Soul Sucker
No More Secrets

John Miller’s POV

Manhattan Apartment

Sunday, January 1, 2023

After the proposal, we cuddled up and watched the coverage until Heather fell asleep again. Our parents weren’t likely to be up still, and we couldn’t tell anyone else until they found out. It was close to one in the morning when Heather fell asleep with her head on my leg. Mary helped get her head onto a pillow and covered her with a blanket before we retired for the night.

“I can’t believe it,” Mary said as she looked at her ring.

I slid my hand over the silk covering her belly. “I can’t believe this, either.”

Her hand covered mine. “One good thing about this,” she said with a grin. “There’s no point in birth control anymore!” She reached inside the loose shorts I’d worn to bed; with a kid sleeping in a studio apartment, there was almost no privacy. Only a fabric screen shielded us from the view from the couch where our daughter slept. “I need you inside me, my love.”

“We’ll have to be quiet.”

“Like church mice.” She folded back the covers before pushing my shorts down and off. She reached down, taking me into her mouth. I pulled her hips towards me, moving us into a classic sixty-nine with her on top. The naughty little minx wasn’t wearing panties under that short chemise! She was wet and ready for me, and I soon had her flying. She moaned into my cock as it filled her throat.

“I knew I could keep you quiet if I gagged you,” I said softly.

“Mmm-hmm.” She gave me a few strokes, then sat up. “Riding time.”

She threw her legs over into a reverse cowgirl, placing my tip at her entrance before slowly sinking balls deep. “So good,” I said as I enjoyed the condom-free experience. If I’d been more consistent in using them, I wouldn’t be making love to my fiancé right now.

Slow and quiet was the pace, though we changed positions twice before finishing together in the missionary position. I put on my shorts while Mary cleaned up the mess I’d made in her. I ended up in the wet spot with her tucked into my side. “Are we going to have a shotgun wedding?”

Mary giggled and kissed my cheek. “My parents love you, and shotguns are so old-fashioned. Dad has more guns than you now.” True. Part of my bail arrangement required me to turn in my firearms to the NYPD, and it suspended my carry permit. “We can’t tell them about the baby until we plan a wedding.”

I chuckled at that. “When we tell your folks we want to get married right away, they will know why!” I squeezed her tight. “To have any chance at calling this a honeymoon baby, we need to marry quickly.”

“Is that what you want? I know you didn’t plan on knocking me up.”

I let out a breath. “I was planning to ask you to marry me on Valentine’s Day. I figured we’d marry this summer after the trial ends. I’m afraid of what could happen if we marry now. You never know how a jury will vote. If things go bad at trial, you’d be hitching yourself to a convict.”

“I won’t abandon you, John. I was there. I know what you did and what kind of man you are.”

She might think so, but I knew the facts. ‘Child molesters get killed, and cops get maimed’ was the jailhouse mantra. With the publicity around my case? Everyone would know I shot a black man in the back. Some men in there would kill you just for the fun of it. You spend time in solitary confinement or with special populations like sex offenders. People rarely came out of that without mental issues. “I don’t deserve you.”

She rolled on top of me, staring into my eyes. “Don’t you believe that, honey! ‘Deserve’ has nothing to do with love. I want to be married to you because I love you! I want our baby to grow up in the loving family we’ll create. I want to watch our grandchildren playing in the backyard while we sit in our rocking chairs. I want to be the first thing you see in the morning and the last person you see every night.”

There was no doubt in her eyes. “I want that too, honey.” I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her deeply. “Can we plan the wedding in the morning? I’m a little tired.”

“Old man,” she teased. She slid down to my right side, put her head on my shoulder, and fell asleep. I was right behind her.

“Daddy?”

Heather’s voice and hand on my shoulder pulled me from dreamland. Daylight streamed through the windows, backlighting her red hair like flames. “What time is it?”

“Eight o’clock. You promised to work out with me this morning, and Mom won’t let me tell Grandma anything until she talks to her first.”

Crap. I promised Heather we’d work out every morning she slept over at my place, and I didn’t put the ‘holiday exception’ in. I looked over at Mary, who was sound asleep. “Let Mom sleep in,” I told her. “Go toast some bagels while I get ready.”

