AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘You will not.’ She dug him in the ribs and heard his sharp intake of breath. ‘I can hold my own hair, thank you very much. You can do the mopping up.’
He chuckled. ‘That’s the spirit. Look, let’s give ourselves some time to let this sink in. What do you say I make some breakfast? Unless you are feeling sick again.’
She was feeling sick and terrified, exhilarated and somehow serene. ‘No. I’m fine. And, yes, breakfast would be great.’
‘Good.’ He was halfway to the bedroom door and he stopped. ‘Jess. You don’t have to say anything, right now. But when you know… when you know what you’re going to do… ’
‘I’m keeping my baby.’ That was the one thing she was stone-cold certain about.
He nodded. ‘Thank you.’ He turned, as if he didn’t want to show her what was on his face. Closed the bedroom door behind him, leaving her alone again.
Greg wiped the tears away. He was completely unprepared for this. When she’d said she was pregnant, all he’d wanted to do was to hold her. And although he had been torn by almost every emotion he could think of, when Jess had pulled herself up to her full height, faced him and with more than a trace of defiance in her eyes, had told him that she was going to keep her child—his child—his heart had almost burst with relief.
He would make things right. He could learn how to be a father. He could afford to give Jess and his child everything they might need or want. That he could promise right now. As to the rest—he was unclear about the scope and detail of that, but it was early days. He’d work it out as he went along.
His finger tapped on the kitchen counter as he waited for the kettle to boil. Two beats for every one of his own heart, a little more maybe. He could almost feel that tiny heartbeat, racing away, powering the prodigious growth of a seven-week embryo.
He prepared breakfast, and was gratified to see that Jess ate all of hers. They took a walk in the park, talking about anything and everything. Everything but the thing that was so palpably on both their minds. Then lunch and he waited, with only a trace of impatience, for her to settle herself down to watch a film so that he could open his laptop and spend a couple of hours answering his emails.
Four hours later he found her asleep on the sofa, the DVD looping through the opening credits.
‘Jess… Jess, honey, wake up.’
She opened her eyes, and smiled at him. Stretched, yawned behind her hand and then sat up. ‘What’s the time?’
‘Nearly five. How are you doing?’
‘Fine. You?’
‘I’m good.’ He sat down next to her on the sofa. Maybe he should have checked up on her, thought to cover her up while she slept. But the flat was warm and it seemed that all she needed right now was to get some rest. And what he needed to do was to take care of business. Make sure that he could provide for her.
She nodded. ‘I suppose I should be getting back home.’
‘Stay a while. Unless there’s something you need to do.’
‘No. There’s nothing.’ She shrugged. ‘Well, nothing that can’t wait. Today’s been… ’
‘Yeah. Nothing much else matters, today, eh?’
‘No.’ Her gaze flipped to his laptop, closed now on the coffee table, where he’d dumped it when he’d come in here to find her. Then back to his face. ‘Greg, I’ve been thinking.’
‘Yeah? Not dreaming?’
She grinned. ‘That as well. But before I fell asleep, I was thinking.’
Her cheeks were still flushed from sleep, her brown and gold eyes reflecting the light. Greg laid his finger against her lips, feeling the echoes from that one soft touch reverberate across his skin. ‘Tell you what, why don’t we have something to eat, and then I’ll take you home. Let’s make a time to talk next week, when we’ve both collected our thoughts.’
She twisted her mouth wryly. ‘You mean you’re making a plan.’
‘Aren’t you?’
She shrugged. ‘Do I need a plan?’
‘I think so. And you should take your time over it, decide what you really want.’
‘That’s easy. I want to have this child, look after it and love it the best I can. That’s the only plan I need, isn’t it?’
Perhaps it was. Perhaps he wasn’t going to get a say in what happened from now on. ‘I was thinking more about a plan for how I can help you do that.’
