"Gideon, grab Dad and let's go NOW." Sarah, usually calm and serene especially at five and a half months pregnant, looked absolutely frantic as she tugged on her brother's jacket sleeve to pull his attention from the rack of fetish gear he was perusing while their father was off looking at massage oils and lubes in what was unarguably the largest sex toy shop in the state, her eyes fixed on a point in the distance.
Immediately Gideon dropped his hand to her baby bump, afraid there was a problem. "Do we need to go to the ER?"
"I don't care where we go, as long as it's not here, now hurry. I'll meet you in the car." She pulled away from him and took the long way, around some tall shelves, out the front door to the parking lot. He looked over to where she had been staring and saw a tall man in his mid-twenties wearing a staff t-shirt and apparently explaining the merits of a slender red vibrator to three giggling co-eds. Slowly Gideon walked by and gave the young man a sly wink, causing him to blush and stutter through his next sentence. Gideon smiled and went on to collect his father and meet Sarah in the parking lot. So, that's the sperm donor he thought to himself, stepping into the balmy spring night air.
"I take it Colt didn't work here when the two of you were bumping uglies?" Gideon said, as he and Seth climbed into the front seat of the car. Sarah had already gotten into the back and slumped down low, her head bowed. Glancing in the rearview he saw her swipe a hand across her eyes before she spoke.
"No, he said he didn't need to work, supposedly he has family money. Of course he also said that he didn't believe in infidelity so who knows what the truth is."
Seth and Gideon exchanged a glance that spoke volumes. They had both wondered if she had felt more for her unborn daughter's father than she had let on and now they knew. Sarah played with them sexually, giving herself to them wholly and without reservation and loved them deeply and unconditionally. By letting another man into her body she had been expressing her deep feelings of love. She was a forever kind of girl, not one to have sex just for the sake of having sex and she was not over how she felt for the young man who had gotten her pregnant.
"I'd still like to kick his ass. Do I get permission now?"
"No, Gideon," Sarah said quietly. "Just forget him."
"Why? You haven't."
"Kids, no bickering in the car," Seth broke in, trying to alleviate the tension between his children. He knew that what his son said was the truth, but it was vitally important that he not push his sister too hard on the matter right now. Gideon gave him a look, but did not continue baiting his sister.
Once they had arrived back at their home, Sarah went upstairs while the two men went out to the back deck. Both were silent for several minutes, until Gideon spoke. "Do you think it's real love or just the excitement of being with the first man who isn't us?"
"I think we both know the answer to that one."
The younger man kicked the deck railing. "Damn it, Dad, I don't want for us to lose her. When I found out she was pregnant I was thrilled because it meant that she wouldn't have to go find someone else to share her life with so she could have the children she wants and we can't give her."
"I know, Gid, I felt the same way but are we really and truly being fair to her? For that matter, are she and I being fair to you? I know that you enjoy your bachelor life right now, but you might want to get married and start a family of your own someday. I hate that I didn't think of these things when we started all of this, but they are issues we need to talk about. I-." Seth's voice broke as his eyes began to tear up. "I love both of you so much, but I don't see a way our current lifestyle would allow either of you to live normal lives with spouses and children."
"Who says it needs to, Dad? You'll have a grandchild in a few months, and I hope to God you're not worried that I'll molest her. The only way I would ever lay a hand on her that way is if she came to me first, and if she was over the age of consent. Or are you worried about your control?"
"No," Seth said sharply, "I made the same commitment to myself. Sarah told me she wanted to be with me or we never would have started. I just want both of you to be happy."
"I am happy," Gideon shouted. "I love my life right now with both of you here, and the three of us sharing a bed every night. You fix us breakfast, I pack lunches for everyone, she cooks us supper and we all sit in the family room together with you reading, Sarah working on a baby blanket and me watching a game or movie. Everything is perfect right now."
"Everything except for the fact that your sister is heartbroken. I don't doubt that she loves us and what we have together, but we have to accept that she loves that boy too, that she wants to be with him."
"He left her for another woman! He doesn't deserve her. There is no way in hell he can love her and provide for her and the baby the way that we can."
Seth took a couple of deep breaths then leaned against the deck railing so he could look into his son's eyes. "He's been trying to call her. She thinks I don't notice when she checks her phone and ignores a call, but I do. And he sent a letter to the old house that got forwarded here. I didn't give it to her, but I did open it and read it. He said that he didn't cheat on Sarah and that his roommate lied to her."
"I don't buy it."
"You don't want to buy it because she might forgive him. In the letter he also said that he had a feeling the night the condom broke that he got her pregnant, and he doesn't want to be robbed of the opportunity to be a part of his child's life."
"Fuck!" Gideon kicked the deck railing again and then went into the house and up to the room designated as Sarah's so outsiders wouldn't get suspicious about sleeping arrangements. Not finding his sister there he headed to the master suite, where they generally all slept together every night. He found her coming out the attached bath, wrapped in his robe, towel drying her long brown hair.
Needing to hold her, to love her he pulled the towel from her hands, yanked open the robe and gently pushed her down on the bed, his lips falling onto hers with a bruising kiss.
"Gideon, what are you doing?"