Life
Goes On
Jonny woke
abruptly. Early dawn was creeping into
the room casting a soft gray light over everything. He lay there for a minute gathering his thoughts. He had taken to doing this almost every day,
now. Sometimes he would fall back
asleep. Sometimes he wouldn't. He rather enjoyed that quiet, early morning
hour. It gave him a chance to think
before the day really started.
He rolled over
and looked at Jessie. She slept
peacefully beside him, one hand curled up under her cheek like a child. Her red hair cascaded around her on the
pillow and framed her sleeping face. He
was sure she had never looked more beautiful. Sometimes, in that early morning hour, he would simply lay there
watching her. He could hardly believe
it had been almost five months since that meeting in the doctor's office. And in that time a lot of things had
changed.
The Health
Department had found the drug implant. It had been spliced into the incoming water line in the drinking
fountain, right where Jessie had suspected it would be. It appeared it had been slowly releasing the
drug for almost three months prior to the "incident". Jonny still hated thinking about that. No memory had come back to him about it, although he had fully
expected it to. It would have been like
Surd to have set a latent memory trigger to bring it all back. The final tally had been three female
teachers and 15 girls pregnant. The
scandal had been pretty bad. One parent
had even tried to blame his dad. But it
had all pretty much died down now. People were learning to deal with what had happened.
The two of
them had seen a counselor for a while on Dr. Mason's advice. And, privately, Jonny admitted that it had
helped, even though he really hated those sessions. One interesting thing had come out of it, though. After about a month, the counselor had
called their parents in and told them in no uncertain terms that he felt that
the two young people should be put in a single room and, at their own pace,
should be allowed to begin sleeping together. His father had looked decidedly unhappy and Race had completely blown
his stack. It had taken a long time to
calm them down. The counselor had
pointed out that there was a need for the closeness and intimacy that sexual
intercourse would bring. It would also
be a way to help Jessie get past the violence of the initial encounter and
Jonny the total lack of memory of the incident. Both young people were prepared to try it and the counselor would
monitor the results of it closely. And,
as the counselor had pointed out with humor, it wasn't like he could get her
pregnant doing it. It took weeks to
convince their parents, but they finally agreed, however reluctantly.
The first time
they actually closed the door and were alone had been hard. And it took several tries to actually
consummate the act. And after each
attempt they did as the counselor had suggested and talked about how they felt
about it. But it got easier as time
went on. And the counselor had been
right. The closeness had helped. A lot. At times, when he was in one of his blacker moods, he still found it
hard to believe she could tolerate him touching her. But just the other night she woke him from a sound sleep, in the
mood. Her passion when aroused was
utterly incredible. It had been pretty
spectacular. And even when they didn't
make love, just being being together was comforting.
They were
finding it more and more difficult to find an easy way to continue the
activity, though. Jessie was huge. He could hardly believe she still had over
two months before she was due to deliver. It made finding acceptable positions more and more difficult. However,
when he mentioned that maybe she was getting to far along to continue, the hurt
on her face caught him completely off guard. She had even started to cry. He
was totally confused. He had only
suggested it because he was afraid he might hurt her or the kids. It was somewhere during the ensuing
discussion that she finally blurted out something that made him realize she
thought he had suggested it because he was repulsed by her appearance. He was completely speechless. He couldn't believe it. He never remembered a time when she had
looked more beautiful. Her color was
high, her hair shown, her skin was soft and clear and her body . . . he could
sit for hours and just look at her. He
tried to tell her . . . to explain how he felt. He didn't really know if he did a good job or not but he had made
her happy again. And they came to a
compromise. They would continue the
activity, whatever it took, as long as the doctor said it was okay. And she promised she would ask about it at
her next appointment.
Dr. Mason had
finally done the ultrasound and they now knew that Jessie was carrying twins .
. . a boy and a girl. Jonny was
fascinated by the ultrasounds. He could
sit by the hour and watch the videotape of their hearts beating. And just recently they began to move. He didn't think he would ever forget the
first time. It was an early morning,
just like now. He had been lying with
his back to Jessie and she had rolled over and curled up against him. They were lying there peacefully when he
felt something move. At first he thought
she had just shifted a little, but suddenly she had whispered his name in an
awed voice and he realized what it was. He had rolled over and looked at her. Her face was radiant. He had
laid his hand against her belly and a second later he felt the movement
again. It was the most incredible thing
he had ever experienced. They had told
their counselor about it the next day. Two weeks later he informed them that he thought they no longer needed
to see him. Jessie was reluctant to
quit going but had finally agreed.
About a month
ago they began talking about a nursery. His father had decided that they should have some privacy so he had
begun renovations of the Compound. Contractors were in working on one wing of the upstairs to create a
private suite for them. There would be
a living room, a master bedroom with a private bathroom and two additional
bedrooms. Initially, one room would be
a study and the other a nursery. Eventually, the study could be converted into a second bedroom so each
child could have its own room. The
contractors were saying it should be ready by the end of the month. In the mean time, they had shifted furniture
around and they were staying in Jonny's old room, since Jessie's and Hadji's
had been cannibalized as part of the suite. Hadji was in Bangalore with his mother at the moment but would get
Jonny's old room once the work was complete.
