Island Fever 6: Sanctuary Ch. 13

"Did you sleep all right?" Trish wondered. "You feeling okay?" It took me a second or two, but I realized that Trish was indirectly asking about my back and its status. All of our wives knew that Amy and I had sex together last evening, and some may even know about that wondrous blowjob she gave me in the middle of the night. Like everyone, Trish was concerned, and did not want me to re-injure myself.

"Yeah, sweetheart. I feel fine. Back is fine." I chugged down a full glass of orange juice in one, easy gulp.

"Good." Trish gave Shredder a quick scratch on the head once the dog went over to her and offered an eager greeting. She smiled my way and mused, "Have a few moments to talk?"

"For you? Anytime."

The children usually began waking up between 6:30am and 7:00am every morning, so I had a little time before I was to start my normal rounds. Plus, I never denied any of my wives the opportunity to talk to me in a one-on-one setting. My life was very demanding with seven wives and seven children, and another on the way when Pamela gives birth to our son, Peyton, probably after the New Year. Free time for me was very, very scarce, but I never turned a wife away when one asked to talk to me. I always made time for them.

Trish bit her lip and tossed a cloud of cinnamon-brown hair from her eyes and slowly guided me, her smile bright, out of the kitchen. Curious, I wondered what this was about. Trish seemed even more peppy and vibrant now than usual as she took me to the adjacent central room.

"Remember that I've been complaining for the past couple of days, Jeremy, saying I felt sick, like my stomach hurt, and my chest felt swollen," Trish began, taking me over to the sofa opposite from the one where Amy still slept. She invited me to sit down and, when I did, Trish nestled in directly next to me and hooked one of her muscular, yet feminine legs around my knee and calf. Oh, this was quite comfortable now!

"I thought it was from being upset, because of how Alison betrayed us, how much she hurt Lindsay," Trish continued, her voice soft and low, presumably in order not to wake Amy. "I was really, really angry, you know, and I thought feeling the way I did - the physical discomfort - was a byproduct of that. I cannot stand to see Lindsay hurt at all. You know that."

"But you're feeling better now, right? You told me just yesterday that you feel a million times better."

"Oh yes, I'm better now." Trish's smile was beaming as she added, "Much better." The 33-year-old brought my hand to her lips and kissed it. "I woke up this morning, an hour or so ago like normal, and I just had this feeling. I don't know why, but I had a feeling, and I decided to go with it. But I knew it was going to be a negative..."

My eyes went wide as Trish giggled like a schoolgirl.

"I missed my past cycle, so I decided to take a test this morning." Trish reached into the pocket of her hoodie jacket and pulled out a plastic strip that looked all too familiar to me. She choked back raw emotion for a moment or two, then pressed forward, "I don't know how, but we have so many blessings with our family and ... and Heavenly Father, I feel it's His way of telling us, we're doing everything right..."

I brought a hand to my mouth and laughed, and fought back my own tears. Tears of joy! I knew where this was going...

"Jackson, our baby boy, Jeremy, is going to have a new sibling!" Overcome with emotion, Trish laughed as well. "A real, honest-to-God, full sibling." She handed the plastic strip, a home pregnancy test, over to me. Sure enough, it had two lines on it - indicating a positive result.

"Are you serious?" was my immediate, happy reaction. I found myself holding hands now with Trish as we laughed in unison. "Are you pregnant?"

"Yes!"

"Are you pregnant?" I asked again, unable to believe it.

"Yes! I wouldn't be joking around. I'm excited!"

"You're pregnant," I said, letting those words resonate even more and sink in. "Wow. You're pregnant!"

"Everything we have done together, Jeremy, everything this family is and stands for ... this just reinforces the point that I made the right decision in marrying you, marrying all of the other girls. I ... I'm so happy!"

"You have a baby inside of you?" I was still trying to wrap my mind around this whole _Trish is pregnant_ thing. This was completely out of left field, to say the least! If anyone, I suspected that the next wife who would be telling me such wonderful news would be Devon. We had yet to start working toward our own baby since our return from Pennsylvania a few weeks back - I was giving Devon space after she admitted her torturous past to me - but never in a million years did I think that I would be having this discussion with Trish right now. I mean, Trish just gave birth to Jackson back in February!

"You have a baby inside of you?" I said again. "Right now, at this moment?" When Trish nodded her head, I let out a very deep, joyous sigh, and tossed my arms around her in a mutual embrace. "Trish. Oh my God, Trish!"

"Cool, huh?" she beamed, kissing me.

"It's amazing!"

"I've been talking with Krissy and Lindsay the past couple of months, honestly," Trish offered. "I kept telling them, over and over, I wanted so much for Jackson to have an actual, full-on sibling. Not a half-sibling, but one that came from me ... and you. And now, that's gonna happen."

"YOU ARE PREGNANT!" I exclaimed, still soaking the news in.

"Yeah."

"YOU'RE PREGNANT?"

"Yeah." Smiling, Trish snatched the test strip from me. "Two lines, baby. Two babies!" She pointed at the strip and squealed, "That means Jackson and one other, little baby!"

"This is wonderful!" I gushed.

Trish lifted the lower half of her hoodie jacket up to her midriff, exposing her belly. "I noticed the other day, when I was doing yoga, I had a little pudge. You see? Normally it is flat, flat, flat, but I noticed a tiny pudge the other day. But I really didn't think too much of it at the time."

Unable to resist, I leaned forward and planted a long kiss upon Trish's abdomen. There was a baby nurturing and growing inside of her. A child ... that I helped create! Wow! Our baby may only be a tiny embryo at this point in time, but that did not mean I could not begin to shower him or her with all of the love in my heart! Oh, I was in a total state of shock.

