Etta giggled and carried on reading the story.
Margaret and Tom had obviously realised they’d cocked up massively the night Etta had run away and, after massive apologies, they had really pulled out all the stops to be better grandparents. They’d converted a room in their house to be used purely for arts and crafts so Etta could use as much paint and glitter and beads as her little heart desired and they would actually join herand make things too, rather than just leaving her to it. They’d got a dog and they would all go on long walks together. Every week they would pick an activity from the jar and they’d do that together, whatever it was. Immy could see their relationship was better because of it, but also that they were enjoying having Etta more too as they’d stopped bringing her back early.
Immy leaned over to read the book that Etta was reading. It was an old one that Etta had loved at one point but hadn’t read for a while. Immy seemed to remember it was about a little girl who rode on the back of dragons while she protected and cared for the dinosaurs. Immy looked at the pictures as the little girl climbed on top of a purple sparkly dragon. Etta turned the page and continued reading out loud.
‘Fly Jax, fly up to the sky.’
‘Wait a minute,’ Immy laughed in mock outrage. ‘Jax. The purple dragon is called Jax.’
Etta collapsed in a fit of giggles. ‘Yes.’
‘You named our son after a dragon?’
‘A very beautiful dragon.’
‘Well yes, but still when you chose the name and said it was named after your favourite book character, I was expecting someone brave and heroic and kind, not a dragon.’
‘Jax is all those things.’
‘Well, yes, I suppose he is, but he’s still a dragon.’
Immy tickled her and Etta let out a squeal of laughter and even Jax had a little chuckle as if he thought the whole thing was funny too.
Xander came running through the door from the back garden looking spectacularly rugged and sweaty in his t-shirt and shorts.
‘What are you all laughing at in here?’
‘Did you know our daughter named our son after a dragon?’ Immy said.
Xander laughed. ‘I did, but he is a very nice dragon.’
‘See,’ Etta said as if that proved her point.
‘The treehouse is finished if you two want to come and take a look.’
‘Yayy!!’ Etta said. Immy took Jax off her and Etta charged off into the garden.
Immy stood up, hoisted Jax onto her hip and, holding Xander’s hand, she followed Etta to the treehouse. Jacob got up off the arm chair and followed them. There were wide stairs leading up to the house that had a splendid, curved banister wrapped in fairy lights. The treehouse was fairly large, there was a double mattress in the middle, which was covered in blankets and cushions because Etta had said she might want to spend the night in it. There were fairy lights strewn everywhere and framed pictures of dragons and dinosaurs on the walls. It had little windows and curtains hanging from them so you could shut out all the light if you wanted. Xander wanted to drape a sheet from one of the walls and then they were going to watch movies in there together, using the projector.
‘It’s beautiful, Daddy,’ Etta said, in wonder as she looked around. Of course they’d already been in there a few times, but now they had all the finishing touches itlooked so much better. ‘I’m going to get some of my toys and books to put in here too.’
Etta ran back out the treehouse and charged off towards the house. Jacob settled down in the dog bed in the corner, perfectly happy with this new room.
‘Come here a moment,’ Xander said, taking Jax off Immy. ‘Lie down, I want to show you something.’
She lay down on the bed and he lay down carefully next to her with their son positioned between them.
‘Look up,’ Xander said, softly.
She looked up into the eaves of the roof to see stars and flowers of all shapes, sizes and colours hanging from the roof, intermingled with fairy lights. Some of the fairy lights had letters on, probably the names of more dragons if Etta had her way.
‘It’s lovely.’ Immy rolled towards him, being careful not to jostle Jax too much. She stroked Xander’s face. ‘I love you so much and I will be forever grateful that you gave me your seed.’
Xander burst out laughing. ‘You make it sound so romantic.’
‘It wasn’t romantic, it was passionate and needy and oh so wonderful but it definitely lacked the romance. But not only did that night give me the greatest gift you could ever give me.’ She stroked Jax’s head. ‘It brought you back to me. You and Etta and our son have completed my life in ways I never imagined. I am so utterly happy, I wake up smiling every single day and you did that. So I don’t need romance, or flowers, or chocolates because I have you and my heartis so full of love for you.’ She paused. ‘Will you marry me?’
His eyes widened. She hadn’t intended to propose to him right now. They’d talked about marriage and one day having more children but life always seemed to get in the way. Jax arriving a lot earlier than planned, Christmas, moving house, there never seemed to be the right moment. But now, wrapped in his arms, under a sea of stars and lights, telling him how much she loved him, now seemed to be the perfect moment.
