Taking You (2 page)

Gretchen looked into his kind blue eyes—still as clever and full of mischief as they’d been when he was a little boy—and for the first time since Stephen had died, she began to think about new beginnings.

“Lark?“ Mason burst through the heavy wooden door leading back to the choir loft, but there was no sign of Lark on the benches or the raised platform at the back of the space.

“Baby, where are you?” Mason spun in a circle, looking for where she might have gone, concern making his heart beat faster.

Lark had seemed fine earlier when they both arrived at the church after work, but he knew she’d been feeling the stress of the impending wedding. He’d also had to miss her first ultrasound today to do rounds at the hospital, and that certainly hadn’t helped ease her stress-levels. He’d promised he’d be at the next ultrasound, come hell or high water, but he knew it didn’t make up for missing the first one.

This was their first baby, and she wanted everything to be perfect, especially since their child had been conceived before they were officially married. Mason couldn’t care less about that little detail—he was starting a family with the woman he loved, that was all he cared about—but Lark’s Mom and Dad cared very, very much. He suspected Lark’s determination to make this wedding perfect was her way of compensating for disappointing her parents.

Mason appreciated Lark’s good heart and was looking forward to tomorrow, but a part of him couldn’t wait for the wedding to be over, so life could return to normal and Lark could get some much-needed rest.

After one last scan of the empty space, he headed toward another door on the opposite side of the room. It led to the back stairs and the fellowship hall beneath the sanctuary. It was the only place Lark could have gone from this point.

He was almost to the door when he heard the muffled sobs.

He paused, ears straining. It was definitely Lark, and it sounded like she was somewhere…above him.

Mason backtracked into the room, heading for two doors he’d assumed led to supply closets. The first one proved him right—it was full of choir hymnals and robes and piles and piles of sheet music—but the second door opened onto a narrow, circular staircase.

It was the staircase to the baptismal suite above the organ. He remembered it now. He’d been seventeen the last time he’d walked up these stairs, on his way to get baptized years later than any of his friends.

But then he had never set foot in a church until his mom left town when he was sixteen. At first, it was just another excuse to get away from his uncle’s house, but soon church services became a comfort. He had special memories of the baptismal suite, in particular. It was the place where he had first felt like he belonged to something bigger than himself.

Maybe that’s why Lark had chosen to seek refuge here. Maybe it gave her comfort, too.

“Baby?” he asked, easing into the small room with the raised pool in the middle. Lark was sitting on the bench along the wall, her feet pulled up and her black-and-white flowered dress tucked over her knees.

“What’s wrong?” Mason asked softly. “Tell me, and I’ll go fix it.”

Lark sniffed and lifted liquid brown eyes to his. “I can’t do this.”

“Can’t do what?” he asked, stomach tightening. His logical mind knew that Lark wasn’t talking about their relationship—their love was as rock-solid as anything he’d known—but the small part of him that still worried he didn’t deserve a second chance with Lark wasn’t one hundred percent sure.

“It’s just too much,” she said, tears slipping down her cheeks. “And I’m so tired, and I’m never going to fit in my dress.”

“Yes, you will.” Mason went to her, sitting close and putting one arm around her shoulder.

She leaned into him with a shuddery breath.

“You tried it on yesterday, right? And you said it fit fine. Everything’s going to fine,” he said, running his fingers lightly up and down the bare skin on her arm.

It was late October and chilly out, but Lark had been feeling hot all the time lately—hot and tired and puffy and prone to crying for any reason and no reason. Though he knew she was overjoyed to be having their baby, the actual being-a-pregnant-woman part of the situation wasn’t agreeing with her.

“No, it’s not,” she said with a dramatic sniff. “Melody and Aria say the flower arrangements for the ends of the pews are too big. No one’s going to be able to get in and out without knocking all the flowers off.”

“Then we’ll ask the guests to go into the pews on the other side,” Mason said.

“We can’t do that! It would be so inconvenient.”

“So what?” he asked. “They’re our family and friends. They shouldn’t mind a little inconvenience in the name of making the church look pretty when the bride walks down the aisle.”

