Page 108

Wren: Don’t read too much into that. It’s a lot to take in.

Robyn: He says he can’t believe a word I say.

Wren: What did you say to that?

Robyn: I told him I loved him.

Wren: Oh Robs.

Robyn: I know.

Wren: We’re coming home from the hospital tonight. Come and stay with us. We’ll go to the wedding together tomorrow from here.

Robyn: Thanks, Wren. I love you.

Wren: I love you too.

Robyn looked at the words and felt her eyes blur with hot salty tears. At least Wren had said it back. She could always rely on her friend.

Chapter Sixty

Fox

Finally, Fox and Millie were alone and able to talk. The boys were in bed in Millie’s spare room. The house was quiet. It should be peaceful, but Fox’s emotions were churning.

‘So, what’s going on then, Fox?’ Millie asked, reading him like a book. All afternoon he’d sat with the realisation he’d done the wrong thing. He’d invited the wrong person to Christmas Day. He’d left Robyn, and his daughter, alone. Robyn had told him she loved him and he hadn’t replied, which made him almost breathless with anxiety and heavy with dread. Because he did, he loved every bone in her body and every thought in her head. How could he have not told her that?

Fox took a deep breath and uttered a silent prayer that things between him and Millie would still be the same after he told her everything, and then he began.

‘It’s quite a long story,’ he sighed.

‘Just start at the beginning,’ she said, tucking her feet under herself in her corner of the sofa.

‘It began last year, at that games convention. Robyn and I had a one-night stand. The first time I’d been with anyone since Meg. Only it felt more than that. It felt important. So of course it freaked me out so much that I left in the morning without a word.’

Millie’s eyes widened, but there was no judgement there, just curiosity. ‘What a coincidence then that she turned up here!’

‘We didn’t even know each other’s names,’ Fox clarified. ‘She didn’t know it was me looking for a nanny, and I didn’t know it was her applying. Not until we saw each other face to face.’

‘One of those small world moments.’

‘More like fate intervening,’ Fox said, shaking his head. ‘Because since I saw her last, Robyn had a baby.’ He met Millie’s eyes and held them. ‘My baby. My daughter.’

‘Wait, what?’ Millie reached for his hand, her face alive with wonder. ‘That gorgeous baby Willow is your daughter?’

Fox nodded, hit anew with a feeling so big it hurt his chest.

‘I found out today. Robyn told me this morning.’

Millie squeezed his hand in hers.

‘Wow!’ she said. ‘That’s a Christmas present and a half!’

‘Robyn also told me that she loved me,’ he said and watched a ripple of emotion pass over Millie’s face, surprise and happiness all at once. He continued: ‘That initial connection – which I thought might be just physical – seems to have only grown more important than ever. I love her too.’ He dropped his head into his hands. ‘But I didn’t say it back. It was all too much. I told her I needed to think.’

‘That’s not surprising. It’s a lot for you to take in all at once.’ She laughed suddenly and nudged him with her foot on the sofa. ‘Me too, actually!’

The fire hissed and spat in the grate. Fox ran his hand through his hair and then raised his gaze to Millie, waiting for her verdict.