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  “Oh, Grace, I’m so sorry.” She ran over to Grace, hugging her tightly.

  “Well, I guess Luke told you,” Grace replied, returning Lila’s hug. After a moment, Grace smiled and looked at Lila. “I couldn’t think of any positives to getting sick, but I think I just found one.”

  “What is it?” Lila asked, as she wiped away her tears with the back of her hand.

  “I do believe that’s the first time you hugged me first. What a pleasant surprise.”

  Lila gave a small laugh. “Believe me, lately, I’ve been surprising myself constantly.”

  The two women sat down at the kitchen table, and Grace revealed everything to Lila, starting from when she first suspected there was something wrong, down to how much Luke had missed Lila, and worried about her the past few days. As they talked, Lila realized just how much she felt like Grace was a mother to her, and she was incredibly grateful they had this time together. The rest of the weekend flew by. The cookout with Elizabeth’s family really lifted Grace’s sprits. Lila saw that she snuggled and kissed the twins anytime they slowed down enough for her to catch them.

  Lila could not stop smiling while watching Luke and Cole wrestle and chase the busy twins. For the first time in her life, she stopped for a second and imagined Luke with his own child, their child. The feeling was altogether pleasant, but she quickly pushed the thought from her mind. She just was not ready to be a mother.

  The short weekend was coming to an end, and Sunday by noon, Luke was packing up Lila’s car.

  “But I want to stay longer, Luke,” Lila said, practically whining like a child.

  “No ma’am, you will not be driving alone, in the dark.” He double checked that her spare tire was in place, then felt around the trunk until he was satisfied that all of the proper equipment was there before he lifted her suitcase with his good arm.

  Lila rolled her eyes. “Luke, I’ll be fine. I don’t even get home from work until after midnight.”

  Luke froze, suitcase hanging mid-air in his hand. Slowly, he turned his head towards Lila. “Midnight?” His stern gaze was like a reprimand all by itself.

  “Well, yes, I guess. It’s been pretty late,” Lila gulped nervously, looking down and kicking at a rock with her suede ballet flat.

  Luke gently placed the suitcase in the trunk, then firmly shut the lid. He grabbed Lila’s hand and started walking towards the house. “Come with me,” he said.

  Upstairs, Luke sat down on the bed, then patted the space beside him. Lila tentatively sat down, smoothing her skirt underneath her as she did.

  “Lila, I know you are a strong, independent woman, but I think you’ve forgotten how much I take care of you when we are home.” Lila nodded. It was true. Luke did all of the grocery shopping, making sure there was healthy food in the house. He initiated all of the cooking at dinner. He even filled up her car with gas, every Sunday night. She was not about to tell him that on the drive here she had run out of gas while pulling up to the pump. Two men had to push her car to the gas nozzle, while she steered.

  “If you are going to stay by yourself, you are going to have to take care of yourself. That means eating at least twice a day, and I want you home by seven pm at the latest. You are a danger to yourself and others when you don’t eat, don’t sleep, then stay up driving at crazy hours.”

  Lila felt childish, but Luke was right. She hadn’t been taking care of herself at all. She nodded her agreement.

  “If I hear that you are not taking care of yourself, I am driving right home to deal with it. Even if that means in your office. Do you understand?”

  Lila felt her cheeks turn beet red at the thought of Luke spanking her in her office, in earshot of her co-workers. How embarrassing, their fearless boss being spanked by her husband. She quickly nodded again.

  “Lila,” Luke used his fingers underneath her chin to guide her gaze up to meet his. “I said, do you understand?”

  “Yes, sir,” Lila muttered.

  Luke raised his eyebrows at her, “I think that you are in need of a reminder spanking.”

  Lila gulped, “No, I think I’m good. I really will take better care of myself.” She started to inch away from Luke on the bed.

  “I don’t think so. When you are sitting at your office desk at six pm, I want you to have a memory that will get you in the car on time.”

  Luke gently guided Lila over his lap. He lifted up her skirts and pulled down her panties. “Lila, I want you to watch me spank you. Look up.”

