“You’re seriously spending your wedding night in a shed?” Sammy asked, nose turned up, her scowl in place.

Natalie chuckled, swishing her wedding dress to one side before she delicately gripped the stem of her alcohol-free, fizz-filled champagne glass with both hands. “It’s not a shed. It’s a summer—”

“Natalie, it’s a bloody shed,” Sammy muttered in distaste.

Nat shrugged. “But it’s our shed.”

We were standing in the huge, sprawling garden of Paul’s parents’ house, and I had to admit, the place looked fucking magical. The surrounding trees were all adorned with twinkling fairy lights that lit up the whole area with a touch of class and outdoorsy magic. A string quartet was in position on the patio area, making the sounds of wedding perfection flow all around us as the afternoon began to turn a little colder.

“It’s almost November, and you are, rather unexpectedly, pregnant.” My sister tilted her head to look at Nat, concern in her eyes. “You’re going to be freezing.”

“Sammy, I love you, but seriously. I’m fine.” Natalie shook her head and smirked at her best friend. “But thank you for caring enough to go all mum on me.”

“I’m just thinking of the baby.”

I blew out all the air in my cheeks. “Baby,” I repeated, pulling Natalie and Sammy’s attention to me. “I can’t believe it, Nat. You’re going to be a mum.”

A hand fell to her stomach. “Hopefully. It’s still early, early days. We only found out last week. It was a total surprise to us. But so much can happen—”

“It won’t,” Alex interrupted as he came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and dropping his chin to her shoulder. Her whole face lit up like she had fireworks going off in her eyes. “This little man is going to be healthy and perfect, just like his mum.”

“You’re so sure it’s going to be a boy,” she said through a smile.

“Bagsy saying it’s a girl,” Sammy shouted, shooting her hand up in the air.

Nat looked down at her hand on her tummy. “I don’t care what it is, as long as it is healthy.”

“Fuck me, I’m so stinking happy for you guys, I feel like I’m gonna cry,” I admitted, sounding way too girly and emotional for the manly man I sometimes liked to think I was. “I’m blaming the champagne.”

Alex looked up at me and smirked. “Uncle Marcus. Has a nice ring to it, right?”

I beat my chest with my fist and closed my eyes. “You’re killing me, Law.”

“It’s only fair you should all suffer with me. I choked in that ceremony. Wasn’t sure I was going to be able to make it through at one point.”

“Oh, yeah!” Sammy piped up. “What did you say to him to calm him down, Nat?”

Natalie glanced over her shoulder to stare into Alex’s eyes. “Can I tell them?”

“Sure.” He shrugged.

She turned back to us. “We weren’t going to tell anyone about the pregnancy until Christmas day. But Alex was bursting inside. All week, he’s been having a mini meltdown about whether or not he can be a good father.”

Alex rolled his eyes at himself. “You know me. Mr. Dramatic.”

I laughed, not needing to say anything. We all knew how he got inside his own head, and I had to hand it to the guy, he was getting better at opening up and being honest about that. We were all there to help him, not hinder. We were his family—the one he should have always had, and you had to be honest with family.

“Anyway,” Natalie said, waving a hand in the air. “When I saw him about to fall apart in the church, I just got this weird feeling in my stomach. I know it’s silly. The baby isn’t even anything more than a dot yet, but I got this sensation. Like a tight knot. So I told Alex his baby just said hello, and then I whispered that if he could get through the vows, I’d let him tell everyone in the church our exciting news.”

“What more did I need than that?” Alex asked, squeezing his arms tighter around her.

“I’m happy for you guys,” I told them. I was. I was fucking deliriously happy. The wedding, the setting of the party, the fact that everything was falling into place for everyone after so many years of unsure shit… well, it made me feel at peace.

We were all growing up.

I had no better vision for our futures than every single one of us spending our days being blanketed in that kind of happiness.

I only wished I could bottle the feeling up and save it for a day when one of us would need it.

Reality didn’t allow for too much perfection, after all.

When the string quartet finished, a local band replaced them, sitting inside the small marquee that had been situated in the far corner of the huge garden. Even though we were all running high on adrenaline, there was no denying it was getting cooler out.

Danni and I were sitting at a table, staring into each other’s eyes, our knees pressing together as we passed hours and hours by, chatting idly about anything and everything. It was one of the things I loved most about us. Nothing was ever awkward. No silent pauses. No meaningless chatter for the sake of filling blank space. I enjoyed listening to and watching every single word fall from her lips.