"I love you, Trish," I told her, moving back to gaze into her eyes, yet keeping a hand on her belly at the same time.

"This isn't too much for you?" Trish knew better than to ask me that question, but she did it anyway. "I mean, Peyton will be be joining us in a few months, and our baby will make nine kids for you. Nine kids under the age of three. I will have the new baby well before Kaden turns three."

"It's never too much for me," I told her in all honesty. "You girls have sacrificed a lot of ... normalcy, to be in this marriage, our marriage, our relationship. You have sacrificed and given up so much for me. One thing I do not want any of you to sacrifice is the chance at being a mother ... as many times over as you all want."

Tears were streaming down Trish's face, she was so happy! "You know Lindsay wants to have five babies with you?"

I chuckled and responded, "I know!"

"My tummy is like ... flutter belief, right now. And you know what else, Jeremy? You're the first person to know. You're the first person to hear the news. Last time, when I found out I was pregnant with Jackson, all of the other girls knew before you did. I promised myself, I would not let that happen next time. You deserve to know first."

"Everyone needs to hear the awesome news," I suggested.

"I haven't seen you smile, Jeremy, this much since before you hurt your back, and Alison was still here. It's a really cool thing, too. I couldn't wipe that goofy smile off of your face right now even if I tried! But I don't want to."

"I love you," I reiterated. "And you're the one who is smiling. But then again, you're always smiling..."

"I love you too, Jeremy. And I love our two babies!"

"Oh my gosh. I'm gonna have to get an even bigger minivan once we return home to Norway."

"With even more wood on the sides!" Trish exclaimed, throwing her arms around me for yet another embrace. "Maybe one day, our family can travel around in a big freight train!"

"What's going on?" came a tired, groggy words from across the central room, and the adjacent sofa. Massive bed head and all, Amy looked alluring as ever as she sat up and rubbed her bleary eyes before focusing on us. "What's all this noise?"

"Good morning," I smiled at her.

Trish broke away from me and walked over to the other sofa, knelt down in front of Amy and leaned in, lightly greeting her lips with her own. "How is it you look so insanely gorgeous when you wake up in the morning? It's criminal."

"I do?"

"You do." Trish finished the kiss, and smiled.

"Is Dani Grace awake yet, Jeremy?" Amy inquired, referring to our little daughter. "Did her baby monitor go off?"

"Not yet. But I was going to check on her soon..."

"Amy." Trish gathered all of her wife's attention with the way she said her name, the tone she had used. Trish smiled and her face softened even more, and she took Amy's hand in hers. "First off, Amy honey, did you have a good night with Jeremy? Did you enjoy yourself?"

"Last night was amazing." Amy paused for a moment, looking at Trish, inspecting her. "You okay? Looks like you've been crying ... your eyes are all water-shot."

"Amy, I'm pregnant."

Suddenly, Amy was smiling from ear-to-ear. "No way. No way! REALLY?" She glanced at me for a split-second and I nodded at her, only then to re-focus upon Trish. "Oh my God, Trish. Congratulations! This is wonderful!" Amy pulled Trish into her arms for a hug, burying her face in her hair, taking advantage of the opportunity to breathe her in. "When did you find out? Do any of the other girls know yet?"

"I actually found out just this morning," Trish answered, "and no, only you and Jeremy know so far." She smiled and added, "Lindsay is going to freak out when I tell her!"

Amy slowly turned Trish and pressed her against the edge of the sofa with her body and linked her arms together around her neck. "Congratulations! I know this is something you have wanted for a long time." Amy could not wipe the grin off of her face, either. Her reaction was not as hyper and/or animated as some of the other ladies would be, but regardless, she was quite happy to share in the moment. "You're going to have another baby!"

"I am," Trish countered quietly, moving a stray strand of red hair off of Amy's forehead.

"Come here, you." Trish could not have received a better invitation. Amy's mouth, obviously, was warm and inviting, forcing Trish to delve deeper, their tongues meeting as both of them sank further into each other. The kissing was very slow and sensuous. I watched as Amy sucked Trish's bottom lip into her mouth, a move that was a favorite of hers. Trish's hands were around Amy's waist, pulling her closer.

"What are we doing?" Trish asked once their kiss was broken, seemingly amused.

"I think this is what's called stealing a moment." Amy smiled at her again. "You're pregnant. Wow." She turned toward me and latched onto my knee with her right hand. "Jeremy? You're going to be a Daddy again! I bet you're excited too, and cannot wait!"

"You have no idea," I assured her.

"Jeremy is secretly happy that I'm pregnant because that means I'm going to blow up like a big balloon."

Amy snickered at Trish's words. "That's true. Jeremy does have a pregnancy fetish."

I blinked hard and admitted, "I do."

"Baby." Amy ever so softly traced her finger over Trish's full, lush lips, her succulent mouth. "I'm so happy for you."

"Me too."

"I can't believe you and Jeremy are having another baby."

"All of us are, Amy," Trish corrected her. "You're my spouse too, my wife, and I want you to have a prominent role in all of my children's lives. Just as I will be there for you, for Dani Grace, whenever either of you need my help."

"The baby is for us," I agreed.

"Us," Amy repeated, nodding her head as the meaning of that word settled in. She slowly pushed Trish backward onto the sofa and followed her down. "I love you."

Trish reached up and kissed Amy, wrapping her hand around the back of her neck. "Thank God for this family."

Amy turned her head to look back at me with a cheerful, vibrant expression. "Now we have to work on getting Devon pregnant!"

End of Chapter 13.