I waited until she disappeared, then took my morning wood straight to the bathroom. After a quick breakfast, we moved the couch back and started working on our grappling. We’d worked up a decent sweat when Mary finally stumbled out in her robe. “What are you working on?”

“Elbow locks,” I told her. “Want to tag in?”

“I want coffee,” she mumbled as she went to the kitchen. I let her wake up, then sat across from her when Heather went to get changed. “I’m nervous about my parents,” she confessed.

“Why?”

“I feel like I’m disappointing them. They brought me up to save myself for marriage, and now I’m pregnant and unmarried. It’s not the example I thought I’d make for Heather.”

“You’re pregnant?” Heather stood by the curtain, eyes wide as she looked between us. “I’m not surprised. You two make a lot of noise when you think I’m asleep.”

Mary’s face turned beet red while I hid my face behind my hands. Kids grow up fast these days. Mary finally opened her arms and pulled Heather close. “You’re going to be a great older sister.”

The next step was telling her parents. We made a plan, and Heather video-called her Grandmother to start it off. “Hi, Grandma!”

“Happy New Year, Heather! FRANK, COME IN HERE! How was last night, honey?”

“It was fun! Daddy woke me up to watch the ball drop, and he gave me a gift!” She held her hand up in front of the camera so the camera showed the gold ring with the diamond and emeralds. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

“Oh, my, that IS beautiful! Is that a real diamond?”

“And real emeralds,” Heather said.

“That’s a very nice gift,” Anita said.

“It’s not as big as Mom’s ring.” With that, she turned the camera to where Mary was sitting, her left hand stretched towards the camera.

“OH MY GOD, ARE YOU ENGAGED??”

“He asked me last night, and I said yes!”

Heather sat on her Mom’s lap, and I cleaned up from breakfast. Fifteen minutes later, Frank called my phone. I showed Heather the caller ID, grabbed a jacket, then stepped onto my small balcony to answer it. “When you said you wanted to ask for my daughter’s hand, I didn’t expect it this early,” he told me. “Nice move by including Heather. That got you lots of brownie points.”

“Things change,” I replied. “I’d planned to wait until things around me calmed down, but they aren’t going to. I’ve got a video of me asking them. I’ll send it along after I’ve edited it down.”

“How far along is she?”

I damn near dropped my phone. “Two or three weeks. Mary got the positive test.” I waited for the explosion. “How did you know?”

“She’s glowing from more than the ring. Her Mom gets the same dopey, lovestruck expression after a good night of sex.” There were depths to this man I’d yet to discover. I was waiting for him to get mad, and he didn’t. “I had a gut feeling, and I figured you wouldn’t lie to me, though you might refuse to answer. Either way, I’d know.”

“We were going to tell you soon,” I told him.

“You’re a good man, John, and you make my girls happy. Her mother would prefer Mary walk down the aisle without a baby bump, so get it done.”

“It will have to be in New York with my bail, and you know how the press is hounding me. I don’t know how to make this work for her.”

He just laughed. “Son, you show up in the right outfit and say the words the Priest gives you. The rest of it, Angie and Mary will figure out.”

Heather opened the door and poked her head out. “Daddy, where are the ring boxes?”

“In the middle drawer of the bedside table, honey.” I returned to the phone call, only realizing thirty seconds later what ELSE was in the drawer, and I didn’t mean a box of condoms or a bottle of lube. Those were in the top drawer with her remote-control vibrator. “Dad, I have to go.”

I ran inside, catching up to Heather next to the bed. Mary came in after me, just in time to see her daughter turn around with a jewel-encrusted dagger in her hand. “What is this?”

“Put it down, Heather. That is very old and dangerous,” I told her.

She set it on the pile of photographs of the young and beautiful Ingrid Street that were now on top of the table. “And who is THAT,” Mary demanded.

Shit. “It’s going to be a long story.”

“We’ve got all day,” Mary answered. “I won’t stand for secrets in our relationship.”

I ran my fingers through my short hair. “All righty, then.” I put the dagger back in the drawer and picked up the sheaf of papers. “Let’s take this to the couch.”

It was past lunchtime before they learned the whole story.