Zack.’ Freya shook her head. ‘It’s way too soon...’
‘Not for me.’
‘You’re marrying me because I’m pregnant.’
‘Freya! One, we don’t even know if you’re pregnant. Two, I don’t marry women because they’re pregnant. In fact, usually I’d be running out of the door the same way you did the morning after we met.’
‘Really?’
‘I’d have had morning sickness just at the thought,’ Zack said, ‘but I don’t feel like that with you. I am in love with you. You’re the most difficult, grating person I have ever had the fortune to get to know, and I want to get to know more of you, every day.’
He gave her a smile, a self-satisfied one. ‘You’ll never be able to top that,’ Zack said. ‘Even with all your PR skills, you have to concede that I have organised the best Valentine’s Day and you, Freya, didn’t even get me a card.’
‘Of course I did,’ Freya said, and she went into her bag and handed him a card, well, a photo of her ultrasound.
‘Top that,’ Freya said, and she watched his mouth open as he realised that, yes, Freya was pregnant and, because he could read ultrasounds far more easily than Freya, he saw straight away that it was twins.
He laughed.
He had everything he’d dreaded having for so long, but everything had changed—he wanted it all now. With Her.
They had arms and legs and heads and they were so much more than hers or his, they were theirs.
Then Freya watched as his laughter died and tears pooled in his complex eyes.
He wanted his brother to have had this moment.
Zack wanted his brother to this day and for ever he would.
‘If we have a boy, can we call him Toby?’
‘Yes.’
‘He was so unhappy...’
‘Not all of him was unhappy and he had someone he could speak to,’ Freya said. ‘His last night was spent under the stars, drinking and being honest with you. That’s a very nice last night to have had on this earth. I know that I’d take it.’
She turned his world around.
The last night of his brother’s life had always been an agonising memory.
Not now.
Zack could now, without reservations, remember their laughter and two brothers talking and just a night where you put the world to rights.
Now they had put their worlds to rights.
‘I don’t want to tell people yet,’ Freya said. ‘I am the happiest ever but I want some time to get used to the idea and—’ she rolled her eyes ‘—don’t get me started on my parents.’
‘Okay, we shan’t tell anyone, though you’ll start to show fairly soon.’
‘No.’ Freya shook her head. ‘I meant all of it. I meant I need to get used to the idea of us.’
‘The idea?’ Zack checked.
‘That you love me.’
‘Get used to it,’ Zack said. ‘But I get it.’
It was like being handed a prized package and being told to sign for it, the start of a life he had never imagined.
‘I’m such a difficult person,’ Freya said. ‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you.’
‘Freya, I’m so glad I saw you raw the other night. I don’t care how much you try to change, or control me, or rush me with my thoughts. You can’t.’ He smiled. ‘You can keep on being you and I’m just going to keep on being me.’
‘You’re sure?’
‘Completely.’
Zack took on the hardest hearts. Ones that others shied away from. But the hardest hearts gave the sweetest rewards and ones that were just so unexpected, because, for all she wanted to keep them quiet for now, on a night that should be just about them, Freya offered to share the happiness around.
‘Tell your parents,’ Freya said, ‘when you video with them.’
‘I’m not speaking to them tonight. That was just a ruse to get you here.’
‘Tell them,’ Freya said.
‘Now?’ Zack raised an eyebrow. ‘I set up a romantic dinner and you want me to speak to my parents?’
Life changes.
Zack rang them and told them to get on the computer and they did.
‘Here’s the reason I didn’t think I could come home in April,’ Zack said, and he pulled Freya onto his knee.
‘Hi, Freya!’ they both shouted.
‘They know about me?’
‘I told them that there was someone special in my life,’ Zack said.
That he had told them about her told Freya that this was real.
‘Freya and I shall be home for Christmas, and hopefully with twins.’
‘Zack!’
Oh, there was an exclamation mark at the end of his name for a reason.
Freya held up the ultrasound and watched his father put his glasses on, and it was such a precious moment.
‘He’s having twins,’ Zack’s father said to his wife and then recovered. ‘I mean you are, Freya. I just don’t know what to say.’
‘We thought he was gay,’ Judy confessed.
‘Well, I’m pleased to say he’s not.’ Freya laughed and realised that must have been his mother’s reaction when he’d told them about her.
It was a very nice meet-the-parents and after a few moments Zack told them that, unlike in Australia, it was still Valentine’s Day in LA, and he was getting back to his.
‘Thanks for that,’ Zack said, and as he closed the laptop she remained on his knee. ‘Well, I guess we’ve both made it a special Valentine’s Day, even if you forgot.’
‘I didn’t,’ Freya lied. ‘And I do have something for you.’
She opened up her phone and found a photo and they both smiled as they looked upon the night their world had changed.
A perfect shot.
Almost.
Save a man coming down the stairs and walking over everyone just to be by her side.
‘I’m going to love you for ever,’ Zack said, and it wasn’t a revelation.
They knew.
‘I’m going to be busy doing the same,’ Freya said.
This was love.
* * * * *
This is my second involvement in an eight-book series, and while in some ways it’s much, much harder than writing solo in other ways it’s so much fun. Writing is normally such a solitary occupation—a bit like being an only child—whereas being part of a series is like being part of a large family. Not only do the other authors become my family, but our characters develop and grow together on the pages and form relationships that carry across all the stories.
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