by Lucy Gordon
‘Just possible?’ she yelped. ‘You were out of your mind that night, on the verge of insanity. You needed help and I got it for you.’
‘Well, you got me the wrong kind of help.’
‘And what about me?’ Olympia screeched. ‘Talking about your wife and baby in front of those men! Do you know how you made me look?’
‘If you hadn’t sent for them it wouldn’t have happened. It was pure spite.’
‘Look, if I got it wrong that night I’m sorry-’ Olympia spoke nervously. Without Jake the ratings had slumped badly.
‘Skip it. Too late. And even if it hadn’t been, there’s no way I’d go away next week, or for several weeks. The baby’s due soon and I’ve got to be here.’
‘And people are supposed to just hang about indefinitely, waiting for you to be man enough to start work again?’ demanded Olympia, letting her temper get the better of her caution.
‘Man enough?’ He savoured the words slowly.
‘I didn’t mean it like that-’ She back-pedalled frantically.
‘I don’t really care how you meant it,’ he said. ‘You’ve made me realise that I’ve changed some of my ideas about what it means to be a man. I couldn’t do this job, Olympia. Not next week, or the week after, or ever. I’m not watching my child’s birth with a packed suitcase in one hand and a watch in the other. I’m not going to ask Kelly to hurry up because I’ve got a plane to catch. Nor am I going to be away after the birth, when she’ll need me more than ever.
‘I’m finished with dashing off around the world. I had my fun and it was great, but I had it at Kelly’s expense, and now that part of my life is over.’
‘You know what they’ll all say, don’t you?’ Olympia asked nastily. ‘That you’ve lost your nerve.’
‘Let ’em.’
‘Your career will never recover.’
‘I’ll make another career. I think I’m still sufficiently in demand for that. At any rate, it’s time I found out.’
Olympia’s voice was full of doom. ‘Are you mad? You’ll end up doing gardening programmes.’
‘I like gardening,’ said Jake, who’d never planted a seed in his life. ‘I was thinking of getting a house with a garden. Goodbye, Olympia. And I mean goodbye.’
He hung up and sat brooding for a moment. When he looked up he saw Kelly standing in the doorway, smiling.
‘You heard.’ It was a statement, not a question.
‘Yes, I heard. You turned down a job to be here when the baby’s born.’
‘To be with you when the baby’s born,’ he corrected insistently, helping her to the sofa. ‘That’s the most important thing in the world to me now-that the three of us should be together, not just then but later. Marry me, Kelly.’
‘What did you say?’
Jake dropped to his knees beside the sofa so that his eyes, full of intensity, were on a level with hers.
‘I want more than just living together; I want to marry you,’ he said, so fervently that it came out sounding almost fierce. ‘I always wanted to be married to you, right from the first. You were my love and my star, but you were also-’ He hesitated.
‘Also what?’ Kelly asked, hardly daring to believe what she was hearing.
‘The rock I clung to,’ he said at last. ‘It took me a long time to see it, but you were always my centre. You kept me safe. You always have. I began to understand when you started divorce proceedings. I was so arrogant I couldn’t believe you’d really go through with it. I thought you’d see in time that you needed me. I wouldn’t admit the truth to myself-that it was I who needed you.
‘I dashed home, thinking I was in time to stop the divorce. I was going to say, “OK, you took it to the wire. Just tell me your terms for staying married.” I’d have agreed to anything to make you call it off. But there was a mix-up about the date and by the time I got there we were already divorced.
‘When I came to your party that night I was in a state of shock. And there you were, someone I didn’t recognise. I began to see that I’d been wrong about everything. Suddenly I was at sea-no rudder, no compass, no Kelly.
‘I didn’t just lose my love, I lost my best friend, the person who primed me for every challenge. Suddenly I was faced with the hardest struggle of my life, and instead of advising me she was on the other side.’
‘I wish you’d told me this,’ she said softly.
‘I might have tried if I could have talked to Kelly that night. But she wasn’t there. She’d sent Carlotta in her place. And Carlotta-oh, boy!’
