“What is it?” she asked wondering what could be so awful.

“Amy, honestly I’m not trying to control you, but I think it would be best if you were to just focus on you and the baby. You’ve already had some health issues and will be really busy getting things ready for our new home and the baby. I don’t think you should work for the company anymore,” he finally got to the point.

Amy had many mixed feelings. She was surprised that the strongest emotion she was feeling was relief. She was doing well at her job but she didn’t love it. There was so much stress involved and all she could think about was her unborn child and her husband anyway, which made work all that much more difficult.

She didn’t want to be completely dependent on a man though and that really worried her. She did have a decent amount of savings already due to the fact that she had very little expenses. That was her security blanket. It wasn’t enough to last long if they were no longer together but it would be enough to get her settled into a new place while she found a job.

“I would need to train a new person. I’m okay with not working there anymore. I will want to get a job after the baby is a few months old though, but it might be better if I didn’t work for my husband,” she surprised him by saying.

Lucas had been afraid she was going to feel like he was pushing her away. “You don’t have to worry about training someone. My dad has already taken care of all that while we were on our honeymoon,” he said happily. He was so relieved this hadn’t caused them another fight.

“Who’s this new person?” she asked suspiciously. She didn’t want some skinny, hot young thing working with her husband for countless hours each week. She knew there were many women out there that wouldn’t have any problem sleeping with a married man and that connecting door between their offices was far too easy to slink through.

The thought of another woman placing her hands on her husband was enough to quicken her breathing and she was ready to scratch the eyes out of this non- existent person. This was her family and she would do anything in her power to hold onto them.

Lucas laughed at her. He knew exactly what she was thinking. “Don’t worry. She is a happily married grandmother of six, who is more than qualified. She actually worked for another division in the company and my father felt that it was high time she got a promotion,” he reassured her.

“Esther’s been working with her the past week and she’s picked up on the job quickly. I think she’ll do really well for us. Of course it will no longer be such a pleasure at the office for me knowing you’re so far away. I’ve gotten used to your scent invading every aspect of my workspace. I will desperately miss it,” he said while nuzzling her neck.

“Well, I guess everything has been taken care of then,” she said feeling a little out of sorts, since she’d been replaced so easily. “I will focus on getting things ready for the baby.” Amy was scared, as she’d always worked so hard in her life and now there wasn’t much expected from her, except to get the home ready and wait for their child to be born. She’d been working so hard for so long she didn’t know what she would do with all the extra time on her hands.

She thought maybe she could figure out something she would be able to do from home to bring more money to her savings account. She wouldn’t take anything from her husband if he ever decided the marriage was over. She loved him and she wouldn’t turn into the woman he thought she was at the beginning of their relationship.

It was sad to her how many people used Lucas and his family for their own selfish needs.

Couldn’t all those people see that the Andersons’ were amazing people without the money and power? Well, she planned on showing him how much she loved him for himself and nothing else for the rest of her life.

Amy spent the next couple of months getting her beautiful home fixed up and ready for her child.

She would frequently stop and just rub her belly. She was so overjoyed by the fact she was soon to be a mother.

Her relationship with her husband was going well. But there was also something missing. They made love regularly and it was amazing. When they were in the bed together, she felt cherished and like the most beautiful woman in the world.

When she was in his arms, everything was okay. He still hadn’t said the magic words to her, but she did feel loved by him. Maybe he just wouldn’t be able to tell her he was in love with her.

She had to fight herself daily to not shout the words out to him. Each time they made love, she would say them in her head over and over again. “I love you Lucas, I love you. ” How she wished she had the confidence to tell him how she felt. She was afraid he would think her too clingy if she told him and then pull away from her.

She didn’t know if she could survive if he didn’t want her anymore. She’d begun to imagine the happily ever after life she’d read about in so many romance novels. She’d always thought it was a work of fiction but there she was really living it in her own ongoing novel.

Amy was lost in her own thoughts, as she attempted to read a book out by the pool. Her stomach was getting so much larger now as she was in the third trimester of her pregnancy. She kept waiting for Lucas to become repulsed with her body, but he seemed to think the changes were sexy, if his body’s reaction were an indication.

Even on the rare nights they didn’t make love she could feel the evidence he wanted her pressed into the softness of her behind.

“Hello sexy,” said Lucas, as he sat down next to her and nuzzled her neck. “How are you feeling today,” he continued up her neck with an open mouthed kiss that had her pulse sky rocketing.

“I’m feeling great,” she purred. “Want me to take you upstairs and show you,” she pleaded a bit, as his kisses were already making her body turn to a puddle of need.