  Lila looked up, realizing that Luke had positioned her facing the antique, full length mirror. She gasped at the scene before her. He looked so handsome and powerful. She was in an incredibly vulnerable position.

  Then, as she watched, he spanked every inch of her bottom. She started to squirm.

  Luke gave her sit spot a sharp slap. “Stay still, Lila.”

  She could feel her cheeks on both end, blushing hot and red, but she stayed still. He spanked her for several more minutes. Her bottom felt like it was on fire, but she stayed still and quiet over his lap. Finally, he stopped, and inspected her bottom, making sure he had done a thorough job. Instead of putting her panties back into place, he tucked her skirt up, into its elastic waistband. Then he said, “Stand up, and take your panties off.”

  Lila quickly obeyed.

  “Now go and stand in front of the mirror and look at your naughty, spanked, bottom.”

  Lila walked over to the mirror, her bottom exposed to Luke, then turned around and inspected it over her shoulder. It was blushing a deep red. The sight of her red bottom, and Luke gazing at her in the mirror turned her on like never before, at the same time she ached to rub her stinging bottom but instinctively knew that he would admonish her further if she did.

  “Now, come here.” Luke patted his lap with the hand he had just spanked her with. She slowly walked over to him and sat, her bared bottom feeling hot on Luke’s lap, wrapping her arms around him and nuzzling her face into his neck.

  Lila felt completely submissive to him, her warm bottom melting her strong will. “I will do everything you said, Luke. I promise,” Lila whispered into his ear, surprising herself with her words.

  “Good girl,” Luke said, softly stroking her back. “Now let’s say a proper goodbye.” He pulled her in for a deep kiss.

  Lila’s bottom burned the whole, long car ride home. When she finally pulled up to the house, she called Luke to tell him she was there safely. He stayed on the phone with her while she unpacked the car, then locked the front door securely. Before they said goodbye, he made her go into the bathroom and look at her bare bottom in the mirror again. It was now a pretty shade of pink. She rubbed it, remembering the sharp sting of Luke’s hand. She already missed him so much. How was she going to make it through the next few weeks without him?

  Chapter 11

  Lila sat at her desk, picking at her salad. Cecelia stood at the whiteboard in the front of the room, chatting excitedly and mapping out plans for the new cover. Lila was trying to listen, but felt distracted. She missed Luke, and was worried about Grace.

  Grace was starting treatment and Luke wanted to be by her side. The weeks were ticking by. They agreed that the situation was not ideal, but they both had things they needed to take care of. Lila was worried that Luke was not going to want to come back when Grace got better, even though he had assured her, many times, that this was only temporary.

  She wasn’t sleeping well by herself in the windowed, modern house. Every noise made her jump. She was trying to eat more, but just wasn’t hungry. She hated living alone, and due to different circumstances that came up, she had only been able to make the trip to see Luke once in the past six weeks.

  “Yoo-hoo, Earth to Lila?” Cecelia was waving a hand in front of her face. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, sorry.” Lila shook her head to clear her mind. “Where were we?” Lila stood up to walk over to the whiteboard. Maybe she would be able to focus better if she was standing right in front of the pla
ns.

  As she stood up, she started to see brightly colored spots in front of her eyes, disorienting her. She felt herself starting to sway and then everything went dark.

  When Lila came to, Cecelia and several co-workers were standing over her. Lila tried to convince them that she was fine, just a little lightheaded, but Cecelia refused to believe her. Cecelia handled the matter, ignoring Lila’s pleas and within an hour they were in the ER waiting room, filling out paperwork.

  “Ceil, I’m fine. Look at me.” Lila stood up to do a funny twirl, but almost fell and immediately had to sit back down.

  “Whoa, girl. Better take a seat and stop the funny business.” Cecelia pulled Lila down into her chair with her hand that was not holding the clipboard of paperwork that she was filling out.

