“I think they’ll be around as much as we want them. They’re pretty good, I suppose.” His grin was broad and wide like usual.
I hoped he never stopped smiling.
“I did well for parents,” he said. “I’m thinking we might tell my mum and sister next week.”
“She’ll be over the moon.” His mum was lovely, a little nervous and quieter than his dad and Amelie. She’d been thrilled when we told her we were together for real, and I had a feeling she would relish being a grandma.
“I think everyone will be.” He kissed me again. “Just like us, which is the most important thing.”
I snuggled into him, feeling sleepy. It was definitely nap time and I was making the most of being able to sleep before the days and nights came when it would be scarce.
It wasn’t me who nodded off first though. When I peeled myself off the bed to go to the loo, Caleb was out for the count, his mouth slightly open, arm stretched over his head, long lashes fluttering over his cheeks.
I found my phone and took a quick snap, one to use as a phone wallpaper maybe. One to show our kid when they were older.
One to keep.
My pregnancy was nothing short of a dream. The birth, not so much. There were complications, a baby in distress, my blood pressure rising and what we’d planned ended up in an emergency caesarean and a blood transfusion for me, which hadn’t been what I’d ordered.
Freddie Roman Tominey came home with us a week after he was born, already a big boy, with big lungs and a big smile, that looked just like his father’s. He was at the ninetieth centile for length and weight and I was glad we hadn’t bought too many newborn clothes, because he was going to quickly grow out of them if the first week was anything to go by.
I was sore and tired and felt as if someone had taken all of my organs and blended them on a rapid speed. Standing was awful, walking was worse, holding Freddie could be uncomfortable but I did forget that when he was looking at me as if he couldn’t quite believe I was here.
Caleb was brilliant, which didn’t surprise me. He’d been a rock throughout my pregnancy without being overbearing, and when I was a mess because I was scared and fearful that I wasn’t going to make it or Freddie wouldn’t get here safely, he’d been solid, smiling, reassuring.
Afterwards, he told me he’d been scared shitless that he was going to lose us both, and it’d been his dad who’d kept him together, but it already seemed like a dream that hadn’t really happened because we were in our home with our healthy, chunky baby and that really was all that mattered.
“He already looks like Caleb.” Amelie winded him, patting his back like a pro. She hadn’t had children of her own through choice and the fact she’d never met the right man at the right time, but she’d had enough experience of her friends’ kids to have a few tricks up her sleeve, and her main purpose at the moment was to give me and Caleb a break when she could so we stayed sane. “I think that’s a good thing. There are some seriously strong genes running in that family.”
“I’m not complaining about that.” I sat up a little straighter. I’d started to feel better the last few days and was definitely more mobile. I had a physio visiting every couple of days to help me get in the habit of moving normally again and to stop being scared that I’d do something to damage myself. Caleb had gone into work to do what he needed to with his department; he’d had a promotion before the summer which gave him more responsibility and paperwork, and less chance of disappearing on another six-week research project which was definitely not on his dance card any time soon.
“Did you think when you were seventeen and here for the first time that you’d end up having a baby with the boy who couldn’t get his words out when he saw you?” Amelie laughed, tucking Freddie into her arms and gazing at him.
“Did you think you’d end up married to his dad the first time you saw him?” I remembered how Amelie and Roman had gotten together in a spat of words and irritation, mainly from her.
“Fair point. I don’t think any of us see what’s in front of us at first. It was the same for everyone I know.” Her smile was wistful. “It’ll be the same for him one day, if he’s lucky.”
Footsteps told me that Caleb was back, voices told me he wasn’t alone. Thane and Fleur followed him into the kitchen, their son with them, the twins nowhere to be seen.
“Hey! How are you doing?” Fleur flocked over to me, starting to bend down to give me a hug.
I stood up instead, wanting the movement, and managed a big hug without wincing. “Better. Improving. Where are the girls?”
“Causing havoc at the cakery for a friend’s birthday. I swear they were conceived under some strange comet’s path or something.” She went over to Amelie and stole Freddie, giving him a big cuddle. “Chunk monster! He’s grown.”
Fleur was one of the first people to meet him, briefly visiting just as I held him for the first time. She’d made sure everything was okay at home, taken care of the two cats we’d adopted from her and Thane, and generally been helpful without needing anyone to know about it.
Thane stood next to her, grinning at the baby and glancing over at Caleb. “It’s like Zoey had nothing to do with making him. He looks like a carbon copy of you.”
“Thanks.” I glared at Thane. “I had plenty to do with making him.” I felt myself blush, realising what I’d just said. A wave of laughter had Freddie opening his eyes and looking round, fixing them on his dad who came and took him off Fleur.
My heart melted like it did every time I saw him hold Freddie, contentment and love filling my chest and making it swell. I walked over to them, Caleb’s arms coming round me, a kiss pressed to my head.
“Feeling okay?” he asked, checking in as he did a hundred times a day at the moment.
I looked round the room, my favourite room of the house now filled with a few of my favourite people. In a bit Roe and Freya, Finn and Ruby, Gully and Iris and some of the others from Puffin Bay would be here. Caleb’s mum and sister, Alys who was usually behind the bar too, people we loved, people who made this town the place it was.
“I’m feeling amazing, actually.” I wrapped my arm around his waist and accepted the glass of champagne with the other.
