"We need to talk!" Moss told Abby, as soon as Steven stepped out to make a work call.
"Yes we do." Abby agreed, "and I would like to start with a big fat sorry Moss, I know I was not the loving wife."
His eyes hazed with pain, and he pulled a chair next to her bed and said calmly, "I want o fix this marriage, Abby, it's fixable I know it is."
Shaking her head, Abby couldn't help but cry, "Oh Moss, I love you I do, but I love Steven more, he is the only man I can be with. I want to be with him Moss."
Steven was about to enter the room when he heard Abby speak, but instead he hid behind the door with a listening ear. She had said she loved Moss, hearing that stung, but the truth of the matter was that he was kind to her and he was her husband, so of course she loved him, but she doesn't love Moss more than she loves him and that's a given, Steven thought, for the first time since he has been with her he felt secure and loved, but he continued to listen to what she had to say to him, and he felt sorry for the poor shmuck.
"You say you love me yet you want to leave me!" Moss pointed out.
I love you I do, but like a friend not like a husband Moss, I don't want to live a lie anymore, and I definitely do not want to hurt you again. I know I haven't been a good wife to you, but I swear it, I do care for you."
Moss laughed bitterly, "Care for me?"
"I'm so sorry Moss."
"And what if the baby is mine, what then?"
"We will find out anytime now and we will figure something out. I'm not staying with you Moss I already made my decision." She smiled bitterly, "I need to be with the love of my life, I have loved Steven forever and I'm not going to give him up, now!"
Steven heard Moss let out a string of curses, but he didn't care, he focused more on what Abby had just said and he wanted to run to her and pull her into his arms. He loved her so much that sometimes he couldn't breath.
At that moment the doctor walked past him and entered the room, and Steven followed after him. This is it, he thought, the paternity of the baby would be revealed. She's mine, he thought, of this I have no doubt!
The doctor shifted his eyes from Abby, to Steven and then to Moss. His face did not reveal a single thing, and the anticipation was killing Moss who prayed he would be told that he was the father.
Opening the piece of paper slowly in his hands, the doctor looked up at Steven and said,"She is your daughter, congratulations!" Then he left the room hastily, not wanting to be around the drama that he was sure would happen.
Releasing a sigh of relief, Steven's and Abby's eyes met and locked with joy and extreme love. Moss marched out of the room, he was in tears and the pain for him was unbearable especially that he had to stand there and watch Steven steal his wife away from him.
"You were right!" Abby screamed with great joy, "we have a baby's girl!"
"I knew she was mine I had no doubt!" He walked to her side and looked down at her.
Many deep emotions were evident in his eyes, as Abby looked up at him, "We have a beautiful family Steven. What shall we name her?"
"We will name her Aphrodite's." Steven said, hoarsely, "it means love in Greek and she was made from our love Abby."
Tears glided down Abby's face, "Yes it's a beautiful name."
Steven's eyes dropped to Abby's hand where the ruby shined bright. "I will replace that ring with the biggest diamond in the world!"
Abby shook her head, "No diamond in the world can mean more to me than this ruby ring and what it stands for."
Suddenly Steven remembered the clown girl in all her purity and he bend down and kissed her passionately. "I love you!" He whispered in her ear. "I adore you."
"Oh my God I don't believe it!" Claire screamed from the doorway, as she swiftly made her way inside the room, Jeff followed in behind her, but he didn't look too happy.
She gave Abby a huge hug, "What happened Abby, why did you go in labor so soon, and why didn't you call me right away?"
"I'm sorry Claire, everything happened so fast and I was in a lot of pain." Abby hugged her back tightly.
"Congratulations, I'm sure she is beautiful!" Claire wiped her eyes that were full of tears.
"She's a miracle and a blessing Claire," Abby cried happily, "and she's so beautiful, but she is really tiny."
"Can I see her?"
"Yes, she is in the ICU children unit in an incubator."
Claire asked, "what did you name her?"
"Steven named her Aphrodite's, in Greek that means love and Claire, she was made from love!"
Jeff murmured something unintelligible under his breath, but Steven who stood quietly to the side was not offended, nothing could burst his bubble, he was in a very happy place.
Turning around, Claire walked over to Steven and wrapped her arms around him, "Congratulations!" She told him. Moss who had called her to tell her the news had also informed her who the father was.
"Thank you." Steven beamed.
When Jeff cursed under his breath, Claire snapped, "Jeff stop it, we are here to celebrate the birth of Aphrodite's and not to judge, it's about time you two kissed and made up, because this feud has been going on for too long!"
Steven was at a place in his life now where he was calm and collective, he was so happy that he was willing to make peace with Jeff. Walking up to him he extended his hand for Jeff to take, it took a few seconds for Jeff to accept and then finally he stretched his hand out and shook hands with Steven.
Abby and Claire stared at each other, surprised that the men have finally found a truce between them.
"Steven please take us to see her!" Claire begged excitedly.
The three of them walked to the children's ward and Steven pointed out his precious daughter.
"Oh my God," Claire said excitedly, "she so precious!"
"Yes she is, " Steven beamed, "a true gift from God."
The tiny baby opened her eyes for a split second and tears welled up in Steven's eyes, and for the first time ever, Jeff who watched Steven with a keen eye respected him. No one could miss the love and adoration in Steven's eyes.
************
They returned to Abby's room and told her how beautiful they thought her baby was, then Moss walked in the room and everyone fell silent.
Moss looked like he had aged ten years, there was anger in his eyes, as he looked at Steven from across the room. "I am not going to allow for Abby to divorce me!" He stated bluntly, "she is my wife and I love her. I don't care that the child is not mine, I will raise her as my own!"
