by Dawn Burton
“So, you get like that three times a day? Poor you.”
“Yeah. Evening time is better, but I’m just shattered by that point. It’s draining. I’m so glad I’m with you for the next fortnight. Oh, and you need to know, Tay, my hGC levels, which are the pregnancy hormones-”
“Yeah, I’ve been doing my reading.”
“Oh good! Well, the hospital said they are higher than normal and because all this has kicked in earlier than normal, there’s a chance this could be a twin pregnancy. Is that ok if it is?”
“Seriously? That’s fucking amazing if it is! Two for the price of one. Are you ok with that?”
“Yeah, they mentioned it on Saturday, but everything’s been such a whirlwind that I haven’t really paid much thought to it. We won’t know until the scan though. Are you going to be able to come back for that?”
“I’m so sorry but I don’t think I can, which I’m gutted about, unless you want me to cancel a show, which I will do? I have another three day break two weeks’ after, but I’m not gonna hold you up. We need the scan to check it’s all ok, and particularly now to check if it’s one or two!”
“That’s a shame, but nah, don’t cancel. We’ll get through it somehow. At least I get to be looked after by you for the next two weeks. What’s the food like here?”
“We can go out if you’re up for it?”
“No, need food now. Maybe we can go for a walk afterwards but feed me first!”
Tay handed her a towel as she finished, and once she was dressed, they went down to the restaurant, Annie ordering a burger and fries. Tay texted the guys, and Adie, Sasha and Con said they’d come to join them for a drink, but there was no sign of Hilly and Will.
“Making up for lost time, probably!” Annie laughed, as Tay smiled at her, just thankful to see her happy.
Sasha appeared, grabbing Annie to kiss her cheek, followed by Con. “So lovely to see you, and congratulations! How are you? You look…”
“Shit?”
“Noooo…but perhaps your blooming stage will come later!”
Annie rolled her eyes. “Thanks. I’m feeling shit, looking shit, fainting if I stand, starving once all that passes, and then falling asleep by 8. It’s great fun so far,” she said sarcastically.
“It might be twins, which could be why she’s feeling so rough,” declared Tay proudly.
“Where’s my food, Tay?” she moaned, looking round.
“Do I need to go and buy some bar snacks? We need to make sure the beast is fed at all times, guys.”
Annie glared at him, and Con chuckled, “Dude, I don’t think calling the mother of your children ‘a beast’ is a smart move.”
“Ah, yeah, sorry sweetheart. Love you! I’ll…erm…just get you some snacks!”
After food, they walked out in uptown Charlotte to explore a little, watching the bars coming to life in the early evening. Annie tried to keep up but by 7.30pm, Tay could tell she was flagging. He kissed her forehead, “Shall we go back? I can order room service while you sleep.”
She nodded, and they caught a taxi back, arranging to meet the others after lunch tomorrow for a bit of sightseeing.
Annie sank thankfully into their bed, stretching out, yawning. “You’ve got about a twenty-minute window if you want to get it on.”
Tay laughed, “You’re gonna be asleep in five minutes, I reckon, and I’d rather wait until I can take my time to make you feel good. Let’s take a rain check until tomorrow, but I’ll hold you while you fall asleep.”
He lay behind her, spooning, and gently kissing her neck, her shoulder and her arm, rubbing her back until she was gone, before ordering himself a burger and settling down to watch tv, finally content at having his woman next to him.
Chapter Nineteen
Tay woke the next morning to hear Annie in the bathroom, softly groaning. She was huddled on the floor, leaning against the bath, bloodshot eyes from where she’d been dry-heaving, and her colour totally gone. He got her some fresh ice water, and sat beside her, occasionally wiping a cold flannel over her, neither of them saying much.
This quickly became their new routine. Morning sickness first thing, breakfast, laze around until it started again at 11.30ish, a couple of good hours until early evening and then wiped out in bed, exhausted. It was easier when the guys got back to touring because the early dinners suited Annie, and then she would go to bed while Tay went off to his gig. Travelling on the tour bus wasn’t easy, but the lads got used to her carrying her bowl around with her and dry-heaving in front of them.
Annie had no concept of where they were, or had been. Her days were an endless repetition, only made bearable by having Tay with her, but all too soon, her fortnight came to an end, and yet again, there was another round of tearful goodbyes at the airport.
They had FaceTimed Tay’s parents to tell them their news, and they were waiting at Heathrow to pick Annie up and bring her home. They’d offered that she could move in with them so they could look after her, if she wanted, but Annie was going home to Watch House for now, with that as the back-up plan.
◆◆◆
On the day of Annie's scan, Tay's parents accompanied her to the Early Pregnancy Unit at the hospital. There were signs up saying no cameras, and she realised she wouldn't have had a signal anyway to call Tay from the scan room to share the news, which made the tears well up that he was missing this.
She went in for her scan, asking if she could film to show her fiancé who was on tour, but was told no, it was hospital policy in case something was wrong. She nodded, resigned to the fact, and then all that was forgotten as the sonographer was quiet for a few minutes, checking her womb. Eventually she smiled and confirmed all was measuring ok, turning the screen round to show first one, then the other baby, both with good strong heartbeats. She warned that twin pregnancies could often result in the loss of one or both babies before 12 weeks, but they were both measuring healthy at the moment, and then she printed off two photos.
