Love is Precious

By the time the farmers and Native Americans were beginning their autumn harvesting, it was obvious that Ash was blossoming with new life once again. Amy estimated that he was about four months along, saying that he likely conceived around the time of his and Andy’s third anniversary. That made sense because, unless he recalled wrong, his last monthly before he took ill was around the twins’ second birthday, and he would’ve been fertile around their anniversary.

He was having to wear even looser dresses than he had back around Independence Day, but that was okay. As he had while pregnant with Kegan, Kelly, and Thorne, he’d much rather his child be healthy at birth than care about his appearance. He knew that he was going to gain weight and grow as his child did, but that meant the child was healthy.

On the morning of September thirtieth, the young man was awoken at dawn by a familiar fluttering in his belly, along with the sun’s first rays. He yawned and stretched, smiling sleepily as he registered the fact that he could feel his child moving within him. That was always a highlight of his pregnancy because he knew that so long as he continued growing and could feel that, the babe lived within him.

“Mmmm,” Ash murmured softly, settling down again since he wasn’t quite ready to get up.

“Good morning, my love,” his husband said, sounding like a growling demon since he’d just woken up.

“Good morning,” he answered, rolling over to face him.

“I trust your sleep was restful?” Andy asked, turning his head to yawn and cough.

“Very. Even if I did not wake to the fluttering kicks of our babe, I would have awoken soon from being refreshed,” the younger man told him.

“You can feel the babe moving?” he asked, his eyes widening in pleasant surprise.

“Yes. He is not quite as active as the rest of our babes, or so it seems,” he answered, nodding.

“Awww. I cannot wait to feel him kicking by pressing my hand to your belly,” the slightly older man said, smiling.

Ash took his husband’s hand and pressed the appendage to his growing middle since the child in question was still kicking merrily. It took a few moments, but a decently strong kick soon connected with his hand, almost as if the babe knew exactly where it rested on his belly and was purposely aiming for it.

His husband gasped softly, his neck craned so he could look down at where his hand covered his slightly larger one on his abdomen. Feeling their child kicking within him was always a special moment, but it was made even more special when he got to share the feeling with Andy. The younger man chuckled softly as he watched his surprise fade into awe, but he blushed slightly when he lifted up their covers and purposely slid low enough that his face was level with his belly.

The slightly older man murmured a few words of love and good morning to the child, whom seemed to settle down as if it could hear him. He then rested his hand more so on his waist than on his belly and moved closer so he could kiss it through his night gown. This made his young bride chuckle as his blush deepened slightly, but he didn’t mind. That meant to him that he loved their children, even as they grew within him, and that made him happy.

It wasn’t long before his husband decided it was time to rise, if only long enough to go get Thorne from the nursery. They’d managed to get him accustomed to sleeping in there with his brothers three nights a week, and were working on adding a fourth. Ash managed to lever himself up and make his way to the water closet, knowing it wouldn’t be long before he couldn’t do that until after their child’s birth. Just as he got to the receptacle, he took a hard kick to the bladder that would’ve left him wetting himself if he’d stayed abed, and he released a soft sigh of relief.

“Ashes?” he heard Andy call softly.

“I will be there in a moment!” the younger man answered.

“You made it to the water closet on your own?” his husband asked when he returned.

“I did. It will not be much longer before you have to help me until the babe is born, though,” Ash answered, nodding.

“You already waddle like a duck slightly,” he chuckled softly.

The younger man made an indignant sound as he sat down on the sofa in their reading nook, his mouth falling open in a surprised O.

“There is no other way to describe it,” the slightly older man chuckled. “You know I would never tell you such a thing with the intent to offend you.”

Shaking his head, he pulled one side of his night gown down low enough that their son could latch on for his breakfast. They were still working on getting him to eat nothing but solid food, but at least he wasn’t nursing quite as much as he used to. The fact that he was almost ten months old and had been cutting teeth for several months helped with that endeavor, although it was still challenging at times.