  Lila laid her head on Cecelia’s shoulder and closed her eyes. It took all of her strength to answer the myriad of questions that Cecelia was asking her from the form that she was filling out. Lila had no idea what the answers to half of the family health history questions were, and had to guess the answer to quite a few of the questions about herself, including the first day of her last period. Cecelia had laughed at that one. “Nobody knows the answer to that one,” she said as she shook her head

  Finally, they had gone through triage and were settled in a room, waiting for the results of the litany of blood tests that the doctor was running on her. Lila couldn’t help but compare the brisk, cold manners of the city doctor, to the warm, friendly ways of Dr. Sarah.

  Lila looked over the first draft of the new cover, on Cecelia’s computer. Leave it to them to work in the ER. They were interrupted by a knock on the door, and Lila was shocked to see Luke enter.

  “Luke, what are you doing here?” She looked from Luke’s concerned face over to Cecelia’s guilty looking one.

  “Don’t be mad, Lila, I had to call him.” Cecelia stood up, hugged Lila and headed toward the door, giving Luke a squeeze as she headed out. “I’m famished. I think I’ll grab some food in the cafeteria,” she quietly remarked as she shut the door behind her.

  “Lila, what happened, honey?” Luke came and sat down on the bed beside Lila, smoothing her hair back with his hand. Lila went over the events of the day, filling in the parts Cecelia hadn’t over the phone.

  “I was so worried. I must have been driving ninety the whole way here.” Luke stretched out his bad shoulder, it was stiff from the long drive, and rubbed the place where it had been injured.

  “Luke, I feel so bad, you should be with your mom. Really, I’m fine.” Lila looked down at the white sheet that was covering her. She felt guilty about the long drive with his injury, and him having to leave Grace when Lila was not even sick.

  “No way, Lila,” Luke looked at her reassuringly, “thank goodness, Cecelia had the sense to know you wouldn’t call me. I need to be here. With you.” Getting over the initial shock of Luke showing up, Lila felt relief wash over her. She was glad that he had rushed to be by her side.

  “Lila, why do you think you passed out? Have you been eating?” Luke asked sternly.

  “Yes, some. But I’m just not that hungry, and I can’t sleep at home without you,” Lila confessed.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Luke asked, angrily. “I would have come home, or we could have worked something out. Maybe you working remotely at the cabin, or something. Lila, if I wasn’t so worried about you, I swear I would be taking you over my knee right here in this room.”

  Lila smiled at the idea of Luke trying to get away with that at a hospital, with her in her funny gown. “I’m fine, really, they are running blood tests, but you’ll see. I just didn’t eat enough and stood up too fast.”

  Luke stood up, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand, looking agitated. “That’s it. I am moving home this weekend. Elizabeth is going to take a temporary leave of absence and Heather is going to cancel her plans for the next few weeks to help out. We will make it work.”

  “But Luke, your mom…” Lila felt selfish taking Luke away from his mom, but the toll of living alone without him was harder on her than she had admitted.

  He walked over to her bedside and cupped her cheek in his hand. “We will work it out. You are my first priority, wife.” He bent down and kissed her forehead.

  Lila wiped tears from her eyes. Was there no end to this man’s devotion to her?

  She took a deep breath, preparing herself for what she was about to say, “Luke, I’ve been thinking a lot lately, and I’m the one…” A sharp rap on the door interrupted her.

  “Lila?” The brisk, grey haired doctor walked in, not even acknowledging Luke.

  “Yes? I am she. I mean, her. I’m Lila,” Lila said, stumbling over her words and realizing how nervous she was to be in the hospital.

  The doctor ignored her blunder and continued, “I’m here to share the results of your blood tests. Everything looks great. It’s normal to feel light headed in the first, few early weeks, especially when you haven’t had an appetite.” He looked down at the paper on the chart in front of him.

  “Early weeks of what, exactly?” Luke addressed the Doctor.

  “Pregnancy, of course.” He looked up at Lila, “You haven’t told your husband? You should. Probably something he needs to know, young lady.”

  Luke looked at Lila. She laughed. “I’m not pregnant. I think you’ve made a mistake. Besides, I’m on… you know.”

  “What?” the doctor asked sternly.

  “The pill.”