Natalie and Alex were in the midst of their first official dance, the two of them swaying along to Leon Bridges’ River. It was a song with a melody that made you fall in love with whoever you were staring at, and considering I was already head over heels in love with the woman in my line of sight, I began to feel like I was as high as a kite on her perfection.

“They look so happy,” Danni cooed as she glanced over my shoulder at them.

“They are happy.”

Her eyes found mine again. “They’re not the only ones.”

“Nope.” I offered her my smoothest grin.

Danni pressed her palms on my thighs, slowly sliding them up until she was leaning closer, her lips parting as she narrowed her eyes. “I’ve missed you today. I kinda hate having to share you with everyone else.”

“You don’t ever share me. You just let people look at me for a while.”

“Damn right.” She beamed. Her lips moved closer, her breaths mingling with my own as the two of us got lost in our own bubble of lust. “Do you believe in forevers, Marcus?”

“You know I do.”

“Just checking.”

I saw the unexpected slip of her mask for just a second before she corrected herself. I knew all of Danni’s faces, so the very thought of her trying to hide something from me made my stomach twist up, even if only for a fraction of a second.

“Hey,” I sang, reaching up to grab the tops of her arms. “I saw that.”

“Saw what?”

“The uncertainty.”

She blinked and stared back at me. “I’m not uncertain. I’m just…Have you ever had something so perfect, so unique, you know it could never be replaced by anyone or anything if it shattered? So sometimes, even though you know it’s safe, you check on it. Pick it up, run a thumb over the smoothness of its surface and feel the weight of it in your hands, just so you can be sure that it’s still there, still perfect, still unique… still yours?”

“I guess.”

She shrugged a shoulder. “That’s what I like to do with you every now and again. There’s no harm in checking we’re still flawless.”

“Baby, we’re flawless, but we’re not fragile. Sometimes perfect things are indestructible. Sometimes perfect things are everlasting. Immortal. Unbreakable.” I leaned in to brush my lips against hers. “Just like us.”

“Promise?”

“Lifetime guarantee.”

We kissed, making our own memories to the sound of Alex and Nat’s song, and my hands held her with all the possession my heart felt for her. If I thought the timing was right, I would have got down on my own bended knee and proposed to Danni right there and then, but it wasn’t right, and she deserved the dream she’d always wanted. The one I was, one day, going to deliver.

The guests all clapped when the first dance song finished, and the night wore on with the same casual love and fun we’d all come to crave every day.

Suzie and Paul danced. Natalie and Alex swooned. Cam and Sammy laughed. Rosie and Tom cried with happiness. My parents buzzed as they socialised with Barbara, Cleveland, his sister, and a whole load of other people from Natalie’s family. It was only when I saw Nat and Alex making their way over to the doorway of the marquee that I felt something drag my attention their way. The hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention as I watched them scurry forward, Nat’s hands picking up her dress delicately as Alex ushered her down the red carpet in a rush.

Then I saw a little boy, no older than a toddler, waddling towards them holding a man’s hand, the two of them looking uncertain as they glanced around.

Danni fell in line beside me, one hand reaching out for mine while her other rested on my bicep.

“Who are they?” she asked quietly.

“I don’t know.” I frowned.

We watched as Natalie bent down, resting her arms on her knees and engaged with the little blonde haired boy who was sucking his thumb and looking around in awe. Nat ran a hand over his hair, her warm smile inviting him into conversation with her. When he turned her way, his face lit up, his own grin breaking free as he nodded at whatever it was she had said. Alex was shaking the man’s hand firmly while he rested his free palm on his shoulder, locking him in before he pointed to a nearby table.

The man didn’t look as eager to be there as the boy. His eyes were glazed, and he swallowed compulsively, nodding here and there, but rarely moving his mouth to speak. The four of them eventually began to move closer to where Danni and I were standing. Nat had picked the little boy up and currently had him perched on her hip. Alex was taking care of the older guy, talking to him non-stop as he stared down at the floor and continued to nod.

It looked strange.

It felt awkward.

When they came to a stop in front of us, Natalie glanced between Danni and me, her smile genuine as she pointed to the little boy on her hip. “Guys, I’d like you to meet Ralphie.”

“Hey, Ralphie,” we said, confusion tainting our voices.

Alex blew out a long breath, readying himself for whatever news he was about to deliver.

It caught my attention instantly.

“And this here is Ralphie’s father, Andy Jones.”

Jones.

Andrew Jones.

I recognised that name. Where did I recognise that name from?

It hit me right at the same time as Alex’s confirmation…

“Andy and Ralphie are the husband and son of Claire Jones.”

Claire Jones…

“The woman my father killed.”