Konrad by LeAnn Ashers

13

Etta

A monthLater

My eyes are closed as the warm Texas air flows through my hair on the way to his parents’ house.

I’m finally meeting them.

I’m terrified out of my mind. I’m so scared that they won’t like me, but I want to meet the people who raised such an amazing son.

The journey to their house is absolutely beautiful. It’s very rural and has small-town vibes.

An hour from his house, we pull up a huge driveway with a gate at the front.

As we drive along the driveway, we see horses running with us, cows on the other side, and then a beautiful wooden home with a matching barn slowly comes into view on top of a slight hill.

“Wow, it’s so beautiful here,” I tell Konrad.

He nods his head and a woman walks outside in a pair of jeans and a button-up shirt. She looks to be in her sixties.

The second he stops the bike, she is hurrying off of the porch and to him. “My baby is home.” She starts kissing his face and I have to laugh at his squirming.

It makes me happy that he had such a happy childhood. The door opens and a man that looks like Konrad walks outside and smirks when he sees his wife. “Darlin’, I think you need to leave my boy alone.”

I know right off the bat where Konrad got the name darlin’ from. I smile at the both of them when their eyes turn to me.

Konrad helps me off the bike and puts me in front of them. “It’s so nice to meet you both,” I tell them honestly.

His mom Geraldine gives Konrad a soft look before she swarms me in a mother’s hug, the same one that Bell and Adeline give—the best hug; it’s warm and feels like home. She pulls back and cups my cheeks. “It’s so nice to meet you, the woman who has captured my son’s heart.”

My heart warms knowing that he has been speaking about me. “He has mine too,” I admit, and she smiles warmly.

“That means grandbabies are soon!” she giggles, and his father pulls her back, but my mind is stuck on the idea of babies.

Am I against the idea of babies? Definitely not. I would love to have his babies.

I almost volunteered to take in Zane myself but I didn’t know if Konrad would have been on board. Lynn and I are going to share him. I get him a few nights a week and he lives there.

“Come on, dinner is ready!” She waves us all in and his dad saddles up next to me and gives me a quick side hug. “Nice to have you here.”

The nervousness is thrown out of the window knowing how nice they are. Konrad doesn’t let go of my hand and pulls out my chair for me to sit down at the dinner table.

His mom has made a custom southern day meal with fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, the works.

“Wow, this looks absolutely amazing!” I tell her, and she looks at me like I’m her favorite person.

Konrad puts his hand on my thigh under the table, giving me a squeeze. He looks super happy and content right now.

“Alright, dig in, everyone.” Konrad’s mom motions for everyone to serve themselves since everything is laid out in front of us.

Konrad doesn’t let me make my own plate, insisting on doing it for me, and I notice that Konrad’s dad is doing the same thing for his mom. They’re both sweet.

Me and his mom share a look. I can see the happiness on her face and I know I am experiencing the same kind of happiness.

“Etta, Konrad told me about the work you do. That’s so amazing, but I imagine it’s so tough,” she tells me. I nod after I take a bite of food.

“It is tough. Konrad has been on every mission with me lately though.” I smile at him, resting my head on his shoulder for a second.

He kisses my forehead and we eat together, his parents making small talk about how they met in high school and they’ve been in love ever since.

Once we eat, Konrad’s mom takes my hand and leads me into the living room, and I notice there’s a ton of photo albums on the coffee table.

I smirk at Konrad’s horrified expression. “I have to show you Konrad when he was a baby.”

She opens the first one—it’s his first year book. I let her show me every little picture and I ooh and aww as I know this is very important to her.

“He loved to run around naked with no clothes on. He would have to pee and he would do it right in the store. He was crazy.” She starts laughing and I join her. Konrad’s face is red with embarrassment.

“Aww, you were just adorable.” I tug on his hand so he can sit next to me on the couch and look at the photos with me.

“Do you have any photos of you when you were little?” his mom asks.

I shake my head no. “I don't have any. We didn’t have a camera.”

“Ohh, okay!” She goes back to showing me every single moment of Konrad’s life until he was eighteen and joined the Navy.

“Then he was a SEAL. That was the scariest part of my life. I didn’t sleep for years, but my boy is home and he’s going to give me grandbabies.”

I snort-laugh at her throwing in the grandbaby part at the end. Konrad rolls his eyes but laughs with me.

But she isn’t laughing, she looks completely hopeful. “I may bring Zane over sometime.”

She perks up at that. “Ohh, who’s he?”

“He’s my baby brother; he’s two months old.”

She gasps dramatically. “Can I please? We’ll come and pick him up.”

“Let me talk to my sister and we can work something out, no problem,” I tell her. She wraps me in a tight hug like I just gave her the best gift.

It makes me happy that I can make her so happy. She is precious. She is the kind of mom I would want to be. She’s a devoted mother to Konrad. She kept everything, even his first outfit and shoes.

“Mom, we better get going.” She nods and hugs me then Konrad. “Let me know about Zane please.”

I squeeze her hand one last time and climb on the back of Konrad’s bike as his parents wave goodbye to us.

“Your mom is absolutely precious. I love her!”

He puts his hand on my leg. “She is pretty great.”

The drive back is even more beautiful with the sun going down. We decided to stay at his tonight since it’s closer and I’m not needed at the compound right now. One of the guys is taking over the phone for me tonight.

I fall into Konrad’s bed, groaning, tired. He laughs and pulls my shirt over my head and my jeans down my legs. “Let’s go shower so we can sleep.”

I slowly and tiredly make my way into the shower. Last night we had Zane and I think he missed Lynn because he was not a happy camper with us.

The second that Tristan and Lynn picked him up, he was content. Michaela is obsessed with Zane. She thinks he is a real-life baby doll for her to play with, but the great thing is, she’s more than careful with him.

