Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 404 -

*One Month Later* *Olivia*

"Fuck this," I couldn't help but cry as I washed my hands in the bathroom. I was getting ready for bed, and I was both pissed off and sad that I'd just had to pull on a pair of period underwear instead of excitedly taking a pregnancy test. Giovani and I had made love even more than usual over the past month, but my period had still arrived two days ago. I didn't understand why we hadn't been able to get pregnant. All anyone ever talked about was how easy it was to get pregnant when a person was young. Hell, I spent my teenage years constantly being lectured about the importance of safe sex. And now that I was actually having tons of unprotected sex, my body wasn't doing what I wanted it to do. It was infuriating and made me feel so useless. The one thing my body was supposed to be able to easily do, and it couldn't? What the fuck!

I walked out of our bathroom to replace Gio sitting on the bed reading a book. He was shirtless, and the sight of his broad chest only made me feel even more heartbroken. He was so perfect. I just wanted to be able to give him the baby that I knew he wanted. He looked up, noticed the tears in my eyes, and immediately grew concerned. To his credit, he'd been absolutely wonderful during the entire process, always making sure that our sex life was romantic and didn't start to feel clinical, even when we knew we were doing it for a specific purpose.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" he asked, standing up to wrap his arms around me.

"I just don't understand why I'm on my period right now. What if something's wrong with me? What if I can't have a baby?" As I voiced my concerns out loud, I started to cry even harder. I really did not want it to be true, but it was impossible not to think the worst. Sure, we hadn't been trying for very long, but why would I not be pregnant yet considering I was young and healthy?

"Oh, Olivia," Gio said in a soothing voice, rubbing his hands up and down my back, "You know this takes time. Realistically, you can only get pregnant a few days a month, right? And we haven't been trying very long at all."

He pulled me down onto the bed with him then gathered me close to his chest. I rested my cheek against his bare skin, trying to comfort myself with the familiar feel of him.

"But we've had sex every day!" I exclaimed, my tears causing my voice to crack. "I can't stop worrying that something's wrong."

"It does take a while for the birth control to wear off, you know? Breathe with me, baby." He breathed slowly in and out, waiting for me to match him.

It took me a few minutes, but finally I was able to calm myself enough to breathe evenly. Gio kept rubbing his hands in circles up and down my back.

"I know you want this to happen right away, but we both know we can't rush this." He pressed a kiss to my forehead then pulled back to look me in the eyes. "And besides, don't you like trying? I sure do."

I smiled at him. He was right. Something about having sex knowing that we were trying to make a baby made it even sexier than usual.

"I guess you're right," I finally acquiesced. I was still upset, but I also worried that stressing too much was what was stopping me from getting pregnant.

"I'm always right," he said with a grin, then pushed me over so that I was laying on the bed with him on top of me.

"That remains to be seen!" I exclaimed between giggles as he found all my most ticklish spots.

He stopped tickling me long enough to gaze into my eyes. "Besides, once we have our baby, and I know that we will, it will never go back to just being the two of us. I'm just as excited as you are to grow our family, but I love having you to myself too. You make a wonderful wife." He leaned down to kiss me, then rolled to his side and spooned me against him.

We fell asleep wrapped in each other's arms, but I couldn't stop thinking about how badly I'd love to have a little bassinet next to our bed.

***

*Three Months Later* *Giovani*

It was fucking killing me to see the way Olivia's face fell every month when her period arrived like clockwork. I found it ironic that there had been a time in the past when I'd been relieved every time her period came around, knowing that we weren't yet ready to be parents. Now I found myself praying to whatever god was out there to please not let her period arrive.

I wanted to have a baby with her, but more than that, I wanted her to be happy. The cycle of getting our hopes up only to have them dashed every single month was stealing away her joy, and seeing her be crushed like that was almost too much for me to take. I was willing to do anything to put a stop to it. I really didn't think we'd been trying long enough to warrant seeking medical intervention, but I knew Olivia would feel better if we did. I was just waiting for the right moment to broach the subject with her.

