Page 218 of New Storm Rising
Stepping forward, she jabbed my chest with a finger— though she knew me well enough to do it softly and not break the digit in question. “I know that absence-of-a-look on your face! Tell me now! Why did you bring me here?”
Why? So that you know. So that you understand.
I hesitated for only a moment—then, stepping forward, captured her face in his hands.
“You won’t ever be restricted, my littleifrit. You won’t ever be restrained or confined.” Glancing up at the statue reaching for the sky for just a moment, I speared her with my gaze, conveying how completely, absolutely serious I was. “That’s why you’re here, Mrs Ambrose. So that you’ll realise, married or not, you will always fly free, fly free as a bird.”
Then, without further ado, I whirled around and strode towards the statue. Inwardly, I started to count. One, two, three…
Thud, thud, thud!
There it was. The sound of footsteps, quickly catching up. Suddenly, Lillian’s soft hand was in mine again. Together, we stepped into the base of the statue and started to make our way up the long, long staircase to the top. Finally, we came to a halt at the highest point of the crown, gazing out through the windows over the moonlit ocean. My lady wife was so engrossed in the scenery that it took her a moment to notice the ladder not far away from us.
Inclining my head towards her, I gestured for her to go ahead.
“Ladies first.”
For a moment, she stared suspiciously at the ladder leading up into a metal pipe, as if she expected it to lead straight to the sewers. Then she glanced over at me. “What’s up there?”
“Why don’t you go and find out?” He cocked his head. “Or are you scared?”
Her foot was on the ladder in the blink of an eye. Sometimes, my dear wife was rather easily directed. Too bad the same didn’t apply when it came to housework. Making sure those thoughts didn’t show on my face (just in case she had eyes in the back of her head), I stepped up behind her and followed her closely up the ladder. Not for a second would I risk my pregnant wife taking a fall. If she fell, I would be there to catch her. Plus, there was the additional benefit that this gave me an intriguing view of her derrière.
Which, if asked, I would firmly deny.
Far too quickly, we reached the top of the ladder, and my wife stuck her head out into the open. The moment she climbed out of the safety of the pipe and up onto the platform at the top of the statue’s outstretched arm, she was buffeted by the wind and started to shiver.[47]
“H-holy crap it’s freezing up here!”
“Indeed?” Pulling myself up onto the platform behind her, I breathed in the fresh air that didn’t feel cold at all. No lower than five degrees Fahrenheit.[48]“I can’t say I noticed.”
“M-my n-nose is nearly f-freezing off!”
“Indeed?” In that case, step one of my master plan was successfully concluded. Step two was ready to start. Sliding my arms around her, I pulled her against my chest, into my warm embrace. “Well, that can be remedied.”
“S-sneaky son of a bachelor,” she growled, teeth chattering as she snuggled eagerly into my arms. Plan successful. “Y-you p-planned this, didn’t you?”
“Why, I have no idea what you mean, Mrs Ambrose.”
Her response to this was mutinous mumbling—just before she buried her nose more deeply into my chest and huddled more closely against me. Her dissatisfied mutterings slowly became weaker and weaker, until finally, there was only silence. Silence and the cold night wind whistling around us. After only a few minutes, she relaxed and leaned into me, apparently not dissatisfied with my machinations anymore.
How fortunate. Because those certainly wouldn’t be the last ones.
Inconspicuously, I let my gaze slide down to her belly, where, by now, a noticeable bulge was visible. That was my child. My unborn son.
Hm…I wonder what she would say to spending the next nine months in bed under heavy guard?
My lady wife must have noticed my gaze—though hopefully not my thoughts—because, a moment later, she hesitantly touched my hands that were resting on her abdomen and glanced up at me with doubts dancing in her eyes.
“Do…do you think it will be all right?”
The hesitation in her voice, the uncertainty… It tore at my heart. This was my fiery feminist. My littleifrit. She shouldn’t be like this. She should never doubt herself. Let alone me.
“Don’t worry.” Gently stroking her back, I tightened my embrace. “I know it will be adequate.”
“That’snotreassuring!”
“Indeed?”
