Page 247 of Lovers' Dance: Vol. 2

“Is that what you would prefer us to do?” he asked while trailing his fingers through the water.

“I don’t know,” It was an honest answer. “Things are nice between us but I don’t want to-”

“Rush it,” he finished for me. “I know and I understand.” His fingers skirted over the water until contact was made with my tummy. A small smile appeared on his face. “We still have a little time before any hard decisions need to be made and we’ll do what’s right for us. Ok?”

“Ok.” I agreed. “That sounds good. How about Aston?”

Matt flicked some water at my face. “I’m not naming my son after a car.”

“For her, not him,” I corrected him and he just shook his head.

“The water is getting cold, don’t stay in too long,” Matt stood up and dried his hand on the towel. “You look tired.”

My pout was repaid with a kiss when he bent at the waist to bestow it.

“Come back to bed,” he murmured. “Mum and Hannah plan on spoiling you all day today and they’ll want to leave early. You need to get some rest.”

“I’ll be out in fifteen minutes. My back is killing me and I just can’t get comfortable.”

Matt got very serious. “No twinges?”

I shook my head. “Just normal late stage pregnancy aches. Don’t worry.”

“Come to bed.” he ordered.

“I’m really proud of us.” I blurted out as he moved away.

Matt paused to wink and say, “Me too. You’re finally acting as a grown up should.”

I mouthed two specific words at him, one started with ‘f’ and the other with ‘y’. He chuckled then sauntered out the en-suite and leftme to my bath. We were good and this time around our relationship would work. He never used to give me time before, now it felt as if I had all the time in the world.

I was halfway between sleep and consciousness, and dreaming of being on the toilet. It was a damned constipation dream and I could see Aunt Cleo encouraging me to let it all out. My stomach was cramping and I could feel the building pressure in my lower body as I tried to poop. Then I was dreaming about wee and my bladder exploding to flood the parched world with…shit, my mouth gaped open as full awareness crashed into me and I realized there was moisture pooling in my panties and on the mattress beneath me. The area under my ass was sopping wet. I had wet the fucking bed in my sleep.Oh hell no. Unwilling to open my eyes and face the shame, my mind frantically raced with ways to cover the deed up. Spa day had turned into ‘me being too tired to go and Matt telling his elder sister to bugger off while I rested’ day.

How long had I been asleep for? Shit. Would Hannah’s staff tattle if I got their help? Maybe I could spill some juice or something to cover it up? These were frigging Italian sateen weave sheets.

A painful cramp ripped through my stomach and my eyes flew open as I felt the unbearable urge to poop increase. There was serious pressure going on down there – I glanced down and froze in terror. The skirt of my light blue dress I had changed into earlier before breakfast was now stained a dark sort of red. Another stab of gut wrenching pain caused my body to contort atop the bed. OhGod.

“Matt.” I whispered through my now ragged breaths as another wave of pain ripped through my lower abdomen and I felt my lower abdominal muscles contract. Then I took a deep breath and screamed his name. How long I bawled for him? I had no idea. A few seconds? Some minutes? An hour? Time was relative as I gripped my stomach and fought to breathe past the intense pain and fear. This shouldn’t be happening! I had time. We were hoping for a twin’s full-term pregnancy of 37 weeks. I was only 34 weeks. Oh God! It felt like wanting to poop. The muscles of my stomach contracted so hard I could see one of the babies’ elbows or knees. Something bad was going on.

“Matt.” I was too scared to weep, too terrified to move from where I laid. “Oh please.Matt!”

There was the unmistakeable noise of thunderous footsteps before the door was abruptly shoved open and Matt appeared like a heavenly vision before my eyes. The blood drained from his face as he stood frozen in the doorway.

“Oh dear God.” he gasped before yelling for Stuart while movement returned to his limbs and he rushed towards the bed.

“I’m sorry.” Why the hell was I apologizing? It seemed the right thing to do somehow.

“Fuck.” he hissed then he took a shaky breath and reached for me with one hand while tugging his phone from the back pocket of his pants with the other. “It’ll be ok, sweetheart. Everything will be ok.”

His eyes kept darting from my face to the macabre blood stained mess of my dress and the sheet beneath me as he called 999. There was more running outside the room and Stuart darted through the door quickly followed by Adam. Matt exhaled in relief when he saw Stuart even as he conversed with the 999 operator.

“Go to my office,” Stuart was shoving Adam back out the room. “You’ll see a medical bag on the glass table. Bring it to me. Now.”

Adam disappeared and Stuart hurried over to the bed.

“Ambulance?” he asked Matt.

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