“And Melody thinks we need to be here by seven a.m. to get all the flowers up and make it to our hair appointments on time,” Lark said, still sounding anxious. “But I’m so exhausted! If I don’t sleep in, I’ll never make it through the whole day without a nap. But I can’t ask them to do the flowers by themselves because it’s
my
wedding, and
I’m
the one who wanted to do the flowers instead of hiring a florist, and Melody is already covering for me at work next week so we can go on our honeymoon, and Aria spent her only day off this week making our cake, and I just feel like everything is going to fall apart and they will hate me forever for being such a cheapskate!”

Mason fought the urge to smile. He knew Lark was really upset, but she was pretty cute when she was in the middle of a stress ramble.

“They know we’re saving money for the baby,” he said. “Your sisters understand. They love you, and they don’t think you’re being cheap.”

“Nana thinks I am,” Lark said, finally beginning to relax beneath his touch.

“Nana is a cranky old goat.”

Lark snorted and punched him lightly in the stomach. “Don’t talk about my Nana like that. Only blood relatives are allowed to call her names, and only when she’s too far away to hear because we’re all terrified of her.”

“She has been up in everyone’s business more than usual lately, hasn’t she?”

Lark sighed. “Yes. I think she’s just lonely, but she’s driving my mom crazy. They’re both going to have a nervous breakdown when Nana finally figures out that Melody and Nick are living together.”

“They’ll get over it,” Mason said. “Melody and Nick are good for each other.”

“We’re good for each other, too,” Lark said, voice trembling. “But that didn’t stop everyone from deciding that I’m a pregnant-too-soon embarrassment to the family. My mom is so ashamed of me, I can tell.”

Her last word ended in a whimper as her shoulders began to shake again. Fresh tears wet the front of Mason’s dress shirt. He swore he could feel them soaking into his heart, leaving an awful, helpless feeling behind.

“Sweetheart, don’t cry. You are not an embarrassment,” he said, wrapping his other arm around her and giving her a real hug. “You have to stop letting Mom and Dad and Nana get you upset. It’s not good for you or the baby, and they’re just dead wrong. You are beautiful and perfect and our baby will be beautiful and perfect. It doesn’t matter when we got pregnant. We’re good, and everything will be fine.”

She sniffed and swiped at her cheeks. “You always say the right things.”

“I say true things.” He kissed the top of her head. “Trust me. I’m the only person you need to be listening to right now, and I promise you that our wedding will be wonderful and our baby will be a blessing and there is absolutely no reason for you to be upset.”

There was a long pause before Lark whispered in a fearful voice, “What if I can’t handle it, Mason?”

“Handle what?”

“What if I can’t handle being a mom and running a business?” she asked. “What if everything falls apart? What if the catering company goes under, and I’m responsible for plunging my sisters into poverty, and my parents hate me, and our marriage crumbles beneath the strain?”

Mason laughed, prompting Lark to lift her head and shoot him an outraged look.

“What?” he asked. “I’m sorry, honey, but you’re blowing this way out of proportion. I know it will be hard at first, but we’ll make it through. The business is doing great, and it’s not like we’re in this all alone. We have your mom and sisters to help out, and I love you so much there’s no way our marriage is ever going to crumble.”

“Are you sure?” Lark asked in a small voice. “Even if we get more than we bargained for?”

“What do you mean?” Mason asked.

“You know how we’ve been budgeting for a crib and stroller and car seat and diapers and childcare and everything for one baby?”

“Yes,” he said cautiously, wondering what she was getting at.

“Well, what if I told you we need to double our budget?”

Mason stared down into her troubled eyes for a bewildered moment before the meaning of what she was saying hit him with enough force to make his head spin.

“Twins?” he said, excitement and fear making his heart beat faster. “We’re having twins?”

***

Lark nodded, feeling her face crumple, even though she was trying desperately not to start crying again. But she couldn’t interpret Mason’s expression and truthfully, she didn’t know what she was feeling, either.

There were too many emotions swirling inside of her to pin down just one. Ever since the day she’d missed her last period, her emotional landscape had been wild and unfamiliar territory. Every feeling was so magnified that half the time she felt like she was drowning in a choppy sea of her own emotions and far too exhausted to fight her way to the surface.

