Lachlan’s Surprise

Ashley smiled in her sleep. She dreamed she heard Lachlan calling her. She sighed audibly, but began to slip back into a deeper sleep. Then that magic word found its way into her subconscious.

"Surprise."

Now Ashley was a girl who most definitely loved surprises. And if the surprise was coming from her beloved Lachlan…

"Mmm, sleepy."

"Ashley, c’mon, love."

"Mmm, hmm."

Lachlan’s giggle finally awakened Ashley. She must have done it again. Lachlan was learning that a bomb could go off in the next room and Ashley might possibly sleep through it.

Her eyes opened to the sight of a bouquet of long stemmed red roses held inches from her face.

She grinned up at him. "For me?"

"No, they’re for my other Missus Curry."

Ashley giggled and slapped him lightly on the arm. "They better not be. You are just too irresistible, Lachlan. Set those down and come here." Ashley took a quick sniff of the fragrant blossoms and then wrapped her arms around Lachlan’s shoulders and peppered his face with little kisses. She ended with his lips as he captured hers after her little peck on his chin.

After a long tender and increasing passionate kiss, Ashley sighed and snuggled into his arms. Lachlan pulled her onto his lap as she cradled her head on his shoulder.

"Thank you, Mister Curry. You know how much I love flowers."

"If this is the reception I get maybe I should bring you flowers every day." He grinned and kissed her gently again.

Ashley’s arms slipped around his neck. She felt Lachlan bury his nose into her long red fragrant locks. He loved her hair.

"Okay, that works for me, Lach." She giggled. "Flowers, every day. I’ll feel so special." Ashley kissed his chest through his shirt. A smile curled the edges of her lips.

Bloody hell. Leave it to his smart mouth and Ashley’s love of presents to lock him into bringing her flowers every day. Lachlan wouldn’t find it a hardship…except when it came to money for all those bloody flowers. If he could, she deserved them every day. His hand strayed to her still flat belly. He laid his fingers against it.

"How are you feeling, Ash? You’ve been sleeping for yonks. I have more surprises."

"More? I feel just fine right now, Lach." She was stroking her fingers over his face. Ashley had to ask Lachlan sometime how long ‘yonks’ was? She had no idea. Currently she was distracted by his proximity and the feel of his strong jaw line. Not to mention the feel of his warm muscular body pressed against hers.

Ashley began to positively purr while she was curled up against him. Lachlan was getting more distracted by the moment. Her warm lithe body would soon be beneath his on the couch or in their bed. He remembered the present for the baby and dinner which was ready. Bed later, though a groan escaped his lips before he kissed her one more time.

"Let’s go eat, Ash. Tucker’s ready." He picked her up in his arms and carried her toward the kitchen. Her soft lips were pressed against his neck. He came close to veering off toward the bedroom. It took all his control and thinking of his pre-flight check list to get them into the kitchen.

"You made me dinner?" Ashley was still enamored with the scent and feel of Lachlan’s skin. It took a while for his words to penetrate her sleep and love fogged mind. She beamed at him. "I must have the best husband in the entire world." Her lips found his cheek again.

Lachlan was having a hell of a time concentrating with her fingers and lips touching him.

"Of course you do, love. You mean you didn’t know that already?" Lachlan gave her a look of mock outrage. Maybe if he made her laugh she’d stop touching him like this. Did he want her to stop touching him like this???

Ashley giggled…and kissed him more with her soft warm lips. "I knew that already, Lach." She sighed happily. "You smell so good today, Sweetheart. I just can’t keep my lips off you."

What should Lachlan say? He smelled like kangaroo dung so she’d pay attention to the wonderful smell of the meat pasties steaming on the table and waiting for them. Did he really care that much about the bloody pasties? He did want to see her reaction to the layette.

"Close your eyes, Ash. I’m going to set you on your chair. I want to give you your surprise, um first." Lachlan wasn’t sure if first meant before they ate or before he took her to bed.

