Chapter 182 - The countdown begins - mddos
Veronica
She had breakfast in the makeshift dining area on the terrace every day. Roland had rescheduled his workday; he would leave at dawn, come back to have breakfast with me, help me to the bathroom as needed, bathe me, and that was the only intimacy we shared.
I liked it. Now he knew how many moles I had on my body, he helped me dress, and then he left me in the dining area where we had breakfast with my father, Mrs. Consuelo, or whoever was visiting us. Raúl came to stay with me for a few days each month. His boyfriend was the one who brushed my hair and did my nails.
His boyfriend was none other than Manolo, Roland’s cousin, and he adored my mother-in-law. She had helped him when his family in Valledupar turned their backs on him. One afternoon, I was left alone with Raúl, and I asked him about their relationship. Hearing him so grounded brought me so much peace.
“Friend, I realized that I’m an alpha gay. My failures were because I was looking for others like me, and in a relationship, there needs to be one who plays the strong role and the other the fragile one. With Manolo, these six months together have been a record for me. I haven’t stopped laughing at his antics.”
“Do you see yourself living with him as a couple?”
“Believe me, if we make it to a year and continue resolving our differences as we have, I’ll propose to him.” I widened my eyes. “I know what you’re thinking…”
“Raúl, you are and always will be my best friend. Spiritually, I might not share your behavior, but that doesn’t mean I don’t accept, respect, or love you. If you’re happy, and I dare say you are, you have a different aura. You treat each other with respect and love, and I like that. If he makes you happy, I’m happy. You’re one of my children’s uncles.”
“I always regretted what I did with my previous attempts at relationships, but since I met my crazy guy, God, he’s the one.” I couldn’t contradict his words; his look confirmed how happy he was.
“Be happy, just… before proposing to Manolo, talk to your parents.”
“Mom suspects. She’s coming to stay at my place for a few days next month. I’ll tell her.”
“Speak from your heart. A mother always accepts her children’s happiness, no matter what it is.”
“Dad is another story.”
“Give him time and rely on your mom’s advice.”
“I will. I love you, Vero. You know, sometimes I wonder what Lorena’s life would be like if she hadn’t died.”
“Who knows? I like to think she would also be finding her happiness.”
I came back from my thoughts. After breakfast, my husband would go back to work at the ranch, return before noon, and continue working from home. I was often bored, my hormones were all over the place. Since we couldn’t make love, I wanted him close, and when I snuggled up to him, I would get annoyed after a few minutes. Other times, he smelled bad, and I’d send him to shower.
If he took longer than expected with any task, I would end up crying. Carmela said I must be carrying twins because of my behavior. Today, we would find out the genders. Three days ago, I reached the five-month mark, and thanks to some pills prescribed by Dr. Jones, I hadn’t vomited, so I didn’t have to get up so much and strain myself.
I couldn’t complain; Roland had mustered the courage to understand me. I had gained several pounds, and my belly was enormous. Don Fausto had taken pity on my husband. To be honest, I had been an insufferable and annoying pregnant woman. And Roland had shown infinite patience with me.
When I got difficult, which was almost all the time, he would just pinch the bridge of his nose, a habit he had picked up since I got pregnant, and repeat like a mantra, “Only so many months left,” as he started a countdown. One of the best moments was when the babies moved for the first time, and thank God he was by my side. He couldn’t stop kissing me that time. The appointment with Dr. Jones was at three, so we’d leave after lunch.
“Beautiful, I’m going to shower, we’ll have lunch, and then we’ll head to the appointment.” He smelled awful, and I made a face.
“How was Hathor’s birth?” How I wished I could have assisted her like I did with Zeus.
“Think of a Greek goddess name; it was a female.” When he looked at me, he understood. “Honey, Chocolate has about four months left, you’ll be able to assist her.”
“Are you going to ride Hathor again?” I enjoyed watching him walk around the room in his boxers. “She’ll be called Hera.”
“Are you checking me out, Mrs. Sandoval?”