‘You seemed to like her,’ Kelly remembered tenderly.
‘She gave me the best night of my entire life. Talk about sex personified. I hope-’ He hesitated before saying almost shyly, ‘I hope she and I will meet again. I’d be really interested in furthering our acquaintance. But that night she scared me. I suddenly saw what I was up against, how eager you were for your new life, how little reason you had to regret the old one. I saw the men who wanted you, all of whom would probably have appreciated you better than I had.
‘And after that incredible night-the next morning I was waiting for you to say that everything was all right between us now, but all you said was that it was a perfect way to end our marriage. After that I couldn’t get out fast enough, in case you guessed how close I’d been to begging you to take me back.’
‘If only I’d known about this then,’ she mused. ‘And yet-’
‘And yet it wasn’t the right time.’ He picked up her thought quickly. ‘Not for either of us. We had a journey to make, to find each other again. I love you, and I want to marry you, and stay married to you for ever.’
She touched his face. ‘That’s what I want too.’
‘Then let’s do it now, at once.’
‘Darling, we can’t-’
‘We can if we get a special licence.’
‘But the baby’s due any day.’
‘That’s why I want to hurry. I want us to be married before the baby comes. It’s not something I can explain-it’s just an irrational feeling. Marry me, Kelly, please.’
‘All right,’ she said, loving him for his urgency. ‘Just as soon as it can be fixed up.’
‘I’ll do it now,’ he said, jumping up. ‘Let’s see if my old contacts are still good.’
His luck held. One contact knew how a special licence could be obtained fast, and got working on it.
‘But can we get a booking in the register office at the last minute?’ Kelly asked anxiously.
‘We’re not going to a register office. We’re marrying in church.’ He seized her hands. ‘I’m going to make up for last time. I can’t give you the white dress and bridesmaids, but I can give you the church and the clergyman.’
He started dialling furiously.
‘Don’t tell me one of your contacts knows a clergyman?’ Kelly asked.
‘Nope. One of my contacts is a clergyman, and he owes me a favour.’
In a shorter time than she would have believed possible she found herself set to be married in two days’ time. She was dazed, feeling the world spinning out of control about her. But one glorious fact stayed constant at its core. Jake loved her more than ever, and was racking his brains for ways to please her.
The clergyman turned out to be the Reverend Francis Dayton, who agreed to marry them as soon as the licence arrived. He was in his nineties, and long retired, but he assured them there would be no trouble about ‘borrowing’ a church.
‘I’ll just lean on one of my boys,’ he said conspiratorially.
His ‘boys’ turned out to be his two middle-aged sons, both of whom had followed their father into the church and had parishes locally.
Kelly had immediately warmed to the Reverend Dayton. Despite his age he had sparkling eyes, and seemed to regard it all as an adventure.
With the arrival of the licence everyone swung into action. Carl was giving the bride away and Marianne, his sister, got to work on Kelly’s appearance.
‘But what are you
going to do about my bulk?’ Kelly said, indicating her enormous size.
‘This,’ Marianne said, producing a voluminous blue velvet opera cloak. It had slits for the arms, and when it was fastened at the front the effect was surprisingly elegant.
Kelly’s hair was a little longer now, and Marianne curled and teased it into a curving halo. Her eyes were delicately made up, but no make-up could improve on their true beauty, which was a glow of joy.
There was no veil, but Marianne fixed flowers in her hair, and there were matching flowers in the bouquets they both carried, for Marianne was also the bridesmaid.
There was a pleasant cosiness about the wedding, which was to take place in a small chapel just off the main church, where five people would be just the right number. The elderly clergyman would double as best man, while Carl and Marianne would also be witnesses.
As she began the short journey down the aisle, on Carl’s arm, Kelly had a clear view of Jake standing near the altar, his eyes fixed on her. At first she felt like a baby elephant, but as she neared Jake and saw the look on his face she forgot herself. This was the man she loved, and who loved her. They had almost lost each other but they’d come together again, because that was how they were meant to be.
