by Anne Fraser
‘Okay.’ Nick placed her back on the ground and raised his eyebrows at Tiggy, who suppressed a smile. She had no idea how he was going to cope with a couple of hours of Chrissie but she was looking forward to finding out.
* * *
After she and Melody had visited almost every department in the store and they still hadn’t come across Nick and Chrissie, Tiggy was beginning to worry. But to her relief she spotted them eventually in the toy train department. Nick was sitting cross-legged with Chrissie on his lap as they watched the trains going around.
‘So here you are,’ Tiggy said.
Chrissie and Nick glanced at her before turning their attention back to the train set. ‘Finished already?’ Nick asked over his shoulder.
‘It’s been more than two hours, Nick. Aren’t you and Chrissie hungry?’
Nick glanced at his watch. ‘Two hours! No way. Anyway...’ he ruffled Chrissie’s curls, almost exactly the way he’d used to ruffle Tiggy’s ‘...we’ve had a snack.’
When Chrissie did turn round Tiggy could see that they had indeed. Chrissie’s mouth was covered in chocolate.
‘We had chocolate milkshake and chocolate cake,’ she said.
‘’S not fair,’ Melody complained. ‘Aunty Tiggy made me have yucky soup. She said I needed something proper for lunch.’
Nick removed Chrissie from his lap and stood up. ‘Sorry, Tigs,’ he said, looking sheepish. ‘Guess I don’t make a very good babysitter.’
Chrissie looked up at him adoringly. ‘You’re the best babysitter ever,’ she said staunchly. ‘Now, can we go back to our trains?’
CHAPTER TWENTY
A COUPLE OF days later, when Nick returned from his army medical, he was grinning. Tiggy’s heart sank. Although she was glad he’d passed, she couldn’t bear to think he was going away again.
‘You passed, then,’ she said.
‘Yes.’
‘You’ll be going back to Afghanistan?’
‘Actually, I won’t.’ Nick looked at her. ‘I’ve asked for a permanent post in the military hospital in Birmingham. Or, if you don’t want to move, I’ll resign from the army and look for a job in London.’
It was the last thing she’d expected.
‘Why?’ She needed him to spell it out.
‘Because I don’t want to leave you again. I want the life I had and thought I didn’t want. I was wrong. I lost the woman I loved most in the world and I’m not going to lose her again.’ He crouched by her chair. ‘I’ve been such a fool, Tiggy. My life is nothing without you, never has been, never will be. I know it’ll take time for you to learn to trust me again, but I can wait. I can, and will, wait forever.’
She closed her eyes. Could she believe him?
‘I’m learning, Tigs. I’m learning that being a family means responsibility, but that it can be good too. Kate and I have a lot of lost time to make up, but we’re making progress. I’d like you to meet her properly. I want the two most important women in my life to get to know each other.’
‘Looks like you’ve taken to being a father.’ If he could be a decent father to Kate, perhaps he could be one to their child too?
‘It still feels weird, but I’m learning family life can be fun. The other day, when we were at Hamleys with the girls, I realised that there are many ways to be a parent. I might not always get it right, but that doesn’t matter. If there’s enough love, like there is between you and your family, like Charlie and Alice have with their children, it can be good. Great even. Responsibility doesn’t always have to feel bad.’
Something inside her chest shifted. It was what she’d been longing to hear. ‘Your parents would have been proud of you. You do know that, don’t you?’
‘I did my best. It was all I could do. And you’re right, the soldiers on the front line have the best medical personnel in the country to look after them. I don’t want to look back any more. Life’s too short.’
He pulled her to her feet and placed his hands on either side of her face. ‘I know I have no right to ask you. I know I’ve hurt you badly. I would understand if you couldn’t forgive me, but if I can’t have you, I won’t have anyone.’
She turned her face up to his. There were no guarantees in life, but she believed him when he said he loved her.
‘Shut up and kiss me,’ she demanded.
* * *
Of course they ended up in bed together.
Nick’s hands were cupping her hips, sweeping like feathers over her stomach sending ripples of liquid heat straight to her pelvis. Suddenly he paused and ran his hands over her abdomen again, before returning to her breasts. A look of wonder filled his eyes. ‘Tiggy, are you pregnant?’
She gazed up at the man who, for better or for worse, she loved and would always love, no matter what pain he’d caused her, no matter if the future with him would always be like a roller-coaster. She would rather spend one minute in hell with him than a lifetime without him.
‘Do you mind?’
He laughed and rolled over on his back, pulling her on top of him. ‘Mind?’ His hands caressed her bottom. ‘It’s perfect. You’re perfect. Our whole bloody lives are going to be perfect.’
She smiled down at him. ‘Maybe not perfect, at least not always, but pretty damn close.’
* * * * *
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ISBN: 9781460319178
Copyright © 2013 by Anne Fraser
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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. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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