Unconventional Love

Within another couple of weeks, Ash was feeling just as good as before he’d taken ill, if not better. He wasn’t constantly losing everything he tried to eat, although he still had a feeling of unease in the pit of his stomach from time to time. He was able to sleep through the night without waking up at the crack of dawn to empty his stomach, but rather because he was well-rested. The only things he really had to complain about were more frequent trips to the water closet to relieve himself and wanting to be intimate with his husband more often than he had.

Even Andy was noticing that, as the nausea went away and he started feeling better, he would become aroused from something as simple as hearing his voice. Despite the embarrassment he suffered, he pulled his mother aside one day to ask her if that was normal since neither of them knew what to expect.

Chuckling, Amy assured her son that an increased libido was perfectly normal when one was expecting, that even she’d suffered that. Without going into too much detail, she told Andy that Chris had thought she was trying to kill him when she was expecting him with the frequency that she wanted to make use of their marriage bed. The young man scrunched up his face in disgust at the thought, making her laugh harder.

It was finally about three months after he first took ill, four after trusting his husband not to hurt him when they became intimate, that Ash felt well enough to get up and move around. He’d been abed for so long that he was sick of it, and although he promised not to do anything too strenuous or potentially dangerous, he wanted to get up. Since he wanted to take a walk through the woods, that meant having to get dressed for the first time in months since he couldn’t go out in his night gown.

“Ouch!” he cried as his husband attempted fastening the last few buttons on the back of his dress at his waistline.

“What is amiss, my love?” Andy asked, sounding startled and almost frantic.

“It is too tight!” the young boy cried, frantically trying to pull the dress away from his mid-section. “I cannot breathe, and it hurts!”

“Okay, okay,” he responded calmly, immediately unfastening them again. “I am sorry, my love.”

“It is okay, Andy,” Ash answered on a sigh. “I know you did not mean to.”

“I did not think you had grown quite that much,” the young man said thoughtfully, turning him to look at his profile.

He gave an indignant huff and glared at him.

“I am not saying that in a bad way, Ashes,” his husband soothed him. “I meant that, while it is obvious you blossom with new life, I did not think you had grown enough to make your dresses too tight.”

“Mmm,” he hummed thoughtfully.

“Let me see if Mother has anything that will fit you until she can take your measurements and make you some new dresses,” Andy told him.

Sighing sadly at the thought that he couldn’t wear his favorite dresses, and wouldn’t be able to for quite some time to come, he sat on their bed in his chemise and petticoat. He rubbed his belly gently as he thought about the little life growing within him, wondering if it would be worth being unable to do certain things for the next few months.

Ash decided that, since parenthood was the last thing he’d ever thought he’d get a chance to experience, it was a good thing. Besides, so long as he lived through the pregnancy and delivery, he’d get to see the beautiful face of his child, to hold them in his arms. He just hoped that he wouldn’t leave his husband as a young, single father and widower by dying in childbirth since, as Amy’d already made clear, his body technically wasn’t designed with child-bearing in mind.

Moments later, his husband returned with his mother-in-law in tow, holding a dress she said she’d worn ages ago around the same time in her own pregnancy. It was clearly an old, but well-cared for dress, its style at least fifteen years out of date. He could already tell that its waistline was much looser than those of the dresses in his wardrobe, and would likely fit around his growing middle better.

Andy helped him up as he sighed again, knowing he didn’t really want to wear something so old, especially since it wasn’t his. He didn’t have to sweet-talk him into trying it on, nor appeal to his maternal side by saying that it would be best for their babe since it wasn’t nearly as constricting. The young boy merely held his arms over his head and let him lower the dress over it, worming them through the three-quarter sleeves as he tugged the skirts down over his hips and legs. After he’d risen back to his full height, he began fastening the buttons in the back, relieved when he didn’t cry out in pain again.

“Better, my love?” he asked, sounding a bit apprehensive.

“It will do, I suppose,” Ash answered a bit sadly.

“Do not fret, dear,” his mother-in-law said soothingly. “I still have the measurements for that dress written down. It will not take me long to create something more like what you are used to wearing in that size and bigger.”

His eyes widened at her words.

“Of course you are going to continue to grow as your babe does,” Amy chuckled. “But you will be able to return to your normal size afterward.”

The young boy and his husband turned skeptical looks on her.

