Joe held his hand to his chest. ‘And I’m so, so glad we did.’ Joe crossed the room to kiss her and then leaned down and pressed his lips to her swollen belly. Something he’d done every day since she’d told him she was pregnant. Everyone whooped again.
God, she loved this man.
It had taken them a while to get to this point. Telling her parents wasn’t as traumatic as she’d thought. They’d stood by her when they’d heard about her divorce and had been just as loyal when she’d told them about the baby. And they were not only loyal, but proud of her. Happy for her. And her mother didn’t even complain too much, well perhaps only a little, when Joe and Anna resolved to spend weekdays up in the city and weekends down at Middle Point. Her parents were getting used to the drive.
Because at the end of the day that’s what great families do, Anna realised. They stick with you through thick and thin, through heartbreak and happiness, through loss and love.
‘To Dr Anna Morelli,’ Joe said, loud enough to be heard above everybody.
When the cries of delight and congratulation quietened, Anna reached for Joe’s hand.
‘And to you, Joe Blake.’ She squeezed his hand and pulled him down for another kiss.
‘And to our baby,’ he murmured against her lips.
There were more laughs and shouts, so loud this time that Anna could barely hear herself think.
Here were the facts as she knew them.
She loved and was loved in return. By her family, by her new family and by Joe. The love of her life.
She was happy beyond bursting.
And judging by the shimmer of pain across her abdomen she was about to have a baby.
She gripped Joe’s fingers like a vice and her other hand flew to St Christopher.
‘To our baby,’ she managed to say, ‘who is coming right now.’
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you to my family for once again putting up with me while I’ve disappeared to write and edit this book. Get used to it – there are more to come!
Grazie mille to my Italian advisers: Grace, Anita and Michela. Thank you for letting me pick your brains about what it is to be an Italian daughter.
Thanks Fiona for allowing me to borrow that scene. You know which one.
To the incredible Australian romance writing community. I feel honoured to call so many of you my friends.
I’d like to acknowledge the unfailing support of the SA Writers Centre and its Director Sarah Tooth. A good portion of this book was written while I was a Writer in Residence for three months in 2013. I wouldn’t be a writer without this wonderful organisation.
To my editor Jody Lee. Thank you for loving my characters and guiding this book to be so much better than the manuscript I sent you.
Finally, and most importantly, to Sue Brockhoff, Cristina Lee, Michelle Laforest and the whole team from Harlequin Australia. Sincere thanks for your ongoing support, encouragement and your unstinting efforts in helping get my books in front of readers.
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ISBN: 9781488749797
Title: Our Kind of Love
First Australian Publication 2014
Copyright © 2014 Victoria Purman
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilisation of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the permission of the publisher:
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Our Kind of Love Page 33