wanted more babies, Axell's babies, and he seemed equally interested. She breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn't certain, after that last episode...
"Shall I deliver them for you?" he inquired with a mischievous curve to his smile as he followed the path of her thoughts.
Maya smacked his arm and struggled to sit up. "I want sedation next time. Now, we've got to get up from here. Selene and Cleo will be here any minute, then half the town will arrive."
"You're missing Matty," he declared as he helped her button her dress.
"He belongs with Cleo. She needs him." Maya shooed Axell's hand away when it did more stroking than buttoning. "But Constance misses him. There's a boy in our summer class, one of the scholarship kids who's in a foster home..."
Axell sat up and straightened his tie while watching her warily. "Maya..."
She hastened on. "He's up for adoption but his foster parents can't afford another kid. He and Constance play well together. He's only six, Axell..."
He sighed with resignation and fastened his belt as the door chimes rang below. "What's one more?" he agreed.
Maya flung her arms around his neck and buried his cheek in kisses. "I knew you'd say that. Thank you, thank you..." She was so blessed. She only wished everyone could have a man like Axell in their lives.
"Maya? Axell? You up there?"
"We're coming, we're coming!" Maya called joyfully as she brushed down her skirt and raced toward the hall.
That was an understatement, Axell reflected as he watched his wife flit from view. He shouldn't still be thinking about sex after just having it, but Maya did that to his mind. He wanted to pull her back down on the rug and put babies in her. He was deranged. In a wild spurt of caveman hunger to see his wife carrying his child, he'd agreed to take on another six-year old. Given a chance, she'd populate his house with strangers.
And why not? They had room for them, and Maya had enough love in her heart for entire schools of children. With her help, he could learn to love them all too. Tightening the knot in his tie, Axell wandered out to greet Maya's sister and partner. Hell, with Maya around, he wouldn't just accumulate kids, he'd have relatives and friends crawling all over the damned place. The house would never be empty again.
Spirits decidedly high, he stood at the top of the stairs and watched as Maya gesticulated wildly over whatever topic had popped into her head now. Selene caught sight of him and blew him a kiss. Cleo frowned, but Cleo always frowned.
"Cool dress," Axell called down to his sister-in-law, and she brightened perceptibly. Like a kid, Cleo just needed attention.
As he sauntered down the stairs and all three women turned to welcome him, Axell realized something else: for the first time in his life, he was a participant and not an observer. He belonged in the world Maya created around them. Reaching Maya and hugging her shoulders, he savored the moment.
"The psychiatrist has declared Katherine competent to stand trial," Selene declared without prelude. "The lawyer will probably plead temporary insanity."
Axell was aware of Maya watching him with sympathy. Him. Katherine was a distant cousin of Maya's, had hired an arsonist and tried to destroy Maya's school, and Maya was looking at him with sympathy.
He shook his head in disbelief and chucked her chin. "Don't look at me that way, honey. I didn't encourage her obsession any more than Ralph did. The lawyer's right, she was delusional." He didn't mention that the Pfeiffer side of the family seemed to have more than its fair share of quirks.
He chuckled as he looked down at the currently crimson streak in Maya's hair. It contrasted nicely with turquoise eyes and a pink flowered dress that only Maya could make sexy. And he'd thought Maya was delusional. He shook his head all over again.
"She was your friend," Maya reminded him. "She probably thought she was saving you from my clutches."
"Or making Ralph so happy he'd marry her," Selene replied dryly. "Which makes her truly delusional. Ralph will never marry anyone his mama doesn't approve of, and so long as he's taking care of her, his mama will never approve."
"Want me to put a contract out on his mama?" Cleo asked cynically. "Where are the twin disasters today anyway? I thought they'd be leading a protest march down Main Street against allowing riffraff into their community."