Playing My Love (36 page)

  She smiled cheekily.

  "Okay, so what happens after tomorrow then?"

  I pushed her back down on the hay.

  "I want to spend the rest of my life showing you how much I love you…starting right now."

                                                               
24

                                                     Epilogue

THREE AND A HALF YEARS LATER

  I watched as Alison sat nervously spinning her wedding ring, looking as if she was going to vomit.

  "Well?  Do you think you can go yet?"  I asked gently.  She shook her head vehemently and I sighed.  "Are you lying to me
, sweetie?"  Her blue eyes widened and she looked at me, a little frantically.

  "I'm
ready
to go, but I can't!  What if…"

  "No what ifs.  It takes most couples a few goes before it happens.  This time it's going to work, I just know it."

  "You say that every time baby"  she said with a wry smile.  "Look, if it doesn't work this time…"

  "It will work this time!"

  "…if it doesn't, then we should take it as a sign and try with you next.  I'm probably too old to carry a baby."

  I looked her up and down.  For forty, she still had a body that most in their twenties would die for, lean and toned and curvaceous in all the right areas.  In fact, apart from some cute laughter lines around her eyes, she was
even wrinkle free.

  "Mm-
hm, cos you're practically an OAP, right?"

  "I'm probably shrinking and wrinkling on the inside."

  I smiled naughtily.

  "Funny, last time I was there it felt very toned and tight to me"  I teased, and watched as she blushed.  "Right, come on!  I can't wait any longer.  Get your saggy pensioners arse in that bathroom and pee.  Now!"  I ordered, ushering her through, laughing at the look of horror on her face.  Despite my outward teasing however, inside I was in pieces.
  I knew how much it meant to her to have our first child, to start our family.  It meant a lot to me too, but I was hiding my feelings so as not to put her under any more pressure than she was already.

  She
definitely
needed to go.  I raised my eyebrows at the unending pee while she concentrated on the stick.

  "Do not say a word, Daneka"  she ordered without looking up.  "I can practically hear you smirking!"

  "Did I tell you I heard from Sam?"  I suddenly remembered, needing something to take our minds off the long wait.

  "No.  How is she?"

  "Well, she went to her dad's funeral last week and made peace with her mum, so she sounded a lot more upbeat than the last time we spoke.  She also mentioned that Willow girl again?  Said she'd been like a rock through it all and stuff."

  "Maybe they are
just
friends?"

  I shook my head knowingly.

  "Trust me, I know Sam!  She's casually mentioning Willow in the same casual way she used to 'mention' me when she didn't want people to know we were an item.  She said they're going to spend a couple of months in Peru…I know her, baby!  And if I know her as well as I think I do, they've probably been seeing each other for the last year or so!"

  I checked my watch nervously.  How had three minutes gone so quick?

  "It's time"  I whispered soberly.

  "You check this time"  she said, holding the stick out to me as if it were a snake.  I took it and turned it over slowly.

  "Oh, honey.  I'm so sorry."

  She sagged, and I couldn't do it to her.

  "I'm sorry cos you won't be touching any more of that whiskey in the cupboard, and you're gonna be going up a few dress sizes…you're pregnant!"

  "What?  You're shitting me?  It worked?"

  "Yes, it worked!  You're pregnant! 
We're
pregnant!"

  "We're
gonna be mummies!  Holy shit, I'm up the duff for real?"

  "For real!"

  We both screamed and threw ourselves at each other, landing on a heap on the floor laughing incredulously.

  "Oh my god!  This is amazing!"

  "You know what would be
more
amazing?"  I said.

  "What?"

  "Twins!"

  She laughed.

  "I don't care!  I DON'T CARE!  I love you wife!"

  "I love you, mother of our child!"

                                                        THE ENDINO