‘I don’t know what you could possibly give me, sweetheart. I have everything I’ll ever want.’
‘No, you don’t. But we will have...’ She took his hand between hers, and placed it over her stomach.
‘Chloe? You mean...?’
‘A baby. We’re going to have a baby.’
He stared at her for a moment, as if he didn’t quite comprehend. And then he hugged her tight, his limbs trembling. When he kissed her, she saw tears in his eyes.
‘We did it, Jon. It took a little while, but we made a baby.’
He lifted her off her feet, holding her tight against his chest. ‘We’re going to have such fun. We’ll get her a train set. Or him...’
Jon had been thinking about this. So had she, and finally it had happened. ‘You’ve been planning ahead.’
‘I might need some time to try it out first. Just to make sure it works.’
‘Good idea. I love you so much.’
‘I love you too. And over the next week I’m going to show you just how much...’
‘The next week?’
‘Didn’t I mention that? Since you probably knew that we were coming here, I decided that I owed you another surprise. So I spoke to your head of department, and he agreed to give you a week’s leave. You can sign the leave slip when you get back.’
‘A week! Are we staying here?’
‘Wait and see. Anything could happen. But right now...’
She was ready for it all. And the best thing about that was that Jon was here, and he was ready for it too.
‘Right now everything’s perfect.’
He shook his head, smiling. ‘No. Not perfect. It’s so much better than perfect.’
* * * * *