Finn shut Freya up by making a snipping motion with his fingers. “No, this is the last. The only one that’s been planned, and there are no more.”
Ruby nodded. “The holiday of a lifetime will happen around eighteen and a half years from now. That’s if we can leave them without them burning the house down.” She glanced over at Elsie and Elias who were looking like angels in training, sitting down nicely with their drinks and fruit.
They just smelled disgusting.
“Congratulations.” I shook my head. “Shared thunder today.”
Finn grinned. “The storm after the storm.”
“Definitely in a few months. It’s going to be interesting.” I nodded, holding Iris a little tighter, feeling the baby move inside.
Roe shrugged, passing Calla to Freya. “This was kind of what we wanted when we moved here, wasn’t it? Being together.”
“That’s a bit deep for you. Did the storm transfer a different personality in there?” Finn gave him a look of horror. “But yeah. I suppose things have worked out okay.”
I saw Ruby and Freya share a look, one that was passed to Iris and then they laughed.
Which started the rest of us off, probably in shock, the laughter carrying on while we managed to not burn the bacon on the barbecue.
Iris
Iwatched from the comfiness of the nursing chair that’d been delivered the day before as Gully touched up paintwork that there was absolutely nothing wrong with in the first place.
My fiancé was nesting. It was meant to be me who went through this stage of tidying and organising, but that’d happened about four weeks ago, after which I’d discovered a really good crime series that wasn’t written by Gully or my sister and I’d binge read it at least four times without any guilt whatsoever.
Gully had repainted the nursery twice. The first time, it was a pretty yellow colour, but he hadn’t liked it from day one, pouring over paint cards and social media for ideas. It was now an equally pretty green, which I probably preferred but I didn’t dare tell him that in case he started to question me on other colours and whether I preferred something else, which would mean another redo and I didn’t have the energy to watch him.
I was due any day and I knew it. My due date was today, but I knew we’d skip a hospital trip because I wasn’t quite ready yet. Moon had slowed down, which was normal because there wasn’t much room for her in there anymore. She was measuring exactlywhere she should be and all the signs were good, healthy, no indicators of any distress, and somehow, I was just as healthy.
The gods had smiled on us. The difficulty in me getting pregnant had been balanced with a pregnancy that had been textbook, including the part where I hadn’t seen my feet or vagina for a considerable length of time.
Gully had kept track of both and apparently they were healthy and tended to, but I’d even got to the point now where the only thing I wanted near my vagina was this baby exiting.
This week would be good.
At least Gully wouldn’t have time to paint after that.
“It looks really good. I think we should just let everything dry now.” I stood up, feeling something in my back hurt that I hadn’t previously known existed.
He put the paintbrush down and looked at his work. “What about a mural?”
“Maybe. In a few months. Let’s see how we get on with everything else.” Which included a load of sensory toys, a mobile, more plushies than a toy store and a whole library of books that would take Moon from three months to thirteen.
According to Freya and Ruby, Gully was even surpassing his brothers in terms of fussing. This time around Roe was fairly chilled, knowing what was to come, and Finn hadn’t even blinked, but that was possibly because he was still in shock. They were both due in February, just before the date when Gully and I had booked our wedding. No one minded it being close. I’d set a date for my hen party for June, months after and when we’d all be able to enjoy a drink or eight without worrying about breast feeding as much, if that was what happened.
I felt like I was ready. I didn’t have pressure on me to look a certain way to get married, or to breastfeed or to parent in any particular way. No one, including Gully’s mother, had told mewhat to do, which had been a relief, but there was always advice if I asked for it.
“You’re sure you’re happy with it?” He looked at me, nerves and fear etched on his handsome face.
“I’ll be happier when you stop painting.”
He nodded and looked dejected.
“Gully,” I wrapped my arms around him. “It’s perfect. You’ve done amazing and everything’s ready. How about we go to the Puffin Inn for dinner and think about anything apart from babies?”
He nodded, but still looked put out. “That’s hard when everyone’s pregnant at the same time.”
“True. But this might be the last time we can sit near Mavis while she’s playing cards and not be told off for having a kid with us.”