“More than you can imagine.” That sparkle in his eyes excited me even more. Luckily, he went into the bathroom. He came out ten minutes later.
"In about six months, Amon will ride her again, that's three kids and now we have five nephews. Then Pomposo will mount Chocolate, and there will be more nephews on the way," I smiled. My phone rang, it was Diana.
"Hello, how are you?" The shout of joy made me pull the phone away from my ear.
"I need original ideas to tell Miguel that we're going to be parents. I'm three weeks pregnant, finally!"
"Congratulations. Give him the news with something he loves, a dinner, a game!"
"Wednesday! You're making it hard for me, I'll think of something. Thanks, Vero!" I ended the call, another came in and it was Luisa.
At that moment, I remembered my friend Lorena, she would be jumping with joy celebrating my kids' baby shower. Everyone had changed, had Lorena?
"Hello? Vero, can you hear me?"
"Hi, sis. Sorry, I got distracted."
"Don't worry, I was calling to inform you, Father Gabriel has confirmed his vacation and is waiting for us to give him the exact date. I wanted to coordinate with you, it's better in four months, although he should come earlier, it's important to manage the permissions with the church, you know it's not his jurisdiction, everything is going well. There will be two weddings and three baptisms."
"Sorry for not helping with the preparations."
"Vero, you've been very helpful online."
That was Roland, he was helping me with the quotes for what we wanted, two days ago he hired an event planner, we handed everything over to her, having kids and organizing the weddings and baptisms of Mr. Roland Sandoval was no small feat.
"The event planner is an excellent idea, she'll talk to each of us, she's visiting me today, then she'll come to your house to combine ideas."
"That's courtesy of your brother."
"Well, I was calling to confirm about the priest, he'll be here a day before your C-section. I like that coincidence."
"Me too. He'll be very excited to see him again."
"Got to go, Andrea just woke up, that girl is a glutton, she's going to make me disappear." I laughed and at the same time, a tinge of sadness engulfed me.
"See you." Roland sat on the bed, started massaging my feet.
"Beautiful, they're swollen, that's not good, I'll mention it to the doctor today."
"You're a complainer, but what you're doing feels wonderful."
"Do you want to go downstairs? We can have lunch in the dining room, then we'll go to the clinic." I nodded, I hadn't left the room in three months. "You look beautifully round, love."
If he wasn't giving me that Giordano look, I would have been mad, his eyes shone like embers. "I love you," he whispered, and like a fool with this sensitivity I have, I started crying.
"Does anything hurt?" I shook my head and nodded. I saw worry in his eyes, he took out a shirt, dressed quickly. "Let's go to the clinic now."
"No! Nothing hurts in my body."
He stopped when he had one boot on and the other in his hand, I laughed at his expression.
"It's just... what you just said, plus your half-naked body saying, 'I'm a delicious piece of meat, please lick me.' And these hormones that are driving me crazy! I want to make love to you, no, I want to devour you, eat you, lick you all over and I can't."
I pouted, Roland's laughter must have been heard all the way to the stables. He started shaking his head and wiping away tears of laughter.
"Am I that appetizing?"
"Don't tease me."
"I'm not, love, I'm tired of jerking off, it's not pleasant, we have a few months left, now the main thing is..."
"The babies, I know." His gaze was beautiful, the tears came back, he got closer.
"I can't be inside you, but I can kiss you like it's the last time of our lives."
"What are you waiting for to kiss me?"
He lay down next to me, the kiss started softly like all the ones we've shared since I got pregnant. My hand tangled in his hair, the soft moans started to be heard, Roland's hand caressed my neck and then tangled in my hair, those subtle caresses intensified the kiss.
Our tongues began the battle for dominance, I slid my hand to his member, his growl was the incentive to start massaging it, he began to move his hips in response to the pressure of my hand. While his hand slipped under my shirt and caressed my nipples, we didn't stop kissing, barely catching our breath before diving back into the pleasure of tasting each other's lips, I increased the pressure on his member and he intensified his movements...