Chapter 6

Raven was a bit less disorientated waking the next morning and finding herself wrapped around a large body. August was so warm it was like hugging a giant warm water-bottle. There was another body behind her, this one much smaller. She remembered the prior morning and how she had admired April for being at ease. This morning the idea didn’t seem quite so alien. She tipped her head back, seeing that August’s eyes were already open and watching her. Her own lips curled in a reflexive mirror of his light smile.

“Now, I’ve gotta say, I really like that look,” he said. “Way better than if ya woke up angry or horrified.”

“I couldn’t...,” she whispered, hugging tighter around August’s chest, “you were both so good to me.”

Raven winced as she turned to see April over her shoulder. The previous night may have been great, but her body was yelling that she had definitely overdone things.

“What’s the matter?” the blonde asked without any delay.

“Bit sore. You know, down there...”

“That goes away. I will say that moving around really helped me. Here,” April scooted off the side of the bed and offered a hand to the other young woman.

Raven’s eyes darted to August, who gave her a wider smile, then accepted April’s offered hand. She winced again as she stood, but April was right, moving around did help. She stretched toward the ceiling then did a couple deep knee bends before walking around the huge bedroom. She hadn’t paid it any attention yesterday but the carpet’s quality screamed at her this morning, it was so very comfortable beneath her bare feet. Raven smiled as she reached for the ceiling once more and smiled; it hadn’t taken much, but almost all the soreness she had woken up with was already gone. Her smile grew as she once more remembered how uncomfortable she had been yesterday morning, waking up naked in bed with them. It seemed such a silly worry now.

“You got anything planned for today? I’ve got a doctor’s appointment this morning,” April mentioned. It would be her first ob-gyn since confirming her pregnancy and she was almost giddy at the thought of having a child. She was also very glad this doctor took weekend appointments.

Raven considered the question but, in the end, came up empty. “Don’t think so,” she said while shaking her head.

“Not other than running the bedding through the wash. We kinda made a mes,” she added after a few seconds with a blushing grin.

“Worth it,” August commented, having also gotten out of bed.

“Very,” was April’s simple addition.

“Join me in the shower?” he asked while looking back and forth between the two much younger women.

“Can I?” Raven asked, looking to April for the answer.

“Love it if you did.” April answered as she took Raven’s hand and started tugging her toward the bathroom. Not that ‘tugging’ was necessary, Raven was not resisting at all.

August already had the shower going by the time they arrived; it did not take long for the on demand heater to deliver hot water to the fancy enclosure. Both April and Raven took the time to gather up their hair and don caps before stepping in, they did not need the hassle of wet hair this morning. They could have skipped the shower altogether, they had just done so before going to bed the night before, but he still thought it a great excuse for touching his wife and their pretty friend.

Raven stretched and turned under the spray, it was so great having room and not being cramped. And she still thought it a little odd to not turn off the water while applying soap. ’Oh well, when in Rome.’

August started with April this morning, tugging her to stand under the spray for a moment then starting to run a soapy washcloth over her. He chuckled when Raven began doing the same to him even as he was working on the blonde in front of him. And while he always enjoyed playing with April’s hair he was a bit glad they wouldn’t be needing to deal with it today.

Raven squeaked when August turned after finishing with April and pulled her to stand between them. She sighed and closed her eyes when the shorter blonde took her washcloth. It was only a few seconds before they went to work scrubbing her clean of imagined dirt.

They were done just a couple minutes later, all three smiling at each other like naughty children that were getting away with something.

Raven still wasn’t used to the heated towels, but she wasn’t about to complain! She would need to get a razor soon, she had forgotten to ask about that during their trip to Target. She wracked her mind while getting dressed, trying to think of anything else she would need.

August smiled as he watched both young women dress as he did so himself. It was almost as good as watching them undress; although, he had to admit, not anywhere near as good as undressing them himself. They were both remarkably pretty. He even suspected that April hoped their new friend would catch after her latest birth control shot wore off. He wasn’t at all sure what to expect from April’s upcoming appointment.

Minutes later April jumped a bit hearing the doorbell ring while she was busy at the stove. She caught Raven looking up from where she was examining the contents of the refrigerator out of the corner of her eye.

“I’ll get that,” she heard August call, along with movement somewhere else in the house. The front door opened a few seconds after. She couldn’t check what was happening or the eggs would burn. And sending Raven would be silly, she wouldn’t be able to tell her much of anything.

When the two young women came out to the dining room they found August sitting with Jim Trimbul, the male half of the couple August had working his land. April had been introduced a few days after the move but had only seen either of them a few times since. Even though he looked to be in his early thirties his face already had the weathered skin and deep tan of someone who had spent their life working outside in the sun and wind. His dark brown hair was very short, not quite a military buzz cut, but also not far off. An already-filled coffee mug sat on the table in front of him.

