Unconventional Love

Up in Amy’s suite, Ash clung to his mother-in-law like a scared young child. Of course, in comparison to everyone else in the house except one of the maids’ daughters, that’s exactly what he was. He kept his torso turned so that his mother, whom she’d dragged upstairs with them for some reason, couldn’t see his expanding middle and know that he was with child. He didn’t want her to know since she’d been one of the people to always lock him away and keep him that way until he married Andy.

When he heard the gunshot his husband fired outside, he’d jumped like a startled cat and started shaking terribly. He was scared to Death that his husband would turn such violence on him, even though he should’ve known better. Violence in general scared the daylights out of him, regardless of who it was coming from.

Daisy, the poor thing, sat on the sofa opposite her son and his mother-in-law, wanting so badly to comfort him as she hadn’t been allowed to do his entire life. It hurt seeing him cling to the other woman like she was his mother, and Amy could see that in her eyes. She shook her head when she looked like she wanted to join them, not because she didn’t want her to comfort her son, but because she knew he wouldn’t be receptive to such advances. He’d freak out and push her away because of what she’d done—or hadn’t—in the past.

KNOCK KNOCK! “It’s me, Mother,” a deep voice called from the other side of the outer door to her suite.

“I have to unlock the door for Andy,” she murmured soothingly.

“Do not leave me here, Mother!” the young boy cried, clutching her tighter.

“Daisy, can you open the door? Andy will break it down if you do not,” Amy said, returning the hug her son-in-law was so desperate for.

Nodding, the other woman rose from the sofa and made her way over to the door.

Andy nodded his thanks to her as he entered the room, immediately making a beeline for his bride. “Ashes, it is okay. He is gone now.”

“Wh-what was th-that b-boom! for?” Ash stuttered, barely peeking up at him.

“He would not leave without your mother, so I fired a warning shot at his feet,” his husband answered. “He is not dead, if that is what you are thinking.”

The young boy released a sigh of relief, then flung himself into his arms.

“But Mother, why did you bring Daisy upstairs with you?” the young man asked curiously, tightly embracing his bride.

“I saw in her eyes as she was pleading with Logan to stop that she never wanted to hurt him when he was younger,” Amy answered simply. “You were forced to do such horrible things to him, were you not?”

“I was,” Daisy answered softly, looking at her feet as she nodded. “I have always been proud of my son, no matter that he chose to dress as a girl. Why? Because at least I could say that I had a child. It was always Logan who was ashamed of him for not wanting to dress and act as a boy should—or rather, as society says one should.”

“R-really?” Ash asked, finally looking up at his mother.

“Really, Ashley,” she answered, a tear streaming down her cheek. “Your father was—and still is—and abusive man. I will not tell you the things the he did to me before your birth, but they are things no man should ever do to his wife.”

Andy knew she meant that he would beat and rape her, but wasn’t going to say so aloud. Amy did, too, judging by the look on her face.

“He continued those things after your birth once I regained my strength. When you were old enough that society said you should be dressing and acting as a boy, he started doing those things to you.” She paused, clearly trying not to break down. “I told him that I would just as soon lock you away and keep you that way as watch him do those things to you. It was my decision to lock you away, yes, but to protect you from him, not because I was ashamed of you.”

The young boy’s eyes widened as he took in his mother’s words, and he thanked the Heavens that he was turned to face his husband as his hand drifted to his belly.

“Logan always assumed there was something wrong with him for him to want to dress and act like a girl,” Daisy continued. “He said he was possessed by demons most of the time. I never agreed. If there is anything different about my son, it makes him special, not a freak or someone who needs to be exorcised.”

Andy and Amy shared a look with one another before the young man turned his attention to his bride. “Do you wish to tell her, my love?” he murmured in his ear.

Ash thought about it for a moment, then finally nodded.

“There is actually something very special about your son, Daisy,” the young man said.

The other woman cocked a brow at him in curiosity, but said nothing.

“This discovery was only made by my mother when he took ill a short while ago,” he began. “When giving him a physical examination—including internal—she came upon the discovery of something unheard of by society.”

“Like a woman, Ashley has the ability to carry and bear children,” Amy said. “While performing the internal examination, my fingers came into contact with something I have only felt in a laboring mother.”

“The mouth of a womb,” Daisy breathed, her eyes widening in shock.

“Yes. I never could find a medical condition that would explain his symptoms beyond being with child, despite the many textbooks I have and poured over,” she told her, nodding.

“But why would you have such textbooks? You are not a doctor,” she said in confusion.

“No, I am not, but my father was,” his mother-in-law explained. “Upon his passing, my mother gave them to me since I have been trained in the art of healing since a young age. I kept them, thinking I would never need them, and I am glad that I did.”

The other woman looked at her son, taking in the dress that he was wearing fully for the first time since laying eyes upon him. She noticed how the waistline seemed bigger than those of any other dress she’d ever made him, even if they were constructed of burlap sacks. It wasn’t so big that it looked like a tent on him, but didn’t conform to his tiny figure the way she was used to seeing dresses on him.

Even the bosom of the dress wasn’t quite as tight as she was used to seeing on her son, despite the fact that he’d never filled out a corset the way a woman would. Now that she thought about it, though, she realized that his chest seemed to have filled out more, as well, and she gasped as the realization struck her.

“You are with child,” she breathed, her eyes widening once again.

Embarrassed and scared of her reaction, Ash merely nodded his head before hiding his face in his husband’s chest.

