Hidden Places, Book 1 of Autumn Club Series

Chapter 23

Reggie came by the next day begging to see the duke and duchess, which put a little damper on Katrina's love high from the prior night. Gabriel refused an audience, but said Katrina could see him so long as she remembered their discussion about respect. He also informed her that he wanted her to see a London doctor since she was clearly still worried about her size.

After Gabriel left the room to arrange for the doctor, Reggie was seen in to the parlor. His head was hung and Katrina could tell he felt sorry - and likely hungover.

Reggie apologized for a solid five minutes. He was going to the country to get his mind in order - to help forget about the widow and stop drinking. He said St. John would join him since he could keep him honest. Evidently St. John was just as angry as the duke. Although that was hard to imagine.

His departure from town gave her a great idea that she would need to run by Sybil. But she figured she would lay the groundwork, "Sybil may be visiting their estate in the next few weeks, too. It may be good for her to stop by."

"Oh course, sister. Anything for you..."

He really was full of it sometimes. With her groundwork laid and the apologies given, Katrina let her brother know she would be in touch and dismissed him from the house. It felt good.

Gabriel came to her some time later with a London doctor in toe, "My dear, Dr. Kern is the best physician in London. He has kindly agreed to give you an exam."

After the exam, the doctor spoke, "Well, we can't be certain, but I suspect you are having twins."

He could have knocked her over with a feather. Twins?! Two babies at one time?

"Fantastic news, doctor!" Her overzealous husband exclaimed patting the doctor on the back.

The doctor told her she needed to take it easy and get plenty of bed rest. She hadn't even done her London shopping and she need to go home?! And now she was buying for two!

After the doctor said his goodbyes, Gabriel rushed to Katrina and gave her a huge hug. His happiness took some of her worry away, but not all of it.

He promised to send the maid out to shop for whatever she needed, but he wanted to head home first thing in the morning.

The rest of the day Gabriel treated her like glass - thinking she would break any minute. The next day wasn't much better as he complained about the road, carriage, and driver bumping her about. The sex fueled carriage ride from a few days earlier was a very distant memory. She was amazed she wasn't strapped to her seat on a bed of pillows.

Home wasn't too much better. Gabriel ushered her upstairs while he barked instructions to the staff about how she must stay off her feet.

This was the start of her confinement and it was definitely going to live up to its name. The same four walls for months were going to be the death of her.

Anything sexual became non-existent besides some hugs and kisses. Katrina often begged for more, but he told her she must wait and not compromise the babies.

When her eighth month of pregnancy rolled around, she couldn't take it any more. She was the size of a house. Anything that could swell was swollen. Her mood was dark and so were the bags under her eyes.

The duchess threw the bedding off of her and paced the room. She would look out the window, do squats by the fire, and examine every knickknack in site.

The maid came in seeing her mid-squat and shooed her back to bed. She was clearly afraid the duke would kill her if he saw this scene.

She kept up the "walks" every morning until the day that labor began. Katrina wanted to shout hallelujah but instead called for help.

The birth was not easy. The duke paced the halls raging over the status. He hated being left in the dark.

Katrina was a lot stronger than she or anyone else thought she could ever be. Both babies came out bawling and healthy. One boy and one girl.

Gabriel burst through the room as soon as word came that the second baby was born. He quickly assessed the room, first ensuring his duchess was in good health. Then he went to the small fussy babies getting cleaned up nearby.

He admired his work - the babies - for a while. Checking their fingers and toes, and commenting on their perfection. The midwife plucked up the babies one by one and gave them to Katrina to feed. The tableau was beautiful.

It took weeks to fully recover from the births since she had to push two nearly full term babies out naturally. They both spent hours looking upon them, usually in disbelief.

One night as the twins, George and Agatha, slept, Gabriel and Katrina cuddled up in bed.

"I miss you," Katrina spoke first.

"Not as much as I've missed you, kitten," he replied with a passionate kiss. "I've been thinking about something I would like to do..."

She knew him so well that she sat up and removed her shift that was already stained with milk from her leaking breasts.

"Holy...they are...goodness," he rarely had a lack of words but clearly full breasts took his words away. He leaned in and latched on to her right breast. He made it very clear he enjoy what he was doing, and it was an erotic site for Katrina, too.

After both breasts were near empty, they gently made love. During that time Gabriel rubbed along the collar that still adorned her neck. It reminded her of the symbolism and the path they took to get here.

Both of them dressed a part while in London. He was the pirate king and she was the wallflower. But when you stripped them down and removed their disguises, they simply desired to belong to someone or something greater than themselves. A man, a woman, a family...a life.

"Mm, kitten we should play 'governess' with those old spectacles one day..."

"Does the governess fall for the pirate daddy?" She asked coyly giggling a bit.

Or perhaps the disguises had their place.