by Shari Low
They ate first, drinks flowing as freely as the laughs. It was five minutes before ten o’clock when an alarm sounded on Claire’s phone.
‘It’s time! Right, Doug, make it happen.’
Doug slid over to a laptop that had already been set up on the shelf underneath the TV that was fixed to the kitchen wall. It was a large flat-screen, fitted there so that the boys could have all their mates round and hang out in the kitchen to watch sport. Claire had barely switched it on since they’d left, but she cheered now as it sprung to life, thanks to some wire that was connected to it from the laptop. A few clicks of buttons later and Jordy’s face filled one half of the screen, Max’s face the other. The sight of them sent another cheer around the room and made both boys laugh. Setting up this joint call had taken over a week of planning and they had both boys together for exactly ten minutes before Max had to go off to… actually, she had no idea what he was going to do, but it was something to do with a submarine and the Official Secrets Act.
‘Eh, looks like you’ve got a party going on there, Mum,’ Jordy laughed, and she knew he’d be gutted he was missing it. That shy little guy on the first day of school had turned out to be as much of a party animal as his brother.
‘We do! Only people missing are you two,’ she said truthfully, mortified that tears shot to her bottom lids. She blinked them back. Bloody hell, she thought she’d got over that.
‘Hi, Uncle Doug, hi, Aunt Jeanna, Hi… Dad?’ Max said, shocked, peering closer to the screen at his end, to make sure he was seeing it right.
‘Hi, guys,’ Sam greeted them, stepping fully into the frame.
Jordy’s grin became even wider, although there was a quizzical look there too.
‘Dad! What are you doing there? And where’s Nic—’
‘Stop right there, young man,’ Jeanna interrupted him. ‘You always did ask too many questions.’
Jordy nodded, giving a rueful shrug of admission. He adored his Aunt Jeanna and they’d always had that banter that was based on love dressed up as mutual insults and brutal honesty.
Claire decided to step in. ‘OK, so the thing is, we’ve got something to ask you guys. And there’s an audience here, so think very carefully about how you answer.’
When she’d suggested this, she’d known it was a risk, but she’d talked it over with Sam and they’d decided to go for it. What it all came down to was that she wanted everyone she loved in the same room, to hear the news at the same time.
Doug and Jeanna were the only ones who knew what was about to happen, so the others had the same puzzled faces as the boys.
‘We wanted to know how you’d feel about your dad and I getting married again.’
Jordy yelled and punched the air. Max shouted an ecstatic ‘Yasssssss!!!’ Everyone at the table jumped up, cheering and hugging them, except Val, who was in floods of happy tears and bustling over to the worktop for some kitchen roll.
They cheered, they laughed, they cried, and long after the boys reluctantly disconnected the calls, they hugged again as they said goodbye to everyone, leaving Claire and Sam wrapped in each other’s arms, their faces beaming.
‘Do I have to get you a ring this time?’ Sam asked, grinning. ‘Or do we do the same as last time and go straight to the wedding bit, without bothering to get engaged first.’
‘Let’s do engagement without the ring, then straight to wedding again,’ she told him. Expensive jewellery meant nothing to her. All she cared about was that they were together.
‘God, you’re perfect. And cheap. I think I’d like to take my fiancée to bed and show my appreciation for these qualities,’ Sam murmured, kissing her neck.
‘I think I’ll let you,’ she replied.
Upstairs, as always, they both went to the en suite to brush their teeth, before he headed into the bedroom to undress. She finished brushing, put her toothbrush back in the cabinet on the wall, paused, made a decision… There was something she had to do, something she’d been thinking about for days, wondering, contemplating an answer that she needed to know. She removed a box from the bathroom cabinet.
‘I was about to send in a search party,’ Sam said, when she finally made it into the bedroom, wrapped in her favourite white fluffy dressing gown.
He leaned up, grabbed the belt that tied her robe together and tugged it playfully.
‘You know, this empty nest thing isn’t so bad after all,’ he said, his voice oozing lust and love for her.
There was a pause, before he realised that she was still standing there, in some kind of stunned, catatonic trance.
‘Babe, what’s up?’ he asked, alarmed now.
‘Do you love me, Sam?’ she whispered.
‘Until forever this time,’ he promised.
‘No matter what?’
‘Absolutely.’
A smile took over her lips as she pulled a long white stick out of her robe pocket.
‘Then we might have to rethink this empty nest thing after all.’
Slowly, he turned the stick over to reveal two boxes, with two perfectly formed blue lines.
Acknowledgement
Once again it was a joy to work with the fabulous team at Aria – thank you to each and every one of you for the work that you do to make my novels come to life.
Special thanks to my brilliant editor Caroline Ridding, who has guided each of my Aria books from conception to the finished article with boundless wisdom, support, inspiration and enthusiasm. Working with you has been one of the greatest joys of my career.
To all my gal pals, who are never far from my kitchen and come armed with endless laughter, great chat, buckets of moral support and barrels of biscuits. I love you all.
And finally, as always, to my guys, J, C & B – I never forget how lucky I am.
Love,
Shari xx
About Shari Low
SHARI LOW is the No. 1 best-selling author of over 20 novels, including One Day In December, A Life Without You, The Story Of Our Life, With Or Without You and her latest release, Another Day In Winter.
And because she likes to over-share toe-curling moments and hapless disasters, she is also the shameless mother behind a collection of parenthood memories called Because Mummy Said So.
Once upon a time she met a guy, got engaged after a week, and twenty-something years later she lives near Glasgow with her husband, a labradoodle, and two teenagers who think she's fairly embarrassing except when they need a lift.
For all the latest news, visit her on Facebook, twitter, or at www.sharilow.com
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