Page 18 of Finding Limits

“Please don’t,” I plead with him when his fingers start to knead at my flesh, groping and pinching at my skin.

“You are here to service me, Everleigh.” He bears his weight against me, pressing me tighter against the brickwork. Something hard rests between my ass cheeks and I shudder at the thought of what it could be. I know what happens when a man lies with a woman. I know that him putting himself inside her is what causes her to get pregnant.

“Sir, I can’t have a child. Not down here.”

“A child?” He scoffs a cruel laugh at me. “A child?” His voice becomes louder and echoes from the walls. “My dear girl, you will not be getting a child.” I feel my shoulders sag with relief. “You are not the chosen one, only those chosen by our almighty Lord receive such rewards. Like I said, you are here to service me.” I try my best to think of how, and when I hear him spit and feel something heavy press against my back passage, I’m not prepared for what comes next…

I shut the journal and put it away when I feel that cold shiver start to creep over my skin. Pulling myself back together I head out the bedroom and find Savannah sitting in the living room stroking her hand over her stomach.

“There you are. I was wondering where you got to.” She raises her smile up to me.

“Are you okay?” I check, noticing how she’s cradling her tummy, it’s obvious that she’s expecting.

“Yeah, we’re great, she’s just having a little fidget in there.” She looks down at her bump proudly. “Cole sits for hours at night with his hand over me trying to feel her, but she’s most active when he’s out working. I swear his voice just soothes her off to sleep.”

“How do you know it's a girl?” I sit beside her and ask out of curiosity.

“Because I’m impatient and I had to know. The sonographer had written it down on a piece of paper so me and Cole could decide together when we found out, but I ripped open that envelope before we even got in the truck.”

“Sonographer?” I try to keep up, there are so many terms I have to learn.

“Sorry, I forgot you lived on another planet.” She laughs. “The doctors have a machine that allows them to look inside you and check that the baby is doing okay.”

“That's amazing.” I learn more every day about how incredible the world I’ve been sheltered from is.

“She’s off again, do you wanna feel?” Savannah looks at me hopefully and I nod my head because I really do. I slowly stretch out my hand, placing it on her tummy, and when I feel a little wave move under my palm, I smile.

“Wow.”

“She’s strong, and she’s gonna need to be. I’ll bet her daddy will have her on a horse before she can walk.”

“And your husband, he treats you right?” I check, suddenly feeling a sense of protection over this girl and the child that wriggles inside her.

“Everleigh, here, all the men treat their women right. They protect us, they love us and they would never hurt us.” She places her hand over mine.

“Mitch is the same. He may come across as scary sometimes and he can be a miserable old coot, but he has a heart as big as his… you know.” She winks at me and makes me blush.

We both turn our heads and look toward the door when we hear a truck pull up. “You should talk to him, tell him how you feel. I saw the look on his face this morning, and I heard the way he spoke to you. I’ve never heard that man speak so softly in all the time I’ve been here.” She stands up and makes her way to the door. “Don’t waste all this wonderful time you have now you're free, looking back. If you do, you might as well be back wherever you came from.” I freeze when she unexpectedly kisses me on the cheek. I’m not used to human affection, but instead of panicking I smile.

“Thank you,” I call after her before she sees herself out.

“Hey, darlin.” Mitch strolls in as she leaves, and when I see him I get this overpowering urge to run at him and throw my arms around his neck. Though I refrain, staying rooted to the spot and suddenly realizing that I’ve spent the whole time he’s been gone distracted by Savannah.

“Oh, no. It must be lunchtime, I haven’t prepared anything.” I rush to the kitchen to see what I can put together. Mitch left here without having any breakfast, he must be starving.

“Whoa, steady up. It’s fine, I can make myself a sandwich.” He frowns at me.

“No, I’ll make something better, you didn't eat breakfast. We have some leftover beef, I can make some pastry for a pie. It won’t take?—”

“NO!” He raises his voice to interrupt me, and his skin looks a little paler than usual. “No pie.” He lowers his tone again, looking repulsed by the idea.

“I’ll just make us a sandwich.” He smiles to assure me that everything’s okay, but the way my heart flutters in response to it makes me certain that things are going to get complicated.

It’s way past the time that she usually goes to bed, and I notice the way her eyes keep flicking away from the TV screen over to me like she has something on her mind.

“Ya have fun with Savannah today?” I ask, knowing how spirited Cole’s woman can be.

“We had a great time. I felt her baby move.” She smiles excitedly.

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