Not more than a couple minutes into the feeding, Ash gasped in both shock and outrage, forcibly removing the babe from his nipple. Thorne whined and reached back out like he was going to latch on again, but he handed him off to his husband. Upon looking down, he saw a small amount of blood mixing with the milk still leaking from him from where he’d pulled him off with little to no warning. Even if he hadn’t felt him bite him, this would’ve been proof enough that he had, indeed, bitten him.

Andy gasped softly when he saw the blood, now knowing why he’d forcibly detached him and handed him away. He wouldn’t have been too pleased, either, if he was just feeding their babe and the child bit him, especially since his nipples were so tender. The slightly older man set their child aside before wetting down a rag to press to his chest.

“Thank you, Andy,” Ash said softly, hissing as the water touched his wound.

“You are welcome, my love,” he answered, gently dabbing at him. “Do you wish me to go get Mother?”

“Yes, please,” the younger man answered, nodding. “I feel like even the silk of my chemise will irritate it too much if it is not bandaged.”

“I will take Thorne back to the nursery on my way to her suite and be back shortly,” Andy assured him, pressing a gentle kiss to his lips. “Come, son. You have hurt Mama.”

He picked the child up off the floor of their bedchamber and settled him on his hip, ignoring his soft whines from wanting to latch on again and continue feeding. His young bride kept the wet rag pressed to his nipple, wanting to make sure the bite had stopped bleeding by the time his mother-in-law arrived with whatever healing remedies she was bound to bring back to their suite with her.

Just a few minutes later, she followed her son into the room, her medical bag in hand and her dressing gown not even tied. Ash winced softly as he pulled the rag away from his chest, and he heard her soft gasp as she took in the damage. She sat down on the sofa beside him, taking a small jar from her bag as she did so.

Andy stood nearby, ready to grab anything she might need for the treatment of his wound. He hissed softly as she rubbed an ointment that she dipped up from the jar with her fingers across his nipple, but held still and allowed her to apply it. Once it’d been applied evenly and generously, she wiped her fingers on her night gown since it was going to be laundered that day and dug through her bag again. Within moments, she came up with a strip of clean, obviously bleached cloth, which she had him raise his arm to tie around his torso. She was careful to make sure that it was over his nipple and tied under his arm.

With his wound treated as well as it could be, Amy rose from the sofa and put the small jar back into her bag before closing it up. The younger man thanked her, gently hugging her before she left the room, and she returned the gesture with a gentle smile. It was then that Ash allowed his husband to start selecting his clothes for the day before helping him into them. There was a young lady coming today for a piano lesson, the first visitor since their wedding day, and it was up to him to get her started.

“Since most think you are female, anyway, remember to pitch your voice slightly higher than normal,” Andy reminded him as he buttoned the last few buttons on his dress.

“I have not had to do that in so long, it is an almost foreign concept,” he answered.

“That is because Mother, Father, and I all accepted you for who you are,” his husband chuckled. “Then Mama came along and accepted you, as well. But you know as well as I do that the rest of the world likely will not, especially if they find out you are a male capable of carrying children like a female.”

“That is true enough,” the younger man agreed, attempting to pitch his voice higher. “By all that is holy, this is harder than I remember it being.”

“I think your voice has actually dropped a few notes since we were wed,” he chuckled. “That could be why it is harder. Well, that, and because you are so out of practice.”

“I knew I should have stayed in practice,” Ash grumbled after clearing his throat, somehow hitting the octave he’d been striving for. “All right, that’s better.”

“Much, indeed, my love,” Andy agreed. “Let us get downstairs to await our pupil.”

“My pupil, you mean,” he chuckled. “Until she is so advanced that I cannot teach her, she is my pupil.”

Shaking his head, the slightly older man helped his young bride down the stairs to the parlor, where he’d be giving his lesson. Neither of them were very comfortable with the idea of a perfect stranger being in their suite, so they weren’t going to mention the piano there until they got to know her better, if they did at all.