“Raven, this is Jim Trimbul, he works the land here along with his wife Daisy. Jim, Ravenetta Langstrom, a possibly long-term house-guest” April performed the introductions.

“Pleased to meet you, Miss,” Jim ducked his head. April didn’t miss the curious glance he sent her way.

The two men waited as the young women leaned together, still standing, and held a hurried conversation in hushed whispers. The way Raven’s face paled did not go unnoticed by either man, or her white-knuckled grip on the edge of the table.

After standing up straight again April finally took a deep breath and said, “Raven’s run into a bad situation with her parents, we’re just helping her out some.”

“Mighty Christian of ya. Anyway, I came over to keep the boss up-to-date on the work we’re doing.”

“Don’t let us stop you.” Realizing that breakfast had yet to be distributed April set a plate in front of August before taking her own seat; Raven passed around filled glasses. “Sorry we don’t have anything for you, Jim.”

“No problem, already ate before coming over.” He waved the coffee mug, “This’s more’n enough. Honestly, there’s not a lot new that’ll happen over the next week, mostly just changing the irrigation pipes twice a day. It’ll be a month yet before the grass is ready to cut. Does look like your lawn’s ready; I should take care o’ that today.”

“Great time for the ol’ joke: ‘I’m not afraid of hard work, I can watch it all day’,” August chuckled.

“I better get at it before the heat really gets going. Have already moved the pipes this morning, will deal with the lawn since I’m here. Good to meet ya, Raven.”

“You too..., Jim.”

The trio set to their simple but filling breakfasts. A lawnmower started before they were even half done.

Raven sat back partway through her meal, saying, “Thanks for not saying more about what’s going on. About me, I mean. John’s not so bad, he’d have to be blind and deaf to not guess something.” She nodded to April at the end.

“Course not, your problems aren’t anyone elses business,” August grunted.

Raven gave both a kiss on the cheek as she gathered up the dirty dishes then carried them over to the sink. It didn’t take long to have the dishwasher loaded. “This is starting to get pretty full, what do I do now?” she called.

April joined her a few seconds later, showing her where soap pods were kept under the sink, and how easy it was to pop one in the holder then lock the door shut, then the button that needed to be pressed twice to actually start the machine...

April surprised Raven, wrapping the somewhat taller woman in a hug. “I need to be getting ready, my appointment’s at eleven. You gonna be okay staying here alone?”

Raven hesitated before returning the hug, still not used to such open uninhibited affection, then stepped back to look April in the eye, “Sure, I can’t imagine what I’d be doing without you and August. Probably would’ve had to crawl back to my parents.” This time she managed not to cry.

August came over and gave Raven a hug and quick kiss on the cheek as well before the pair headed for the door. “Really not sure how long this’ll take, hopefully it won’t be a complete waste of time.”

“Before you go,” she called, “is there a computer I can use?”

“There’s a laptop in the livingroom by the couch,” August answered. “Just don’t do anything freaky, okay?”

“Thanks!” Raven smiled as they left, both amazed and relieved that they would so quickly trust her to be alone in their house. She remembered talking about the bedding and was soon back downstairs carrying an awkward bundle. Unlike the dishwasher she had lots of experience with washing machines and soon had both running, sheets and pillow cases in one, the mussed comforter in the other.

She spent a little time looking around, not opening any closed doors, but treating open ones as an invitation. There was both a formal sitting room that looked almost unused, along with the lounge-like living room she had already seen. The door to the downstairs game room was open, she was amazed to see the pool table, along with several arcade-style pinball games and the fancy cabinet surrounding a dartboard. She also smiled seeing the bar counter with all the bottles behind and three swivel seats in front. ’Figures,’ she thought before going back upstairs.

She found the laptop right where August said it would be, and was relieved to find it didn’t need a password and also that it wasn’t a Mac. She opened a browser and was soon at her provider’s web-mail inbox. She closed her eyes, fighting the tears, when she saw there were several queries from friends asking what had happened to her.

She opened notepad and worked up a quick response, telling people that she was okay, that she had found somewhere to live, but also not telling anyone where that was. She then flipped back to the browser and copied it to each of the individual responses, making changes where personalization was needed. She wondered whether she should open a new account somewhere, she was not at all certain whether her parents could access this one. ’Some other time,’ she thought.

She heard the first washing machine buzzer after an hour of just clicking around, not reading much of anything important, and then the second a couple minutes later. It was very nice having two washers and driers available, she didn’t have to stagger the loads at all. Even better was seeing something she’d only heard of, a sort of wire-frame to clip bedding to that would keep it from bunching in the drier. It took her a few minutes to attach the comforter, the sheets went much faster. And soon after the machines were tumbling, though the frames did make enough noise hitting the drum that she was out the door and back to the livingroom in a hurry.

