C A chance at happiness

[justpush]

Carsen said thanks when he was done with his feet. He felt relieved. He didn't ask anyone for such a massage because he was embarrassed. Fortunately, his husband could ask without hesitation from now on. He sent him a grateful smile, immediately looking at him with seriousness.

What do you mean he didn't eat breakfast? His maternal instinct was already working and he worried about Fabian. He touched his cheeks, looking at him worriedly. "Eat... Because I won't speak to you," he said quietly, flexing his cheeks so hard that his face looked bigger. However, they immediately started the topic of the baby.

Carsen exposed his belly and massaged it affectionately, looking at him happily. Then he looked at the Duke. "Whenever I talk to a child I always say that I will love them regardless of their gender. And so it feels. For now, I can't think if it's a boy or a girl. Nevertheless, they'll be happy with any gender. I like kids... What about you? What is your opinion Fabian?"

[moony]

Fabian was so surprised when his wife took his cheeks as his old aunts did when he was a child he almost fell from the bed. He blushed as he regained his sitting. "I promise I'll eat something" he said and rubbed his cheek.

Fabian looked at the belly and ached to touch it once more but refrain from it to not bother Carsen "I just want the baby to be healthy. I do understand I need a heir that can inherit the estate and that it has to be a boy, but I'm not in a rush. I have six older sisters as you know. So I don't mind or care if we have a bunch of daughters. I actually think it would be nice. My sister's were always nice to me, so I imagine daughters would be just the same. You think a daughter would like me?"he sighted as he knew ir was a burden to be the one to inherit and also an injustice to not be able it inherit if you were a girl or a lad.

"you know I've been intending to say all morning. You look nice in that robe. It's new isn't it?i hasn't seen it before"

[justpush]

Carsen somewhat shyly moved closer to his spouse and reached for his hand to touch his stomach. He would not likely do it himself, so he had to help him. He immediately smiled slightly. "Feel free... It's your baby, too. You need to make up some time with him," he said, and then listened to his words about and children and his siblings as if enchanted. He was an only child and longed to have someone he could rely on. He envied Fabian. That's why he wanted to have lots of kids. He wouldn't mind. He'd be in heaven. He could handle raising them. " I think we can always try for another baby soon after my first birth. I think as long as I'm young and have the strength it will be a good time to breed," he explained and then widened his smile to then feel the little one move. He looked quickly at the prince. "Can you feel it? I think it recognized your voice..."

When the subject came down to his nightgown he blushed harder and looked at the sexy fabric. " I had it yesterday....It's from Mom. She said it should like us, and most of all you," he confessed, being a little amused.

(Are we doing a skip to the evening soon?)

[moony]

"can I really? I don't want to impose myself in your private space, in case you might.. Not desire me touching at the moment" he said and blushed as he explored the roundness of his wife and the child within.
He smiled in awe and in an impulse leaned over and kissed the belly. He loved the child already.

"I will like to have a big family like the one I come from. It was fun, yet if you're the youngest you do get bullied around. I'm sure we have a lot of time to think of kids later. I don't want you to become weak for having kids too close by. " he said and blushed for his sisters would order him around all they wanted. Specially the eldest ones.

He blushed" your mom was right "


***

It was December 21, anciently it was the solstice of winter and a pagan celebration would take place. In their modern Cristian days it was celebrated a lantern festival. People dorm the town would get together and make thousands of lanters to float to the sky , dance and eat together.

The Dormer estate was barren from staff as soon as the sun began to go down. The servants had the evening off to enjoy the celebrations ans that left the Duke and Duchess alone at the large home.

Fabian felt giddy and happy. They had spent the whole day together and it had not been awkward.

A few hours ago exhausted his wife had fallen asleep on the room that remained filled with flowers for him. Fabian was reading by the fire light and whenever his wife stirred he would stand and go to her to arrange her blankets and keep her warm so she wouldn't catch a cold.

