11. Marnie

Marnie

We spend the next few weeks house hunting on weekends, and if we aren’t house hunting, Danny is reminding me how he got this baby in my belly. He’s insatiable, and I love it. I love him. And I also love that he hasn’t once questioned why I wanted to go back to work. Sure, he’d be happy if I decided to be a lady of leisure, but he also understands that I enjoy my work. Besides, Danny has his work too, and I like that he meets me for lunch each day. We walk down by the lake and talk about anything and everything. I’ve read a lot of books in my time, and a lot of them talk about finding a person to complete you. I often wondered if that was just something made up for the sake of fiction, but now I know it’s real. Danny completes me.

“What do you think of this,” Danny says, producing a slip of paper from his back pocket. It’s a real estate print out of an old farmhouse at the edge of town. “It’s not on the market yet, so if you want it, we’ll have to act fast.”

I sit up from where we were lying on the grass, soaking up the sun. “Oh, my god. I remember this place. They used to sell fruit from a stall, and every time we’d come home from out of town, we’d stop and buy apples or peaches depending on the season. Do they still have the orchids?”

“Looks that way. It’s been remodeled on the inside, but it maintains its old-world charm on the outside with mature gardens for the hobby farmer.” Danny reads the description, his long finger following the words. “And you know what’s even better? There’re five bedrooms. One for you and me. One for our bambino”—he places his hand on the slight swell of my growing belly—“and three more for our family to grow. Wanna check it out?”

“Oh, can we?”

“I’ll set it up.” He presses a kiss to my lips before he helps me to stand. “I’ll pick you up from work, and we’ll go from there.”

“Sounds perfect,” I say, smiling up at him.

* * *

The farmhouse waseverything we hoped it would be. It was a perfect mix of country style and modern conveniences. We’ll have space for horses if we have girls, and dirt bikes if we have boys—or vice versa, I’m not stuck on boy/girl things, I just want my children happy and free, and I think the farmhouse is the perfect place for that.

It doesn’t take long to pack up my tiny apartment. The biggest logistics issue was choosing new furniture and having the baby’s room painted before we moved in. We went for a soft mauve since we decided to keep the baby’s sex as a surprise.

I’m now five months into the pregnancy. Everything is moving along perfectly, and I love the way my pregnant body feels. I love feeling the baby moving inside me, and I love it when Danny places his big hand against my belly and sings to the baby so he or she will know his voice when they’re born. It’s adorable watching a big tough man go all gooey over my growing bump. It’s also incredibly sexy.

I never knew that being pregnant would make my libido go so crazy, but from what I’ve read it’s pretty normal—and Danny’s certainly not complaining.

“Moving day, precious,” he says, sliding his hand over my stomach as he spoons me in bed. We’re surrounded by boxes and the mess of last-minute things, but it’s so cozy here in this tiny apartment. I wonder how it will feel tomorrow morning when we wake up in a new house and a new bed.

“Mmmm. Can we stay in bed a little longer? I like having you all wrapped around me. It feels safe.”

He nuzzles the back of my neck before pressing a kiss to my shoulder. “You know I’d never leave this bed if we had the option.”

I roll to my back and groan. “Is that your way of saying we don’t have an option?”

He pushes up on his elbow and smiles down at me. “The movers will be here at seven.”

I look at the time. “It’s six-forty. We still have twenty minutes…” I pull my bottom lip between my teeth as I raise my eyebrows suggestively.

“Does my precious want me to make her come?” He’s already positioning himself between my thighs as he speaks.

“Oh, yeah. And then I want you to bend me over and fuck me real good.”

He places his hand on my protruding belly and mock gasps. “Our child can hear you, you dirty-mouthed delight.” He laughs, and I giggle while he whips my panties down my legs and drops them on the floor. Then he lowers his mouth and sweeps his tongue through my core, and suddenly the giggles are gone, and I’m transported to heaven.

There’s something magical about the ease of sex within an established relationship. You have no body hang ups, and you’re confident to take and give in a way that you both enjoy. I’ve heard that some married couples go months, even years without having sex, but I can’t imagine that ever happening to me and Danny, this is far too good to give up.

