Chapter Twelve
Gabrielle
"Why do I feel like I'm going to set some sort of precedent? Like I'm going to end up in legal journals because of all this."
Aiden laughed and shook his head.
"I don't think that's going to happen. This can't possibly be the most complicated thing that that lawyer has ever dealt with. I know for a fact that he has dealt with a custody case involving lesbians going through a divorce not just battling for custody between themselves, but also with the two gay men who had fathered their children, and the three of the sets of grandparents."
I blinked a few times, giving myself a few moments just to let all of that sink in.
"Wow," I said. "That's just… we're a breeze compared to that."
He laughed again.
"That's what I'm saying. Making sure that you have legal access to financial holdings, your own bank account, and agree to us being involved in the pregnancy and baby's life is a snap."
I sighed, suddenly feeling less playful.
"I hate this part," I said. "It feels weird."
"What do you mean?" Aiden asked.
I shrugged.
"It's hard to explain," I said. "It just makes me feel less... human? I'm not sure if that's exactly the right word. It's just with all of these meetings with lawyers and doctors and everything, I feel less like it's about me as a person. I'm just kind of a vessel."
"I can understand that," Aiden said. "I'm sorry that you feel that way, though."
I shook my head.
"No," I said. "I totally understand. You need to make sure that I can handle all of this. It makes sense. I just enjoy the trying aspect so much more."
He smiled at me.
"That's my favorite part, too. And as soon as the appointment with the doctor is over tomorrow, that's all we're going to have to think about."
"I'm definitely looking forward to that." I looked out the window of the car and then turned back to him. "The lawyer you brought me to today," I said. "That's not the lawyer who helped your father draw up his will."
"No," Aiden said. "He's not."
There was tension in his voice and I felt like I might have brought up a sensitive subject.
"Is it just because we needed a family lawyer?" I asked.
I didn't know why I felt the compulsion to push the subject. I just felt like I needed to know them more. I wanted to draw closer to them. I knew that this arrangement wasn't conventional, in fact it was the farthest thing from conventional that I could have ever considered, but it felt absolutely right. I knew with greater confidence than I had ever felt that I was in the right place and doing exactly the right thing.
"The lawyer who helped draw up my father's will has serious problems with us," Aiden said.
"Us?" I asked.
"My brothers," he explained. "He never agreed with the way that we lived and I think that there was a big part of him that was hoping we would never get access to the rest of our inheritance. He was gleeful the day that he read the will to us and it said that we had to have a child in order to get the rest. It was obvious that he didn't think that that was an option for any of us."
"Was it?" I asked. "I mean, before the will. Before you knew that the reason you didn't get all of the money, the houses, the business, all of that was because none of you had a child, was it something that you ever even considered?"
They had talked to me so much about wanting to pass along their legacy and how important it was to them that they honor their family, but I realized that none of them had mentioned a desire to have a child.
"Me?" Aiden asked. "I don't really know. To be totally honest with you, I probably wouldn't have thought about having a child for a long time unless it had come up this way. But now that it's more of a reality, I want it more than anything."
"You do?" I asked.
"Yes," he said." I want to make sure that everything that my father, my grandfather, my great-grandfather, and even people before him worked so hard for can continue on. But it's not just that. I want the opportunity to give a child the type of childhood that I felt like I didn't get."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"My brothers are a lot closer in age than I am. They had so much more time with our mother and they knew our father in a way that I don't think that I ever did. It was really hard on my father when my mother died, and my brothers say that he changed a lot. He was a wonderful man, but I know that I didn't get to spend as much time with him when I was younger as my brothers did. He really lost himself in work and tried to keep himself as busy as he could, so that he didn't have to think about her. But that meant that he didn't really take care of me like he had taken care of them. Our relationship really didn't get close until I was a teenager, and even then... I just want to be different. I want to make sure that my child, no matter who else is raising it with me, knows that it is loved and important."
I reached over and took Aiden's hand. He looked over and smiled at me, but then looked back at the road quickly. I could tell that he didn't like talking about these things, but I appreciated that he had. I drew in a breath and leaned my head back against the headrest, watching the trees as they zipped by. They were still bare, but I knew that soon little bursts of green would form on them and they would come back to life. I looked forward to that, I hoped that as the world was coming back to life around me, my body would be welcoming its own new life as well.
The next afternoon Talon, Lucas, and Aiden were waiting in the living room when Jackson and I walked back into the house. They all sprung to their feet from where they had been sitting and rushed toward me as though they expected the worst.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Is there something wrong?" Talon asked.
"We've been waiting for you to get back," Lucas said. "What did the doctor say?"
"Well," I said, glancing over to Jackson, who smiled back at me. "He said that I am perfectly healthy and that I can conceive at any time."
The men let out cheers and I felt Talon scoop me off of my feet and toss me over his shoulder, rushing up the stairs toward his bedroom. An instant later I was on my back in his bed and he was tearing away his clothes. My body responded to him immediately, a rush of warmth between my thighs demonstrating just how much I wanted him. I never seemed to be able to get enough of these men and I was happy to know that they were always just as eager.
Later that night I sat on my favorite couch in the living room, curled into the corner with a blanket wrapped around me and a cup of tea held in my hands. I felt completely at ease, comforted and contented.
"This is incredible," Jackson said.
"What is?" Lucas asked.
"Do you realize that our lives are about to change completely? In a matter of weeks, days even, Gabrielle could be pregnant and our entire futures will be different."
I took a sip of my tea and stared down into it for a few seconds.
"Is there something wrong?" Talon asked.
I shook my head, looking up at him and trying to smile reassuringly.
"No," I said. "Nothing's wrong. It's just that…"
"It's just that what?" Lucas asked.
"You're talking about your future being completely different. I was just thinking about how much less my life is changing."
"What do you mean?" Jackson asked.
"The four of you have had a life like I couldn't even imagine. The things that you have seen and done and experienced. It's incredible. This will definitely change the way that I thought my life would unfold, but I feel like making the decision to have a child changes your future so much more than it changes mine."
I didn't mean it in a bad way. It wasn't meant as anything negative or to sound as though I was already regretting my decision. But when I looked at the brothers, they were looking back at me as if they felt hurt by the comment. Before I could say anything, though, Talon nodded.
"She's right," he said. "How can we expect her to change her life completely when she has barely had a life at all?"
I was starting to feel nervous. It sounded like they were reconsidering.
"That's true," Lucas said.
He looked at Aiden, who gave a small nod and then he looked at Jackson.
"Then I think that we need to do something about that."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"You haven't had the opportunity to live very much. Now you have this future ahead of you that will, hopefully very soon, include raising a child. So let's make the most of your life before then."
"You are helping us live out a dream," Lucas said. "So why don't we live out some of yours too. Tell us where you want to go. Tell us what you want to do. Let's live the most magnificent life together."