A smile slowly spread across my face.
“We’re having a baby?” he asked, his eyes wide.
I nodded.
He choked back a cry lodged in his throat before a wide smile spread across his face.
His steps ate up the floor, closing the distance between us and I’m swept into his arms, lifted off the ground, as he spun us around, his arms wrapped around my waist, his face buried in my neck.
“I love you, Hayley. I love you so goddamn much.”
“I love you, too.”
He pressed his lips to mine, before he lowered me to the ground and sunk down to his knees in front of me. “I love you too,” he whispered, his face buried against my belly.
“I still can’t quite believe it.” He shakes his head in disbelief, smiling softly.
“What?”
I touch the side of his face, tracing his stubbled jaw with my fingertips as he kneels on the floor, gazing up at me.
“That you’re my wife, that I get the privilege of building a family with you, having this baby with you, growing old next to you. I never imagined that I’d have that, never really wanted that, until I met you.” He reaches up and places his hand over mine.
“Sara Elizabeth is going to be a lucky girl to have a mother like you.”
“And she’s going to be even luckier having you as her daddy.”
He rises from the floor and sits down next to me, wrapping me tightly in his arms, my head on his chest, his free hand on top of both off mine that rest on my huge belly, feeling the little squirms and kicks of our daughter inside me.
We flick through the album together, remembering that day as if it were only yesterday.
“Never let me go,” I say.
His fingers turn my chin so I’m looking at him, the corner of his mouth curving up. He presses his lips to mine gently, resting his forehead on mine.
“Never."
The End
Acknowledgements and Author's Notes.
If you’re here reading this, you made it! I really hope you enjoy 'The Game', and I am eternally grateful to each and every one of you that took the leap of faith and took a chance on me to read this book. Thank you all so much! It means the absolute world. I want to say a huge thank you to my fellow Insta-Authors and the whole community for your support throughout this journey.
Special shout-out to my best friend Meghan. The first person I ever told about writing this book, the first person to read it. Thank you so much for your support and for having faith in me. I love you Angel! I'm so glad you didn't read the original version where I had a little dig at One Direction, you would have killed me, haha!!
This is my first ever book, one that I never had any intention of publishing. I began writing 'The Game' in October 2019 and started writing it in secret, just as a hobby really. It is a story that I have been thinking of for some time, it was only then that I decided to write it down.
I started researching and found that I could self-publish so I looked into it more, it came as a surprise that so many of the books that I have read and loved were self-published. So I threw caution to the wind and decided to go for it. It has been an incredibly stressful journey to get to this point, one that was full of self-doubt as to whether I am good enough and whether you would enjoy my story.
If you did enjoy it, please drop me a review on Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53453480-the-game
You can follow me on Instagram @natalieclarkeauthor, and while you're at it, why not check out my book review account on Instagram too! @fromreader.withlove You can also find me on my website https://natalieclarke98.wixsite.com/website
Thanks again. I love you all!
Gwen and Zachary's story… Coming soon.
Read on for a sneak peak...
Prologue
Gwen
Growing up, like any girl, I imagined what my wedding day would look like. I would spend hours lying in bed, evading sleep, thinking up the most important day of my life, picturing every single detail to the very last flower. I would sit daydreaming out of the window during school, my chin resting in my palm, imagining who of my friends would be my bridesmaids. Hayley, my best friend, my soul sister would without question be my maid of honour.
I would picture the venue in my head, it was so clear it almost felt real, a small, simple wedding, maybe a grand hotel or a registry office, no churches, I am anything but religious. The venue would be minimal and delicate, dressed in white and lilac.
I dreamed of what my dress would be like, for me, it was a white lace gown with full delicate lace sleeves, a low dip in the back that would end just at the base of my spine and a long train. Our friends and family would fill the seats either side of the aisle, watching on as we marry the one we love most in the world, the one we want to spend eternity with. I dreamed of my dad walking me down the aisle where I am met with the man of my dreams, tall, dark, and handsome. My Prince Charming.
But that’s all they were... dreams.
When I was growing up, I had no idea my wedding day was going to turn out like this. Today is meant to be the happiest day of my life, the one where the next chapter of my life begins, but today is not that day.
I will be beginning a new chapter of my life, just a different one to the one I had imagined for all those years. Today is the first day of the rest of my life, one that will be remembered.