There was a smile on his lips, but it was nothing to the smile in his eyes. On the night of their passion she’d seen his face glowing with an intense emotion, but it had been admiration for her slinky figure and sexual allure. Now she was heavy with their child and admiration had been replaced by adoration.
He reached out his hand to take hers and draw her forward. The Reverend Dayton coughed and began to read the service.
‘Dearly beloved…’
In no time at all, it seemed, Jake took Kelly’s hand in his while the priest asked him if he would have her for his wedded wife, forsaking all others as long as they both lived. His face was pale but determined as he said, ‘I will.’
Then the same question to Kelly, but instead of her answer there was only silence. They all stared at her, first in bewilderment, then aghast as they saw her face taut with pain.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said breathlessly. ‘Not-good-timing.’
‘You don’t mean-?’ Jake asked.
‘’Fraid so. And that’s the second one. They’re coming fast. Jake-’
‘My car’s outside,’ Carl said. ‘Quicker than an ambulance.’
Kelly gasped again and held onto Jake. ‘Our wedding-’
‘You leave that to me,’ the Reverend said. ‘Which hospital?’
Bewildered, they told him, and he raced off, gathering his skirts up and calling out, ‘Beat you to it.’
Jake and Marianne helped Kelly out of the church while Carl raced ahead to the car. By the time they reached him he had the engine running. Marianne joined him in the front while Jake sat in the rear, his arms about Kelly, his face full of apprehension.
‘I shouldn’t have insisted on this,’ he muttered. ‘It was too much for you.’
‘No, no, it was a lovely idea,’ she protested. ‘I wanted it too.’ She drew in her breath sharply as the next pain came.
‘Was that another one?’ Carl called over his shoulder.
‘Yes,’ Jake said tensely. ‘You’re the one who knows all about this. What does it mean?’
‘It means we’d better hurry.’
He slammed his foot down and the car speeded up. Even so they were easily overtaken by a motorcyclist, his head obscured by a dashing helmet, his vestments flapping in the wind.
‘Was that who I think it was?’ Marianne asked, thunderstruck.
‘Of course it was,’ Kelly said, breathing hard. ‘Oh, darling-’ her arm tightened around Jake’s neck ‘-we always said we were crazy, and it’s catching. Everyone around us gets crazy too.’
‘Kelly, I don’t believe you’re actually finding this funny!’ Jake growled.
‘But of course it’s funny-and happy, and glorious and wonderful-the most wonderful thing that ever happened.’
At the hospital everything was ready for them, the Reverend Dayton having arrived first and alerted the maternity unit. Now a nurse was preparing to take a firm line with him.
‘I’m afraid you really can’t-’ she started to say.
‘Yes, he can.’ Kelly clutched the old man’s hand. ‘I want him.’
‘So do I.’ Jake backed her up.
Another pain tore Kelly, but she waved away gas and air. She had something important to do first.
‘Quickly,’ she gasped.
While the nurses prepared her the elderly clergyman went into action. ‘Wilt thou have this man to thy wedded husband…?’
‘I will,’ she said firmly.
Then it was Jake’s turn. ‘I, Jake, take thee, Kelly, to my wedded wife…’
Her senses were swimming, and all she heard clearly was, ‘To love and to cherish till death do us part.’
That was how it would be now. Until death. They had tried leaving each other, and it didn’t work. For ever was the only option left.
Through mounting waves of pain and joy she claimed him as her husband and held out her hand to receive the ring. The Reverend guided them quickly through the final rites before pronouncing, ‘Forasmuch as Jake and Kelly have consented together in holy wedlock…I pronounce that they be man and wife…’
Man and wife. Kelly smiled her thanks at the old man as he waved and whisked himself out of the room, taking Carl and Marianne with him.
It was exactly nine months since the day of their divorce, and their son was urgently demanding to be born.
‘I’m so glad we did that first,’ she murmured. ‘Afterwards wouldn’t have been the same, somehow.’
