In the morning, Ava woke to Eli snoring lightly beside her, his arm draped over her waist and his hand resting on her belly. Even in the immediate aftermath of waking, she found his proximity somehow arousing. It would seem that pregnancy hormones had left her more amorous than even Eli trained her to be.
She wiggled her hips, trying to rouse Eli naturally, hoping he would take over as he usually did. When that failed, she pressed her back against his chest and his snoring stopped, but his hand on her belly didn't move. After waiting a minute, Ava huffed and pushed her hips back against him, feeling the hardness of his morning wood against her bare ass and gasping when she felt his hand suddenly twitch and his arm tightened across her belly.
"Do you need help with something?" he asked in a still drowsy voice, "Or are you just planning to tease me all morning?"
His tongue traced the veins of her neck and his hand slipped between her legs as Ava moaned, so painfully turned on she thought just a couple pumps between her legs would probably send her over the edge. Eli seemed content to lay here and dally with her interminably, sliding his fingers into her folds to stroke the spots he knew drove her crazy as she bit the pillow and pushed her hips back against him for friction.
"What a needy girl you are this morning," his husky voice in her ear went straight to her crotch, "Do you want me to do something about that?"
Ava couldn't speak, she couldn't even murmur her assent because she was concentrating so hard on trying to chase her orgasm and keep her voice down. Then Eli's cock was poking into her back as he took hold of it and used it to spread her cheeks.
"No," she whispered, immediately afraid he might try it, but Eli's hand kept working between her legs as he shushed her.
"Don't worry," he whispered, "I can't pass up this pussy for anything, even though I think you would love it."
His dick slipped between her legs and his hand lifted the thigh on top to make room for him before he slipped inside, "God, you're already so wet. I love fucking you."
She felt him spear her insides and grabbed her own breast, squeezing and twisting her nipples while he continued his ministrations on her clit.
It was so hard to stay quiet when she was this desperate to cum. Eli pulled out and got off the bed long enough to yank her legs over the side and sheath himself inside her again.
"P-pl-please..." she begged, "I nee-I need."
"You need this cock," he finished for her, "You need to cum on this cock until you can't cum anymore."
It was difficult to cum at this angle now, even with Eli doing all the things her body loved. She looked down her body to watch him but her belly obscured her view. Not long ago the clawing, thrashing, animalistic sex that left her practically paralyzed was still somewhat feasible, but her whole body told the tale of where that inevitably left her.
Eli seemed almost as anxious to make her cum as she was to let him. He pulled out of her and lifted her up, no easy feat now that she weighed 20lbs more than usual, and bent her over the edge of the bed, bending her face down enough that her belly was safe from being smooshed.
Ava closed her eyes, willing herself to let go. In spite of her initiating this, it seemed her body was unwilling to accept release. Every time she felt close she thought of the way her body jiggled in places it never used to, or the depths he reached inside her felt almost uncomfortable.
Frustrated, she whimpered at him.
"Does my girl need more help to cum?" he asked, gripping her hips tighter.
"Yes," she gasped, "Yes, please."
"Beg me," he teased her, "I want to hear you beg me to help you cum."
"Eli, please. Please."
"More."
"Please," she begged him, her voice frantic, "Please I need to cum so bad."
He thrust into her hard at that and she winced. Once that would have been enough to make her go crazy, but she needed more now and she couldn't figure out what. It was maddening.
Eli slowed for a minute, then she felt a thwack of his hand on her ass and yelped.
"Shh," he chided her, "You have to be quiet for me to make you cum."
Another thwack. Ava pressed her lips together tightly to muffle the moan it wrangled from the depths of her throat.
With each slap, Eli smoothed the curve of her ass after, stroking it gently before another came down for impact. After a few more, he gave a few lazy thrusts into her, then decided on something different.
"Hold still," he said, reaching his fingers between her legs and smearing them with her secretions.
"What are you—"
"I said hold still," his voice had that dangerous undertone, the one of a man used to be obeyed.
Ava stilled as much as she could on shaky arms with her back bent unnaturally. A familiar tingling in her ass alerted her to his plan seconds before its execution.
"Eli, wait..."
Too late. His thumb was in her ass, and the immediate sensation ripped a moan out of her that she had no chance to stop.
"Be quiet, Ava. Be a good girl and don't make noise so I can make you cum."
"I can't. It's too much."