[justpush]

When they could finally have the whole house to themselves that day Carsen felt weaker. He had been in pain since morning and my husband had to walk around him like an egg, that is, handle him gently. He massaged his sore muscles, administered everything he desired and tended to his warmth. But even such efforts had no effect. The pregnant man didn't stop feeling bad. He had even gained a little weight since his last doctor's visit, but now this change for the better wasn't helping. The Duchess, however, thought it would pass in time and lay in silence, praying that the pain would go away.

But it wasn't. When he felt the first contraction that winter evening he thought the baby must be uncomfortable inside, but a few minutes later he felt another and a stronger one. He guessed the worst. He gave birth. And that's before the deadline piece. He momentarily put his hand between legs, touching his ass. He groaned quietly. He was wearing the same sexy nightgown. He had worn it since his husband had seen him in it. When he finally sat up on the bed, he bent over in pain and screamed aloud. "Fabian... Fabian! It hurts... Stomach hurts" he started panting

[moony]

Since early morning snow had been falling that day and the skies had been gray. Even in such weather the celebrations would always take place.
Fabian had tried to be useful to his wife that day. Carsen was getting really uncomfortable and he imagined it was caused by him being two weeks shy from his due date.

By evening the grounds of the estate where drowned in two feet of snow and the large window panes would rattle with the violent winds.
Feeling the temperature dropping, Fabian has gathered another blanket and laid it over his wife as he still slept.

He was up in an alarmed state as his wife called to him in pain "I'm here... Is it the baby?" they were alone at home. He couldn't send a medssnger or servant to fech the doctor and even then no carriage or horse could make his way through the amount of snow that kept falling without sesation.

[justpush]

Carsen had a perfect birth plan in his head. The doctor will come to their home and deliver the baby with the help of servants who will carry water and towels. At least that's what he thought and announced maybe not directly, but that's how it was supposed to be. And now they were alone, the snow made them cut off from the rest of the world somehow. The pregnant man became even more nervous. He didn't yet know what childbirth was like, and Fabian was more confused than he was. It was irrational.

When his husband was next to him, he looked at him with trepidation. He began to massage his stomach in stress and in pain. The contractions were hellishly strong even though they were far apart. He felt himself tearing from the inside out. He was in pain. He was scared out of his wits. He gripped Fabian's hand tightly and rested his forehead against the Duke's shoulder. " I-I think I'm in labor... Fabian, the baby wants to come into the world, auuu... What are we gonna do? I'm scared," he gasped, touching stomach with fear. Having a child was a beautiful state, but birthing a child was not

[moony]

By the way his wife had called iminient childbirth is what Fabian feared. He felt dazed and nervous as how wife announced the child was coming and the pains of labor had begun.
He would have lost his head if there was someone else to ask for help. But there wasn't, so his mind kept strangely clear and crisp.

He allowed his wife to rest agasint him and a comforting hand came to rub his back as he expressed his fears. True, he didn't knew if childbirth but he hasn't known a thing of sex and they had succeeded in making a baby.
He kissed his forehead "Its okay, I'm here and as a husband and father of the child that is about to be born, I'll make sure you're okay and safe" he said even if he had little idea of how to do it and knew they were stories of lads and women dying in the delivery of a bed.je pushed those thoughts aside.

"we didn't knew o baby making and we figured it out together, and we will figure how to deliver one together. At least I think I do know where the child is meant to come out of" he said the last part in a light tone to ease his wife.

"you look beautiful in that gown but it's getting cold, let's get you in something warmer and keep you as warm as we can and the child too once she or he is born" with those words he walked to the cabinet and took out an oversized knitted jersey and aided his wife onto it.

[justpush]

Carsen did not share his husband's composure. After all, he was primarily responsible for delivering the baby into the world. And it was a damn difficult and serious task. With trembling breath he listened to his words. He didn't see the idea, but they had no other choice. He hoped that at least he wouldn't be embarrassed to look at his ass when he started pushing.