“Yes, he is,” Andy answered, nodding. “That is the main reason why I reacted in such a harsh manner when I saw that you were here. Well, that combined with what he told us of his childhood. For that, I am deeply sorry.”

“You had no reason to think anything aside from us abusing him,” Daisy told him. “Like I said previously, I locked him away to keep his father from doing to him what he did to me, not because I was ever ashamed of him. I am deeply sorry that I kept you locked away from the world for all those years, Ashley. I hope that one day, you can find it in your heart to forgive me.”

Having thought about what his mother said the entire time his delicate condition was explained, the young boy had already decided to forgive her. He broke away from his husband and walked the few feet that separated him, then embraced her. Shocked, it took her a moment to return the embrace, and when she did, she had to remember not to squeeze him too tightly, lest she harm his unborn child. As they embraced for the first time in his life since he was a toddler, she could feel his swollen abdomen pressing against her.

Daisy was in awe at feeling such a thing, having never thought she’d experience the joy of becoming a grandmother, especially after she figured out that her son was attracted to men, rather than women. When they ended their embrace, she gently pressed her hand to his belly, marveling in the firm orb.

Ash was a bit embarrassed for his mother to touch him in such an intimate way since she hadn’t really touched him in years, as was shown by the pink tint to his cheeks. He didn’t stop her, though, knowing now that she’d done everything she could to protect him instead of trying to hurt him, and that she would never hurt him. Clearly she’d thrown herself in his father’s path all his life to keep him safe from harm.

That thought made him think that if he’d done such atrocious things to her before he was born, and even afterward, especially when she wouldn’t let Logan hurt him, he was likely still doing those things to her. Now wanting to protect his mother the same way she’d protected him all those years, even though she’d gone about it in an unorthodox manner, made the wheels in his head start turning. He’d heard his husband telling his father that they would return her home once she was calm and no sooner, but he wasn’t so sure he wanted her to go back to that place.

“Andy, you said that you would not take her home until she was calm, correct?” he asked, looking over at him.

“Yes, I did, my love,” the young man answered, his brow furrowed in confusion.

“I am not sure that I want her to return there, if what she says is true,” Ash said. “Yes, she kept me locked away, but if it was to protect me, especially if she threw herself in his path instead, what is to say that he is not still abusing her?”

“He was. He hit me just this morn for expressing the desire to pay you a visit,” Daisy said softly, hanging her head.

“Where?” the young boy demanded.

She took her hand and splayed it across her left side, wincing softly as she barely touched the area.

“What did he do to you?” he asked.

“H-he p-pushed me t-to the f-floor,” she stuttered, on the verge of breaking down. “Wh-when I t-tried to r-rise, h-he k-kicked me.”

“With his boots on, yes?” Ash asked softly.

Crying too hard to speak now, Daisy nodded jerkily.

“She is not going back there. If he comes calling for her return, tell him that she made the choice to stay here so he does not think we decided to hold her prisoner,” he told his husband firmly. “She did everything she could to be a good mother to me, even if it was in an unorthodox manner and did not show it. I will not let her go back and suffer, nor die. Not at his abusive hands—and feet.”

“I will gladly tell him she chose to stay here on her own,” Andy agreed.

“I-I w-would have m-made th-that choice o-on m-my own, had y-you not m-made it f-for m-me,” she said softly.

“I will have one of the maids begin setting up the suite on the third floor,” Amy told them, reminding them that, despite how quiet she’d been, she was still in the room. She quickly took her leave and headed downstairs, leaving them alone with the other woman.

“With Chris and Andy here, you will not have to worry,” Ash told her, embracing her again. “You will also want for nothing.”

“R-really?” she asked.

“Really,” he answered, nodding as he pulled away. “Come with us to our suite, and I will show you.”

Nodding her agreement, Daisy followed him down the hall to their suite while Andy went downstairs to tell his parents where they’d be. He showed her the opulence of the sitting room, grinning at her shocked expression. It was then that he took her to their bedchamber, where he let her take in the linens on the bed, their reading nook, and all of the other décor.

Ash then opened his wardrobe and showed her every dress that had ever been commissioned for him since he was wed, including his chemises and petticoats. He chose not to show her such intimate garments as under drawers and stockings, but she didn’t need or want to see those. She gently ran her fingers over the silk of his favorite lavender dress, her mouth opening in a shocked O as she realized what material it was made of. She turned shocked chocolate-brown eyes up at him, barely able to take it in.

It was obvious that she couldn’t believe that, by marrying him off as she had, at his father’s insistence, he’d come to live far more comfortably—and lavishly—than she’d ever dreamt he would. He chuckled softly as he told her that, unfortunately, he wouldn’t be wearing what was currently in his wardrobe for a while, gently rubbing his belly as he did so. She understood that he meant he’d outgrown them for the moment and said nothing.

Mere minutes passed and they were seated comfortably on the sofa in their sitting room when Andy returned with a tray in his hands. He quickly poured each of them a cup of coffee, something that his bride didn’t normally indulge in because he wasn’t fond of the flavor. Daisy thanked him softly, both for the coffee and allowing her to remain here, despite her past transgressions against her son. The young man waved her words off, telling her that she’d only meant to protect him from harm and, although he had to adjust to having caring people around him, he was fine.

She’d done as well as she possibly could, given their circumstances at the time, and that was all he could thank her for as they began their new life together.

Notes