He slid his thumb in and out slightly as his hips picked up tempo.
Her eyes watered from the stinging on her ass checks to the stretching of her holes. She felt so good, so full, but what if it wasn't enough to make her cum?
Eli kept one hand on her hips to guide his thrusts into her, harder, deeper – at the same time his thumb swirled inside her ass, pumping in and out, harder, deeper, harder, deeper.
When she finally despaired of being able to cum at all, that's when she felt it. Her body surrendered, and then it took over, building like a wave that crashed over her until she found herself climaxing harder than she ever had before, a dull roaring in her ears and the distant high pealed shrieking she soon realized was coming from her.
This time Eli didn't even rebuke her. He kept increasing his pace until her cries went silent, then used both his hands to grab her hips and yank her back onto him to trigger his own release, uttering some obscene noises of his own as she felt him paint her insides with ropes of his cum.
Ava crawled onto the bed after he pulled out of her and collapsed, not caring about the mess leaking out of her all over the sheets. Eli was still breathing heavily, holding onto one of the bed posts to keep himself from faltering on shaky knees.
"Incredible," he murmured, looking down at her, "Just magnificent."
His praises were gratifying, but now she just wanted to sleep a little longer after he had helped rid her of the ache between her legs.
She heard him go into the bathroom and turn on the shower, then rolled onto her side and pulled the blankets over her for warmth.
When she woke again an hour later, Eli was gone, no doubt in his office on more business. Ava looked up at the bed canopy and remembered she had promised Maisie a walk today to plan a future vacation for all of them. Her eyes still begged to sleep but she looked at the clock and saw it was 9AM.
Better to get up now and plan for a nap later she reasoned.
With difficulty, she got out of bed and made for the shower as well. The mirror still had traces of fog on it from Eli's earlier use of the shower. After she was clean, she stripped the sheets from the bed, taking note of the large wet stain where Eli's spunk had been leaking out of her while she slept. She looked down at her enormous belly and back to the sheet before she crumpled it into a ball and left it by the door. When she saw Eli later, she would ask where the laundry room was and wash the sheets herself.
Dressed and feeling reasonably good after a long sleep and some intense sex, she waddled down the stairs in search of the Lockwoods. Maisie found her first though, walking through the door from the kitchen just as Ava was about to open it.
"Ava!" her small arms wrapped her in a hug, "I was just going to come looking for you."
The mental image of Maisie walking in and finding Ava in the state she had been only 20 minutes ago was not a welcome one. Now she could see Eli's reasoning for not wanting to move here permanently a little bit more.
"Well, here I am. Is it too late for breakfast?"
"Not at all dear," she heard Iris' voice call from inside the kitchen, accompanied by the sound of a sizzling pan and the smell of bacon, "Come in and eat before you both go off on your adventures."
Maisie grinned and opened the door for Ava to walk through first. A plate of half-finished eggs and toast was on Maisie's side, and an empty plate sat in front of where Ava usually sat.
"Almost finished," Iris told her from the stove. Ava watched her turn off the gas and stir the eggs around the cast iron pan before turning around to take the empty plate in front of her.
"Toast dear?" she asked.
"Sure," Ava was suddenly starving. The pan of bacon was calling her to eat almost all of it.
Iris interrupted her thoughts by setting down a full plate of food. Eggs, bacon, potatoes, mushrooms, tomatoes, sausage, toast... beans?
"A full English breakfast," she told Ava proudly.
"Wow, it looks delicious," Ava lied, looking at the beans, "I don't think I can eat all of it."
"Oh, don't you worry dear. Just eat whatever you can."
As it was, Ava couldn't even finish half. She pushed the beans around her plate a bit to make it look like she had tried them at least, mostly focusing on the eggs and bacon, and half a slice of toast.
"If I eat any more I won't fit out the door," she told Iris apologetically, pushing the plate slightly away.
Iris looked and saw how much was still there and seemed somewhat disappointed, but quickly rallied.
"It's fine Ava, don't worry." She turned to Maisie, "Clean your plate into the rubbish and wash it in the sink before you go."
Iris took Ava's plate for her and scraped the remains into a container for the fridge, then started collecting the pans she would need to wash once they both left.
"Don't be gone too long," she told Maisie on their way out, "Your grandfather will want to see you at lunchtime."
"Alright," Maisie called over her shoulder as they left through the back door.
