Runaway Bride: A laugh out loud funny and feel good rom com. Mary Baker Jayne

off his magnificent doginess.

      ‘Aww. Lovely, isn’t he?’ I said, simpering. ‘Clever old Sandy.’

      Jack shot me a concerned glance. ‘Listen, Kit. Try not to get too attached, okay?’

      ‘Why?’

      ‘It’s a risky time, the first twenty-four hours. And I don’t want to scare you, but the little ones – well, they don’t always make it. I don’t want to see you upset if it’s bad news in the morning.’

      ‘Oh.’ I looked at the little pup, his tiny eyes glued closed and his pink mouth clamped around Sandy’s teat. ‘Okay, I’ll… try not to.’

      He gave my shoulder a squeeze. ‘He’ll probably be fine. Just wanted to warn you.’

      ‘Yeah. Thanks.’

      ‘Look, can you mind her a bit? I want to get the awnings up before the light gives out.’

      I turned wide eyes on him. ‘You’re leaving me? What if another pup comes?’

      ‘I’ll just be outside. Anyway, Sandy knows what she’s doing.’ He gave the nursing dog a pat. ‘She’s a smart little thing. Just leave her to it and yell for me if she seems to be having trouble.’

      But by the time Jack had finished getting the awnings up, there was still no sign of another puppy. Sandy was panting contentedly while she fed her single baby, although I’d noticed the shivers across her tummy getting more pronounced.

      ‘Next one’s on its way,’ Jack said when he came back in, glancing at his dog’s rippling flank. ‘Textbook so far. Looks like we’ll be all right.’

      ‘Fingers crossed.’ I passed him the vodka as he sat down next to me and he took a glug.

      My eyes were drawn to Sandy, whimpering with quiet pathos. The next puppy had started to emerge.

      ‘It’s coming,’ I said in an awed whisper.

      ‘So it is.’ Jack kissed the top of my head. It felt like the right thing, just then.

      For this birth, Sandy got to her feet. Her firstborn sucked blindly at the air as he wondered where his meal had gone.

      When the furry jellybean was free of his mum’s little doggy body, there was no hesitation. She bit him out of his bag and cleaned him up, and minutes later the newbie was suckling happily next to his brother – or sister, the sexing would have to come later. Somehow it felt like all dogs were male by default, just as all cats were female.

      The new boy was a solid chocolate, and nearly a third as big again as his older sibling. He didn’t have the long, thin muzzle Jack had pointed out as the hallmark of a Jack Russell, instead bearing the rounder snout of his mother.

      ‘Brown.’ Jack gave Sandy a rub between the ears. ‘Sorry I slandered you, girl. Looks like it was Ben’s old mutt who did the deed after all.’

      Sandy was whimpering again, and her contractions seemed to be closer together. Sure enough, ten minutes later the next pup’s head was visible, and she stood to finish the birth.

      ‘That was quick,’ I said, taking the vodka from Jack and swallowing about a quarter-shot’s worth. Puppy midwifery was a stressful business.

      ‘Yeah, there’s not really any rhyme or reason to these things. Sometimes it’s minutes between births, sometimes hours.’ Jack looked at me as I rubbed a fist in my eye. ‘No need for you to stay up though. I can see to Sandy.’

      ‘And leave you on your own? Not a chance.’ I squeezed his hand. ‘You said you needed me and here I am.’

      He flung me a grateful smile. ‘Thanks, Kit.’

      I looked at the newest pup. Sandy had freed it of its sack and was giving it a good wash, but the tiny thing just lay there. It didn’t wiggle, and it didn’t join its siblings at the all-you-can-drink milk bar. It just… lay there.

      ‘Why doesn’t it move, Jack?’ I asked quietly.

      He was looking at it with concern. ‘Sorry, girl,’ he said to Sandy. ‘You won’t like this but it has to be done.’

      Jack scooped up the little dog. Sandy gave a faint warning growl, but she didn’t try to stop him. Its tiny body looked limp and lifeless in his hand.

      He lifted it to his ear. ‘Not breathing.’

      ‘Dead?’ I whispered.

      ‘No. Heart’s beating.’ Jack held the puppy between his two hands and rubbed it vigorously. ‘Do me a favour, Kit. There’s cotton buds in the big cupboard, can you grab one?’

      ‘Okay.’ I got them from the cupboard and handed one to Jack.

      Very carefully, he cleaned the puppy’s nose and mouth, then started rubbing it between his hands again. Sandy watched him nervously. After a minute, the puppy made a noise like it was choking on a fly, and I saw it squirm.

      ‘Thank God,’ Jack said with a low whistle of relief.

      He laid the puppy gently down by its mum, who shot him a glare of displeasure – fine thanks for saving her baby’s life, but that’s dogs for you – before giving the little pup a violent wash until he smelled right. Then she dragged him by the scruff to her flank. After a couple of seconds, he managed to clamp himself to a teat and suckle.

      ‘Airway got blocked up on the way out,’ Jack said. ‘A bit of milk’ll soon get his strength up.’

      I fixed him with an impressed gaze. ‘How did you know what to do?’

      He smiled. ‘Like I said. Not my first time.’

      He stretched his arm round me again, and I tried to work out what I was feeling as I settled into it. I think it was… pride. Yes, that was it. I was proud of Jack, and the kind of man he was. And I was proud that I was the one snuggled into his arm right now; that in some sense, he’d chosen me.

      So many times when I’d been with Ethan, he’d managed to make me feel worthless. There’d be some offhand comment or insult that would hit home, and if I’d shown him just how much it hurt he’d tell me it was only ‘banter’, that I was being oversensitive as usual, until I really started to believe I was the unreasonable one.

      Jack never make me feel like that. He made me feel like I was somebody who mattered. Somebody he needed.

      As we waited for the next puppy, a warm contentment filled me. There was something so pure, so simple and honest and real, about life in the camper. The nights spent playing games, or reading together in quiet serenity. Delivering the puppies, side by side, like a team: like equals. It was so different to my life with Ethan; the dinner parties with his dull work colleagues, the corporate functions, all that grown-up stuff. Now I’d experienced life with Jack, that whole existence just seemed so shallow and artificial. And the feelings I’d once believed I had for Ethan seemed the most shallow of all.