I stared at my whisky because I didn’t like it when I couldn’t argue with my brother. “I know. We kind of thought of that. Especially when some of the cousins have swarmed over here.”
“You’ll be glad you’ve done it. Can’t see Callum and Wren having a family thing when they get married. That’ll be on a beach somewhere with an elephant as a witness.” Jackson grinned. “Marie will lose her fruit if they do that.”
“I think she’ll just be glad he’s finally settled. How did being married change you and Van?” It was something I was worried about. I didn’t want me and Vic to grow stale, or too comfortable. I didn’t want to start to take her for granted and her to stop sending me tit pics.
Even if one day one of those pics was of our baby having its dinner.
“Made us more relaxed. Me especially. I felt more secure. I knew I must’ve done something right for her to walk down the aisle. We felt more of a unit. Don’t over think it, Maxwell. Nothing good comes of it when you do that.”
I gave him the finger.
“We’re trying for another baby. She’s got baby-fever with Claire being due anytime and we can’t walk past a shop selling baby stuff without her needing to go in and touch all the stuff for newborns.”
I hadn’t talked to any of my brothers – or sisters – about the difficulty we were having in getting pregnant. They knew, because Vic talked to their better partners, but we hadn’t discussed it.
“How long have you been trying for?” I was curious to know. Teddy had been conceived pretty much the first night they’d tried.
Jackson waggled his brows. “Five months. We know we’re both good for it, but it just isn’t happening easy this time. We’re not getting stressed though. That’ll only make it worse.”
I played with the glass of whisky, now empty and it wouldn’t be refilled. I’d managed to get away with only having a few drinks, not wanting a bad head or a really late night. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve, and I hadn’t wrapped anything yet, plus we had a rugby match against a team made up of local medics from the hospital.
“We’re trying. You know we’re trying.” I looked at Jackson, feeling as if someone was ripping my skin off and exposing my insides.
“You’ve beentryingas long as I’ve known you.” Jackson gave a grin that usually resulted in me rugby tackling him, but there was a table in the way.
Instead I shook my head and picked up a sausage roll that was left over. Marie had put a bit of a spread on, probably hoping we’d line our stomachs before poisoning ourselves with liquor.
“I try very hard to get on your every single nerve.” I threw another sausage roll at him.
He caught it and stuffed it in his mouth.
“Do you want another?” I knew he’d found it hard in parts to juggle work with spending all the time he wanted with Teddy. There had been one morning when he’d dragged himself in, looking like utter shit. Teddy had been up most of the night with a temperature, screaming himself sick. He’d improved, but Jacks had admitted it was killing him to be away from him when his son was poorly.
It was the first time I hadn’t given him shit when he looked like crap.
“Yes. I’m less fussed about the time scale. Van’s like a broody hen though. What about you?”
I didn’t want to talk about it. I couldn’t. Nothing was stopping us getting pregnant; both of us were healthy, we were doing all the right things, but she wasn’t expecting.
It was killing me. I knew how Victoria felt.
“We’re fine.”
Jackson raised a brow. “You sure?”
I nodded. “It’ll happen. For now, I just want to enjoy getting married.”
Jackson stood up, gave me a nod. “If you need to talk, you know where I am.”
“Does the offer still stand if I need to box with someone?”
He gave another nod. “Just avoid my face. For some reason, Vanessa likes it.”
Victoria was in bed when I got back to our room. She was reading a book, a romance by the look of the cover. She had no make-up on and looked rested. I had every intention of making her feel very relaxed after I’d put an end to any rest.
“How was your evening?”
She put the book down and smiled at me, her glasses perched on the end of her nose.