When her period started again, marking four months of trying and failing to get her pregnant, I knew it was time for me to step up and start getting this sorted out. We had way too much money to just suffer like this. I knew there were options out there for us; it was just a matter of replaceing out about them. After doing some preliminary internet searches, I decided it was finally time to approach her with the idea of getting medical help.

I found Olivia laying in our bed face down, her body shaking with sobs. My heart felt like it was being ripped apart. I hated seeing her so torn up about this. And there was a huge part of me that knew it was probably my fault. After all, I was the "old guy" who'd decided to marry a younger woman. At her age, it was unlikely that she would struggle to conceive, but at my age, it was common for issues to pop up.

After the research I had spent the afternoon doing, I knew that it was most likely me. It made me feel so fucking guilty to think that if she'd married a younger man, she might have the baby she wanted, but I knew I couldn't let myself go down that road of thinking. It wasn't productive for either of us to start wallowing in guilt at this point.

I walked up to Olivia and sat next to her on the bed, gently placing my hand on her back. She rolled over to face me, her face wet with tears. I wanted to kiss her pain away, but I knew that ship had sailed. It was time for action.

"Baby, I hate seeing you so upset," I told her, knowing I should start off gently. I didn't want her to think for one single second that I was upset with her or that I wanted to seek medical intervention because I blamed her. I wanted her to know that we were in this together.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice thick with tears. I immediately hated myself for the way I'd started out.

I pulled her onto my lap and started wiping at her tears. "Don't ever be sorry for having emotions, carina. I love that you feel so deeply."

"I just hate this," she said before dropping her face against my shoulder.

"I know. I want to have a baby too. And that's why-" I hesitated, hoping she would take what I was about to say how I meant it. "I was thinking we should look into fertility testing, just to check if there's anything we should be doing differently." She immediately perked up in my arms, and my anxiety over bringing it up melted away. She had clearly been thinking the same thing I had.

"You really mean it? We can look into that?" she asked, the excitement in her voice clearing away her tears.

"Yes, definitely. I've already done a little bit of research, but I wanted to get your permission before replaceing a specialist and scheduling an appointment."

"Yes! Yes! Of course! I'm so happy you brought this up! I've been wanting to ask but I just felt so overwhelmed by everything...." She bit her lip as she fell back into her thoughts.

I felt like such an idiot for not bringing fertility testing up two months ago, but then again, based on the research I'd done, a doctor wouldn't want to see us until we'd had several months with no success anyway.

"Were you too scared to ask me?" I asked her, needing to know if she felt like she had to hide her feelings from me. I hoped I had never done anything that made her feel that way, but we needed to get everything out in the open now. "I wasn't scared. I just didn't want to offend you," she said honestly, looking at me shyly through her lashes.

"Alright, well that stops right now," I declared. "From now on, you tell me everything that you're thinking, and I tell you everything that I'm thinking. And we won't be offended because we know we're on the same team."

She nodded, her face brightening into a smile. I leaned down so that our foreheads pressed together and closed my eyes. It had been almost half a year since our wedding, and I still felt in awe that I got to call such a perfect woman my wife. Compared to previous obstacles we'd faced together, this would be easy as long as we were honest and open with each other.

"I love you," she breathed.

"I love you," I responded before settling her back into the bed and standing up. It was time for me to be the husband that Olivia deserved and go make some calls.

I spent the rest of the afternoon calling various speciaists and looking up reviews. Finally, I found one that specialized in high-profile clients and was well-known for its success and accuracy. I called them and booked an appointment for the next week. I couldn't wait to tell Olivia that we had an appointment booked for so soon. I practically skipped around the compound looking for her. I found her in one of her favorite chairs outside on the patio, reading a book.

She looked up when she saw me coming her way and must have been able to read the happiness on my face because she broke out into a huge grin.

"Did you replace anything out?" she asked.

"Better-I got us an appointment for next week." I reached down and picked her up, twirling the both of us in a circle.

She laughed giddily as I set her down. "That's way faster than I thought it would be," she said.

"Never doubt your husband's determination," I teased, leaning over to kiss her.

"What did I ever do without you?" she asked.

I could say the same about her.