Out in the warm sunshine, Ava breathed in the clean air and sighed with relief. Days like today were what made her wish they could move here, even if it would mean installing a good lock on their door to keep Maisie from walking in on them.
Beyond the gardens, there was a narrow trail through the forest surrounding the estate that Ava had never seen before, but Maisie seemed to know it well. The path went up and down low slopes in the forest floor, often overgrown with vines and brambles, but the sun shone through open patches in the canopy of leaves overhead. The soft spring breeze through the trees caused faint shafts of sunlight to dance along the trail as they walked it.
With each step, Maisie filled every lull in conversation almost immediately with talk of what she had been studying recently with Iris, her own art projects, and her grandfather's deteriorating health.
Ava did her best to listen intently while watching the path for any tripping hazards. When she looked back and could not see the house anymore, she stopped.
"Maisie, how far does this trail go?"
The girl shrugged. "Dunno. I've never been this far before. Never had a grownup willing to come with me. Iris doesn't like to venture far from the gardens, and Grandpa can hardly get his wheelchair down here."
The forest was full of life and peaceful, but Ava looked down at her belly, worried that the further they got, the harder it would be to get help if something happened.
"I think we should turn back. This is far enough for one day and I'm getting pretty winded."
"Okay," Maisie seemed just happy to have someone to talk to, "Look out for that tree root though."
Ava didn't hear her in time, and she felt the root on top of her foot just before her stomach lurched as she began tumbling forward, turning her body to break her fall with her shoulder instead of her belly.
"Ava! AVA! Are you alright?" Maisie's panicked voice was so high in pitch that it almost hurt Ava's ears as much as the branches and pebbles she had landed on.
"I'm fine," she answered, suddenly dizzy, "I just need a moment, that's all."
When Ava stood up, she looked back at the tree root sticking out of the ground with the perfect amount of space to catch an unobservant foot. How could she have missed it after being so careful this whole time?
A sharp, sudden pang in her abdomen made her wince. No. It was too soon. He couldn't be ready now.
"Maisie, listen to me. We need to get back to the house. I need you to be ready to run and get help if I tell you to."
The poor girl's watery eyes looked so scared, "I will Ava. Is the baby okay?"
Ava couldn't very well lie to the girl with this pain getting worse. "I don't know yet. I can still feel him moving but I think I need to see a doctor. Once we get back to the house Eli will call for one."
Maisie nodded in understanding, offering Ava her shoulder to lean on for the walk back.
After a minute, the pang went away. Ava straightened and let go of Maisie.
"Okay. It's better now. Just stay close to me, okay?"
"Okay Ava."
They walked together slowly, barely looking anywhere but at the path beneath their feet for anything else that might cause Ava to trip again. After about 5 minutes, another pang hit her.
"Ahh," she doubled over, bracing her hands on her knees and trying to breathe through the pain.
"Ava? Should I run for help?"
"No, no, we're almost there," she reassured her, "Just give me a minute."
It's false labor. It's false labor. It's false labor.
That's what she told herself on a loop, even as she felt a trickle of fluid begin to run down her leg which soon became a gush.
Fuck. Not here. Not now.
The pain passed again and Ava stood up, wobbling uncertainly back down the path, trying to go faster without causing herself further injury.
Up ahead, she could see Lockwood Manor through the trees, its regal façade visible even from this distance. She contemplated the likelihood of a doctor getting here in time from some nearby hospital with no prior notice. It wasn't good.
She put one foot in front of the other and trudged on, glancing over at Maisie from time to time to see her worried expression, constantly watching Ava for any more signs of trouble.
When the next pang hit, she stopped and leaned against a tree, groaning with its intensity. More fluid ran down her legs, soaking her yoga pants and audibly dripping onto the dead leaves below.
"Ava..." Maisie sounded so scared.
"Go get help, Maisie. I'll wait here. Hurry. Please." Ava said it all through gritted teeth, finishing with another groan while the contraction started to lessen.
Maisie didn't need to be told twice. She bolted down the path back toward the house at a pace Ava had never seen from her. A few more minutes passed before the next round of pangs began. There was no space in her head to think about how long it would be before Maisie returned with Eli. All she could concentrate on was breathing through the pain. There was a lurch in her stomach as the baby kicked, so she knew he was alive for now.
"Unnnhhhh," she screamed into the trees, causing a flock of birds nearby to flee from their perches in unison.
