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“Are you sure? I probably deserve it. I’ve been living in a fantasy world. It took a while for me to come back to earth.”
She thought about it. “Do you mind reality so much?”
He was folding his clothes and tucking them into a soft bag he’d pulled from under the bed. That obsessive neatness made sense now. So many things about him made sense. He paused to smile at her. “I think in the end it will be better.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about Tinker’s parents? About what you did for them, and for getting Tamara and young Colin to connect with them.”
“I wasn’t going to big note myself about something anyone would have done. I know you think it’s easy to throw money at a problem, and that’s true.”
He pulled out a pair of tartan boxer shorts and Bonnie found herself giggling.
“You look like a really rabid Bay City Rollers fan. Though I suppose you don’t know who they are.”
Dropping the towel, he pulled the boxers on and Bonnie’s breath hitched.Not looking, not looking.It was bad enough the freshwashed scent of him had invaded the room.
He used the towel to dry his wet hair, rubbing it lightly as he spoke. “In fact, Miss Bonnie Callaghan, I am well aware of who they are. Gran was a big fan back in the seventies. She has tapes of them in the back room where I used to practise my music.”
“An early influence on Xander Mac and the Highlanders?”
“Maybe. We played covers of a lot of those seventies’ bands in the pubs when we were in Sydney. Bread-and-butter stuff.”
He dropped onto the other bed. “Are you finished?”
Bonnie glanced down at the phone where she’d been answering a text from Moira. Her friend hadn’t been able to stay for the concert due to other commitments, so she’d wanted to know how it went. Bonnie hadn’t known how to explain the impact of the evening on so many levels, so she’d simply said “fantastic”. It pretty much covered it when you thought about everything. She placed the phone on the bedside table.
“Yeah. I’m done.”
“So, what next?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Next?”
“For us. I’ve pretty much laid my position out.”
“Put your heart on the line?” He was doing it again, dancing around the topic, afraid to say what he wanted. She had to learn to call him on his crap.
He sucked in a breath. “Yes. My heart is on the line. I love you, Bonnie Callaghan. I always have.”
“Is it enough? For all the tough stuff?”
He flicked a glance at where she pointed to her pump. “That’s not tough stuff. It’s part of who you are. I shouldn’t have let it panic me when you told me what it might mean for the future. We do the best we can. That includes looking after our health. Your health. We’re lucky enough to be able to afford the best care for our family. If that’s not enough, we love each other through everything.”
“What about children?”
“Have you thought about what you might do if your health doesn’t hold up to pregnancy? I mean, you talk about children plural. What if you end up with only one? Or none?”
“There’s always adoption. Plenty of children out there who might like to grow up here.”
“What about surrogacy? I understand it can be expensive, especially if you have to go overseas because of the laws here, but we could afford it.”
She couldn’t help staring at him. “You’ve really thought this out.”
“I wasn’t only writing songs up on the mountain. I needed to pull all this together in my head. Between you and Briar, I had a lot to think about.”
“Are you still thinking of selling up?”
“I’d rather live there. With you, if you’ll have me.”
“Eleanor will be disappointed.”