The real
touchy situation recently was Race. He
had never completely adjusted to the idea of the two of them "living"
together. He had wanted them
married. Jonny was fully prepared to do
that . . . had actually wanted that . . . but Jessie had been reluctant. She wanted to wait. She pointed out that there was no real
hurry. Parentage wasn't an issue. The birth certificates would be listed with
both of them as legal parents. And
since she had no problem with them taking the name of Quest (which he really
wanted) she didn't see the need to worry about getting married.
Race had been really,
really unhappy and had argued with her continuously for days. At
first Jonny had argued as well, but he finally gave up. He was certain it was because of the rape .
. . she didn't trust him . . . and he didn't blame her. After all, it served him right. After a time she realized she had upset him
and they had finally talked about it. He told her he loved her so much and that he wanted them to be together
always. He had explained that he
understood that the situation was his fault and that he felt responsible; he
wanted to take care of her and his kids. And he didn't want anyone making snide comments about her or
calling his kids "bastards".
She had told
him she understood how he felt, but that she didn't want to be backed into a
"shotgun wedding". She also pointed out
that that because she didn't want to marry him right now did not mean
she didn't love him . . . she loved him more than she could say . . . and that
she would stay with him forever if that' s what he wanted. But that commitment didn't require a piece
of paper or signatures on the dotted line to be true. She also told him, very forcefully, that this situation was not
his fault . . . neither one of them were at fault. And as far as taking care of her and his
kids were concerned, why did he think he had to be married to her to do
that? Wasn't that exactly what he was
doing right now? And finally she told
him she didn't care what people said, but that if anyone did make snide
comments she would give him full permission to wipe the floor up with them.
But it was her
last words on the subject that closed the issue for him. She had looked him straight in the eyes and
said, "Jonny, I love you more than you can ever know. And the day will come when I will gladly marry you and be your
wife forever. But too much has happened
to us in the last six months and I'm just not ready for another life-changing
event the right now."
THAT had been the end of the subject. The next morning he went to Race and in a
quiet, firm voice had told him to drop it. He was nice about it but made it very clear that it was not a subject
open to discussion any more. The
decision on when to get married would be his and Jessie's. And when they were ready for that step they
would let him know. He could tell that
Race was completely stunned. He had
never done that before. And he did it
in front of his father, too. His Dad
had sat watching in absolute silence, not even offering an opinion. When he had said his peace, he turned and
walked out without giving Race an opportunity to argue. His father told him later that Race had sat
down at the table and stared at the vacant doorway for a long time. He had finally asked if Benton knew what had
just happened. His father had told him
he thought his son had just taken control of his own life.
So there they
were. Both of them were still attending
school. There were times when he
thought the corridors at class break looked more like a maternity ward than a
high school. Over half the pregnant
girls were carrying more than one child. He had heard that one girl might actually be carrying quints. The prayer of thanks he offered up had been
heartfelt. He couldn't imagine having
five kids at once. He would have been
worried sick, too. The girl looked
utterly exhausted all the time. Jessie
said she was having a really bad time and there was some concern she wouldn't
be able to carry to term.
After that
Jonny had cornered Dr. Mason and asked her point-blank how risky the pregnancy
was for Jessie. She had been honest, at
least. She had explained that the risk
factors were higher because Jess was so young. And that it was compounded by the fact that it was a multiple
birth. She also warned him that it was
likely she wouldn't carry fully to term and that the twins would be born
premature. THAT had really scared him. But she told him that was often the case
with multiple births, particularly on the first pregnancy. They would simply anticipate it and be
prepared. He had brooded about it for a
while and finally had talked to his dad. His father had listened quietly as he poured out all of his fears. Benton told him that he understood how he
felt; that he had never felt more helpless or frightened in his entire life
than he had while he was waiting for Jonny to be born. But he also said there was nothing he could
do but be patient and supportive when Jessie needed him.
Jessie stirred
suddenly and opened her eyes. When she
saw he was awake she smiled and reached out a hand to him. He caught it in his and kissed it. Her smile widened in anticipation and she caught
the back of his head and tugged him toward her. He slid over and kissed her softly on the lips. She returned his kiss, gently at first and
then with growing urgency. His hands
and lips wandered over her body, caressing her gently, touching her in ways he
had learned would arouse her. Her
breathing quickened and a soft moan escaped her. He felt her hands caress him as he pulled her closer and her
mouth and tongue were soft as she ran them over his bare skin. Her fingertips traced a feather-light touch
from his chest to his groin leaving a trail of fire behind. His breath caught and he felt the heat
building in him quickly.
Oh, yeah, he liked
early mornings!