Ava sank to her knees on the hard ground, ignoring the discomfort and leaning against the tree for something solid to hold onto. This couldn't be happening. Nothing in her life since that dinner date with Eli had made sense, and now preparing to give birth alone in the forest was just the icing on the cake.
"AVA?" she heard Eli's frantic voice from far away, "AVA?"
"I'm-I'm here!" she tried to shout, but her throat felt tight with fear. He hadn't wanted to bring her at all in case something like this happened and here she was proving him right.
"AVA?" he called again, closer this time, and now she could hear his heavy footsteps running on the path.
Another pang, she bellowed her pain loud enough for him to hear as she prepared to ride it through.
"Ava!" his voice was right behind her, and he rushed to help her up, "My God, Maisie just found me. What are you doing here? We have to get you back."
Her lips were pressed together, white with the effort of suppressing her agony until she felt his hands on her shoulders and unleashed a scream.
"Oh my God, baby. You're in labor. We have to get back. C'mon, I'll carry you."
Ava knelt there on the ground, heaving deep gulps of air as the contraction passed. "I don't think I can get up."
"You can," he put his arms under hers to lift her, "You have to. Just stand up for me and I'll do the rest."
Her ragged breaths were short and labored. With great difficulty, she pushed her legs up with Eli's help lifting her until she could stand.
"C'mon baby, let's just get back to the house. You can lie down there."
Eli tried to scoop her into his arms and carry her but she pushed his shoulder, "N-no, I can walk."
"Fine, but we have to hurry. How far apart are they?"
"I don't know. A few minutes."
"A few or a lot? That makes a big difference right now on what I try to do."
"What do you mean?"
"If it's only a few minutes you'll never make it to a hospital in time. We'll have to have the baby here. If they're still 5 or more minutes apart, then we might make it, but it's a gamble."
The idea of giving birth in Lockwood Manor was not anything like she had planned for once Eli finally started giving her a voice in her birth plans. She wanted the hospital. Based on the level of pain she was already in, she wanted that epidural.
"I think it's more like 5 mi-" Another contraction ripped through her and she grabbed a fistful of his shirtsleeve as she doubled over and screamed.
"That's not 5 minutes Ava. More like 3. We've got to get inside."
"Fuuuuuuck yooooooou," she managed to growl through her pain, "Yoooou did this to meeee."
"I know love. It will all be worth it in the end."
After the contraction passed, Eli hurried her through the remainder of the trail, and when the next one hit as soon as they reached the pebbled path of the gardens, he scooped her into his arms against her objections and carried her the rest of the way into the house.
"IRIS," he shouted when they made it through the back door into the kitchen, "IRIS?" He strode into the foyer, yelling for her again.
"Mr. Mills?" Ava saw Iris' frantic face as she descended the stairs at breakneck speed, "What can I do? Shall I send for a doctor?"
"There's no time, I need you to run a bath for her. In the jacuzzi tub that Mr. Lockwood uses."
Ava felt tears running down her cheeks and grabbed Eli's shirt collar with another contraction, screaming as it began to crest again.
Eli carried her up the stairs and down the hall in the direction of Maisie's room, to a door on the left which Ava had never entered before. If she weren't in such agony, she would have looked around to see that she was in Mr. Lockwood's room. As it was, all she caught a glimpse of was his ashen face sitting up in bed, in shock at seeing Eli carrying her weeping across his bedroom.
Iris had already started the bath and it was filling fast. The tub itself was very deep – something Ava would have had time to be grateful for if she weren't starting another contraction.
For all the time she had been with him, aside from the incident with her bleeding, Eli was calm and in control. Now she looked at him as he set her feet on the floor and held her shoulders - he seemed panicked, but just below the surface, like he was scared but not as much as her. Or he was much better at hiding it.
"Help me, Eli... Please." She was begging. It was all too much. A pregnancy she never asked for. A relationship she had never consented to. And now a birth she had not been prepared for.
"Get her into the tub, Mills," Iris was speaking in a firm voice, "My mother was a midwife back in England. I know what to do."
Ava's mouth fell open, gripping the edge of the tub and debating her utter lack of options.
"You're sure?" Eli asked, unconvinced.
Iris gave him a look that said, You don't have another choice.
When the contraction abated, Ava looked over her shoulder to make sure Mr. Lockwood wasn't watching and pulled down her jeans and panties, both soaked from the amniotic fluid still leaking out of her. Faint streaks of blood were visible on the inside of her thighs and the sight of it set her to panicking.
