‘Losing me?’
‘You’re moving out and you’re taking the baby with you. And I don’t know how to stop you. I don’t know how to prove to you that I love you and I don’t know how to prove to you that I love your daughter.’
‘I thought it was too late. I thought you’d changed your mind.’ Miranda closed her eyes and allowed the happiness to flood through her. ‘All night I lay awake, fantasising about you saying those words.’
He frowned. ‘Why would you have to fantasise when you knew how I felt?’
‘Because I thought you’d changed your mind. You were so cool and detached when you delivered her, I thought that reality had finally hit home. It seemed as though you couldn’t wait to get the pair of us out of your house and into hospital.’
‘In a way I couldn’t,’ he confessed. ‘I didn’t want to put more pressure on you at that particular moment when all your attention should have been on your new baby. And you’d already made it clear how you felt.’
‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘That isn’t true. I told you about my fears. I told myself that I had to protect the baby at all costs. What I didn’t tell you was that I love you, too. I knew it weeks ago, but I knew if I admitted it you’d never take no for an answer.’
He stilled. ‘But if you loved me, why would you want me to take no for an answer?’
‘Because I have a responsibility towards my daughter. I’m responsible for her happiness. I thought that promise meant never marrying anyone.’ She put the flowers down carefully. ‘But then I realised that my daughter’s happiness might involve giving her an amazing father. You. I was ready to tell you last night but then I went into labour.’
For a moment he just stood there, staring at her, and then he muttered something under his breath, crossed the room and hauled her into his arms.
‘I can’t believe you’re saying those words,’ he groaned against her neck. ‘I’ve been planning my next move with the precision of a military campaign. I’ve been planning ways to persuade you to trust me enough to marry me.’
‘You don’t need a military campaign. I trust you, Jake.’ She slid her arms round his neck. ‘I love you.’
‘And I love you.’ He lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her long and hard. Then he lifted his head and stroked her hair away from her face. ‘How could you possibly think my feelings had changed?’
‘I pushed you away—I assumed you’d given up.’
He gave a slow smile. ‘I don’t give up easily, sweetheart. You should know that about me by now.’ He studied her face for a long moment and his smile faded. ‘It’s important that you understand that. No matter what happens, nothing is going to stop me loving you and the baby. Nothing.’
‘You’ve no idea how it feels to hear you say that.’
‘Well, you’d better get used to it because I’m going to be saying it all the time. And what about you?’ He hugged her closer. ‘As a matter of interest, what changed your mind?’
‘I didn’t exactly change my mind. I knew I loved you. The only thing that changed was that I decided to tell you. Last night Christy came to see me and after she left I sat in the dark and did a lot of thinking.’
He gave a short laugh. ‘That explains the mess in my kitchen. I wondered where the scones came from.’
‘She told me a few things. Things that I already knew. Things I was allowing myself to ignore because of Keith.’
‘What things?’
‘That you’re a good man. That you were fully aware of the responsibility you’d be taking on, that if you said you wanted the baby, too, you meant it…’
He frowned and his gaze turned to the cot where the baby lay sleeping. ‘It doesn’t feel like a responsibility, Miranda. It feels like a gift.’
At that moment the baby woke up and started to whimper. Miranda smiled at Jake. ‘Go on, then—if you’re going to be her father, you’d better start getting to know her.’
‘Have you thought of a name? I can’t keep calling her “the baby”.’
Miranda brushed her hair out of her eyes. ‘Can we call her Hope?’
‘Hope Blackwell.’ Jake said it slowly and then nodded. ‘Hope. Sounds good. What made you think of it?’
She hesitated. ‘It’s what you’ve given me. When we met on Christmas Day I was in the depths of despair. I was cold, lost and completely alone,’ she said softly, ‘and then you appeared out of the mist. And from then on, no matter how many times I tried to push you away, you were always by my side. And that made everything better. I’d grown up believing that happy families were an illusion, but you’ve convinced me that I’m wrong.’
He smiled and lifted the baby out of the cot. ‘So are you giving me Hope or am I giving you Hope?’
‘Both.’ She watched him. Watched the tender way he held the baby. How could she have doubted him? Feeling ridiculously happy, she sat down in the chair and prepared to feed the baby. ‘I’d better ring that man and tell him I no longer want the flat.’