‘Hi, Hannah. Is everything alright?’
‘Yes, it is, actually, from my perspective. There’s no obvious easy way to say this, so I’m just going to launch straight in.’
‘Okay.’
‘I appreciate that you won’t necessarily be particularly happy about this, but I’d like you to know that I don’t want or need anything from you. I’m just over three months pregnant with your baby. I’m keeping it.’
‘Okay. Um.’Shit. ‘Congratulations.’ Wow. Huge. Better than some terrible disease but really not what he wanted right now. Ever. God. A baby. She was pregnant. He was going to be a father.
‘I can understand that it’s a huge shock. I was shocked myself when I found out. And surprised that I wanted to keep it. I never saw myself as a mother, you know?’
Dan did know, because he’d never seen himself as a father.
‘So I assumed that I’d terminate it, except I just couldn’t. I want this baby. I’m thirty-eight and this might be my only chance to have a baby and so I’ve decided to go ahead with it.’ Thirty-eight. He’d thought she was younger than that. And that was very much a side-issue here.
‘Yeah, I get that.’ Dan moved out of the way of a group of teenagers walking several abreast on the pavement. ‘I mean, of course. And I’d like to be involved.’ Gut reaction. He’d never imagined that he’d be a father, but now that he was going to be, he already couldn’t imagine not being involved.
‘Well, that’s great. Thank you.’
‘Well, thank you for letting me know.’ Stupid thing to say, but life hadn’t prepared him for this moment.
‘Okay, well, I’m not sure there’s much else to say now, but I’ll be in touch. Obviously you’re welcome to call me if you’d like to talk when you’ve had a chance to digest things.’
‘Great.’ Dan moved again to avoid yet another group of people out for the evening. ‘Yes, I’ll probably be in touch again soon. I’d like to join you at your anomaly scan, if that’s alright.’
‘Of course.’
When they’d ended the call, Dan carried on staring at the pavement for a while before he decided that right now he just wanted to go home and be by himself this evening and, as Hannah had said, digest the news.
* * *
Forty-eight hours later, Dan was in his car on the way to the Cotswolds for Sasha and Angus’s engagement party and nowhere near having digested the baby news. He’d texted Hannah to congratulate her again and reiterate how keen he was to be involved in the baby’s life but beyond that he hadn’t got his head round it at all.
When he finally arrived at his mother’s house, she opened the front door wide and said, ‘Dan. I’m so pleased to see you. Darling, you look tired. Are you alright?’
Dan opened his mouth to reply, wondering if he was going to tell her right now that she was going to be a grandmother again (his older sister Lucie already had two little boys). And then she looked at her watch and said, ‘Goodness, we’re quite late.’ Yep, now wasn’t the time. In fact, what had he been thinking? Of course he shouldn’t tell anyone the weekend of Sasha’s engagement party. No-one appreciated their thunder being stolen.
‘Why don’t you go ahead and I’ll follow you?’ he said. ‘I need to get changed and I might grab a quick shower first if that’s okay.’ Sasha was torturing them all with a fancy-dress party.
Half an hour later, he stuck his Henry VIII hat on his head and pushed open the door to the pub function room where Sasha and Angus were holding the party. The room was boiling. He was going to fry in this synthetic-fur-lined cloak. Bloody fancy dress. Probably good, though, for taking his mind off everything else.
‘Dan.’ Sasha flung her arms round him. ‘Hello. You make agreatHenry the Eighth.’
Dan bowed his head gravely. ‘Thank you. And you make an even better Cleopatra. Huge congratulations to both of you.’
‘Thank you so much. Good to see you.’ Angus pumped Dan’s hand up and down a few times, grinning. ‘And before you ask, the costume was Sasha’s idea.’ Angus was dressed as an Egyptian pharaoh, complete with headpiece, bare chest, snake armband and a staff. Dan had never seen him in anything other than jeans and a checked shirt before. He was so conservative in his dress taste that he practically made Dan look like a boy band member.
Dan battled laughter for a few seconds before he managed to say, ‘You look great, Angus.’
‘Thanks.’ Angus nodded and his headpiece wobbled. He set it straight. ‘God. The things you do for the woman you love.’
‘Yeah.’ Dan caught sight of Evie chatting to friends on the other side of the room and suddenly felt less mirthful. They hadn’t spoken much since Vegas and he wasn’t totally sure they were back on track friendship-wise even though they’d kind of laughed it off the next day. He wondered what she’d think about his baby news. ‘Congratulations again. I’ll let you greet the rest of your guests. Catch up with you later.’
Twenty minutes later, he was managing not to worry about the baby and was enjoying the party, if he ignored the fact that he practically had a crick in his neck from spending the entire time surreptitiously keeping an eye on where Evie was. He wasn’t even sure whether it was because he wanted to talk to her or avoid her. Also, was shewiththat tall, blond man? He glanced over again to where she was talking in a group in the opposite corner of the room. The blond man wasn’t there now.
She was looking sideways at him at exactly that moment. He smiled a little and looked away.
‘Stop looking at her but avoiding her,’ Sasha hissed in his ear. Dan jumped slightly. ‘It’s really obvious. There’ll be a lot more gossip if youdon’tspeak to her than if you do.’
