(Author's Note: I just want to thank everyone who had been so great about this story, I have been going through some real life drama lately and writing has been the last thing on my mind. I don't know how much longer this will go on, but I promise that Keni and Harley will be around for a long time to come.
Peace - darkstone57)
Harley lay back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. It was the middle of the night and around him the house and the surrounding farm were as silent as he could imagine death was. This was his favorite part of the night and while he would prefer to be asleep as the others were, he found tonight he needed the silence. So much had happened, so many things had come and gone, but now, a new challenge faced him and he was praying he was ready for it. Wanting a baby and having one was turning into two completely different things.
His mouth curved into a smile as he thought about the doctor's visit yesterday. It had been just a prelim and the verdict was one all of them had expected. Keni was young, in perfect health and should have no problem carrying the baby full term. Harley had known a lot of the ladies sitting around the office and he was sure that by the sun went down last afternoon, the gossips had spread the word that they were going to have a baby. Maggie and Scooter had been thrilled, and Janie, while wishing they had waited understood now that it had been nothing they had done. It had been just a fluke, a one in a million chance that the pill would fail at a critical time.
The trip home had been quiet; they had stopped by the jail and given Waylon the news. His brother had shaken his hand and hugged Keni about five minutes. Noreen and the girls had been there as well, and they had given them a life home. For once it had not been a day filled with fear, drama, or any of the other things that they had known lately.
Oh, they all knew that Max was still out there and that sooner or later; he would show his ugly face around the town. Yesterday, none of that had mattered. All he had known was a day filled with the most peaceful feeling he had ever experienced. On their way home, they had stopped by the house; their fathers doing some work on it for them. His uncle had been there as well, and Dean had come by with a new load of lumber. By the end of the month, they would not only be married, but would be going home to a house ready to inhabit. It all felt right, it felt good and he glanced over at Keni. She was perfect, his woman, and he felt the love for her just flow out of him as he moved to wrap his arm around her.
"Are you still awake?" Her voice was whispered and he felt surprise that she was awake as well.
"Go back to sleep sugar, it's just a dream..."
She rolled onto her back and looked up at him. "In that case, I want to be awake, because if being with you is a dream, I never want to wake up from it." Her lips touched his shoulder and she moved closer. "What you thinking about anyway?
"Me, being a daddy, it seems a little unreal to me right now. I just wonder if all men feel that way, or do they just take it as it happens?"
"No idea, I think that is something you should ask your dad or mine. Twenty-two more days, and you'll be a husband. Which one scares you the most, marriage or fatherhood...?" Her hand was soft on his chest as she ran his fingers through his chest hair.
"If you had asked me about either a year ago, I would have said neither, because neither was ever going to happen. Now, I know that they are going to happen and to tell the truth, I'm not scared of either one. I've felt like you were my wife for a long time, and as for being a father, well, I get the feeling that baby is there for a reason. To tell us all that it will all work out well in the end. That the world will go on and so will we." He grinned. "Did that impress you?"
"As a matter of fact it did. There are times Harley, I think you just pretend to be ignorant. I mean you are not a stupid person and you have things inside you that you hide away."
Did he? Maybe he did hide a lot himself away. "Maybe I should go back to school too..."
"Maybe you should...but in my opinion, all school does is make you feel insignificant to the rest of the world. That's why I never went to college, never wanted to, and I told mom and dad that. I mean you can read every book in the world, but they will never tell you how to love someone or make that person feel like they are the most special person in the world. That's stuff you learn as you go along, and as for the rest, well, you learn how to do something, you go out and get a job doing what you learn. From the day you take that job, you start learning things all over again. You're constantly upgrading so to speak..."
Harley chuckled. "That's true, and how did you get so smart Keni? I mean you told me yourself that you hated school, and yet you seem to know so much about life and all. I mean I am older, supposedly wiser and yet you amaze even me."
"That Harley Barnes, is because you never met anyone like me before." Her fingers were moving down over his belly now and he shivered as she stroked his skin. Despite the cold weather outside, he still found little need to wear anything to bed and he loved the feel of their two naked bodies wrapped together for warmth in the night. "Do you really think I learned to please you so well from a book?"
He shook his head. "No honey, because no book could have done that well." Lowering his head, he found her lips and separated them with his tongue. He hadn't meant to start a play session, but if she was willing, he wasn't going to argue. It was funny in a way; Dean had asked him the other day if he ever got tired of making love to Keni. He had looked at his brother curiously, and shook his head. "No, why...are you and Kate...?"
Dean had shaken his head. "No, lord no, I love making love to her, especially now that we don't have to worry about her getting pregnant no more, if anything, it's even better now, but you and Keni, truthfully, how can you two still be so hot for each other, hasn't it started to wear off a little?"
Harley had thought about it before answering. In the time they had been together, you could count the number of times they hadn't made love easier then the times that they had. It wasn't like she was some nymph, and he was no super stud, but they just enjoyed each other so much. Being together, acting like kids at times, and it just seemed to happen. The time they spent apart only made it better as well. Maybe once they got married, it would settle down some, but he didn't see that happening very soon. With a shake of his head, he had looked at his older brother and chuckled. "Truthfully big brother, I don't think it will ever get old or wear off. Ask me again when I'm seventy five and we have a do not disturb sign on the door at the nursing home."