Jenna

 

“I’m sure no one will believe anything but that the two of you are madly in love after seeing those,” Katie says when we look at them after we come back from our honeymoon in Mauritius.

She was my bridesmaid, along with Sophie and Bridget. After all, it wouldn’t do to have anything other than an odd number of bridesmaids. And we had fifteen tables at the wedding. Elliott was still thirty-seven and me twenty-three. Nothing could spoil our day.

Elliott invited a whole bunch of celebrities, and Katie was over the moon with that. But she’s even happier that her cameraman, Martin, showed up in time for the first dance. She’s still seeing him.

Most couples settle down to some extent after they get married, but not Elliott and me. There are always new places to go, new movies to be made. I’m getting used to flying as I do it so much. It’s less scary than it was, but I still feel better when we land back on the ground in one piece.

“Let me know if you ever get fed up with this. You can live where you want, and I’ll always come home to you and Sophie.”

But I’m happy for now, seeing places, being with Elliott and the little one who I now think of as my daughter.

Elliott calls us the Three Musketeers and I’m almost scared to tell him we’ll be four soon—an even number, no less.

I wait until we’re home for Christmas. Bridget is having a Christmas Eve party, and we’re staying over until two days after Christmas. I hope she and her family will celebrate the news with us.

I accept a glass of champagne, knowing that I’ll get Elliott to drink it for me once he knows. Somehow, I’ve gotten away with drinking soda instead of any of the hard stuff without anyone noticing. It’s lucky, at least as far as that goes, that Elliott has been working so hard in the run up to Christmas; we haven’t been going out much or even eating together a lot at home.

“Do you have any mistletoe?” I ask Bridget. “I need to tell Elliott something.”

She raises her eyebrows and laughs. “Of course, in the dining room. I’ll send him in, all right?”

“What’s this all about?” he says, laughing. “Bridget said you wanted to get me in a compromising position.”

“Kiss me,” I say. “I feel quite neglected while you’ve been working so hard.”

He sweeps me into his arms, and makes sure I feel thoroughly and truly kissed. “I must apologize for my neglectful ways. I promise not to do it again this year.”

“It’s December 24th. It’s almost the end of the year.”

“I know, and I’m going to keep you in bed until January, so I can keep my promise.”

“What about Sophie?”

“With all those new toys and their boxes to play with, probably mainly the boxes, we might not see much of her until well into February.”

“It will be funny when she has a little brother or sister to play with. Do you think she’ll like that more than boxes?”

His eyes light up. “Do you mean…?”

“Yes, we won’t be the Three Musketeers for much longer. By the summer we’ll be four. Do you mind that?”

“Of course I don’t. Four is about to become the luckiest number in the world.” And he kisses me so hard and so long that Bridget has to knock on the door to get us out, because she wants to serve dinner.

“That’s my brother,” she says. “A kiss under the mistletoe, I would have said five minutes tops. But he doesn’t do things by halves. Was what you had to tell him what I think it was, given you haven’t touched any of your champagne?”

“Ah, you noticed,” I say. “It was.”

“Congratulations!” She kisses and hugs both of us. “I knew you two were meant to be a family from the first day I saw you together, you know.”

“How’s that?” Elliott asks.

“It was the first time you ever wanted to go to the beach in the middle of the day, and you seemed to share the care of Sophie quite easily. It was also the first time you made a drink for the babysitter, and the first time you were so polite to me over dinner at home.”

Elliott laughs. “Sisters! They think they know you so well, but I already knew before that.” He’s not letting Bridget have the last word.

“When was that, then?” I ask. “Going to the beach was just about the first thing we did.”

“From the time you gripped my arm so hard on the airplane and I thought you were never going to let go. I said to myself, I want to have babies with this woman. My children will have the grip of an orangutan.”

“You’re kidding,” I say, laughing. “You did not. And anything at that point was just attraction.”

“Maybe,” he says. “But you’d better hold on tight again. I’ll never let you go, but now you’re having my little orangutan, it’s going to be a wild ride.” And he scoops me up and spins me around until I’m giggling and dizzy.

*****

If you enjoyed Babysitter for the Single Dad, here are more single dad stories to enjoy with love from Mia …

 

 

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