"What if I push too hard? Are you going to give me a hint?" he asked as he put on his sexy nightgown over his oversized knitted jersey. It didn't cover much of his body though. His firm thighs were perfectly visible

. Heavyweight looked at the clean sheets beneath him, then sighed. His water didn't even break. It's going to take a long time. He muttered something unintelligible under his breath impatient as ever. He lay on his side, covering himself up to his neck with the bedclothes. He stroked his stomach, breathing through his nose. He looked at Fabian with gentle fear.

"You shouldn't be involved in this process... I should do it myself," he said, recalling his mother's lectures on childbirth. The husband, for the most part, did not participate. He was to wait obediently in the corridor until the doctor came out and announced who had come into the world, a boy or a girl. There may have been a doctor, midwife, and servants at the birth. The birth family should wait for news in the living room. It was like a tradition, even more so in such a family. Carsen was taught to respect tradition which is why he was against the presence of his spouse at the birth of their child. But he also felt fear. He was doomed to himself. With no doctor or service that could equally help him.

The Duchess was so troubled by all this that she gazed into space thoughtfully. The baby's movements were no longer as active as they were a few days ago. He hoped it was normal.

"Do we have medical books? I'd like to read... I want to make sure that everything is okay"

[moony]

"I'll do my best to help" he assured his wife . Way you wouldn't know he was drowning in anxiety and fear. As he helped her change he had noticed the belly was looking different more swollen and had lost the perfect round shape. The roundness rested mainly in the lower size over the red hips that seemed to be forcefully widening to give the chikd space.

Fabian held the covers up so his wife could slid below them again and covered her. Below the covers it was utterly warm. He and the child would not suffer cold.

"you can't birth a child alone, even if in the delivery of a child a man has no place." he knew how it went. He had accompanied more than a friend in the waiting in the hallway smoking a pipe while the woman suffered her pains in the child birth bed. It was a battle reserved for women and lads. Yet these were uncommon circumstances he was sure it would not be gentlemanly to leave his poor wife to fare on his own.

"Maybe I'm not supposed to be in the room as you deliver our child. But it's my prime duty to care for you and lie children. I wouldn't be doing that if I left you alone." he pointed out gently so he would relax and let him help.

"there might be some on the library. I can go search if you want but... I would rather not leave you alone in this state"

[justpush]

Carsen couldn't cry. Not in front of his husband. He felt it his duty to give birth bravely to their child and deliver it in perfect condition. He heard stories of newborns being born dead or so weak that they didn't even live a month. However, he didn't want to experience that. He had taken such careful and brave care of himself and the baby during the pregnancy, he had become even more attached than Fabian to the baby that he would break down mentally. They had to give advice so that their child, their firstborn child would be whole and healthy.

Carsen also recognized the change from himself. Now his hips too, holding the weight of the baby, were hurting him unmercifully. He felt like someone was pressing hard on his body. He wanted someone to take this burden off him, to stop this feeling. But he also knew that it had to be this way. The baby is getting closer and closer to the birth canal. It's going to want to push its head out through his damn little ass.

The Duchess finally looked at his spouse, who was still trying to calm him and his worried look. That was tough. Because the black scenarios were so very real. The young man looked at his partner who was older than him and grasped his hand gently. He let out a hard breath.

"Could you massage my hips and back under the sheets? I'd ask Louise if she was here, but I have no choice... Maybe it's embarrassing for you. Forgive me," he said quietly, and then placed a hand on his intimate place where his large belly practically lay, catching long breaths.

When he did this the pain was less. He lay still on his side facing Fabian, turning red a little in the face by how warmly he was wrapped. He stroked the Duke's fingers with his other hand, feeling his body relax with it.

