Molly was coming to think of this as their park bench. Every time they came to this park and ate ice cream, they sat here. They’d sat here years ago, and in the months after Clayton’s death, and now they sat here again.
“I love this kind of ice cream,” Molly said. “I don’t know why. It’s kind of bland.” She took another lick of her soft vanilla cone. “I think it’s the consistency.”
“You could get chocolate, you know. Swirl. You’re more of a swirl girl, aren’t you?”
She smiled at her Master. “Am I?” She kicked at the grass under the bench and pulled her coat more tightly around her. There was something she wanted to talk about with him, but it was uncomfortable to bring it up. “Master?”
“Yes, baby?”
“I worry sometimes that I’m not going to be a good mother. That I’m not fit to be a mother.”
He frowned. “Not fit to be a mother? Are you kidding me?” He rubbed his forehead. “Okay, tell me why you feel that way.”
“I don’t know. I guess because I’m not like other people. Our kid will have a weird mom.”
“You’re not weird.” He stopped, thought a moment. “Okay, you’re weird, but I happen to think weird people make the best parents.”
“Even...kinky parents? We have a cage under our bed, for God’s sake. Our child’s going to grow up in a BDSM club.”
Mephisto chuckled. “I think before the baby gets too old we’ll have to find another place. Maybe rent the back space out to an employee. But we’ll handle it. So we’re kinky, so what? It will just make the parent-teacher conferences a lot more interesting.”
Molly looked around the park, at all the normal moms. She’d never count herself in that group, she knew that. She tried to be okay with it, but somewhere deep inside, she wanted to be normal, like them, with nothing to hide.
“Even now,” he said softly. “You’re still ashamed of who you are, aren’t you?”
She didn’t bother to deny it. “I’m sorry, Master.”
“You don’t have to be sorry. I wish I understood though. Yeah, kinky people are different. We’re not your average Joe and Jane, but I’m not going to hang my head about it. Nothing we do is illegal or even immoral in my mind. Just because you and I are kinky doesn’t mean we don’t deserve to be parents, that we can’t raise children as well as anyone else. And you have a legacy to pass on. Clayton’s good works, and your good works now. You have a lot of money and influence that will need to be passed down one day to someone with a similar mindset on kindness and generosity. This is our chance to create that someone. Why shouldn’t we, Molly? Why shouldn’t we raise up a really wonderful human being?”
“Well, I want to do that. I’m just worried that since I’m not exactly normal, our kid won’t turn out normal either.”
“If we love him and nurture him, he’ll turn out wonderful whether he’s normal or not.”
Molly looked over at him, surprised. “You said ‘him.’ Do you think it will be a boy?”
Mephisto shrugged. “I kind of do. I don’t know why. Just a feeling. And I have a fifty percent chance of being right,” he added with a laugh. “Listen, kitten. Don’t worry. You’ll be a great mom, and I’m going to bust my ass to be Dad of the Century. As for the rest, we’ll be ourselves, to a point. We’ll find more private ways of doing our kinky things. Sell the cage bed, move the other cage into a dark closet somewhere.” He eyed her with a grin. “You got turned on a little just now, didn’t you?”
Molly licked a long, teasing line along the length of her cone. “Yes, I did.”
“Maybe we should start looking for an appropriately dark closet later when we get home.”
“Oh yes, Master. And to be honest, I won’t be sad to see the bad-girl cage go.”
“Liar. You love that cage.”
She smirked at him, suggestively assaulting her ice cream.
“Be careful, kitten,” he muttered. “There are laws against public indecency, and if you push me too far, I’ll break them all.”
She studied him. He did look pretty keyed up, but then, he’d seemed that way since they’d gotten to the park. “Is everything okay, Master?” she asked. “I’m always leaning on you for my problems, but you never tell me any of yours.”
He gave her a piercing, tender look that made her heart thump hard for a moment. “I don’t have a whole lot of problems. When I do, you always make me feel better.”
Molly ate the last of her cone and went into his arms. He held her close, pressing a kiss against her forehead. He held her so much these days, her belly didn’t even feel awkward anymore jammed between them. Now and again the baby would kick and turn over—maybe a form of protest at being squeezed so much. She clung to him. “I love you, Master. I love you so much.”
