Marrying Mr Write (Mr Write Trilogy) (19 page)

“Right then, are you ready Rosetta?”

Dad holds both of my hands in his as we stand outside the doors to the ceremony room. He is smiling and I know that he is happy that this day is finally here. I’m just happy that I’m not throwing up…yet!

“I am Daddy, thank you.”

Dad nods and the registry office assistant opens the doors. ‘Better Together’ by Jack Johnson starts to play and I look up from my feet and straight into Jackson’s loving eyes. He’s here, and he’s happy.

My god!
She looks insanely beautiful. She’s breath-taking, literally, I can’t breathe!

My heart is pounding in my chest as I watch Rosie walk toward me. I know that she’s with her dad but can’t focus on anything but her right now.

People often say that watching your bride walk down the aisle towards you is one of the most incredible feelings in the world, but they undersell it. I’m looking at the woman that I completely adore, but I’ve never been more in love with her than I am right now.

As she stops in front of me she smiles. Joaquin shakes my hand and kisses his daughter on the cheek before stepping back towards Bernie. I realise now that Rosie’s dress is a really pale blue and I smile, we really did do this our way.

“You look beautiful.” I say quietly as Rosie looks up into my eyes, the intensity of her love for me clearly visible, and matching mine for her.

The registr
ar clears her throat to get our attention and smiles as she starts to address our family.

“
Good Afternoon ladies and gentleman and welcome to the marriage of Jackson and Rosetta. This place in which we are now met has been duly sanctioned according to law for the celebration of marriage. This ceremony will unite Jackson and Rosie in marriage. We are here to celebrate their union and to honour their commitment to each other. Today both partners will proclaim their love for one another, and we celebrate with them and for them. If any person present knows of any lawful impediment to this marriage they should declare it now.”

Rosie and I smile as we look at each and wait for the obligatory joke cough, and hope there’s no Sasha or other former flame bursting through the doors. There’s no interruption.

We say our vows without hiccup and I notice the tears in Rosie’s eyes as she giggles and forces my ring over my knuckle. Before long the registrar comes to the end of the ceremony and my heart is pounding. I can’t wait for this.

“
Today is a new beginning. May you have many happy years together and in those years may all your hopes and dreams be fulfilled. Above all, may you always believe in each other and may the warmth of your love enrich not only your lives but the lives of all those around you. It now gives me great pleasure to tell you both that you are now legally Husband and Wife. Congratulations Mr and Mrs James.”

As I pick Rosie up and spin her around I am lost in the sound of cheering and clapping from our family. I kiss Rosie as I put her feet back on the floor and melt into
her; I feel her hands in my hair before the registrar taps me on the shoulder and instructs us to take a seat for the signing of the register.

“I love your dress!” I whisper into Rosie’s ear as we stand in Joaquin’s bar and try to warm up. Rosie insisted on standing in the snow for some photos and is now trying to thaw out with tapas and a hot chocolate.

“Do you really? I hoped you would. It’s different!” She smiles up at me and I can tell I’ve said the right thing,

“I do, but I really love your shoes!” I lean in and kiss her earlobe as she giggles and tells me off for being a pervert.

“Oh RoRo, I can’t believe you’
re married”

Pippa has been forcing me to dance for about an hour now, she’s completely over the moon for me but I’m exhausted and really need to sit down.

“I know Pip it’s crazy, but I need to chill for a bit, and so should you!”  Pippa rolls her eyes and we sit down together.

“I am shattered to be fair, but you’re married, it’s exciting. Ooh!”
Pippa grimaces briefly and puts her hand on her bump.

“What? Are you ok?” I lean forward and ask, concerned.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. probably just overdid things a bit,” Pippa smiles and relaxes again as Ben brings her a drink and kisses the top of her head, before heading back over to where Jackson is laughing with my brother.

Pippa and I sit and laugh and sing like teenagers, the whole atmosphere is amazing. Jackson and I really did make it and I’m over the moon.

“Oh gosh, I feel sick. I’m sorry Ro but I might need to go soon,” Pippa is rubbing her belly again now and looks exhausted. It’s come on pretty quickly and I know that she needs to get to bed. I stand to call Ben over when Pip grabs my arm.

“Shit! Rosie, I’m pretty sure that my waters just broke!”

I am frozen to the spot for a minute, Pip is only seven months pregnant and I really don’t know what to do.

“BEN!” Jackson calls from beside me and I snap back into gear. “Rosie, can you call an ambulance please, Ben you need to get over here now!”

Rafe turns off the music as I call the ambulance. I’m the only one sober enough to drive but Audrey is in London, we came to Buxton by train.

“It’s ok Pip. The ambulance will be here soon enough, stay calm baby.”

Pippa is panicking that she’s going in to labour too soon and Ben is doing all he can to try and keep her calm. Dad is on the phone to Eduardo explaining what’s going on but they’re in Portugal, I hear him tell Pip’s dad that he’ll make sure that she is ok and he’ll keep them informed.

“It’s too soon Ben, it’s too early.” Pip is struggling to keep a hold on her emotions as Rafe and
Matthew head outside to meet the ambulance.

“
Hey come on, you’re a picture of health and with the amount that you’ve been eating lately, that baby will be more than ready!” Ben tries to lighten the mood but when Pippa starts to cry he just holds her to his chest.

“Her waters broke about thirty five minutes ago and then she started having pains. They just seemed to get stronger with each one,”

Jackson updates the paramedics on
Pippa’s condition and they start to check her over. As they kneel beside her she cries out with a strong contraction, the strongest one so far. I had no idea that it could happen so quickly.

Within fifteen minutes Pip is in the back of the ambulance and Jackson and I, along with Rafe are climbing into a taxi.