“Boys, I am the same size that I was before having Andy,” she laughed. “My belly was out to here the week before his birth.” She held her hand at least a foot, maybe more, from her belly.

Both their eyes widened again when she did that.

“Holy cow… How did I not rip you to shreds, Mother?” Andy breathed in shock, taking in her tiny form.

“It is just part of child-bearing, my son,” she chuckled. She didn’t tell him how her midwife had to stitch her up in a couple spots from where she tore, nor how Chris almost thought he was going to lose her from the excess blood she’d shed.

Even though he was a bit embarrassed to have to wear his mother-in-law’s clothes, Ash still wanted to take a walk through the woods. He allowed his husband to kneel down and put his boots on for him, considering that he couldn’t bend over as well since he was blossoming with a new life. He knew it would only get worse as their child grew, but that was just a fact of life that he was resigned to if he wanted the babe to be healthy.

Now that he was fully dressed, Andy extended his elbow to him so that he could keep him steady and hopefully keep him from falling. They both noticed that the skirt of the dress was just a bit too short, maybe an inch or two, which showed that he was already taller than Amy, even at his tender age of fourteen.

The two of them headed out the back door of their home, given that it was closer to the trail they walked, after grabbing warm overcoats and shawls. It was early-December and the weather was getting steadily colder. The young man had no wish to watch his bride freeze on their walk through the woods, even though he seriously doubted that would happen since he always wore more layers than he did. Besides, considering that he had precious cargo on board, he definitely didn’t want to see anything bad happen to him.

“I cannot wait for the snow to begin falling,” Andy sighed, looking around at the trees. Most were bare already, their colorful leaves now on the ground, but a few still had dark red and orange leaves clinging to their branches.

“Snow? What is that?” his bride asked in confusion.

“You have never seen snow?” he countered in shock.

“No. My parents kept me locked in a room that did not have windows,” the young boy answered sadly.

“Snow is a form of rain that falls when it gets cold out,” the young man explained. “We had it in abundance in Ohio, so much that it would take weeks to melt after it started warming up. I doubt we will get as much here as we did back up North, but I still get the feeling that it will fall eventually.”

“It sounds beautiful,” Ash said, sighing. “I hope I get a chance to see it this winter.”

“You will, my love. I will even let you come outside so we can build a snowman, if it is not too cold,” he promised, grinning.

“Really?” he asked, his chocolate-brown eyes lighting up.

“Yes, my love. I have never had more fun than when I was building a snowman, or having a snowball fight with Father,” he chuckled.

“I do not think that I will try having a snowball fight. Not this year, anyway,” his bride said, gently rubbing his belly.

“I do not think having a snowball fight would be very safe while you are with child, either,” the young man agreed. “There will always be next year, though, and so long as you are not with child again, you may then.”

Neither of them spoke of the possibility that he may not survive their child’s birth, that like Thanksgiving just a couple weeks ago, the upcoming Christmas might be their first and last together. There was no sense in talking about depressing things during a season which was supposed to be filled with joy and good cheer. They didn’t know what the future held, meaning that the young boy might very well survive the birth with few, if any, complications or lingering health effects.

After a short walk through the woods, they both began to shiver as the chill seeped into their bones and decided to head back home. They weren’t so cold that they were at risk of freezing, especially with their warm coats, gloves, and socks, but sitting before a roaring fire with a cup of hot cocoa sounded absolutely divine right now. Chuckling, Andy led his bride back down the trail toward the mansion so they could warm up.

It was only after leaving their boots and coats in the mudroom and heading for the parlor to let Chris and Amy know they’d returned that they got a shock. The older couple had sour looks on their faces when they walked in, and the second they laid eyes on the couple sitting across from them, they realized why.

Logan and Daisy Purdy sat on the sofa opposite them, dressed in what appeared to be their finest clothes, apparently awaiting their return. Smiles that never met their eyes appeared on their faces as they took in the younger couple. Ash clung to his husband, refusing to even cross the room to go to his in-laws since it would mean having to pass those who’d mistreated him so. He hadn’t had to lay eyes on, nor be in the same room as, them ever since they’d so coldly married him off to the son of the new family months ago, and he certainly didn’t want to see them now.

“May I ask why you are here?” Andy asked, a bitter tone to his voice.

“We wished to see Ashley,” Logan said simply.