A vein popped up on Steven's neck, as he tightened his hands into fists a his sides, "Abby and the children will be leaving with me, Abby doesn't want to be married to you anymore Moss, get over it and move on with your life!"
Steven hit a nerve and Moss was full of rage, he pounced on Steven and a huge fight broke out. Jeff pulled Moss off Steven and held him back.
"Stop this!" He said through gritted teeth, "this is no place to act like a raging lunatic. Beating him will not fix your problem, but make it worse, I know because I've been there once and I learned my lesson!"
The rage in Steven's eyes was scary, when he spoke his voice was cold and dangerous, "You will let her go Moss or I will destroy you. She belongs with me, she loves me and we have a family.!"
"You can't just steal my family just because you have money and decided to take them!" Moss yelled.
"Money has nothing to do with this," Steven explained hoarsely, "we love each other and want to be together, she has given birth to both my children!"
"But she is my wife!" Moss yelled.
"Not For long, I will petition the court for a speedy divorce, go find yourself another woman who can love you Moss, because this woman doesn't love you she loves me!" The defeat in Moss's eyes almost had Steven pitying the guy, "you can find a great woman who will love you the way you deserved to be loved."
In tears, Abby's heart tore in two, Moss was a very good husband to her and she hated to be the one to hurt him. "Can I speak to Moss in private please?"
Steven hesitated at first but then walked out of the room with Jeff and Claire following close behind him, when he reached the door he threw Abby a long glance before he walked out.
"Come here Moss." She said lovingly, "I want to talk to you."
Moss pulled a chair close to her bed and sat down, there were tears evident in his eyes, "You broke my heart today Abby."
"Not on purpose," she told him, "I'm so sorry for putting you through this, but you must know that I do love you."
"Yes I know, but not like you love him!" He spat, "he won, even my precious baby girl turned out to be his! He took everything from me!"
"I didn't take anything away from you!" Steven barked, as he walked back into the room, unable to stand the fact that Moss was alone with Abby and could possibly convince her to stay with him, "she was never yours Moss, she always belonged to me!"
Moss jumped off his seat and yelled, "You walked away from her and now she's my wife!"
"Yes I did walk away from her, it was the biggest mistake of my life, but I'm here now and I won't allow anyone to stop me from taking her back!" Steven said through gritted teeth. "So say your peace and be gone with you!"
Ignoring Steven, Moss took Abby's hand in his and said, "I know deep down inside you love me too. I forgive you for everything, and I want you to stay married to me, we can make it work Abby I swear it, Steven will only hurt you again!"
Steven's blood boiled when he heard those words, grabbing Moss from the back, he flipped him around and punched him square in the face. Moss was caught off guard and went flying against the wall before his huge body crashed to the floor.
"Stop!" Jeff yelled, as he ran inside the room and pushed Steven back when he was about to throw another blow on Moss, "this is not the way to deal with it, where did this get me and you all those years we wasted hating each other and for what?"
"You are a very jealous man Steven," Claire told him, as she made her way to Abby, "and there is no need to be jealous, she loves you and you need to trust her otherwise your relationship will not make it!"
Deep blue eyes turned to Abby and searched her eyes for forgiveness, "I'm sorry."
"I know." She said, "we will work through this, don't worry."
****************
When Abby was released from the hospital, Steven took her to a three bedroom, furnished, and luxurious condo, "We will live here until Aphroditis is out of the hospital, I rented you a BMW," he gave her the keys, "this is our new temporary home."
Abby circled her arms around Steven and kissed him, and when their lips parted, she told him, "I want to make love to you desperately Steven."
Shaking his head, Steven said, "Not possible, you just had a baby and by c-section, and are not in any way to make love until your six week check up!"
"Are you serious!"
Nodding his head, Steven said, "I'm dead serious. I'm not taking any chances with you, I've finally got you back and I will not risk losing you Again, besides we have the rest of our lives for make up sex."
Abby pulled away from his arms and said dryly, "I feel like we're back in the Dells and we are teenagers again!"
Grabbing her hand, Steven pulled her by the arm and brought her back into his arms again, in a husky tone of voice, he said, "If you are needing this," his hand slipped between her thighs, "I'd be more than willing to accomendate you."
She moaned, as his fingers glided inside of her and worked their magic until she trembled in his arms.
"Open your eyes!" He commanded hoarsely.
And she did as she was told, as waves after waves of pleasure washed over her and Steven couldn't stand it anymore, he lifted her in his possessive arms and took her to the master bedroom where he lay her on the bed and quickly removed her clothes.
He wasn't allowed to make love to her in the old fashion way for now, according to the doctor, but he was going to please her in other ways.
Spreading apart her thighs, Steven's head lowered to her golden cave and he slipped his tongue inside of her. Abby moaned out loud, loving the feel of the strokes, as his velvety tongue dug deeper and deeper inside of her.
Pleasing Abby was even more important to him than pleasing himself. He lived and breathed just to hold her in his arms and love her anyway he could. It gave him great satisfaction to watch her tremble in his arms and that was all that mattered to him.
"You are my temple," Steven said hoarsely, when she finished having her electrifying moment, he pulled her into his strong arms, "I worship you!"
Closing her eyes, Abby was so consumed with love for this man that a rivulet of tears glided down her face.
Steven narrowed his eyes, "What wrong?"
"I'm so in love with you and so happy Steven that I fear you might leave me again!"
Lifting her chin up, Steven demanded, "look into my eyes Abby!" And when she did, he said with deep emotion, "I will never ever leave you again, I swear it!"
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