"I'm afraid I'm going to do badly.... It's our first child. I am inexperienced nor even know what to expect," he confessed his anxiety to his husband, and then sighed feeling the cramp that came after a long interval

[moony]

"why would it be embarrassing to take care of my wife ans mother to my child?" he asked surprised he would think that. He sat in the edge of the four poster bed. The windows kept rattling due to the storm becoming more violent outside.
Fabian gently rearranged the sheets and covers in a way to not let the heat escape and raises the knitted sweater up so he could massage the reddening hips. He touched them gently and applied force as necessary going by the grunts that would escape his wife. That way he knew if to lessen his hold or apply more pressure as he kneaded the skin on that area. He would then go to his lower back doing the same, encouraging the blood flow and to hopefully distract with his touch the laboring mother.

"I'm sure it will go well. Let's just.. Die hat instinct tells us" he said knowing that was all they had. He leaned and pressed his forehead to his wife's "do you remember our wedding night? I was so nervous... I barely knew what to do and we.. we'll we ended figuring it out by ourselves and in such a darkness. Now we know better than to feel embarrassment in front of the other fue to our nakedness, I now understand those... Unions wer are taught to feel guilty about make possible to bring life, like you're doing now. So if we could figure out how to make it, we can figure out how to make that little life enter the world safely and for you too. You promise you will stay? "he asked not wanting to have his wife die during childbirth.

[justpush]

The Duchess was moved by his husband's words. He gently bit his lip, feeling a stabbing pain in his lower abdomen afterwards. It made a tear roll down his cheek, and he didn't hold back any more. His husband was an even better man in his eyes. He reaffirmed his belief that he was married to a wonderful man.

He stroked his cheek gently. "Thank you... I'll try to stay with you as long as I can. We will be happy, you, me and our children. The future ones I mean," he said, and then brushed his lips against his cheek, looking deeply into his eyes.

From all this his legs were trembling and he had to change their positioning. Fabian's touch on his hot skin felt good. Despite the stress and recurring cramps, he could feel the excitement of the whole atmosphere, though there was no time for that now. He challenged himself to the worst of it in his mind.

"Fabian... I feel so good with you. Don't go, okay? Your hands are nice and pleasant when you do that," he said and sent him a slight smile.

[moony]

"And we will talk as much as these past two weeks?" he asked. The night they shared had marked a beginning and end for them and Fabian didn't wanted to go back to how things had been before. He liked the now.

The pain was visible in his wife and he felt rather helpless not being able to bring relief to his pain, and surely he was responsible for the situation he was in now. "I'm impressed you're thinking of more kids when you're on the pains of labor of our first. But I'll never say no to many daughters with you or many sons or many sons and daughters. Whatever God sends us will be a blessing" he assured him. He was sure his wife had to feel some pressure to deliver a son, an heir for the Duke title to live on in their line of blood.

"I won't go" he promised as the Duchess turned on himself giving him his back and noticed he was parting slightly his legs and that he was fully naked waist down. He blushed but managed it better than other times he had seen the nakedness in full light of his wife since their last sexual encounter. He kissed his wife's cheek lovingly. As he kept massaging the thighs that seemed to be cramping up due to muscle stress and cold.

"I was thinking our child might be born when the paper lights are sent off on the night sky. Next year we will be able to go with him or her and tell him of how beautiful it was the night she or he arrived"

[justpush]

Carsen looked at his husband with a broader smile. It infected him with optimism. His gestures or words were damn cute and made him happy. He couldn't believe those two weeks were so beautiful. They talked, gave each other tentative kisses and affectionate gestures. It was so amazing. He was just discovering the charms of this marriage. He felt like they were just married.

" I will always be grateful for what fate has given me.... I'm happy. You gave me everything and more. Thank you husband," he stroked his cheek and then gasped as he felt the Duke's hands press on the nerve that was pinching him. He pushed his pelvis toward him, feeling another contraction coming on. They were a little irregular and painful. He looked at him with pain in his eyes.

