Keeping Secrets Crane
Page 15
As for Debs, she was ecstatic.
They’d told her about the baby last night. It was the icing on the cake. Not only had her ambition been fulfilled—that she’d gotten a father, at last, and that he was her real, long-lost father—she was getting a little brother or sister thrown in as well. Just wait till she told her friends that on Monday morning. They already thought it so cool she’d found her real father. It was like a fairy tale come true.
Jake snaked his arms around Frankie’s waist, drawing her possessively backwards into him as they posed for the photographs. He’d missed her last night, bowing to tradition and stopping overnight at the hotel where Sam and his girlfriend were staying. It had also given them chance to finalise the sale of Jake’s half of the business. There was nothing to keep him there now, nor had there been for the past few weeks. His life was here now with a beautiful wife, a gorgeous daughter and another child on the way. He had such plans for their futures, and he and Frankie had such a lot of time to make up, he didn’t want to waste a minute of it.
His palms strayed to her belly, gently stroking the blossoming curve, waiting for the moment when finally he too would feel his second child move against his hand. Frankie had already told him she’d felt the first flutters. He couldn’t wait. This time he would be there every step of the way.
Debs squeezed closer to them. And he slid one arm over her shoulder, taking one small hand into his. He planted his lips on her forehead as he drew her nearer, revelling in this wonderful new experience of fatherly love. It flowed through his bones, his nerve endings, and into every nook and cranny of his body, before passing into the child herself. It never failed to amaze him. Just as he thought his heart could hold no more love, it would swell once more, allowing a little more to enter.
“Happy?” Frankie murmured, smiling up at him through her own haze of happiness, which engulfed her like a warm mantle, snug in her belief that this was forever.
“Deliriously,” he whispered back, his warm breath caressing her long, slender neck, as it shimmied past.
Tiny shivers of delight coursed through her body, lighting up every nerve ending on its way.
Jake watched her skin turned to gooseflesh in anticipation of enchantments to come. “I can’t think of anything better than spending the rest of my life with you,” he murmured in her ear.
“And with me too?” Debs piped up with a grin. There was no way she was being left out. They might be off on honeymoon later, leaving her with her grandparents, but she wanted this part to last as long as possible.
“Especially with you.” He grinned back, kissing the top of her head this time. Thank goodness lips never wore out. He’d be on his zillionth set by now.
Debs grinned from ear to ear and hugged them both. She was close to going loopy. What better day could there ever be than this?
Jake and her mother were married at last.
She’d found her lost father.
And she had a little brother or sister on the way.
Life was so wonderful; she thought her heart might burst.
KEEPING SECRETS
THE END
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cindy Crane has two grown sons and lives with her husband in Yorkshire , England , with the beautiful Derbyshire Peak District on one doorstep, and the lovely Yorkshire Dales and Moors within easy reach of the other.
Cindy has been beset with a vivid imagination for as long as she can remember; a trait picked up from her mother, who used to tell stories “from her head” while she sat at her knee. Even as a child she’d be penning tales and comics for friends and siblings. Early retirement from teaching has allowed her to pursue this passion.
When not writing, she is researching family history, travelling, or supporting her local football team. But, she also leaves time to meet regularly with friends for girlie chats, lunches, and walks.
Write to Cindy at
cindy.crane@blueyonder.co.uk
www.BookStrand.com