When they arrived, they saw that Amy was already sitting in there with a young girl who appeared to be about fourteen and her mother. They didn’t appear nearly as wealthy as they were, but not nearly as poor as the Purdys had before Logan’s demise and Daisy moved into the rustic mansion with them. They were what could be described a middle class, seeing as how they were somewhere in between the highest and lowest rungs of the ladder, so to speak.

His mother-in-law rose when she noticed them standing behind the couch, their guests doing the same. She introduced the two of them, not bothering with nicknames since she knew these people likely would never have a reason to call them by such. The mother introduced herself and her daughter as Marissa and Shelby Shepard, a widow who’d recently lost her husband to a fever.

Andy understood all too well how the young girl before them felt right now, and he gently embraced her, a move that surprised both her and her mother. Marissa looked like she wanted to snap at him for making an inappropriate advance…until she saw the comfort Shelby took in the action and the wedding band on his finger. He then told her that they’d lost his father, not as recently as her husband but still pretty recent, to a fever as well. He understood probably better than anyone what went through her mind and told them that she was more than welcome to come to him if she needed to talk to someone.

“Thank you so much, Mr. Biersack,” Marissa said, a smile lighting up her face.

“You are welcome, Mrs. Shepard. And call me Andrew; none of this ‘Mr. Biersack’ nonsense,” he insisted. “Mr. Biersack was my father, and that makes me sound older than I really am.”

“How old are you?” her daughter asked curiously.

“I will be twenty-two the day after Christmas this year,” the slightly older man answered, not offended in the least by her question.

“You were born the day after Christmas?” she asked, her eyes widening.

“Yes, I was. Imagine what a merry Christmas my parents had that year,” Andy chuckled.

“Well, the pain I could have lived the rest of my life without,” Amy said, shaking her head and chuckling as well. “But yes, it was a much merrier Christmas that year than I had anticipated.”

“What about you, Mrs. Biersack?” Marissa asked, addressing Ash that time.

“First of all, none of this ‘Mrs. Biersack’ nonsense,” he told her. “Miss Amy, my mother-in-law, is Mrs. Biersack. My name is Ashley.” He had no idea how he remembered to pitch his voice higher than he was accustomed to unless it was just residual habit from when he was much younger.

“Oh. I am sorry if I offended you, Ashley,” she said, blushing.

“It is of no import. You were raised to have respect for your elders, which I applaud your mother for,” he answered. “I hope to raise my own children to be at least half as respectful.”

“Ashley?” Daisy stood at the top of the stairs with at least one of the twins in her arms.

“Speak of the Devil,” Ash muttered. “Yes, Mama?” He leaned out the door into the front hall, both so she could hear him and so he could see her.

“Kegan and Kelly will not go down for their naps,” she told him. “They can hear other voices and refuse to go to sleep.”

“Will you excuse me for a few moments?” he asked his pupil. “We shall get started on your lesson as soon as I get my children down for their naps.”

“I can start her off, my love,” Andy spoke up. “I do not have to be in the stables for a while yet.”

“Will you be okay with that, Shelby?” he asked, not wanting to push her out of her comfort zone.

The young girl nodded her head, leaving him to make his way back upstairs as quickly as he could while his husband began her first lesson and Amy showed her mother out. He sighed as he got into the nursery in between his and Amy’s suites, wondering why his boys were wanting to be such hard-asses this morn.

It didn’t take long to get them settled for their naps, which they should’ve allowed their grandmother do, and he was free to head downstairs once again. Ash carefully made his way down, taking a kick to the bladder from his unborn child just as he reached the bottom of the stairs. Groaning softly, he quickly headed for the water closet to relieve himself, knowing it was best to do so now before he got settled behind the piano. It would be harder to get up again if he didn’t, and he knew that all too well from the past couple years.

Andy was waiting outside the water closet door for him when he emerged, concerned about him and their child since he’d heard him groan. He made it clear that he was fine, that he’d just taken an unexpected kick to his bladder after finally getting Kegan and Kelly down for their naps. Relieved that he was, indeed, okay, he helped him back to the parlor to continue Shelby’s lesson before heading out to the stables at last.

Notes