Annie got the all clear, was told to carry on as normal but to avoid heavy lifting, and to rest as much as she needed to. She left the ward and found Julia and Philip, asking them to come downstairs so she could ring Tay, wanting to confirm the twin pregnancy to him first.
They waited in the café while she went outside and phoned him. He answered straight away, waiting for her call, and they both cried as she confirmed it and sent him photos of the photos. Twins!
In the US, Tay came off the phone and lay back on his bed. The past, all of it, done with. He didn’t have the care left in him to be angry at Charlie. He’d made his choices, done what he’d done, whatever his reasons, but it was irrelevant to Tay’s life now, and it had no bearing on what Tay’s future was going to be from now on.
Annie. She was the only person that mattered. Her and those babies she carried in her body, his heart belonging to her and them. Whatever their future held, they would be together, side by side, watching their family grow. One step at a time, one gig at a time, he was making his steady way back to her.
He held his hands up to mask his eyes from the early morning sunshine creeping into his room. His fingers looked translucent and he fancied he could see the blood pumping around, imagining the blood pumping around his children. He released his words out into the ether, as if by saying them, they would somehow find their way to her. “I’m coming home, Annie, slowly but surely. You are my home and I’m always coming back to you.”
Epilogue
Five years later.
Annie took a breath and then walked out onto the small stage, the spotlight hitting her eyes until she adjusted. She reached behind her as she walked, and she felt the familiar calloused grasp of her husband across her wrist. They took their places and thanked the audience, then launched into the new single off their album. Releasing singles was irrelevant these days to their type of music, but it ensured they got into the new release playlists for their genre on the various streaming platforms and radio stations. This audience in front of t
hem at the Albany Pub in Earlsdon knew their album though, and every song was enthusiastically greeted.
Annie turned and looked at Tay, smiling brightly. How far they’d come. The twins were just over four and a half now, Darwin was a chatty happy little fella, and his sister Seren matched him, even beat him, for the number of words she was able to get out in a single sentence. This album was written when they were one, with the plan to record, release and tour, but the arrival of Chase had put those plans temporarily on hold. Luckily his pregnancy wasn’t as tough as the twins’ pregnancy was on Annie. And Starla’s pregnancy last year was even easier than that. Now with four kids under five, the house was alive with noise and people and joy.
Somehow, they’d got the album recorded in the evenings, using a local producer, and a subsidiary of Audial’s record company had released it. They were starting with a few local gigs, then travelling around the UK at Easter before trying a few US dates later in the year during the summer. From September onwards, they’d be bound by school holidays, but they’d deal with that when it came to it.
They’d debated a name for themselves for the longest time, but ‘The Lady and Tay’ from their playlist name seemed to stick, so they’d gone with that, and it was what this audience had been calling out before they came on stage.
Annie waved to Sash and Con as the song finished; their son Milo and daughter Fleur being looked after at Watch House by Annie and Tay’s au pair; one of Annie’s kids who was doing a childcare qualification. Adie was coming to their Birmingham gig next week with his fiancée, and Will and Hilly had moved down to London, then Brighton over the past few years, so they’d see them when they hit the south coast.
Her eyes were drawn back to her handsome husband as she sat at the piano for the next song. He looked as rugged and sexy as the day they’d got married, back in Gibraltar. Maybe a little greyer of hair though. She’d freaked out about a wedding, wanting to get married as soon as possible once the twins’ pregnancy was confirmed. A friend had suggested Gibraltar as a place to marry because you only needed to be there 24 hours before the wedding, so she’d made everyone fly into Gibraltar during the band’s week off in the June, then they’d had a fab marriage and celebration, marred only by the tail end of her morning sickness causing her to nearly pass out.
And now, at times it was difficult for her and Tay to find time alone, and there was usually at least one child in their bed by the morning, along with double the number of toys, but they were happy. Exhausted, but happy, and they had all they wanted. Each other, their kids, and their future.
She smiled and shook her head to clear her thoughts. Time to focus she thought, time to sing. So she did.
The author’s bits and bobs
About you
So, The Lady and Tay - what did you think? Please take the time to write a review on Amazon if you liked it, and then tell me and others by joining me on Facebook (Dawn Burton Books) and my Facebook closed group A dictionary of words (Dawn Burton books chat). This book has been in my head for a while so it's a relief to finally see it written down!
About me
I live in the middle of England, somewhere in the vicinity of where my books are based, with my husband and two young children. I work in an office during the day and write stories on my iPhone 5S under the duvet cover at night, mainly to the background noise of my husband muttering that he can see the glow of my phone, as he turns over and goes back to sleep. I have a suspicion that my insomnia may be somewhat related to the fact that it’s the often the only time for me to get that fabled ‘me-time’.
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The legal stuff – copyright and disclaimer
The Lady and Tay
Copyright © 2019 by Dawn Burton
All rights reserved.
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher (Dawn Burton), except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction and all content is a product of my imagination or is used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to reality is purely coincidental.
Table of Contents
The Lady and Tay
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Epilogue
The author’s bits and bobs About you
About me
Also by Dawn Burton
The legal stuff – copyright and disclaimer