“Oh, Danny. Yes.” I grip the bedhead with one hand, and use the other to pull at his hair as my hips writhe against him. “Oh. Yes!” I explode. And he’s quick to flip me over so I’m on my knees and he’s pushing into my wetness, filling me with his glorious thickness.

“Good morning, Mrs. Cardiff,” he says as he moves inside me. I fist the sheets and push my butt back against him, taking him deep.

“Oh, yes, it’s a good morning, my love.”

I gasp and moan as he works me expertly, sending me over the edge at the same time as he releases as well. We have five minutes to spare.

“I think we even have time to shower,” he says, picking me up and carrying me to the bathroom as he turns on the water and kisses me languidly. We step into the cubicle, hands washing, mouths tasting. It doesn’t take long before we get carried away and five minutes turns into fifteen. Danny is met with a disgruntled looking mover when we finally buzz them in.

“I’ll just finish packing the bedroom up while you deal with them,” I say, pressing a kiss to his cheek as I float away with a sated smile on my face.

Pulling the sheets from our bed, I bundle them up and put them in a laundry bag, boxing up our pillows and blankets, while Danny instructs the movers in the other room. I hum to myself as I move my hand over my belly and imagine how different our lives are going to be with a newborn in the house. No more sleeping in and lazy sex, that’s for sure.

A mover bustles in through the bedroom door, excusing himself as he grabs the mattress while another comes in and starts dismantling the bed. “Sorry, ma’am, but we need some room,” the second guy says, making me realize I’m probably in the way.

“Oh, sorry. I’ll make myself scarce.”

I decide to take refuge in the second room that we converted into Danny’s office since he plans to move this room himself. He said he’d need clearance to allow movers to take any of his paperwork since it has to be transported in a particular way to meet security standards.

On the way, I grab a blueberry muffin and a sweet tea from the kitchen, along with a book to keep me occupied. Danny has forbidden me to do any heavy lifting, so I feel kind of useless sitting in here eating on my own. So, when I finish my food, I figure it wouldn’t hurt for me to stack up some of Danny’s files and box them up. Anything that’s classified is in his safe, so as long as I keep his filing system in order, I don’t see it being a problem.

Once again, I’m humming to myself, clearing off his desk and feeling like a good little wife. That is, until I pick up the box I put the files in and the bottom falls out, spreading them all over the floor.

“Oh, no. No, no, no,” I whine, dropping to my knees to pick them all up. They’re mostly together, but I feel awful. I’ve probably created more work for Danny than he needs. “Ugh.”

I tape up the bottom of the box then drop some of the files back in before I go back to tidying the others. It’s then that I notice something familiar—my yearbook photo.

“What the hell?” Picking it up, I let my mouth hang open as my now shaking hand reaches for the file it slid out of. “What is this?”

My eyes move back and forth, rapidly scanning a detailed report into me and my family. It’s dated a week after we first met.

My heart squeezes. “He had me checked out?” The picture falls from my fingers as my stomach turns. I always thought Danny and I entered this marriage on exactly the same page, but now I find that he knew everything about me. Including how much was in my bank account. Why would he do this?

I force myself to my feet, my head reeling. I’m trying so hard not to cry, but I just can’t understand why he’d do this without telling me? I feel…violated….stalked….

“I need air,” I gasp, making my way through the apartment, weaving through movers until I’m on the ground level heading for my car.

“Marnie!” Danny jogs over to me from where he was talking to the driver of the moving truck. “Where are you off to?”

Taking a deep breath, I meet his eyes. “I’m in the way here. I’ll meet you at the house, OK?” I try to give him a smile, but I can tell by the way his brow dips that he’s not buying it.

“Is something wrong? Did someone say something to you? Because I’ll—”

“No,” I say. “Nothing like that. Just…nostalgia, I guess. I’ve been here for years. It’s always bittersweet moving on.”

“OK,” he says, dropping a kiss on the top of my head. “Drive safe.”

“Always.” I smile as I get in the car, my mind going crazy as I drive to the only other place I can think of—Jolene and Gavin’s. I need the ear of my best friend and perhaps some clarity from Danny’s best friend. I can’t believe he has a folder on me!