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“Not for me, thanks.”
“Seriously, Mik? Since whe—” Juniper cut herself off as she looked at Mikayla. Leah felt her heart catch in excitement.
“Yep. I’m up the duff.” Mikayla’s eyes were shining as she gripped Rafe’s hand on the table. “We’re having a baby.”
“Oh, that’s lovely news to come home to,” Leah said, jumping up and moving around the table to give Rafe and Mikayla a hug. Callum was just behind her, congratulating his sister and slapping Rafe on the back. Once the general excitement had died down, they all took their seats again.
“So, what was the best part of your honeymoon? Keep it G rated.” Juniper handed Leah a glass of wine, which she put on the table, reaching for her water glass instead. She wasn’t really in the mood for drinking.
“Well, France is lovely, obviously. Shopping in Paris is amazing. I’ll show you everything I bought later. You’ll love it.”
“I bet.” Juniper smiled.
“You must have enjoyed yourself, son. Hanging around in Paris while your wife shopped.”
“She made it worth my while,” Callum replied, his eyes glinting when he looked at Leah. She tried to pretend she wasn’t blushing furiously. She certainly had made it worth his while.
“Anyway,” she said hastily, reaching for her glass of water, grateful when Callum moved the conversation along.
After lunch was finished, they decided to move away from the table so that Billy could play with his toy frogs on the grass. Nora and John moved some chairs to sit on near the steps, Rafe and Mikayla snuggled into the new pod chair that hung from the gum tree that edged the veranda. Juniper and William sat next to each other on the top step. Leah sat on the second to last step, sighing when Callum sat behind her on the step above and pulled her against him. A nap here could be good, she thought, as she watched Billy plonk his wooden frogs on the grass in front of Nora and John. The dogs were stretched out around him, dozing in the sun.
“Won’t be long and you’ll have a little friend to play with, mate,” Rafe said, pushing the swing back and forth slowly with his foot. Leah smiled at Mikayla, whose eyes held such joy.
Leah turned away, gazing out over the azure ocean. She was so pleased that she was genuinely happy for Mikayla. She had thought she would be but there was that sliver of uncertainty. The joy could be tinged with personal sadness that she would have to hide from everyone. But no, she felt good about it. Callum caressed the hair at her temple and Leah relaxed against him. Life couldn’t possibly get better than this, she thought. She was deliriously in love. She had the best friends in the entire world. People who loved her and accepted her for who she was. Her mother was coming to Blessed Inlet soon, quickly followed by Georgie. And she was going to be an aunty. She’d be the first to put her hand up to babysit and she knew she would adore Rafe and Mikayla’s child.
Leah felt Callum tense behind her and she brought her attention back to the conversation. Everyone seemed to be looking at her strangely and she was aware that Billy had said something. She turned to Juniper. “What did he say?”
Juniper hesitated a moment, making Leah frown. “He said he can’t wait to play with Rafe and Mikky’s baby,” she paused, swallowing, “but that he’s going to play with your babies first.”
Leah looked at Billy, who was giving her a seraphic smile. “Darling, I don’t have any babies.” It hurt a little bit to say the words, but it wasn’t crippling, Leah thought with relief.
Then Billy robbed the breath from her lungs by saying, “Yes you do, silly! In your tummy!”
Leah sat up straight and stared at him. Her heart pounded as she turned to look at Callum. There was a glimmer of a question in his eyes. The fatigue. The nausea. The constant feeling that something was off. It couldn’t be. Could it? She jumped to her feet, pulling Callum with her. Mikayla pushed out of the swing chair. “If you’re running off for a pregnancy test, I have five in my bag,” she said breathlessly. She ran inside and Leah followed her, dragging Callum behind her. Passing over two tests, Leah noticed that Mikayla’s hands were shaking. “I’ll wait outside.”
“Okay.” Leah was reeling as she walked into the bedroom and turned to face Callum. She took a deep breath. “It’s okay if he’s wrong, isn’t it?”
“Yes, of course.”
“I mean, he’s just a kid. What would he know?”
“Yeah, exactly. But…”
“But what?”
“I don’t know. You haven’t been right for a while, so…” He shrugged.
Leah looked at him for a long moment, but his gaze was shuttered. “Okay. I’ll just do it. It’ll be negative and we’ll never be freaked out by the words of an almost four-year-old ever again, right?”
He nodded before pressing a kiss to her forehead and sitting down on the side of the bed, across from the bathroom door. Leah came back out mere moments later and slid into Callum’s lap. Her heart was beating painfully and she felt shaky. He wrapped an arm around her, taking the test stick she handed him. “I can’t look. You just tell me.” She slipped her arms around his shoulders and pressed her face into his neck. The moment spun out for what felt like a torturous eternity.
“Sweetheart.” Callum’s voice was thick with emotions that Leah couldn’t name. She raised her head. He was staring at her and she stared back, before he held up the stick. She turned her head. Her eyes fell on the result window. Two lines. Two bright, blue lines. Positive. She started trembling. Then, overwhelmed, she burst into tears. Callum pulled her close, his own arms shaking as he held her.
“I can’t believe it,” she sobbed, trying to get control of herself. “I just can’t believe it.” She buried her face in his neck again, letting the tears flow. They carried a lot of years of pain and longing. Just as she was starting to calm down, she heard the sliding door open, then footsteps.
Mikayla’s voice, “Oh, guys, I’m so sorr—” Leah raised her head as Callum turned to his sister, wiping at his eyes. She was standing in the doorway with everyone else behind her. They both smiled. Face splitting smiles. Mikayla shrieked. “No way! Oh my god!” There was a cacophony of voices then.
Callum and Leah stood, taking in the shock, the congratulations, the excitement. Leah thought she might burst. Then Billy stepped forward and hugged her legs and a realization hit her. “Billy?”
