Novels by Jenn Lois

Lane and her boyfriend Alexy, along with Matteo and his wife, were joining us on our vacation, having rented the cottages next to ours for the week. Lane, who was 33 weeks pregnant and glowing, had been visiting us at least every 2 months for the first three years after Emily was born until she met one of Gabriel’s employees one summer and fell madly in love with him. Since my mom had also met someone back home and was living with him, Lane felt less guilt about moving out to New Brunswick. Her and her boyfriend were living in a beautiful home only 10 minutes drive away from Gabriel and I.Matteo’s kids were all grown now and rarely followed their parents around anymore. He and his wife were enjoying their first solo vacation in years, but had decided to spend it with our family. Being godparents to Felix, they tried to be as present in our lives as they could.

“I. don’t. Want. to. Go!” Emily shouted, clearly exhausted by our little family vacation. We had pulled up to the Champlain Mall in Dieppe to pick up a few things I had forgotten at home before we made it to the cottage we had rented by the ocean another 45 minutes away.“I can stay with her while you get what you need, baby,” Gabriel offered, the most patient out of the two of us. With a lump in my throat and trying to keep the tears at bay I nodded. “You can leave Felix in the truck too if you want” he offered looking over to our 4 year old with a grin. Felix looked so much like Hendrix it was freaky and the two, despite the age difference, were thick as thieves.“Do you want to stay with daddy or come with mommy, Fee?” I asked.“Daddy!” he exclaimed.“Okay I will be back as soon as possible” I said, unbuckling my seat belt. Ga

I watched the people milling about from the dining room window, there were 30 or so people waiting in the backyard while rock music played on. I couldn’t see Gabriel from where I was standing but I could just imagine what he looked like in an outfit similar to Hendrix’s. I could hardly contain my excitement at seeing him.I admired Lane’s beautiful set up and hoped it wasn’t going to rain, as the skies were grey with clouds. Lane had strategically hung white sheer linen in some of the trees and placed lanterns as decorations. There were rows of white chairs occupied by the guests and white flower petals down the would-be aisle. I spotted a makeshift bar with huge ‘Beer and Whiskey’ signs hanging above it and laughed. Of course Gabriel would make sure the guests were well ‘watered’. The backyard had a very magical feeling about it. 

With everyone’s help and support the first week of Emily’s life went on without a hitch. I went on a few emotional roller coasters and woke up soaked in sweat a few times at night. But in all I couldn’t ask for a better baby. Emily was easily content, sleeping most of the day and only waking for feeds and diaper changes.My mom took on the role of grandmother very well, she rocked, washed, and cooed at Emily every chance she had. Janice cooked up a storm for everyone staying with us and froze several meals for when we were on our own again. Lane and I spent most of Emily’s feeding time in my bed going over wedding details and ideas.“I trust you, Lane” I told her for the millionth time, “do whatever you want!” Lane took a deep exasperated breath and let it out slowly, gently stroking Emily’s head. 

At 40 weeks, I was exhausted, cranky and swollen all over. I went out for walks with Axel and Gabriel every morning while Lane had been sending Janice new recipes to induce labor for the last two weeks and each day, Janice brought me some new miraculous concoction guaranteed to work. At night Gabriel gave me mind shattering orgasms to stimulate contractions, and I felt bad that his fiancé was now the size of a beached whale. Not that he would say such things, but I was disheartened by the way I looked and felt. I knew it was temporary but I was getting anxious to meet my baby. Sam, Janice’s boyfriend, was helping with some projects around the house and cottage to keep Gabriel occupied while the four of us waited impatiently for the stork to drop by.Finally one night as we lay in bed after an ordinary day, I felt a distinct popping in my lower belly before a rush of liquid squirted out of me. As fast as I could, I rolled out of bed and waddled

“Gabe I know you’re going to hate this idea, but I booked myself in for a maternity photoshoot and I would love for you to be there” I said, bracing myself for the inevitable rejection.“Sure,” he said, not taking his eyes off his laptop screen.“Were you listening?”“Yes, you have a maternity photoshoot and you want me to be there”“In the photos though”“Yes, that’s fine” he said as he placed his laptop on the coffee table and grabbed my foot to massage it.“You're sure?” I asked, stifling a groan of pleasure as he massaged my calf.“Yes Harper, I will be there in the photos with you and your belly. It’s fine” he said with finality.“Oh, well thank you”“When is it?”&

Sasha's POVAvery moved close to me and discarded my vest, I had long ago discarded my jacket and tie and undid the top few buttons of my shirt. She slowly undid the rest of the buttons on my shirt and ran an open palm across my chest. I was having an out of body moment, I couldn’t believe this wasmywife. This was the woman I had married and she was going to be with me forever. She undid my belt and the clasp that held my pants up. As soon as she let go of them, the pants fell to the ground, pooling at my feet. She smiled as she looked at my new underwear. She wasn’t the only one who could splurge on fancy underthings.‘Damn Kuzco’ she exclaimed, using the nickname my teammates had graced me with, ‘Versace?’ she questioned arching an eyebrow up, a grin stretching across her gorgeous face. She put her index finger under the distinctive band and ran it back and forth against my pelvis.