“For what reason?” he demanded in as gentle a tone as possible.

“We wished to know how our…son was doing,” Daisy told him, pausing before saying the word.

“You gave up that right the day you married him off to me without a care in the world as to whether I would be abusive or not,” the young man told them. “Not that I really could have done worse than you.”

The couple gasped, their eyes widening in shock, but were outraged.

“Why, you—” Logan started, his jaw clenching.

“Save it. Ash told us how you kept him locked away from the world because you were ashamed of his choice,” he told them. “You kept him locked in a windowless room where he could not even see the snow during the winter, introduced him as your daughter to hide your shame and contempt, and dressed him in burlap sacks.

“It is no wonder he was so reluctant to trust my parents and I after we were first wed, and honestly thought I would beat him senseless for just saying ‘Good morning’. I would be ashamed of myself, were I the two of you.” Andy glared at them as he held his young bride close. “As it stands, neither of us want you here, therefore you are not welcome here. Leave now of your own accord and do not ever return, and we shall have no problems. If you do not…well, Mother will have to take Ash upstairs while I forcibly remove you.”

Chris and Amy never said a word because, despite being the young boy’s in-laws and the property owners, it wasn’t their beef. Their son was the one who’d married Ash, the one who’d unknowingly impregnated him, and it was his right to tell the Purdys to get out and get lost, something they very well knew.

Logan started to argue that he still had every right to see his son, despite his wife tugging on his sleeve and begging him to stop before things turned ugly. It was then that, without being asked to, Amy got up and took her expectant son-in-law into her arms, guiding him out of the room quietly. She paused when she saw the begging look in Daisy’s eyes, instantly realizing that she hadn’t wanted to hurt her child, and grabbed her hand, as well.

With the trio out of the room, Chris rose and made his way over to his son’s side. As the man of the house, he had every right to pull out his shotgun and take aim on the unwanted visitor, but decided that honor should be his son’s. When Logan still refused to leave, saying that he demanded to sit down and have a conversation with Ash, Andy finally lost his temper. He grabbed the shotgun sitting in the corner of the room, cocked it since it was already loaded, and took aim. He growled at the man to get out before he blew a hole the size of Texas through him and had to dig another in the woods to bury him in.

“Where is my wife?” the other man demanded, suddenly realizing that she’d disappeared.

“Likely with Mother and Ash,” the young man answered. “Get out. We shall bring her home when she is calm.”

“I will not leave here without my wife!” Logan snapped.

“Oh, yes, you will,” he growled, butting the barrel of the gun against his chest. He slowly forced him back toward the front door and out of the house.

“She is not yours to keep prisoner here!” he growled.

“I never said we were going to force her to stay here,” Andy told him. “If she is upset and does not wish to return home until the morn, that choice is hers. If she chooses to stay here just long enough to calm down before returning home, she may. Either way, we will see to her safety and comfort while she is in our presence, which you are not welcome in.”

“I am not leaving here without my wife!” he screamed.

Sick of dealing with his shit, the young man lowered the barrel of the gun, not really aiming at a spot between his feet, and pulled the trigger. The resounding boom! startled the older man, making him jump backward as if he really had tried to shoot him. He then glanced up at the young man before him and saw the murderous look in his eyes.

“That was just a warning shot. It would be in your best interest to leave now while you still have your life,” he growled.

Too scared not to listen to him now, Logan boarded the buggy he’d used to come out here and snapped the reins against his team’s backs. He was apparently too scared to keep fighting to take his wife back home with him and took off without looking over his shoulder once, thus leaving her behind. Andy discharged the spent shell from the shotgun as he watched his own father-in-law ride off into what was left of the sunset, barely noticing when Chris came up beside him.

“You did good, son,” the older man said, gently patting his upper back. “No doubt that you have scared the daylights out of Ashley, though. Best you go check on him and leave cleaning the gun to me.”

“Yes, Father,” he answered, nodding as he handed it to him.

He darted back into the house and up the stairs, knowing without a doubt that Amy’d taken his bride and mother-in-law to her own suite. He hoped that he hadn’t scared any of them too badly by firing that shot into the ground between Logan’s feet, knowing that Ash likely wouldn’t forgive him if he thought he’d killed him, no matter how much he hated him. He took a deep breath and held it as he gently knocked on the outer door of his mother’s suite.

Notes