At last he caught his hand gently. "Fabian... Check me out. I know it's uncomfortable, but it hurts... Maybe there will be something in the method books. Do it for me and our baby, please," he said firmly, knowing that if he disappeared for a moment nothing would happen. He guessed the pain would get worse and worse.

He kissed his lips tentatively, pouring his feelings into it. "Please go and come back with a book...."

[moony]

Fabian was scared at the petition, yet he guessed his wife was right. They needed to try to know what they could do to deliver the child safely "I'll be right back" he said knowing it would be a while for the library was in the opposing wing of the estate house and he would have to search for a book along thousands of book shelves for something that could help them. What I'd the library had no books on child birth? He hoped an ancestor would have bought one to add to the family library.

He took with him an oil lantern and went to explore the library. He went to sjekdves that held books on medicine and herb use. Many tomes were pretty old and dusty but he did his best to find something useful. He found a very yellow pamphlet half eaten by bugs that seemed to be a very old printing for midwives. He opened it and found some strange diagrams in it and thought that is what they needed.

He returned to the room fifteen minutes later with the small book in hand and hiveroover his wife to see how he was faring. "I found a book with some diagrams, I think it's what we need" he said. He could see it better here as the room was clearly lit thanks to the many candles that were lit.

[justpush]

As Fabian left, Carsen somehow crawled out of the bedclothes and lay down being uncovered from the thighs down. He wasn't wearing panties so his bottom had access to air. Feeling the cool circulating air he gasped, feeling another contraction. He touched his bump, looking between his legs at how much he was able to bend forward with his huge belly. He breathed deeply through his nose, expanding his legs as much as he could. Finally, he laid his head on the pillow and began breathing loudly, pulling his shirt up so that his majestic belly was visible.

That's how Fabian found him. The Duchess looked at him expectantly. " Check if our baby is well..." he asked hoping that the book would help the Duke to know about his current state of birth

[moony]

Fabian entered the room and became beet red at the sight before him. He noticed how the muscles strained and clenched rightly below the soft skin. It was a sight that demanded utter respect from him, by what Carsen was enduring to deliver their child.

"let me.. See the diagrams" he said as he rushed trough the yellowing pages. Some drawings were ambiguos and he didn't knew what was meant with them but others were quite descriptive "It says... I need to use my fingers to reach an opening deep inside lads a... A cervix" he said unsure at the unknown word "it says it will open for the child to come forth" it sounded strange but he guessed the book knew more than them.
"I... You need to move so I can have some access to you, wife" he said gently as he offered him a hand to aid him move.

[justpush]

The Duchess wiped the sweat from his forehead, though it ran down everywhere. Most of it was on his stomach and thighs, which had endured immense pain and heat under the sheets. Carsen prayed the book would help them bring a healthy baby into the world. He could already feel the limits of his pain at this stage, and even his waters hadn't gone away yet. He began to massage his belly with his hand, gasping every so often. He balanced his feet back and forth slightly to ease the pain.

When his husband reached out to him, he grabbed his hand and just like that they were closer together, Fabian between his legs where the main part of the birth was taking place.

"You know what you're doing? I can't help you with the details, but... But I'll do my best and try to be a good patient," he promised, then began to moan as his hips squeezed tighter. He closed his eyes in pain and gasped loudly, catching the bedding in his hand. He bent his neck back

[moony]

The Dutchess seemed to irradiate heat himself so even if his instinct was to cover him in covers as before, he refrained from it as his wife seemed to actually need to cool down.

He set the book in bed close by so he could look at the diagrams and instructions when needed as he was nervous.

"You know I don't but, I'm doing my best and following the book" he said as his wife parted his legs at either side. He could see sweat glistening on the beitiuloand lithe thighs that had enchanted him in a sheer robe and his wife's man parts dangled soft over the patch of dark hairs that guarded his most private area. "it seems is not the anal muscle I need to see how it opens but further in" he said reading over and as Carden threw his head back, Fabian inserted his middle finger pushing deep and being careful searching for some other opening the book said he had to find.