"Oh my God. Oh my God. No, please no."
Eli's hands were on her shoulder, guiding her, pushing her into the tub.
"C'mon Ava, there's no choice now."
His firm voice, like she was a misbehaving child that needed correction, made her shoot a glance over her shoulder at him and if he hadn't been holding onto her dominant arm she might have slugged him right between the eyes. He was right though. She didn't have a choice. She never had since that fateful night after getting dinner with him. He had taken all her choices from her, and now the cruel irony was that another was being taken over which he had no control, but it stemmed from all the others he had robbed her of.
But she had no other options, and so when she gingerly stepped her feet over the ledge into the half-full tub and felt another contraction brewing, she quickly sat down and grabbed the edges of the tub to hold on.
"Unnnnhhhhh," she tried not to scream through it, not wanting Mr. Lockwood to hear her distress with his multitude of health problems already, but the pain was so excruciating, so relentless in its onslaught that it wrung noises from her she had never made before.
Eli was right there next to her. His face still showed his fear in spite of his best efforts not to, but she felt his hand slip into hers and it was somehow reassuring.
"Your labor pains are very close together dear, I need to check where the baby's head is, if you don't mind."
Ava laughed at Iris' request, then threw back her head and groaned as another contraction hit. The water was rising higher, soaking her shirt and her bra.
"Hel-help me take my shirt off," she told Eli.
He rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt and reached under the water to help find the hem of her flowy maternity blouse. The sopping wet fabric peeled off her skin with some difficulty but when it was gone she turned to Iris and nodded.
"Okay," she huffed, "I'm ready."
Iris slipped her hand under the surface and gently reached between Ava's legs. Amazing how something normally erotic could feel so methodical when done in a different context.
"Does rapid labor run in your family? I'd say you're almost halfway, but your contractions are very close together, so I would expect -"
"Hnnnnnh," Ava was grinding her teeth with the pain again, but it was gaining in intensity, and between her legs, she started feeling a burning that was wholly unfamiliar.
"Just do what you can," Eli instructed Iris, "What should I do?"
"Well, for starters, you could go and fetch her some water downstairs."
He didn't answer. Ava knew he was not going to be happy with that suggestion, but he could hardly argue against it while she was in the throes of labor. If he had any experience with childbirth, it would have made sense to insist that he stay instead and Iris go, but as things stood, he was the expendable one in this situation. Even as she white-knuckled her way through this current contraction she could see that this irked him.
"Be right back," he kissed Ava on the head and left, his feet moving quickly so she knew he wouldn't be gone long.
"I can't do this," she whispered when he was out of earshot, "I can't."
"You must dear, I know it's hard, but you're young and strong. Your son needs you to be even stronger for him right now. That's why we carry the babes. Only we can bear the pain needed to bring them into the world."
Ava looked into her kind, wrinkled face. Now was her last chance to tell Iris the truth. Eli was gone, there was enough time if she rushed through an explanation. She could ask Iris to call the police. But what good would it do? If Iris believed her, Eli might overreact and kill them all. If she didn't, they would consider her insane and Eli would never allow her to be alone with anyone but him again.
No. Iris was right. Ava was young and strong. She survived everything Eli had thrown at her up until now, and against all reason she was attached to this little life inside her. As the next contraction revved up, she felt tears in her eyes and let them fall, leaning forward to let the water slosh around her, embracing the pseudo-weightless feeling that helped alleviate her pain somewhat. Sweat gathered on her brow and upper lip, dripping between her breasts.
Iris turned off the tap. The water was up to Ava's shoulders now. Blood swirled around her legs, faint, but unmistakable, and with the passing of that contraction she felt an agonizing burn in her cervix, stretching her, preparing her.
Eli was back with a glass of water in hand. Ava took it and gulped most of it immediately. She set it on the ledge around the tub but with another contraction just on the heels of her last, she accidentally knocked it over and heard the smash of glass on the tile floor.
"Ahhhhh fuuuuuck, I'm so sorry," she wailed, more tears of helplessness springing to her eyes, "I'm so sorry. Sorry. Sorry."
"Never you mind that," Iris' soft hand was on Molly's shoulder while her other reached down to check again, "Oh my. Well, he's certainly anxious to be here. I can feel his head but you're not ready to push yet. If you bear down during the next I think a few more contractions will do it.