Ashley closed her eyes as he set her down and even covered them with her perfectly manicured fingernails.

"Okay, I’ve got them closed, Lachlan. I’m ready for my surprise."

Lachlan chuckled from the excitement in her voice. His sheila loved surprises and gifts.

He grabbed the layette from his hiding place and laid it on her lap.

"Open your eyes, Ashley." He grinned as he watched her eyes focus on the gaily wrapped package.

In a moment Ashley had the paper ripped off the gift. She saw the layette and looked up at him with her lips forming a perfect ‘o.’ She tore through the plastic wrapping and gently fingered the green set as though it was fragile and might tear or disappear if she handled it too strongly.

"You got green, Lachlan. For him or for her." She started to smile, but her eyes suddenly brimmed over with tears and they began to course down her cheeks. Ashley was rendered speechless.

She’d looked happy and surprised. At first anyhow. Now she was crying. Did he do something wrong?

"What’s the matter, love? Is everything okay?" This didn’t fall under anything he knew about as a bloke. That sort of covered everything about Ashley and marriage since they’d been together.

"No, nothing’s wrong, Lach. It’s wonderful. Perfect. Our first present for our baby. I’m so happy." She looked up at him and started to cry harder and louder. Ashley found she couldn’t stop crying.

Lachlan stared dumbly at her for a moment. She said everything was perfect and she was happy. That didn’t match with how hard Ash was crying. What should he do?

He pulled his chair next to her and sat down beside her. Then Lachlan gathered her into his arms. They both always seemed happy when he was holding her in his arms. Ashley held on tightly to the layette so it didn’t slide to the floor.

She sobbed as she snuggled into his chest and wet his shirt with her tears. Finally the tears subsided and were replaced with a few little hicks and sniffs.

"Better, love?" Lachlan still had no idea why she was crying.

Ashley nodded her head and stayed snuggled against him.

He could do this, but his stomach growled at that moment as the smell of the closest meat pasty reached his nose.

"Wait till you taste what I made, Ash. You’ll love it." He reached out and dug his fork into the food. "And I got wine for you too."

Ashley looked up at him in surprise. How did she tell Lach she didn’t want anything to eat when he’d done all this for her? The smell was starting to really reach her brain and it didn’t like what it smelled.

In fact her stomach wanted nothing to do with the food. All she wanted to do was hold onto Lach and the layette at the moment. She had no idea why she still felt so shaky or where the tears had come from.

"I can’t drink wine, Lachlan. You have some if you want." She smiled up at him. Her fingers brushed against his cheek. Why did she suddenly feel so vulnerable?

"But, you like a glass of wine sometimes…" Lachlan trailed off. Pregnant women weren’t supposed to drink. He had so much to learn. "I forgot."

"There’s a lot to learn. For both of us." Her fingers were playing with a button on his shirt.

Lachlan was trying to read her mood. He wasn’t sure he’d ever seen this one before; very different from her usually sunny self. This was a time for firsts. His hunger won and he shoveled a large bite of the meat pasty into his mouth.

"You’ve got to taste how good this is, Ash." He held a bite out for her. Lach never saw someone change color so quickly. She pushed his hand away.

"Oh, keep that away from me. The smell." She got a bit paler.

"The smell? It smells bonzer. Nothing tastes better." But, Lachlan held it away from her and swallowed it himself. Then he remembered about the pregnancy cravings he’d heard about. Wait until she heard what he’d gotten for her.

"I’ll eat the meat pasties tonight, Ash. I got pickles and ice cream for you." He said it so proudly.

Lachlan didn’t think it was possible, but Ashley suddenly turned a bit paler. She quickly jumped off his lap and went running toward the bathroom; still firmly clutching the green layette. After a few moments retching sounds came from the bathroom. She was chundering? Wasn’t there only morning sickness? It wasn’t morning at all.

He had a stomach of steel. Lach took one last hurried bite of the wonderful meat pasty and ran to go help his sick wife. It appeared they both really did have a lot to learn about pregnancy with many surprises to come.