‘You always do,’ she muttered as they returned to Jazz and the three babies.
‘I was expecting you two to disappear,’ Jazz told them cheerfully. ‘You’re famous for that.’
‘Well, we’ve grown up a bit,’ Freddie told her sister-in-law piously.
‘You may have,’ Zac said levelly. ‘But I haven’t.’
And with that statement, Zac swung Freddie up into his arms and carried her indoors, impervious to Angel taunting him from the barbecue. Ignoring her protests, he carried her upstairs to their bedroom and fell down on the bed with her, lamenting that she would need to go on a diet before he would try that again. Freddie thumped him with a pillow and then, suddenly, he was flattening her to the mattress and gazing down at her with an urgency that sent heat coursing through her lower limbs.
‘I love you so much, meu pequenino,’ he told her with raw sincerity. ‘It’s hell being away from you for so long.’
And at that admission, Freddie melted, breathlessly telling him how much she loved him while frantically tearing him out of his jeans in a generous invitation that Zac greeted with all the potent virility he could demonstrate. Freddie showered him with love and he never tired of her warmth.
‘I think we should have a marriage blessing to make up for our catastrophic wedding day,’ Zac told her afterwards, lying with Freddie wrapped in bliss in his strong arms. ‘I’ve also torn up the pre-nup agreement. It wasn’t fair enough to you and you signed it under duress.’
They both had a healthy appetite by the time they joined the barbecue. Zac was mobbed by the kids because he always played with them and expectations ran high.
‘Freedom was never this much fun,’ Zac told her before he ran off to play football with Eloise and Jack.
And with a contented sigh, Freddie cradled Antonella and sat with the new family she had gained, while marvelling in Zac’s energy levels, because he had travelled for hours to get back in time for his daughter’s birthday. But then that energy went into everything Zac did, she conceded, including his persistent pursuit of her. And she couldn’t stop smiling at the acknowledgement that what had most annoyed her about Zac when they first met was truly his saving grace.