He didn’t respond for a moment, although she felt a subtle change of tension in his body. “It was about three years ago, now. Since we sat here that first time. I think that was the first time I admitted to myself...God...‘I really want her.’ Now here you are.”
She knew exactly what he was talking about. She sat up and smiled at him. “Three years. It’s hard to believe. But then, not hard at all. So much has happened since then. So much has changed.”
“Some things have changed. Other things have stayed the same.” He looked away from her, across the park, his lips tightening. “All I could think about that day was how jealous I was of Clayton. That week, I wondered so many times what it would be like to be your Master, to own you and enjoy you whenever, however I liked.”
He took her hand. Molly looked down at their interlaced fingers. “Well, you have that now. Is it everything you hoped?”
“Oh, Molly.” He gazed into her eyes, then away again. “God, baby, it’s so much more than I hoped. So much more fulfilling. So much deeper. I wanted your intelligence, your impeccable service. Your willpower. I never even understood about all the rest. The love, the closeness.” He ran his thumb across her wrist, looking down at their hands. “Listen, it’s time to say this. I think we should get married. I’d like to get married before our child is born. Even without a baby, I would have wanted to be with you forever. But with him...or her...on the way, we might as well make it official. What do you say?”
She couldn’t say anything. Her heart was suddenly wedged tightly in her throat.
“I’m asking Molly, by the way. Not my kitten. Not my slavegirl. I’m asking you, and you can say yes or no, just like a vanilla woman.”
Like a normal woman. Her lips curved in an irrepressible smile. “It’s so normal, to get married. Maybe there’s hope for us after all.”
Mephisto snorted. “Well, I wouldn’t go that far. Normal? I don’t have a ring for you, except for this one,” he said, touching the small ring that held her “M” charm. “I’ll get you one after the baby comes. When you’re not so...”
“Fat? Bloated?” Molly provided.
“Fluffy,” he said, rubbing her perpetually swollen fingers. “You can help me pick it out.”
“Thank you, Master. I think that sounds wonderful.”
“So is that a yes? A yes from Molly, not a Yes, Master, I’ll do whatever you ask?”
“Yes, Master. It’s a yes from Molly.” She looked up at the sky for a moment. “You’re making me feel a little schizophrenic. But either way, the answer is yes.”
He scrutinized her, a curl of amusement at the corner of his lips. “You know, I thought you’d be crying. I expected drama and waterworks. I’m a little disappointed.”
Molly couldn’t look away from those lips, that lovely smile. God, how she loved this man. “I can’t cry. I’m too happy. And for once in my life, I’m not conflicted. This just seems so perfect and...right. Too perfect to cry over. Although...” She pulled out the most guilty-slave look from her arsenal and pasted it on her face. “If you’re very disappointed, Master, I suppose you should punish me.”
He rolled his eyes. “Toppy little slavegirl. This is what happens as soon as you pop the que
stion. Sheesh.”
“I’ll never top you, I promise,” Molly said, squeezing his fingers. “You can put it in the vows.”
“Oh, our vows are going to be something special. I’m going to start writing them tonight. There might be something in there about a chastity belt.”
Molly laughed and snuggled closer in his arms. “I hereby plight you my orgasms.”
“Yes! I like the sound of that.” Mephisto sighed. “I like the sound of that very much.”
Chapter Fourteen: Happy
A wedding. Mephisto wouldn’t have believed it, not even a year ago. Now he was standing in the middle of a motley group of kinky friends and well wishers in a city park, gazing into the eyes of the woman who meant the world to him.
He wasn’t in a tux, although he’d worn his best black dress shirt and removed the chains that normally swung from this particular pair of jeans. And Molly wasn’t in white, but in light blue with white flowers. It suited her. No frilly, billowing skirt, but a form fitting silk dress that outlined her beautiful pregnant curves. Her very pregnant curves.
They’d thrown it together quickly. They were on a deadline after all—Molly’s belly wasn’t getting any smaller. Still, it was exactly what he would have wanted it to be, even with years of planning. Intimate, emotionally moving. Best of all, they were among close friends. They’d asked Lorna to officiate, since when a Master married his slave, it was best to have a kinky person standing there overseeing the vows. Mistress Lorna looked striking in a black corset and fitted black pants. She intoned their vows in a deep, formal voice, looking at them over the edge of her cat-eye glasses.
“For richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health—”