Aria said that was normal, and that she would have more energy and be less moody once she reached her second trimester, but Lark wasn’t so sure, especially now that she knew two babies, not one, were growing inside her. Multiples were considered high-risk pregnancies, and the chances of something going wrong were much greater.

Maybe she would never feel better, maybe she would spend the next seven months a complete wreck, and her babies would arrive in the world to a mother who was a bundle of anxiety instead of the calm, grounded mom Lark had always wanted to be.

“Please say something,” she begged, when Mason stayed quiet for too long.

“Is there any history of twins in your family?” he asked, the unexpected question making Lark blink with surprise.

“Um…I don’t think so,” she said. “None that I know of, anyway.”

“Mine either,” Mason said. “And you’re not old enough for there to be an increased risk of twins for that reason. Do you think this could be a mistake?”

Lark shook her head, the ball of stress in her stomach growing a little bigger, heavier. “There were two heartbeats, Mason. I saw them, like two little flashing lights. There was no doubt in Dr. Miller’s mind. She’s already planning on seeing me once a month from now on to make sure both babies are doing okay.”

Mason’s breath rushed out. “Wow.”

“You are not making me feel better, Mason,” Lark said, frustration banishing the urge to get weepy for the sixth or seventh time today. “This whole stunned, in-denial thing you’re doing right now is not reassuring.”

Mason laughed nervously as he turned to take her hands in his. “I’m sorry, babe. I’m just surprised. And a little scared, I’ll admit it.”

Lark’s brow furrowed. “So you don’t think we can handle twins, either? Oh my god, Mason, what are we going to do!”

“No, no, that’s not it.” He lifted her hands to his mouth one at a time, pressing soft kisses to her fingers. “I’m worried about your health, and the babies’ health, that’s all. You’re only five foot two, babe. How are two little ones going to fit inside you once they’re bigger than my thumb?”

Lark’s lips twitched. “That’s what you’re worried about?”

Mason shrugged. “I know petite women have babies all the time, but you’re
my
petite woman and I worry.”

Lark brushed gentle fingers through his hair, marveling that she could keep loving him more with every passing day. “Dr. Miller said I would be high risk, but she’s not super worried, I can tell. I’ll be fine, Mason. I may be short, but I’ve got child-birthing hips. I’m sure my uterus is spacious, and will sleep two comfortably.”

Mason smiled hard enough to make the skin around his eyes wrinkle. “Oh, yeah? You’ve thought about this, then?”

“Yes, I have,” Lark said, grinning back at him. “I think I have a roomy uterus. Is that okay with you?”

“I think your uterus is a wonderland,” he said. “If I could spend my entire life balls deep in your uterus, I’d be a happy man.”

“I think that’s my vagina you’re talking about,” Lark said, with a snort. “For a doctor, you have a poor grasp of female anatomy.”

“Maybe you should give me a refresher course,” Mason said, pulling her onto his lap, and sliding one hand up her bare leg to disappear beneath the hem of her dress.

“We’re in church, Mason,” Lark protested, pushing gently at his chest.

“I know,” he said, fingers skimming higher up her thigh.

“In the baptismal suite. This is probably sacrilegious,” she whispered, but she didn’t move a hand to stop him, she only leaned closer, capturing his lips in a kiss.

“This isn’t sacrilegious, this is love,” he mumbled against her lips as he began to stroke her through her underwear, making Lark’s breath come faster. “What could be more holy than love?”

“Hard to argue with that,” she breathed.

Mason’s free hand threaded through her hair, pulling her deeper into his kiss. As his tongue danced with hers and his fingers teased between her legs, Lark’s chest loosened and her shoulders finally relaxed away from her ears for what felt like the first time all day.

Within a few minutes, the anxiety that had plagued her all afternoon was gone, replaced by waves of blissful anticipation. Her breath came faster, her fingers fisted in Mason’s shirt, and it wasn’t long before she was spreading her thighs, silently begging for more.

“God, I love you,” Mason sighed softly as he pulled her underwear to one side.

“I love you, too,” she said, stifling a moan as his long, thick finger slid inside her and his thumb came to circle the bundle of nerves at the top of her, building the tension gathering low in her body. She reached for him, finding where he was thick and hard beneath his pants, but he put her hand away.