hannah
4 months later
We pulled up to a huge gate with a giant ‘PRIVATE PROPERTY – TRESPASSERS WILL BE DOWNTROUED AND PICTURES WILL BE PUT ON THE INTERNET’ sign plastered across the front of it.
Well that’s a new one.
Jasper leapt out of the car like an agile cat and strolled towards it – ignoring the sign entirely as he unlatched the gates and proceeded to open them both wide.
I put my window down and stuck my head out. “Hey, babe, I know you like to stick it to the man and all that, but do you really wanna end up with a dick pic on the net?”
He looked at me, then at the sign and chuckled loudly.
“I think I’ll risk it.”
He jogged back to the car, a bundle of nervous energy and excitement.
I regarded him curiously; whatever he was up to, it was damn important to him, that much I could tell.
My husband didn’t get this excited about much, so instantly I felt excited too.
He put the Jeep in drive and drove through the gate without a moment’s hesitation.
“Are you sure we won’t get in trouble? Isn’t this like breaking and entering or something?”
He chuckled. “Nah… trespassing at worst.”
I shook my head at his usual blasé attitude.
We weren’t on any type of road at all now, and all I could see was bare land all around me as he manoeuvred the four-wheel drive to a destination I didn’t have a clue about.
“What is this place?”
He winked at me. “Patience, grasshopper.”
“I haven’t got a lot of that,” I grumbled.
“No shit,” he muttered under his breath.
“I heard that.”
He grinned at me like a cheeky little boy and my stomach flipped.
I rubbed my swollen stomach and smiled.
I wanted nothing more than for our baby to be just like his daddy.
“Is my girl kicking?” He took one hand off the wheel and slowed down slightly. He rested his big, warm hand across my belly.
“No, our boy is behaving just fine.”
We still didn’t know what we were having. This baby was already giving me grief – crossing its legs so we couldn’t see if it was a boy or a girl at our scan.
I was hoping like hell it was a boy. I wasn’t sure that I could handle a miniature version of myself. I knew I’d turned out okay in the end, but it had not been plain sailing for a large portion of my life – hell, even now I was doing silly things and making bad decisions more often than not.
Fingers crossed for a boy…
Jasper, however, was certain it was a girl growing inside me.
He chuckled at my insistence.
“Nope, girl… and she’s going to have blonde hair and big green eyes like her mama,” he replied.
I waved away his comment. “Yeah, yeah, we’ll see.”
We were still driving, and I was starting to get restless. I’d always hated surprises and that hadn’t changed in the least.
“Where the hell are we?” I demanded.
“Put your window down.”
“Jasper, I—”
“Just do it, for God’s sake,” he cut me off with a laugh.
If he didn’t look so damn hot when he laughed I would have whacked him. These pregnancy hormones were really making me ragey lately, and he was always provoking me – nothing had changed there.
I put down my window. “Now what?”
“Now breathe it in. Take it all in, Hannah.”
I did what I was told – for once. His excitement was infectious, and I wanted to know what the hell this was all about.
I rested my head on the frame of the window and gazed out at the long, green grass.
I took a deep breath and then I understood.
“The ocean.” I smiled and turned to look at him. “Where?”
He grinned again.
We turned abruptly then and headed off again, faster now.
I heard the faint squawk of seagulls and knew that we were getting close.
“Close your eyes,” he commanded.
My eyelids fluttered closed.
The car bumped beneath me. I could smell the ocean air even stronger now.
“Keep them closed,” he instructed as we slowed to a stop.
I nodded as he killed the engine and I heard the slam of his door as he got out.
I listened carefully, attempting the near impossible task of hearing Jasper move.
I jumped at the click of the handle as he opened my door for me.
“Can I open them now?” I asked hopefully.
“What do you think?” he murmured sarcastically.
His hand brushed mine as he unbuckled my seatbelt.
I trembled slightly with anticipation.
“C’mon, baby.” He took my hands in his and tugged me from the car and to my feet.
The sun warmed my skin instantly and I sighed. There was no place like the beach in summer.
Jasper moved behind my body and clasped his hands over my eyes.
“Just a few steps,” he whispered.
I stepped forward three times, he angled me a little to the right and finally we stopped.
“You ready?” he asked quietly. He was nervous by the sounds of it and that made me nervous too. I fed off Jasper’s moods and more often than not, I relied on him to keep me calm, but right now he was making me jumpy.
I nodded.
He uncovered my eyes and I blinked a few times.
I glanced around slowly. We were at the beach alright. I was standing right where the grass met the sand.
There was nothing but sand, sea and bare land everywhere I looked.
It was beautiful.
“What is this place?”
“This is a private beach; about three miles of uninterrupted bliss.”
“And all this land?”
“There’s too much to even count,” he replied.
“Do you know the owner? I knelt down to touch the golden sand. “He must be loaded,” I thought aloud.
“Oh, he’s loaded alright.” He chuckled. “More money than sense.”
I laughed.
“And there’s one thing he’s absolutely obsessed with.”
I picked up a handful of sand and let it run through my fingers. “Yeah?”
“Keeping his wife out of harm’s way.”
I let out a very unladylike snort-laugh and got to my feet.
“Sounds like Parker,” I joked as I brushed the sand from my hands.
Jasper didn’t answer me.
I looked up at him and he was giving me a look that said ‘exactly’.
What?
Realisation hit me.
He didn’t…
“Parker owns all this, doesn’t he?”
“Technically… yes.” He leant back against the front of his jeep and crossed his arms across his chest, a victorious smirk playing on his lips.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “What does that mean?”
He beckoned me to him.
I turned when I reached him, leaning my back against his front.
He rested one hand on my belly and pointed down the beach with the other. “You see that red peg way down there, where the sand and grass meet?”
I narrowed my eyes to spot it and nodded when I did.
He turned the other way. “And that one down there?”
I nodded again, spotting it quicker this time.
He pointed out two more red pegs which were out amongst the long grass. The four of them made a square, of which we were currently inside.
“I see it. It’s a square.”
He turned me in his arms. “This is our block.”
Oh my god.
He was giving me a home by the sea. He was giving me my safe place.
“It’s ours?” I whispered, desperately hoping I had heard him right.
“Every last blade of grass in that square belongs to us,” he confirmed.
I felt tears welling in my eyes – I was so damn hormonal.
He wiped away the moisture from my cheeks. “Don’t cry again, baby, please,” he murmured. “You are my forever, Hannah Jones, and this is where we’ll build our home, where our children will grow and learn… you’ll drive me bat-shit crazy right here in this very spot… this is where our forever will live.”
That did it. The waterworks started up all over again.
“And you know what?”
“What?” I choked out.
“I think Cat is really going to love it out here.”
I burst out laughing.
Jasper loved that cat almost as much as he loved me.
And that only made me love him all the more.