Jeremiah
When someone knocked on my door, I prayed it was
Elle. She still wasn’t speaking to me, but we needed to talk. I needed to apologize and make things right.
But when I opened the door, dread set in. “Teddy? What are you doing here?”
“May I come in, Jeremiah?” The sheriff just had that look about him – he had bad news.
My heart sank, and I feared the worst. “Is it Elle?” I asked him, my legs turning to jelly at the very thought. I stepped back to let him enter, closing the door behind him.
“No, as far as I know, Elle is fine.”
Relief washed over me. Knowing that, I could walk again. I led Teddy down the hallway and into the dining room. “Would you like a beer?”
“I’m working, I can’t,” Teddy said.
“Coffee then?”
“No, I’m fine,” Teddy said. “Have a seat, Jeremiah.”
I was antsy. Even knowing Elle was fine, something was obviously wrong. I nodded and took a seat across from Teddy, trying to prepare for the news.
“Look, there’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to come out with it. Lauren Holt was found dead earlier this evening.”
The news hit me hard, and I leaned back in my chair, at a loss for words. Teddy let the news sink in, as I went through a series of emotions. She was the twins’ mother.
Even if she was fairly awful at times, she was still a person.
“Damn. What happened?” I asked.
“She was shot in the back of the head. We found her in her car, not too far from here. Someone reported a
gunshot, but no one saw anything.”
I had a pretty good idea who was behind it.
“Jeremiah, I know she was the mother of your twins, so I expect this news is hard for you, but I have to ask – where were you between 5pm and 7pm this evening?”
“I was here, with my daughters,” I said. “You can’t possibly think…No way, not this again. I didn’t kill her.”
Teddy held his hands up. “I have to investigate all angles, Jeremiah. Please understand it’s nothing personal.”
I wiped at my face as if I could wipe the whole fucking nightmare away. I stared at Teddy, trying to piece everything together. “Have you talked to her family yet? Do they have alibis?”
Teddy sighed. “We’re talking to them now.”
Yeah, I was sure they’d paid for some alibis. They always managed to find a way to prove their innocence, no matter the crime. I gripped the corner of the table so hard I feared I might crack the wood.
I sighed, furious and saddened at the same time. “I’m not going to answer another question without a lawyer present.”
“I understand,” Teddy said, standing. “I’d encourage you to give him a call. I’m sure we’ll be in touch.”
I walked Teddy to the door and leaned against it, cursing everything in the world. The only good thing to have come out of all this were my girls. And Elle. But she wasn’t talking to me right now. She had my child growing inside her – another child who might grow up without a father because of this shitshow.
There was another knock on the door, and I swung it open. “Teddy, I told you-”
I stopped when I saw Elle, wrapped in a wool coat and her hair windblown. Her mascara ran down her cheeks.
“Oh Jeremiah, I heard the news.”
She rushed into my arms before I knew what hit me. I held her, still trying to decide if it was real. Her sobs were very real.
Between gasping and crying, Elle managed to get out,
“It’s her brother. I know it is. I saw them-”
“You saw them?”
She calmed down, hiccupping from all the crying. “Yes, and so did Dr. Hammond,” she continued. “We have witnesses to prove that Alex threatened Lauren.”
“But you know the Holts, Elle. They will find a way to get around this.”
“We have to try, Jeremiah,” she insisted, taking my hand in hers. I brought my other hand to her face, to wipe the tears from her cheeks. God, she was so beautiful. Inside and out.
“Elle, we need to talk about the baby.”
A pained look crossed her face. “I know it’s a lot to handle, Jeremiah. I can raise the baby on my own if needed, but-”
“No, you won’t. I mean, unless I end up behind bars. But as long as I’m a free man, we will raise that child together. We will be a family.”
Elle raised her face to look at me, and more tears pooling in her eyes and falling. But these weren’t sad tears. “Oh Jeremiah,” she croaked. “That’s all I want. Just for us to be a family.”
I lifted her chin and pressed my lips to her. “I want that too.”
I wasn’t sure if we’d get our happy ending, considering our circumstances currently. But I wanted her to be with me forever. I wanted to be there for all my children. And the idea of having a child with her, of giving Grace and Amelia a sibling, actually filled me with excitement – once I got past the initial fear.
“I’m sorry I reacted the way I did. It was a shock and I didn’t know how to process it.”
“I shouldn’t have told you like that,” Elle said at the same time.
I leaned into her, our foreheads touching. “It’s scary thinking I might not be there for my children.”
“You will be, Jeremiah,” she said, her voice impassioned, taking my hands in hers. “I’ll tell the cops everything I know, and I’m sure Doc Hammond will do the same. He’s a good man.”
“I just hope it’s enough.”
“It has to be.”
We were silent for a long time, standing in the front hallway, holding each other. When I realized she was still all bundled up from being outside, I stepped back.
“Oh God, come in,” I said. “Let me take your coat.”
I slipped the coat off, and even though it was too soon, my eyes fell on her belly. My child was in there, growing. Soon, she’d be showing and the whole world would know. The idea of her carrying my baby turned me on more than I expected it to. Once I hung up her coat, I kissed her deeply, and we moved to the couch.
The girls were asleep, we had the living room to ourselves, and it was clear we wouldn’t make it to the bedroom. I stripped her down, her clothes falling as we moved across the room.
She was just as turned on, obviously. She stripped me down, her hands fumbling with my belt, then my zipper. She slid my pants over my hips and dropped to her knees in front of me.
Her big, brown eyes stared up at me, her mouth open. Her perfect pink tongue darted out and teased the tip of my cock. She licked the precum, then took me inside her hot, wet mouth, though she couldn’t take me all the way. Her hand made up the difference, moving up and down as her mouth sucked and licked.
My hands were tangled in her soft, silky hair. I’d never met anyone as beautiful as her. I felt like the luckiest man in the world as she sucked my cock, bringing me very close to the edge.
I pulled her back, gently tugging at her hair. “Stop,” I groaned. “To the couch.”
She followed me, and together, we fell to the couch. She was in my lap, straddling me, her breasts free and bouncy as she moved, grinding against me.
I grabbed my cock and guided it into her, watching the look on her face as I entered her. Her eyes popped open wide; her head fell forward. She rested it against my chest, feeling me deep inside of her. She was so tight, gripping my cock so snugly with her lips. I could stay like that forever, savoring the warm, velvety wetness of her pussy, but she slowly began rocking back and forth.
She raised her head, and I kissed her deeply, gripping her hips and helping guide her.
This is Heaven, I thought. Fucking the woman I loved, who was pregnant with my child. It was everything I’d always wanted, and my dream girl had been in front of me for so long.
I’m glad I finally stopped fighting my destiny.