‘I like this plan so much,’ Alex sings, completely unfazed. ‘Then what?’
‘Then,’ I say, forcing myself to start skipping with her, easily disregarding the pain. I’m too fucking happy for anything else to infiltrate my nerves. ‘I’m hoping one day we might have more kids, and we’re all going to live happily ever after.’
‘I knew it!’ Alex yells. ‘A baby brother or sister! I was hoping you’d say that.’
Hannah starts laughing, breaking into a skip, too. ‘We’ll need more space.’
Fair point. I hadn’t thought of that. ‘So I’ll extend the cabin.’
Hannah stops, tugging me and Alex to a stop with her. ‘Maybe we could use this to pay for the building work.’ She pulls something out of her pocket and holds it up. The heart-shaped yellow diamond ring.
‘Oh my God, that’s one huge rock.’ Alex reaches to pluck it from between her fingers, but Hannah quickly retracts her hand. ‘Hey, I want to see,’ Alex whines.
‘We don’t need that,’ I say quietly as I look at the ring, forcing my lip not to curl.
Hannah smiles, breathes in, and walks to the curbside. Looking down into the drain, she holds the ring above it and releases on a little rush of breath.
Alex gasps and dashes over, looking down the grate. ‘Why would you do that?’
‘It’s just a piece of junk,’ Hannah says, turning to face me. We gaze at each other for a few moments, both our smiles growing until we’re grinning at each other.
‘You two need to see another kind of doctor.’ Alex trudges over, shaking her head. ‘You nutters.’
Hannah laughs as she runs at me, throwing herself into my waiting arms and wrapping every limb around me. I feel absolutely no pain. All I feel is untold happiness, contentment, and best of all, Hannah’s peace radiating from every inch of her perfect form.
She squeezes me to death before pulling away and looking down at me, her smile dizzying. Then she gives me the kind of kiss that puts all our previous kisses to shame. Because this one . . . this one has acceptance in it.
And as ever, it leaves me breathless.