with his own, absorbing her moans with his lips. Gliding back and forth in her slick juices, his hardness became unbearable, making him want to push as far into to the hilt. Needing more, he lifted her hips from the chair and plunged deep into her, finally coming apart with a shudder. Sliding out or her, he lifted her in his arms, flopped back down to the chair and wrapped his arms around her, bringing her close into his chest. She stroked her hand down the side of his face, tracing the defined lines of his jaw and down his neck onto his chest. She loved his chest, so muscular and smooth. 'Was it bad?' she asked with concern. Shaking his head slightly, still trying to control his ragged breathing, he closed his eyes and envisioned the time he had spent with his friend. 'He's just so fucking accepting of it, doesn't seem to have the will to push himself. I wanted to grab him from the chair and tell him to dig in but his eyes, god his eyes when he looked at me, that's probably the hardest thing. I felt so guilty for being fit and healthy while this is happening to him'. He dropped his head to her shoulder and she cradled him as he dealt with his emotions. He'd never actually cried in front of her, not even when Smurf and the boss had been badly hurt and later when Smurf died, but he was very close this time. They remained like that for several minutes until she felt him stiffen whilst her reined in his emotions. Lifting his head he smiled wearily and traced his hand down the side of her face, 'Thank you.' They shared a moment of complete understanding, feeling each other's emotions and were just about to lean in for a kiss when the doorbell rang. 'Shit' he muttered under his breath as she moved off his lap, adjusting her skirt and responded, 'I'll check the suya hasn't ruined, you get the door' with a resigned grin. They could take up where they had left off later.
Sitting in the Doctor's waiting room three days later, he held tightly to her hand as he could feel the tension in her slight body. Earlier in the morning they had been discussing baby names and their various options were running through his head, Molly in honour of their friend, or would that be a bit pushy, maybe Mary or Isabelle, or Michaela, too many choices and he had no idea why they'd concentrated on just girls' names, they didn't actually know the sex of the baby and had decided that they wanted to wait out. His parent had given him a traditional Nigerian name, Toben Azikiwi Kinders, but did they want to do the same or would their child just end up with a nick name like he had? The discussion had become quite heated and ended with them making love on the sitting room floor and almost missing their appointment. 'Mrs Kinders to Nurse Patterson, Room 3' came the disembodied voice over the address system, shaking him from his thoughts. Smiling reassuringly up at his wife, he stood and followed her into the consulting room. Everything was going well with the pregnancy, she was further along than they had originally thought, being three months pregnant instead of the two they had calculated. The nurse wasn't happy that this was their first appointment, having diagnosed the pregnancy themselves with one of those test things from the chemist, well actually eight of those test things from the chemist, not believing the result from the first seven. Eggy said it was his fault, he'd been working away and had wanted to attend the meeting with her, which both of them knew was a lie, she'd put off going because she was still a little in denial about what was happening and this would make it real. Giving a nod of understanding, Nurse Patterson had booked them in for a follow up appointment, given them a stack of leaflets to read and congratulated them before showing them out of the room.
Eggy looked down at the appointment card, taking in the date for the first time. Shit, the reunion was in three days and he still hadn't replied to Molly's invitation, if that's what you could call it. He was up to his neck in the deep brown stuff and he had no way of digging himself out of it so he decided on a defence tactic. Taking out his phone, he typed, 'sorry for the delay both me and the wife will be there' and immediately turned his phone off as he knew it would be ringing within seconds of his text being received. He couldn't wait to see them all and show off his new wife, they were all going to be stunned when they found out who he had been lucky enough to catch, and the additional little 'Kinders' Surprise' just added to his joy.
My continued thanks for your amazing reviews, I feel totally overawed by them. In the words of Molly Dawes 'I'm a bit embarrassed to be honest' lol. Anyway, I'm glad you are continuing to enjoy the exploits of our favourite soldiers and their other halves.