  “The pill?” he asked. “You most certainly are pregnant, Miss Lila. You are on the mini pill, according to your charts. That has to be taken every day, at the same time each day, in order to work successfully. What time do you take it each day?”

  “Um,” Lila thought back over the past few weeks. She had skipped a few days but had taken it, almost every day, whenever she remembered. “Maybe a little erratically lately. But I’m sure I’m not pregnant.” She looked over at Luke. “Right, Luke?”

  Luke was not looking at Lila anymore, just staring at the doctor, wide eyed. She could not read his expression.

  “Ma’am, the test doesn’t lie. I’ll be ordering you an early ultrasound, anyway, to get an accurate due date and see the heartbeat.”

  “Heartbeat?” Luke whispered, slowly coming out of his trance. He looked at Lila, “Lila, you are pregnant, we, we are going to be parents.” He bent over the bed, trying to wrap his arms around her, all of her monitors beeping and blaring at him as he did. He gave her a huge hug; she could see tears forming in his eyes as he gazed lovingly at her. “Lila, we are having a baby.” Lila looked into his beautiful face, sighed, then passed out.

  Back at home, Lila sat in her living room, on her white couch, surrounded by cards, flowers, and even a pink congratulations balloon, courtesy of Cecelia. “I just know it’s a girl she had said as she tied it to a plush pink, couture teddy bear.

  Luke came into the living room with yet another tray. This time it was saltines and juice. He had started with heavier foods, and was working his way through lighter fare to find something that she would eat.

  “I’m fine Luke, I promise.”

  “Lila.” He gave her that “I mean business look.” She looked down at the tray as she picked up a cracker. She smiled when she saw the tiny, black and white ultrasound picture that Luke had taped to the tray.

  “See, it’s not just you that you are eating for anymore,” Luke said as he tapped the picture.

  Lila had still been in shock at the hospital. When they did the ultrasound, she saw a tiny blip on the screen, then a steady, blinking dot. “That’s the heartbeat,” the Doctor announced. Luke squeezed her hand so hard it hurt. Tears gathering in his eyes, his grin huge.

  Luke at taken to calling the baby “our tiny human bean,” as the picture from the ultrasound currently looked more like a lima bean than a person. He was more overprotective than usual, and had made himself her full-time caretaker. Lila was loving the attention from him, especially after their tim
e of separation.

  “When can we tell my family? My mom is going to flip. This is really going to cheer her up.”

  Lila looked at her adoring husband. There was nothing this man wouldn’t do for her. And she knew that it was her turn to make a sacrifice for him.

  “Luke, about your Mom. At the hospital, before the doctor came in with the results, I was about to tell you that I think it’s me who should be taking a leave of absence, not Elizabeth.” She stopped and looked at Luke’s confused face. “And then when all this happened,” she waved her hand over the picture.

  “You mean when you found out that we were having a baby? That you are pregnant?”

  “Yes, that.”

  “Say it, Lila. I know this was a huge shock, but it is really happening.”

  “Okay, when I found out I was pregnant. That you are going to be a father…” she added shyly.

  “And you are going to be a mother, a wonderful mother.” Luke kissed her forehead.

  Lila still couldn’t wrap her mind around the idea of her being a mother. She pushed past that and focused on Grace instead.

  “You made the sacrifice and moved here with me when I got my job. Now, I want to move home with you, I mean, to your hometown. I can work remotely, until the baby comes.” Luke’s grin was so wide it was contagious. “And then, who knows?” Lila shrugged, and returned his smile. She couldn’t think much past the first step because it scared her too much, and she was afraid she might back out.

  “Thank you, Lila. I will take such good care of you, and Beany. And any time with my mom is a gift.” Luke’s grin fell, “We don’t know how much time is left.”

  Chapter 12

  Lila pulled in behind the moving truck and took a deep breath. She looked down at her round belly.

  “Well, ready to see your new house, little Beany?” she whispered. Lila reached down and patted her middle. She still felt silly talking to her stomach, but Luke spent so much time chatting with her expanding waistline, that she was trying it out. So far, she could only do it when no one else was around.