At 4h30 a stretched SUV picked us up from Sam's to bring us to my wedding. My heart sped up in excitement at seeing my groom and of having all the attention drawn to us. Kate did a few little touch ups as we entered the hall and the music promptly began playing at 5pm. I smiled as an instrumental version of Heart’s Alone began to play. Grace and Carter walked to the front of the room followed by Shae and Sam, Dmitry, Kate and Katya. It was finally my turn to walk down the aisle. As soon as I walked into the warm cozy room everyone stood up. I felt myself blush at all the attention I was getting but once I met Sasha’s eyes everything around me faded away. His piercing gaze took me in and he quickly wiped his eyes. I tried to keep my own tears at bay taking jagged sobbing breaths as I joined him up at the makeshift altar, his tears now freely running down his cheeks faster than he could wipe them away. Dmitry handed him a handkerchief as people laughed slightly a

On the 26th Celina invited Sasha and I to the venue to approve of the decoration at the hall we had booked. Sasha and I gasped in shock as we walked into our wedding reception.The floor to ceiling windows looked out into a valley of snow covered evergreens, the walls and ceiling were all finished in rustic wood. A large glass chandelier hung in the center of the cathedral ceiling, emitting a soft golden glow in the room. On the far wall a large stone fireplace sat majestically where I imagined we would have a roaring fire the next day. The table of honour was set up proudly on a platform at the right of the fireplace while all the other tables were to the left of it. Directly in front of the fireplace was an empty area which would become a dance floor later on in the evening. More tables were set up further away from the fireplace meant for food and drinks.The chairs were covered with a forest green material, while the tables were covere

I spent the week jotting down notes and reviewing more of Anna’s recommendations. Sasha and I had narrowed down a few venues and a wedding planner but he insisted on being completely responsible for the DJ. We sent our choices to Anna who booked everything we had agreed on and footed the bill.The next weekend Sasha and I worked on our guest list to get a better idea of which venue to choose. We both decided to have a small intimate wedding since we had both enjoyed the intimacy of Dmitry and Kate’s wedding and the fact that they were able to enjoy their day too.‘Do you want to invite everyone in your family?’ I asked ‘Aunts, uncles, cousins’ I enumerated.‘My parents and brothers and my uncle Igor and his family in Michigan’ he said.‘That’s it?’ I asked stunned,‘I only have one uncle,’ Sasha said, shrugging.

Baby, husband, house and businesses aside, fourth year was a tough one for Kate and I as we delved into critical care nursing. We had a jam packed schedule with hardly a moment to take a breath. I skipped running with Sasha more often than I should and we hardly saw each other as his hockey practices became more serious and frequent. Sasha planned on making his last year in the AHL a good one, one where he could finally bring home the Calder cup. However, something in his tone hinted at the KHL and maybe another season at the AHL. I made it clear that I supported him no matter what decision he made, even if it meant going to Russia for a few years.I did not take many shifts at the restaurant as I tried to keep my head above water with homework, clinicals and housekeeping. I didn’t want to make Sasha feel like he was unimportant either, so I tried to go to as many of his games as I could without hindering my university performance. I still relied on

Third year nursing meant that we were doing clinicals in acute settings in the hospital. I was particularly fond of the surgical and maternity units. Kate however did not enjoy her maternity rotation, seeing all the things her body was about to go through freaked her out a little. It didn't help that her first maternity patient had a 3rd degree perineum tear and her second one had to have an emergency C-section with hysterectomy as her uterus had ruptured beyond repair. Despite being terrified of giving birth, her pregnancy was textbook perfect. She was only gaining baby weight, her blood pressure and sugars were normal and she didn’t experience any morning sickness. A lot of it probably had to do with her and Dmitry’s regimen of working out and healthy eating.The year wrapped up nicely as did Sasha’s season. Though they didn’t make it to the finals again that year, he had been bearable throughout the playoffs.In