Page 82 of Embattled Ever After

On the fifth day, he was released and Duncan walked from the car to his front door under his own power.

Duncan hated to admit when anyone other than him was right, but he had to concede Fisk had done a great job. His leg moved like it hadn’t in over ten years, since he’d been injured during the war. Yes, there was a large amount of pain, but compared to how it had been before, it was a mere drop in the bucket. He took the pain prescription with him, but he began weaning himself off the pills almost immediately.

For the first two weeks he used his cane, but then one day he picked it up and realized he didn’t really need it.

“What’s wrong?” Alex asked.

He shook his head. “I don’t think I really need this. I pick it up out of habit. The first week it was handy, but I don’t think I have to have it anymore.”

She grinned at him. “Well, look at you, old man. The years are just rolling back.”

He laughed with her and stepped close for a hug. As always, she met him eagerly, with clear eyes. The entire time she’d been here he’d worried that taking care of him would try their relationship too much, but instead it had only made them stronger.

He had learned to trust in her, and she had learned to be patient with him when he got frustrated. Now that he knew his mobility had completely changed, he wanted to do more than he was allowed, and she’d had to learn to rein him in, as well. The staples around his incision were taken out after fourteen days, and the lack of tugging and pulling from them had excited him even more.

Though housebound for now, the physical therapist came a couple of times a week, and even he was excited by Duncan’s progress. When the therapist left, he continued to do the same exercises, until Alex cautioned him to slow down.

There was a lot of laying on the couch watching TV, or reading, or working on the computer. By the third week of doing nothing, Duncan demanded work, and Alex thought it was a good idea. “You might as well,” she said. “You’re on the phone running things for the most part anyway.”

He grinned at her and kissed her on her curled lips. “I love you, Alex. Thank you for understanding.”

She wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed his neck. “I love you too, you sexy man.”

Though he felt like he could make love to her, she was very firm in her ‘no’.

“We’re not going to risk a setback just so that you can get your rocks off. I’ll help you with that later.” She’d grinned and winked at him, then walked away.

Leaving him aching.

Duncan had worried that having her literally at his side twenty-four hours a day would make them tired of each other, but the most amazing thing happened. The more he learned about her, the more he wanted to know. He already knew they were very compatible physically, but the situation they were in now forced them to get to know each other on an emotional and intellectual level, and they had needed that in their relationship.

Yes, he looked forward to the sex, but more because he admired the woman she’d become because of the things that had shaped her life.

Zeke and Ember had just come over for a visit, along with their son Drew. Duncan had showed him his scar and gained all sorts of cool-points, because that was the way Drew thought. Zeke, the most important male in his life was covered in scars, so if Duncan had them, too, he must be cool as well.

Sound reasoning to a six-year old.

As they sat on the couch after the little family had left, Duncan had told her, “If we have a child, I hope it’s a little boy like Drew. He’s an awesome kid.”

Alex stilled in his arms. “Do you really mean that?” she asked softly.

“Yes, I do,” he admitted. “I want a couple of kids with you. Maybe not together like Shannon and John are doing. I’d like one at a time. We need to start slowly.”

She lifted her head and there were tears filling her eyes. “I need to tell you something, Duncan.”

Oh, shit. He didn’t like that expression on her face. She was struggling with something heavy and he suddenly worried that she had changed her mind. “What’s wrong, babe? Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it.”

She looked out the window, as if to gather her courage, then turned back to him. “I was pregnant when I left here after we broke up. I didn’t know until I got the flu a little while later, but didn’t feel better after it was gone. I went into the doctor and he told me I was pregnant. But I lost the baby a few days later, after they took out my IUD.”

Duncan blinked, assimilating the information she’d just laid on him. They’d made a child together. But it hadn’t survived. And she’d been alone, dealing with everything without him to help her.

She was crying softly now, wiping the tears away with a tissue she’d grabbed from the coffee-table. His own eyes burned, and his chest ached. Reaching out, he pulled her tight against him again. “I’m so sorry, Alex. That had to have been terrible for you to deal with alone.”

She let him hold her for a long time. Eventually, she leaned back and her tears had begun to fade. “You’re not mad at me for not telling you?”

He shook his head, horrified. “How can I be? That was traumatic for you and you needed to tell me in your own time.”

She nodded, looking relieved.

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