He held me for longer than he’d kissed me afterwards, whispering in my ear about the kisses he’d give me later.
“Wow. I think we need to repeat that so I can take it all in.” I felt as if a whirlwind had just swept me off my feet, which I supposed was what had happened twelve months ago.
Seph held my left hand up so he could see the ring on my finger. “I was going to wait until we’d moved into our house, but the opportunity presented itself and I didn’t completely trust Rose not to lose the bag. That was her one job.”
“You gave a five-year-old a very expensive ring to look after?”
He shrugged. “She’d have been fine. I hoped. Now you just not need to lose it.”
“It’s perfect.”
“Good.”
“What should you have told me ages ago?”
He smiled, joy and happiness dancing in his eyes. He knew I would never be mad at him for long when he looked like this, happy and like I was his world.
“I was your landlord.”
“Shut the front door! You weren’t!”
He nodded. “I bought this house off Ava and lived in it for a bit, before I got the apartment. The idea was for it always to be a rental. I should’ve told you, but it never seemed, I don’t know. I guess I forgot.”
I nodded, stunned by everything. Plus, I could hear the removal men outside.
“The rent went into a company that’ll belong to both of us when I add to that ring there.” He looked at my hand again. “What do you think, Rose?”
He dropped down again and picked her up, pulling the three of us into one huge, huge hug.
“I think there’ll be more questions, but not today.”
This was my world, my quirky, bouncy, happy world. And I loved it and both of them so very, very much.
“Mummy?”
“Yes, sweetie?” I mumbled the words into her hair, the three of us still holding each other.
“Can I have a purple bridesmaid dress?”
Epilogue
Seph
Eighteen months on
Ilooked up at the shelf, tightening the screw a tad more. It wouldn’t fall down, no matter how many more books Rose put on it.
“Daddy, Mummy wants you to go upstairs.” Rose was seven now, and since Georgia and I had gotten married, she’d decided to call me ‘Dad’ or some deviation of it. I’d had ‘Pops’, ‘Pa’ and ‘Father’ occasionally too, depending which buttons she wanted to press.
I put the electric screwdriver down and eyed my daughter, because that was what she was.
“What’s she tried to do now?” This could be as simple as that she was struggling to get out of a chair, given that she was about eleventy thousand months pregnant.
“She said you needed to go upstairs because you needed to phone an ambulance because her waters have broken and then she swore. What does it mean that her waters have broken?”
I was on my feet quicker than a cheetah grabs its prey. “It means you’re about to become a big sister.”
Rose looked serious. “I’m not sure I’m ready.”
