Marrying Mr Write

by Cassandra P Lewis

  “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!”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  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 pen 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 fami
ly 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.”

  The sonographer quirts the cold gel onto my stomach. Jackson and I have both I experienced this before. I don’t remember the last one but as Jackson holds my hand, I know that neither of us have good memories of the process.

  “Ok, relax you two. We’ll not be long. I need to take a few measurements and then we’ll calculate your dates.”

  Jackson smiles down at me as the sonographer starts to go about her work. We can’t see the screen yet so he just continues to hold my hand as we wait anxiously.

  “Hmm!”

  The sonographer makes a sound that causes my stomach to leap into my throat. No, please don’t let there be a problem.

  “What do you mean Hmm? What’s wrong?” Jackson tries to peer round the screen to see that is wrong and the sonographer smiles. She presses a button and the screen hanging above the end of the bed switches on.

  “Nothing is wrong Mr James. Look, can you see that shape there? Well that’s a baby. And that small flicker, that’s a heartbeat. In fact we have two very healthy heart beats!” The sonographer smiles at me.

  “Oh, oh wow! I didn’t know you’d be able to see Rosie’s heart beat too,” Jackson asks at the same time that he realises I’m squeezing his hand and looks down toward it. The sonographer laughs but I am frozen, staring at the screen.

  “I can’t Mr James. The other heartbeat is another baby. You’re having twins!”

  As her words sink in and tears of absolute joy fill my eyes I feel a sharp pull on my hand and then the crash of Jackson falling to the floor. I guess it was a bit of a shock!

  We shared the news with our families and were met with immense joy. As it happened, I was only eight to nine weeks along but obviously two babies make a bigger Rosie than one. As planned, Jackson and I travelled to Paris for valentine’s weekend. It went from being just a romantic valentine’s trip to a mini-moon once Jackson booked the wedding, and by the time it came around, we were glad for the break.

  Married life is bliss. I never thought that Jackson and I would make it to this point, but I truly feel now that we can overcome anything as long we’re honest with each other and stick together.

  A few people have asked me how we got through everything that we’ve had to endure and I’m just completely honest with them, I’d rather make it through hard times with my soul mate than no times at all.

  So now we look to the future. As husband and wife, as puppy owners and as parents to be. Life couldn’t be better and I can’t wait to see what lies ahead…

  CHRISTMAS 2015

  “Holly, be careful please! Sorry Rosie.”

  I can’t help but smile as Pippa tried to control her two year old daughter as she runs from room to room and knocks Bear’s water bowl, splashing water onto the floor.

  “It’s fine Pip, it’s her birthday and it’s Christmas. She’s bound to be excited!”

  “Oh god she’s not bothered about any of that, she’s just excited about all the food. I swear, that girl doesn’t stop eating!”

  When Jackson and I bought this cottage just over a year ago we had six month old twins and a one year old puppy, it was chaos but it felt right. Pippa was absolutely mortified that we had decided to move to Buxton and that our kids wouldn’t be able to grow up together so she convinced Ben that they should move back too.

  I miss Rafe and Matthew of course, but being closer to our parents with the twins being so young is great and seeing Holly and Beth play together is just lovely. Poor Bobby gets picked on a bit by the girls but he and the dog are inseparable.

  I’ve got everyone here for Christmas and I love it. I must be mad, I’m seven months pregnant and I’m cooking for Jackson and I, Pippa and Ben, Mam, Dad, Rafe, Matthew, Pete and all the kids. The dog is going crazy with the munchkins and the men are trying to put together the swing set in the garden.

  “Guys, you don’t have to do that today you know!” I call out of the kitchen window as I watch six men trying to direct each other on how best to attack the task, all with a can of beer of course!

  I laugh as Pippa picks up the girls, one under each arm and runs into the living room. The sound of their laughter is the best sound in the world. I hear them all playing together, the barking from the dog lets me know that they’re teasing him with something and I know that Pip is probably the ring leader.

  As I return my attention to the carrots I feel familiar hands creep around my ever expanding belly and a hum of appreciation sounds in my ear.

  “Have I ever told you how sexy you are when you’re pregnant?” Jackson kisses my earlobe and then my neck and I put down the knife as I lean back into him.

  “Yeah, once or twice, but it never gets old!” I smile,

  “Good, because I’ll never stop telling you! Love you babe, Merry Christmas!”

  “Oh put her down son, you’re distracting her from her woman’s work!” Pete laughs as he walks into the kitchen and disturbs our intimate moment.

  “If I want to grope my wife in the kitchen Dad you better believe I will!”

  “I know kiddo, I can see that!”

  Pete laughs as he opens another can and Jackson kisses my cheek before leaving me to get on with things.

  “Right, Mrs James. Go and sit down now, I’ve humoured you long enough but you’ll have ankles like tree trunks if you stand any longer. Go on!”

  Mam orders me out of the kitchen and I know she’s right. I head into the living room where Matthew is crawling around with Bobby on his back, Rafe with Beth and Ben with Holly. Apparently they’re having a horse race, and by the sounds of it, the kids love it only half as much as the adults. I sit in the chair by the fire and Bear jumps up and squeezes himself in next to me. He’s had enough of having his tail pulled for one day.

  I lean my head back and close my eyes, listening to the sounds of my family enjoying their day and relishing the sensations of my unborn son moving around in my belly. This is what happiness feels like.