“Oh god, Jackson what’s going to happen? I can’t bear it if anything bad happens,”
I lean my head on my husband’s shoulder as Rafe shouts at Phil, the taxi driver and his long-time friend to hurry up and get us to the hospital.

“Rosie, you can’t fall apart.
Pippa needs you to be strong. I am sure it’s all going to be ok.” Jackson’s warm hand strokes my shoulder and soothes some of the angst that I’m feeling.  “Mrs James, I love you and I will do all that I can to make sure that nothing bad happens, I promise.”

I snuggle into
Jackson’s shoulder and let his words wash over me. I’m married, and my husband is just what I need right now.

We arrive at the hospital once Pippa is already inside and it takes a lot of convincing for the night receptionist to tell us where she is, but Rafe and Jackson charm the pants off her and before long we’re heading to the maternity ward, leaving a quivering mess behind us.

“BEN!” Jackson calls out as we enter the corridor. Ben is pacing and looks like a deer in headlights as he lifts his head in our direction.

“What’s going on? where’s Pip?” I ask, wondering why he isn’t with her.

“In there, I’m going back in a minute but they’re just examining her. She sent me out!” He crouches against the wall and blows out a long shaky breath. “The baby is coming. They wanted to try and slow the labour but it’s gone too quick and she’s too far along,”

At that moment a midwife pokes her head out of the door of Pippa’s delivery room,

“Ben, you better come in love,”

Ben turns as white as a sheet and seems frozen to the spot. Jackson holds out a hand to help him up and then squeezes his shoulder.

“You can do this bud, your girl needs you. We’re right here.”

Ben heads into the room and Jackson pulls me into his arms. Rafe is already on the phone updating the family on what’s going on. I’m so proud to be in Jackson’s arms, and to share his name. He took charge of the whole situation and helped to calm everyone down. The old Jackson probably would have
run a mile.

We’ve been at the hospital about forty minutes, there is virtually no noise coming from Pippa’s room and it’s beyond unsettling. Before long a light above the door starts to flash red and a number of midwives or nurses and, I presume a couple of doctors as they’re in a darker shade of blue, run down the corridor toward us. One of them is pushing an incubator and I start to panic.

We still don’t really know
what’s going on but within a few minutes the faint cry of a newborn sounds briefly before three nurses leave the room, one of them pushing the incubator. The tiny baby is in there and one of the nurses smiles at me when she sees how worried I am,

“She’s
fine; she’s breathing on her own. We just need to keep an eye on her for a few days. Mummy is doing well too.”

I feel like I might collapse as I feel Rafe’s arms wrap around me. I turn my head to see Jackson pull Ben into a man hug. And then look at his watch,

“Merry Christmas Mate!” He smiles and shakes Ben’s hand before I throw my arms around the new dad.

We arrived back to Mam and Dad’s house in the early hours of Christmas morning, exhausted and jubilant. I wanted to go straight to bed, but Jackson insisted that I had waited long enough for my Christmas present and pulled me toward the conservatory.

As we opened the door I was met with a large play pen, inside was a cage and some toys. I was confused until we got nearer. As Jackson opened the pe
n and ushered me inside, the tiny bundle of fluff inside the cage started to stir and then let out a squeak of a yawn.

“A puppy?” I question, we hadn’t ever discussed getting a dog, but I am over the moon.

“A mini Bruce! I’ve kind of named him Bear, but we can change it if you don’t like it.” Jackson opens the cage and hands me the tiny Staffy puppy, he’s so cuddly, like a little teddy be…

“Bear it is!”
I laugh as Bear licks my nose and starts to growl playfully.

“Oh Pip, she’s absolutely beautiful. Well done!”

I hug my best friend as Jackson cradles her daughter. Memories of Thailand flood into every corner of my mind and I smile, he loves babies.  Pippa’s
baby surprisingly, was allowed home after just a week. Ben was right, Pippa had looked after herself really well while she was pregnant and it meant that their daughter was a lot healthier than they had expected for how premature she was.

We’ve come to visit them for the third time this week and I’m still as in love with
the little angel now as I was two weeks ago, when I first laid eyes on her in that incubator. She’s perfect.

Even though we have been around to Ben and Pip’s quite a bit, we never stay too long. They are bonding as a family and they need this time. They know where we are and that we’ll be there for them if they need
anything. The truth is though, whilst Pip is enjoying being a new mum, I love being a newlywed, and despite never wanting to put sweet pea down once she is in my arms, I need to spend some time alone with my husband.

Since the drama of our wedding night, Jackson and I have tried to spend as much time together just the two of us as possible. I have been so tired though that the quality time is usually Jackson watching some sort of sport while I fall asleep on his lap.

We couldn’t get in to see a doctor until after the New Year. My bump is growing at an alarming pace but he still had to do another test to confirm that I am actually pregnant. Once he’d ticked that box he referred me for a scan to date the pregnancy. By the size of me and the date of my last period, I think I’m about sixteen weeks along, but I guess we’ll find out at the scan so we only have a couple more hours to wait.

As Jackson and I walk towards the ultrasound room, we coo over the photo of Pippa’s daughter that she sent to us this morning. Holly is amazing and seeing their little family makes us excited about our own. Jackson can’t wait to be a dad. The only thing that we don’t agree on is whether to find out the sex or not when we get to twenty weeks. I am too impatient to wait, but Jackson would like a surprise.

“Mrs James.”

I’m called into the room and can’t help but smile at the use of my new name. I’m still getting used to using it but I love how it sounds. Jackson grins and follows me into the room.

“Hello you two. Let’s find out when this baby is due then.”