"You're so close baby," Eli murmured next to her, kneeling on the bathroom floor next to the broken glass. She wanted to slap him, to hit him, to choke the life out of him and throw him from the window. That doting look on his face was a lie, no matter how handsome the façade. After months of him wearing her down she saw clearly, through her agony, the truth about him again. Who knew if she would even care to remember it when all this was over? Would she still want his death when she held their son in her arms?
Another pain. Building, building, cresting, slowing. Another. Building, building, cresting, slowing.
The burning below was getting worse, she parted her legs and looked down to see more blood in the water, tinging the whole tub a light shade of red.
"I'm ruining Mr. Lockwood's tub," she mumbled, half-delirious by now and barely thinking through what she was saying.
"Nonsense," Iris was massaging between Ava's shoulder blades trying to release some of the tension, "I'll scrub it down later and it will be good as new. Just focus on your breathing, and I'll check you again after the next contraction."
No sooner had she mentioned it than a new one began. Building. Building. Building. Building. Building. Why wasn't it stopping? It just kept getting worse, and the burning in her cervix felt like it was ripping her in two.
Ava screamed. It was a long, drawn-out shriek from the very depths of her. When her voice gave out and she leaned back she started to sob, great heaving gasps. She was barely aware of Iris' hand down there again. She had even forgotten Eli was in there at all.
"Ooooh, he's ready Ava. Can you give me a few pushes?"
She shook her head through her tears.
"C'mon baby. Once he's out the pain will stop."
Ava glared at him, then her face crumpled with tears again as the burning between her legs began to overtake the pain of the contractions.
Another scream, squeezing Eli's hand for dear life and holding the rim of the tub with her free one. Iris had her wrinkled hand completely under the surface now, pressing down somewhere and Ava felt her fingers trying to move the skin around her son's head to grant him easier passage.
"Push Ava," she told her, "You have to push."
The contraction ended and this time she did. She pushed like Phyllis had told her to do during one of her visits. Pushed like her life depended on it. By now the contractions barely felt like anything at all compared to the ring of fire between her legs. Eli and Iris watched what she couldn't see, and after another push Ava collapsed, her arms going limp.
"Almost there, I can see him. Give us another push," Iris said, plunging both hands into the water.
Again, she pushed, even when she thought her heart would give out with the effort. She screamed and pushed and vaguely heard Iris say, "His head is out!" before she continued to push, knowing it was the only way to relieve the pain.
"One more push should do it," Iris was holding something beneath the surface, and with whatever energy she could muster, Ava screamed, bearing down again with all her might and willing her body to finish this. A splash and the sound of Iris' hands thudding against the tub. Then she heard Iris shout, "He's out!"
Ava opened her eyes and looked down between her legs to see a purple infant being pulled above the surface in Iris' capable hands, his body covered in a white smeary substance, with a full head of dark hair and eyes that were still half closed. He opened them wider as Iris put him on Ava's chest, peering at her before he whimpered and closed them again.
"Small but strong," Iris declared, looking pleased.
"Is he- supposed to cry?" Eli asked, leaning closer to see.
"Not always, he seems very content with his mother here. Who could blame him?"
Now the floodgates unleashed. Ava cradled her son to her chest and bawled harder than she had through the task of getting him here. Her body was still in pain, and she saw the water much redder than before with the blood she had lost, but none of it mattered now. She looked at his tiny face and counted his fingers and toes. Her fingers stroked his back and felt the soft skin there. Iris handed her a towel to keep him warm, but he was so calm, already half-asleep with his head over Ava's heart.
"Congratulations you two," Iris' said with watery eyes, "He's beautiful."
For the first time since seeing her son, Ava looked over to Eli, his face beaming with pride.
"He's perfect, Ava. You were perfect." He stroked her hair and tucked it behind her ear, and she didn't pull away. All she could do was stare at her baby, the downy hair all over him, the pucker of his lips beginning to root for her breast, the way his whole hand clasped around her finger when she offered it to him.
Eli was right. He was perfect. He was everything.
I know what you're thinking... TWO chapters in 24 hours? Well, I originally had one chapter that was 8-9,000 words and I decided to split it when I was near done to make it easier. Hope everyone who has been reading is sticking with me. Still at least 3 chapters left to go (culminating with the ending we all know is coming for Eli) so please leave your comments/reviews and let me know what you think.