THE DOCTOR WAS as good as her word. Jake and Abby’s daughter went full term. She came into the world a very beautiful baby with a soft crown of fair hair, big blue eyes and the prettiest little face. The birth was a natural one but with enough drugs to make sure Abby wasn’t in too much pain.
After the birth, Abby could not stop looking at her daughter, and cuddling her. Jake hardly got a look in. Not that he minded. He knew how much having this baby meant to Abby. Finally, after she’d had her fill, she handed the bundle over for him to hold.
Parental love squeezed Jake’s heart as he rocked his daughter to and fro.
‘Paris,’ he murmured. It was the name they’d chosen once they worked out that that was where she’d been conceived, the doctor explaining that the gastric bug Abby had caught had probably rendered the Pill ineffective for a few days.
‘Well, Mrs Sanderson,’ he said with the fatuous smile of a besotted father, ‘you’ve produced a real beauty here.’
‘She is lovely, isn’t she?’
‘She’s the spitting image of her mother.’
‘Do you think so?’
He did, and so did everyone else who came in to visit them. Sometimes, there were so many people in Abby’s room that the nurses would complain about the noise. The maternity ward breathed a sigh of relief when Jake took Abby and Paris home.
Sophie and Megan were asked to be godparents at the baby’s christening three weeks later, both of them receiving very generous gifts from the happy parents. Abby gave an over-the-moon Megan her old house and Jake presented Sophie with the deed to Craig’s apartment.
The following Christmas was an especially joyful one. Jake hired the same boat for another harbour cruise, amazed at how much he enjoyed the family gathering, perhaps because he could show off his very beautiful daughter. Abby revelled in everyone’s compliments plus the knowledge that, at last, her dream of creating her own happy family had finally come true. Already she was planning a second baby, and Jake was happy to oblige. Truly, for a man who’d once claimed not to want marriage and children, he’d proved to be a wonderful husband and father.
‘She was a big hit, wasn’t she?’ Jake said that night as they stood next to Paris’s pretty pink cot and stared down at her sleeping form.
When he slipped a tender arm around Abby’s waist, she leant her head against his and sighed. ‘It was a wonderful Christmas Day. Even better than last year.’
Jake had to agree. Though last year’s Christmas had been pretty special. It had been, after all, their wedding day as well. Which reminded him.
‘I have a surprise present for you,’ he said. And he produced another ring box, which contained an emerald and diamond eternity ring.
‘Oh, Jake,’ Abby choked out as he slipped it on her finger. ‘It’s beautiful.’
‘Not as beautiful as you, my darling.’
‘You say the loveliest things to me.’
‘That’s because I love you.’
‘I’m still not sure why, but I’m glad that you do.’
Jake bent his head and kissed her. He could think of a thousand reasons why he loved Abby, not the least that she was the bravest, kindest, most genuine person he’d ever met. He thanked his uncle every day for the legacy which had set him on a path that showed him marriage and children need not be a grind; they could be a joy. He’d never been happier than during the last year. Of course, he was lucky that he didn’t have to work if he didn’t want to. But Jake knew he would not enjoy being idle for long. He was already thinking of creating a series of documentaries called the Honeymoon Show, highlighting places to go for a honeymoon, a feel-good show full of happy people who actually loved each other.
Now that would be different...
When Abby gave a small moan of desire, his head lifted.
‘Time for bed, I think, my love.’ And, taking Abby’s hand in his, he walked off with her into the future.
* * * * *