Epilogue
Liv
“I was just imagining them…”
“Oh don’t, I was fighting that mental image.” He cringes.
“No, but just think of how exciting this is for them.” I point out as Danny winces again.
“Please stop telling me to think of them. I’ll never be able to get it out of my head.” He laughs, but shifts me off him. “Can we put the TV on or something before I start freaking out.” He shudders.
“Oh stop being a baby!” I laugh. Grabbing the remote and scooting under the covers. “What do you fancy?” I ask casually. “Knocked up? Nine months? Oooh, what about What to expect when you’re expecting?” I tease.
He narrows his eyes and presses his lips together, suppressing the smirk. “You’re evil,” he says, getting in bed beside me.
“Come on, laugh. This is quite funny and the more positive we are about it, the easier it will get.”
“It’s just…” He shudders again. “THAT bit of me…it’s IN…THAT bit of her.” Another shudder. “I know I didn’t put it there, but it’s there. That’s weird isn’t it?” His face twists in disgust. “I’d imagined myself blissfully oblivious when it happened. Not sat here waiting for their Skype call.” He pulls the sheet over his head and starts rocking, hugging his knees. I’m beside myself by this point, hysterical and no help whatsoever.
“Thanks for your support!” he says huffily from under the covers.
“Oh don’t! I have to pee!” I leap up and run to our bathroom. The new house certainly has its advantages. Right now, my favourite thing is the number of bathrooms at my disposal, because this baby took up residence on my bladder about six weeks ago and seems to like it there.
When I come back into the bedroom, Danny is still rocking under the covers. I pull them back and he grimaces.
“I don’t think I can talk to them, can you just tell them I had to run to the bar?”
“No! It’s you they want to tell.” I wrap my arms around him and nuzzle his neck.
“Hmmm, that’s nice.” He sighs.
I drop a kiss behind his ear where he likes it. He rolls his head to the side, a clear invitation, which I accept, scraping my teeth on his earlobe. He groans and has me on my back in two seconds flat.
He stares at me and touches the end of his nose to mine. His lips curl into a tender smile that melts my heart. Then he raises his eyebrow and smirks as he presses himself against me.
Just then his laptop trills from the end of the bed.
“Oh for the love of…” Danny strops and drops down beside me.
I pat his shoulder. “Get used to it babe, because in a few days this little one will be calling all the shots.”
“Ugh!” He groans, adjusting himself.
I grab the laptop and settle it on my knees and Danny yanks the sheet over his head, beside me.
“Hello!” I say happily as Jen and Scott appear on my screen.
“Hey!” they both reply in unison.
“Where’s Danny?” Jen asks.
“Being a big baby.” I laugh, elbowing him.
He waves his hand outside the sheets and I pull them off him.
“Hi,” he says reluctantly.
“Oh there he is,” says Scott. “The man who just tried to knock-up my wife!” He shakes his head slowly. “People have been trying to tell me for years it would happen, but would I listen?”
Danny groans and tries to cover himself back over. I don’t let him, while Jen tells Scott off for teasing.
“So how did it go?” I ask Jen, Trying to ignore the boys
“Great!” She grins. “It all went smoothly, so now we just wait.”
“And you can find out in a couple of weeks?”
“Yeah, but we aren’t getting our hopes up. We know the odds, so we’re just trying to put it out of our minds.”
“Oh Jen, it will work, I just know it, we will get there eventually.”
“Eventually,” she says. “It’s a long road. But thank you.” Then she speaks just to Danny. “Thank you for what you’ve done, I’ll never forget it.”
Danny smiles and nods. He kisses his fingers and touches the screen and Jen does the same. I love watching the two of them together and it breaks my heart that it has to be via Skype most of the time. They still talk almost every day, but at times like this, they need to see each other. But I’m so close to my due date Danny refused to go when I suggested it. Still, they will be here soon. They’re coming to meet the little nugget.
Epilogue
Danny
“Sssssshhhhh!” I softly whisper as I place her on my shoulder and rub her back to soothe her. “Let Mommy sleep.”
I pull the bedroom door closed quietly behind me and take her downstairs so that Liv can get a little more rest. She was up half the night. I rock back and forth while I try and work the damned coffee machine one- handed. Fuck this, I’m getting us some instant later! I don’t care what she says, you NEED coffee when you have a baby and this machine is not a one-hander!
“Let me help you with that,” Jen whispers from behind me.
“Oh, hey,” I reply a little louder, kissing her cheek. Liv and I are trying not to do the whole tip-toe thing and while she’s sleeping on one of us you can be as loud as you want, she never stirs.
Jen makes the coffee and I sit at the counter having my snuggle. I love the mornings when she lies awake after her first feed. I can watch her for hours. But this morning she just wanted to be held and then she went right back to sleep. I’m only too happy to oblige.
“Couldn’t sleep?”
Jen wrinkles her nose. I give her a tight smile. She can do a pregnancy test today. US time, so not until this evening here, but it’s bothering her. Every month before now, they knew it wasn’t likely, but this is the real deal, if it doesn’t work, which it probably won’t, it will start to make her wonder if it ever will.
“So did you decide yet? That poor kid needs a name, you can’t keep calling her Nugget, she’ll get a complex.”
I laugh. “Um, yeah I did actually, it came to me in the night, we’ll just have to see if Liv likes it when she gets up.”
“If it isn’t on the shortlist, I’m going to kill you, just pick one, don’t make it harder!”
“It’s not, but trust me, it’s the one. You’ll see.”
She shakes her head in despair.
“See what?” Liv’s voice surprises me.
“Hey, I wanted you to sleep in,” I say as she strokes Nugget’s hair and bends to kiss me.
“Well I woke up and you were all gone. I missed you.”
I look at her expectantly and she grins. I left the baby name book open on her nightstand with a note saying ‘Strong, graceful, flexible, can withstand anything.’
She looks at Nugget asleep on my shoulder and then nods. “It’s perfect,” she whispers and kisses the top of her head softly, lingering to smell her hair.
“Shall I start breakfast?” I ask, carefully passing Nugget to her.
“Yeah, I’ll text Max.”
Thirty minutes later, Jen and I are preparing to serve up breakfast and Max is cooing over Nugget…I must stop calling her that! Charlie and Scott are trying to figure out the sound system. Liv comes down after her shower looking spectacular in jeans and my Guns ’n’ Roses T-shirt. Her hair is all piled up except a couple of strands that