Jake nodded and dropped a kiss on her forehead. An ache in his throat was making it impossible to speak. His whole world had turned upside down. The things that had seemed important before had become trivial. Only this mattered-this moment, this woman, this child that they had created together.
It was the birth Kelly had longed for, with Jake beside her, sharing the experience. Unlike most first babies this one came quickly, and in a few minutes her son was in her arms.
‘He’s like you already,’ she whispered. ‘Impatient, rushing to get to the action fast.’
‘That’s something I’ll have to warn him about. It’s too easy to miss the things that matter.’
‘He won’t take any notice of warnings, not your son.’
‘My son,’ he said in wonder. ‘Our son. Is it really possible?’
‘Anything’s possible, my love. Or we would never have found each other again.’
The Reverend Francis turned up, beaming, next day, to complete the paperwork and entertain her with the story of how he’d swept up to the hospital, yelling, ‘Where’s the maternity unit.’
‘They took one look and nearly arrested me,’ he said with deep satisfaction. ‘I got stopped by the police too. They thought I was a Hell’s Angel. I haven’t had so much fun in years. And you’re really going to call this little fellow Francis? Well, well! I’ll be off now. Here’s your husband.’
Jake had one more surprise for her. He’d arrived with his arms full of books.
‘What are all these?’ she asked when he’d kissed her.
‘You have all that coursework to finish before the term starts,’ he said, ‘and you should be working on them right now.’
‘Right now? Have you forgotten how I spent yesterday?’
He sat on the bed, taking her hands in his. ‘I’ll never forget yesterday as long as I live. And it would be easy, wouldn’t it, to say that now we’ve got the baby we don’t need more?’
‘Yes,’ she said blissfully. ‘Who needs anything else when they’ve got a baby?’
‘But darling, I don’t think it will last-not for you. You still want college, and studying. You might not think so at this moment, but that need will come back, and if you lose ground now you won’t ever recover it. Those marks for your coursework count towards your final degree-if you don’
t do well you’ll regret it the rest of your life. Believe me, you will.’
‘You seem to understand me very well,’ she said tenderly. ‘Jake, it’s sweet of you to think of this, but what else can I do?’
‘Get someone else to look after little Francis while you study.’
‘Oh, no, I don’t want a stranger caring for my baby. And I don’t think we can afford it.’
‘The person I have in mind isn’t a stranger, and he comes very cheap. Free, in fact.’
They looked at each other.
‘But do you know anything about babies?’
‘I wonder you dare to ask after those parenting classes you put me through. I’ve read the same books as you. I know as much theory as you, and I have the same amount of practical experience. In other words-none.’
‘You crazy man,’ she said in wonder. ‘I think you actually mean it.’
‘Of course I mean it. “Jake Lindley, Super Hero”, is a man of many parts. Yesterday he saved the universe. Today he changes nappies-the ultimate challenge.’
‘Are you saying you’re going to change nappies?’
‘Are you saying you think I couldn’t manage it? It’ll be hard, but I’ll rise to the occasion. I’ll suffer, I’ll probably gag, but I shall overcome.’
She gave a watery chuckle. ‘But darling, there’s more than just looking after the baby.’
‘I know. I’ll look after you and Francis and I’ll do the housework as well.’
He meant it. It was incredible, but he meant every word. Now she realised that she was only just beginning to understand the heart of the man. He’d been through the fire, emerging stronger and wiser. But one thing hadn’t changed. He was all hers. He always had been, if she could have seen it. But she’d been through the fire with him, and her eyes were opened.
‘It’s all right, isn’t it?’ he asked, troubled at not being able to read her face.
‘Everything’s wonderful. It’s just that I can’t see you as a house-husband.’
‘You don’t think I’ll look good in a frilly pinny?’ He smiled. “Neither do I. This is just a short-term solution. We’ll find a house and get some permanent help so that you can concentrate on your college course. But even then I’ll still do some of the chores. This is my baby too, and I don’t want to be left out. When we’ve got the routine going I’ll start work on my next book.’