Konrad washes my hair for me. I don’t even bother to try anymore. Since the night of the accident he has taken over and I can’t fight him on it.

I close my eyes, loving the feeling of his fingers dragging across my scalp. I can’t stop the moan that slips through.

He stops moving his fingers and grips my throat from behind. “The only time you moan like that is when I’m in you or my mouth is on you.”

I shiver all the way down to my feet. His hands tighten on my throat, but the other hand snakes down my body to my pussy, his fingers sliding through my folds.

“Oh God,” I moan again, and he rewards me by slipping two fingers inside of me. “You are drenched.”

“Soaked.”

He growls and plants my hands onto the shower wall, bending me over until my ass is up in the air.

I look back at him, loving the sight of him above me, huge and hard for me. I bite my lip, aching to be filled by him.

My eyes roll back in my head when he fills me to the brim, stopping when his hips touch mine.

I clench down on him hard, wanting him even deeper when it’s physically impossible.

He wraps his arm around my stomach and the other on my hip as he pushes into me, hard.

I hold on as he lifts me up, bringing me even deeper, like I’m sitting on him. I moan deep as he moves harder, faster inside of me.

His finger digs into my clit, stroking it, and I shake so hard my feet move from under me, but he keeps me up, moving inside of me while holding me up. My eyes roll back into my head and I come hard.

He shakes just as hard as me as he fills me with his come. He slowly slips out of me and I lean my head against the wall, just trying to breathe.

He cleans me gently and carries me back into our bedroom, laying me down onto the bed.

Once we’re settled, I turn on the TV and snuggle into his arms. “Have you thought about your mom’s questions about babies?” My stomach is filled with butterflies, I’m so nervous.

He turns me over onto my back so he is looking down at me. “I would love to have babies with you. I didn’t want you to be scared because it’s sudden.”

My heart sings with happiness that he wants the same thing I do. I smile widely. “I want to have your babies, Konrad.”

He smiles back. “Alright then, let’s get your IUD taken out tomorrow?”

I laugh at the suddenness, but I want that. I know that he’s the one for me. There is no hesitation there.

He nods. “I’ll go with you.”

I kiss his cheek, happy that he is on board with me. His mom is going to be thrilled.

“Plus, it takes some people a long time to get pregnant,” I point out, and he nods. “That’s why I was thinking you can go tomorrow and I can get busy on that.” He winks, kissing my cheek, snuggling me back into him.

The Next Day

I’m sittingon a bed in a gown with Konrad at my head. It hurt really bad when they put in the IUD, but hopefully it won’t be as bad getting it out.

The doctor comes in and I close my eyes, waiting and waiting, then she makes a weird sound.

Konrad is stroking my hand to keep me calm, but I look down at her. “I can’t seem to find it.”

My eyes widen in fear. “What do you mean you can’t find it?” I ask her, confused and scared.

“Let’s get you an ultrasound just to make sure it’s not in there and we will go from there.” The doctor smiles reassuringly.

I hold Konrad’s hand tightly. The doctor gathers the ultrasound wand and I close my eyes. “Where is that going?” he asks, but shuts up when I squeeze his hand hard.

She looks at the screen and her eyes widen. I look at Konrad, worried. “Okay, I think your IUD has fallen out, because you're pregnant.”

I almost fall off the table in shock. “You’re around six weeks, if I had to guess. Congratulations.”

We look at her like she’s crazy, then it slowly starts to sink in that I have a baby inside of my belly.

I touch my stomach in disbelief before she turns on the sound of the heartbeat. I gasp at the beautiful sound.

Konrad puts his hand over mine on my stomach, our eyes glued to the screen. I’m happy, but I’m just shocked that it happened like this because it’s so unexpected.

I don’t even know how it fell out. I don’t even remember it, but maybe it’s God’s will that it happened like this, defying odds.

“Alright, mom and dad, here are some prenatal vitamins and some pictures for you. Make another appointment at the front desk.”

The doctor leaves me to get dressed. Konrad puts my pants on for me and I look down at the picture, happy. “We are going to have a baby,” I whisper in shock.

He looks at the picture with me before laughing. “My mom had the right kind of juju.”

I laugh at that because she did keep mentioning it. I kiss him softly and slip my shirt over my head. “You’re going to have to be careful, baby, especially with your missions now.”

I nod in agreement. “I can stay in the vehicle until the place is cleared, then I can come in once it’s safe.”

He cringes and I know that he doesn’t even want me to do that. “I’ll be safe and you will be with me,” I tell him, knowing that will make him feel better. He knows I’m buttering him up.

We make the appointment and head next door for lunch at a little sub place.

“I think I need to get some nutritious food for you. You need to eat better and more often.”

Oh goodness, here we go.

He starts making lists of things he thinks I will need and food that I need to get out of my diet, Googling everything.

I prop my head on my hand, loving this, loving seeing the excited look on his face and knowing that he is so happy about it.

I just know he is going to be an amazing dad and our baby will have an amazing life like he did.

“Let’s go to the baby store right up the road, just to look.”

“Okay, honey.” I kiss his cheek and eat my sub. He keeps his eye on me the whole time, making sure I eat every bite.

Inside of the store, he goes over every single detail, looking at car seats, baby beds and debating which one is safest.

“Do you think we should get this bassinet? It’s number one in safety.” He points to it and reads over the manual.

“I think it’s really nice.”

We waves over a worker. “We’ll take this and this,” he says, motioning to a body pillow for pregnant ladies.

I am going to be spoiled and so is this baby. I hope it’s a boy that looks like him. “Ready to go home?”

He’s carrying the bassinet in his arms and I’m following behind him, and he lets down the back of his truck, setting it in there.

“I can’t wait to put it together.”