The laptop was just where she had left it and checking her inbox she even found a couple responses. Both were glad to hear she had landed on her feet, and neither asked where she was. The second, from her best friend, said straight-out she didn’t want to know, that if she were ever asked she wanted there to be no way for her to tell. A third came in while she was reading the second, this one far less supportive. The sender was someone she really only knew from church, it did not surprise her that Renae would act that way. Raven deleted her from the contacts list, slamming her finger while clicking the button.

She struggled to get her breathing back under control, very glad that neither April or August were present to see. She had had enough emotional breakdowns since meeting them, they didn’t need to see another!

August found himself liking Doctor Belinda Suire from the beginning even though it was very obvious the feeling was not at all reciprocated. The technician had already done the usual stuff, blood pressure, pulse and oxygen saturation. The doctor had taken one look at April, one at him, and shaken her head. April had been clutching his hand like a drowning man a life ring. He had to shake it to get circulation going again after April had let go to take the doctor’s. He was just thankful that she didn’t let her personal dislike for him bleed over to how she treated April.

“Hi, I’m Doctor Suire, but please just call me ;Belle’.”

“April.”

“August.”

The doctor shook her head again, “I’ve just got to say it, I’ve heard of May-December, but never met an actual April-August before.”

April giggled as August shrugged and said, “It is what it is, Doc.”

“So, this is your first checkup, any idea how long you’ve been pregnant?”

“Well, I started having morning sickness about three and a half weeks ago. Other than that, not really. That’s actually already stopped.”

“Do you know when your last period was? The one you didn’t miss?”

April blushed and looked to August, then her notes, “Yes, it was a bit more than eight weeks ago, it ended on June twenty-second.”

“Okay, one thing I’m going to recommend is that you start taking some prenatal vitamins, they have some things not found in most supplements.”

“Sure, no problem.”

The doctor pinched her nose just between her eyes, “This one I hate to ask, but I still do:, how bad is this going to stretch you financially? There are some places I can recommend for help if you need it.”

“None, doc,” August stated with firm conviction. “April knows the truth, I was loaded before meeting her. This won’t be any strain at all.”

April nodded in agreement.

“Okay, that’s one worry down. Even though your numbers were good I still want to listen to your heart, so how ‘bout you open your shirt?”

April did so, winking at August. The doctor nodded as she listened to both heart and lungs.

“Okay, I’m going to order some blood work done, completely routine. A checkup this early is really just looking for emergencies and I don’t think you’re having any. You’re maybe a bit young still, but only by a year or two.” She went on to describe a recommended diet and some things to look out for, vaginal bleeding in particular, and, also, that while normal physical activity was still fine not to do anything too strenuous.

“And while it’s still early, it’s not too soon to be thinking about support afterwards. You have any plans there? Parents, friends?”

April buried her face against August’s chest, bursting into tears.

He swallowed a couple times, “Her father lives with us, he’s got an attached house on the property, but her mother died years ago from pancreatic cancer. Mine were both killed by a drunken taxi driver crashing through the side of their house at 2am. I was away at college at the time.”

“Oh, god, I’m sorry.”

“We do have a long-term guest living with us, someone April found in a lot of trouble. But Raven’s basically the same age as April.”

“Well, I’d like to meet her sometime, if that can be arranged, just to tell her some things to look out for.”

“I’m sure we can bring her along,” April answered.

After shaking both their hands Belle went on, “Well, someone’ll be in to do the blood draw in a minute or two. Other than that, I really don’t need to see you for another month.”

True to the doctor’s word the phlebotomist was in less than two minutes later and two small vials drawn less than five minutes after that. They were headed down the hall less than a minute later.

Doctor Suire pulled August aside just before they got out the door, “Look, I’m sorry for the attitude, I see so many older guys with a young woman and they are getting dragged kicking and screaming the whole way.”

He shook his head dismissing her apology, “No need, Belle, I know what it’s gotta look like.” He leaned closer and lowered his voice, “To tell the truth, that’s exactly how it started. If you had seen me six months ago your attitude would’ve been right on target. You shoulda seen me when we first met, I was a real mess after a long flight.”

When the pair arrived home just after noon they found Raven in the livingroom in the midst of uncontrolled laughter. The drier chose that moment to buzz and her laughter grew even louder.

“Whatcha got there?” April asked.

“My father ... he wrote up the situation on ‘Am I the Asshole?’ and is getting raked over the coals. He even left out some stuff, like closing my savings account. The first response was ’What ever happened to hating the sin but loving the sinner?’”