He gave a chuckle and pulled her into his lap, where he sealed their mouths together in a deep kiss. By the time they pulled apart for some much needed air, she could feel the evidence of his arousal and she was ready for him.

He slid her skirt up and took her there on the lounge with her sitting atop him. She came fast and hard and then collapsed in his arms. “Now that was a great hello,” he whispered to her as he continued to stroke her back.

“Dinner’s ready,” they heard a voice call from inside the house.

Lucas quickly covered his wife up, having forgotten their maid could’ve walked out at any moment. He forgot the rest of the world existed when she was wrapped in his arms.

He didn’t like to lose control that way and sat there uncomfortably while his body tried to return to normal.

“I’m sorry about that,” he said a bit sheepishly. “I was just coming out to say hello, but you make me go a little bit crazy,” he continued on.

She laid her hand on his face while looking into his eyes. “Don’t be sorry, I wanted you just as badly and no one caught us,” she said a bit defensively. “I want to make love to you as much as possible before our child takes up all the room and you won’t be able to touch me anymore,” she finished a little self consciously.

He looked deeply into her eyes and spoke honestly, “you’re beautiful Amy and your body changing with our child growing inside of you, only enhances that beauty. I want you all the time and that won’t change.” He continued to caress her.

They sat there for a while longer until hunger finally had them getting up and going into the kitchen where they shared a pleasantly quiet dinner and then retired early to bed to make love again. As she reached her peak, she quietly whispered “I love you,” finally not being able to hold it back anymore.

She felt him stiffen a bit at her words and feared she’d somehow broken the rules of their marriage. He said nothing, but didn’t push her away. She lay there in his arms feeling desolate and wanting him to repeat the words to her.

She felt like he loved her but maybe she was wrong. Silent tears fell down her cheeks, until she finally fell asleep from pure exhaustion.

Lucas lay there and held his wife as he waited for her breathing to even out, showing him she was finally sleeping. She loved him, he thought in awe. He’d seen the signs of her attachment to him and felt she was falling in love but he was so afraid to open himself up.

There’d been far too many women who’d spoken those same words to him; not because they loved him but because they loved his money, his power and all he could give them.

He knew deep down that Amy wasn’t one of those women, but she already had him completely wrapped around her fingers. To give her his love too; seemed like he would be giving up the last thing he had left to hold onto. He wasn’t ready to do that yet. He had to have something left, he tried to reason.

After she told Lucas she loved him he started coming home later and later. She was seeing him much less. She could feel him slipping away, before she’d ever really had him. She figured she was going to either give this her all, or let go. She couldn’t live in the marriage half way anymore.

It was killing her a little bit more each and every day as she watched him pull further away from her. She didn’t say she loved him anymore, afraid that if she did he would ask her to sleep in a separate room from him.

They were making love less often too, partially because he was gone so much more, but a lot had to do with the fact she was getting so far along in her pregnancy and she was tired all the time.

She had a few months in the middle where she’d felt great but the beginning had been hard and the end was even harder.

The doctor was keeping an eye on her, as she was swelling too much and he was worried her blood pressure was too high. He’d put her on bed rest for ninety percent of each day and she was getting really tired of it.

Finally, she got her blood pressure under control and the doctor told her she could move around a bit more and that some fresh air might do her some good. She decided to get out of the house for a while.

She was going into the office to surprise her husband with a romantic lunch, lovemaking and a confession. She was going to tell him how much she loved him and wanted the marriage to be real.

If he didn’t return her feelings then she was going to let him go and get on with her life. She knew he would want to be a part of her child’s life and that would have to work out but she couldn’t live like roommates any longer.

She knew he still had the power to take her child away from her but as she’d gotten to know him she didn’t think he could ever remove a child from her mother. Besides, there was no way Joseph and Katherine would ever support one of their children taking a child from its mom. They had too much love and respect for family.

Amy was feeling very nervous on her drive into the office. She hadn’t been there in a while and she was scared he wouldn’t be happy with the interruption. She planned her visit when she knew he would be there alone and she could just slip in.

She was praying that he could love her. Please, she prayed, let him love me as much as he loves our unborn child.

She walked into her old office, which was empty and pulled her coat a little bit tighter. It was long and covered her well, but she knew all she had on underneath was skimpy black lingerie. It had been hard to find something sexy, when her stomach was protruding out about a foot from the rest of her body, but unbelievably she’d hit the jackpot and felt sexy for the first time in a very long while.