Shit, she was at least semi-naked under there.
I’d tried to forget how she looked without her clothes. I’d done everything I could to not remember that night in New Orleans, trying to put it so far out of my mind it’d taken place in another universe.
“So I haven’t overslept.” She was smiling. “You’re just excited about something.”
The answer to that depended on which part of my body she was referring to.
“It’s day sixteen.”
She sat back, rearranging pillows behind her while keeping the covers over her chest.
“I know. I nearly took the test when I woke up at one this morning.” The covers slipped a little. She held them firm. “Are you trying to sneak a look at my tits, Gulliver?”
I nodded. No point lying. “Naturally. You have good tits. Possibly the best.” I raised my head out of the gutter. “You should’ve woken me. You could’ve done the test then.”
“Some of us have more self-control.” She looked far more relaxed than I felt. “What’s the plan? If it’s negative, what are we going to do for the rest of the day?”
“What do you want to do?”
“Probably cry and stay in.”
I nodded. “Then we’ll do that. And speak to the clinic. What if it’s positive?”
“Cry and stay in. Crying’s involved either way. If it’s positive, I don’t want to tell anyone for a few days. Is that okay? I know you’ll want to tell your brothers so I feel guilty asking.”
“We’ll keep it to ourselves for a while. Roe will guess though, but he won’t say anything.”
“And you won’t have to tell him, will you?” She looked suspiciously at me. “He’ll just know.”
“Probably. I knew when Freya was pregnant.”
“How?” The covers slipped a little more.
So did my eyes.
I shrugged. “He was fierce. The way he stood. The way he watched her. Roe doesn’t miss much, but he was really high on alert and he was – taller. That sounds weird, I know, but he just grew.”
“Pride.”
I nodded. “Totally. He was a lot better than Finn though. He just became stupid until Elias arrived.”
“How?” She looked concerned. “What do you mean by stupid?”
“Really overprotective. Worried about everything. Ruby wound him up though, which he deserved.” I’d found it funny at the time. Now I was feeling more sympathetic towards my brother.
“Which one will you be?” She settled further down in the pillows.
I studied her, her hair mussed from sleep, her body relaxed even though today would be a day when our lives changed.
I moved from where I was sat to be next to her, lying down on top of the mattress, stealing some space on her pillows, totally encroaching on her personal space.
“I’ve never been as quiet as Roe, so I won’t be totally like him, but I’m more chilled out than Finn, so somewhere in between.I’ll be annoying, I know that. I will want to look after you.” I paused. “I already do.”
Her eyes glistened with tears.
I lifted a hand to wipe them away as they spilled down her cheeks. “I promised I’d tell Mavis when we found out.”
“That’s okay. You can tell Mavis. Won’t she tell the rest of the town though?”
