All the Waters of the Earth

Chapter 43: All the Waters of the Earth

"Jake, my belly is getting too big," I protested, while at the same time I wanted him.

Pregnancy hormones coursing through my body made me horny. Sorry, I had to admit it. I mean, just Jake's physical presence alone, most of the time, made me want to strip him down and touch him all over. But with the added natural aids during pregnancy? I was unstoppable. I found myself getting turned on all the time. He didn't seem to mind.

I discovered a love of all of the positions that didn't put weight on my back or belly. Doggy style. Standing up. On my side.

In the bathtub.

My joints were getting loose and achy and even though it was summer, it still felt good to soak in the tub. Sometimes Jake would join me. Like tonight.

We had been married for six months, honeymooning briefly in Mexico, and planning a bigger reception after I gave birth. We were in his house, which was now our house. I'd rented out mine, which brought in some extra income. But now, Rob was at Carlos's house and I was ready.

But I mean, my God, my belly was so big right now. "I don't know how we can do this."

Stripping quickly, his athletic body graceful, he sunk into the filling tub and called me to me. "Come in the water, Lucy honey." I took off my yoga pants and my cami, wanting to feel him and the warm water around me.

Reaching out his hand, he carefully pulled me into the bath. I stepped into the water, feeling it swirl around my feet, looking down at him for once.

Short girl gets a new perspective. Nice. It felt very different to be the one above him, almost like I could see new things about him. It mattered to me to get this view. His denim blue eyes looked so arresting in the sunny, lit room.

There wasn't that much room, but I managed to kneel down and straddle him, setting my knees on both sides of his belly.

Running his hands up slowly up my body, over my swollen abdomen, caressing my breasts that were now perkier than ever, pausing at the hollows in my collarbone, and sliding one artistic hand behind my neck, he appraised me with his eyes. "I don't know that you have ever been more beautiful," he whispered. "Carrying our baby." And he knifed up and kissed my belly.

Splashing a little bit in the water, I leaned down to kiss him, my belly in the way. He sat up, his cock hard below me, my need for him inside me increasing.

We kissed, a loving, total, passionate kiss, the kind of kiss that makes you forget about aching joints and knocking knees and just focus on the fact that you were getting some lovin'. Because heck yeah, Jake gave me some lovin'.

He reached around, gripping my ass, firmly but gently, then pulled me down, allowing me to guide myself onto him.

And now I was in charge. This was exactly what I needed: connection with him, release of tension, the warm water of creation all around me.

Enjoying our last days or weeks of being a couple without a baby.

Jake had learned, over the years of his life, that it was not okay to dream, that his art was not safe, that he had no family support, and that life was not certain or secure. But we had set to work undoing that.

He carried through and switched his job. While he spent a lot of time with me and Rob, he also spent time drawing, painting, playing, doing art. He had rekindled a connection with his dad, who had recovered from his hospital stay and was working reduced hours. And every day that we were together added data to our relationship, proving that we were committed to each other and that life was secure when you were honest and open with the ones that you loved. Whatever the opposite of abandonment was, that was how we were. I spent my nights cuddled with him. My mornings in his arms. He came with me to every doctor's appointment. When we heard the baby's heartbeat go thuwump on the ultrasound machine, every time, both he and I cried. And we talked all the time.

For he had learned that I couldn't read his mind and told me what he thought. He asked questions, he made mistakes, he told me what he was thinking. And, be still my heart, he paid attention to Rob, too.

He had walked out of a romance novel and into my life, but he wasn't the hero of a romance novel. He was just my Jake.

Now, making love to him, in the water, with the baby that we had created growing in my belly, my novel out there, doing well, and him finally taking his art seriously, I knew that this was bliss. In the arms of my lover, who cared about me. With the knowledge that I was loved. And doing what fulfilled me.

All of life existed in the waters of the earth. We needed water to exist, to create, for gestation and for survival. Every single person on this planet was created from almost nothing: a tiny egg and a sperm, and then cells divided in the waters of the womb, and there we were. Every single thing on this planet, from laptops to toothpaste, was created from nothing: starting with an idea, and making it real. And the art, music, stories, movies, and dance that made us swoon? That wouldn't exist without all of us either.

As I arched my back, shuddering in ecstasy, I looked down at him, head thrown back, chiseled torso shaking as he came too.

After he recovered, he wrapped his arms around me, and then cleaned us off.

"I love you," he said, drying me off with a towel.

"I love you, too," I replied, nestling my head in his arms.

It is in our very nature to create. And really, it's the only way to live.