Free Vivian by Bernadette Marie

her lifting her eyes to him. “I’ll keep that in mind since I’ll be here.”
    He sat down on the edge of her bed and a deep need surfaced in her. The last time she’d seen Adam, he’d sat down in the dark on the bed just like this. They’d had enough sex for nearly a year in the twelve hours he’d been home, but when he’d sat there, in the dark just as Clayton was doing, he was there to tell her he needed to leave.
    Tears stung her eyes and she was grateful for the dark. “I was thinking, I don’t have to be to school until almost eight. Why don’t I bring all the girls then?”
    She sipped at the coffee again. Here he sat on her bed and he wasn’t talking about leaving, he was talking about staying and helping.
    “ I couldn’t do that to you.”
    “ You’re not doing anything. You’ll be with all the girls all day. Go, get settled in. Let me get everyone up and ready.”
    There should have been an alarm that went off in her head. It was bad enough that she’d let him sleep in her house and she’d thought of all those things she could do with him in her house. But no siren went off. Instead, a calm took over and she leaned into him.
    “ Are you sure?”
    He tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear and she shuddered to think of how she must look.
    His hand lingered and he caressed her face. “I’m very sure. Remember, I’m not going anywhere. If this all works out I’d want this routine in my life.”
    Vivian took a breath and realized how freely the air filled her lungs. He gave her that release, that moment of freedom.
    “ Thank you.”
    “ You have no idea what kind of pleasure I get when I soften you just a bit,” he said as his hand brushed down her neck and over her shoulder. “Get your shower and get ready. Do you want anything to eat this early?”
    “ Just a piece of toast.”
    “ That I can make. I was hoping you weren’t too complicated.”
    That made her giggle as he stood and walked out of the room, leaving her with her fresh, hot cup of coffee.
     
    During the drive to the old house on Main Street and Pine, Vivian had already decided that she didn’t want this first shift ever again. They were all going to be there the full twelve hours every day until Penelope had her baby. But it was only proving one thing. Vivian was not a morning person.
    Though, as she ate her toast with strawberry jelly on it, she smiled. If that man were to send her off every day like that, it wouldn’t be a chore.
    As she pulled up in front of the house, she looked at the clock. Was she late? Amelia, Sam, Penelope, and Brock were all parked on the street and the house was lit up. She hoped nothing else had happened on this day they were to open their doors.
    She climbed from the car, gathered her bags, and ran up the front steps.
    When she pulled open the door, she saw what they were all doing. The bannister of the staircase, which now had a gate at the bottom, was adorned with balloons. Welcome signs hung in each room. There were flowers by the door with names on them. They must be for the mothers, she thought.
    She could hear commotion from the kitchen so she walked back to find the four of them hovering over a box of donuts.
    “ What are you guys doing?”
    Amelia shoved in a half of a donut and looked right at her. “Waiting for you,” she managed without any food falling out of her mouth.
    “ I didn’t know you were going to do all this.”
    Penelope smiled sweetly. “Brock’s mom is in town and she thought it would be a nice touch. So we did the balloons last night.”
    “ What are the flowers?”
    “ For the moms.”
    That’s what she’d thought. “What about the dads?” she asked, thinking of Clayton.
    Amelia moved in closer to her and nudged her with her elbow. “We figured you were taking care of the dads.”
    That should have been one of those moments when she unleashed on her. It wasn’t called for when she did things like that. But it obviously wasn’t something to hide