Chapter Seven

 

Rick slid his hands down my upstretched shoulders and his fingertips skimmed the outer curves of my breasts. I shivered at his light touch. I was desperate for more. My pussy dampening at every scent, sound and caress.

His lips touched between my shoulder blades, his small tuft of facial hair a delicious scratch. I arched as his hands dipped into the hollow of my back.

“Rick,” I murmured, impatient for more.

He cupped my butt cheeks and began deep, circular movements pushing and feeling all the flesh on my ass. When he moved them on the outer part of the circle the skin in my cleft stretched taut.

“You have a fabulous ass,” he murmured, stooping and kissing the small of my back. “It’s the perfect roundness and softness.” He curled his fingers into the lace at my hips and dragged my thong down my legs.

I lifted each heel in turn so he could remove it. My pussy was so wet I was surprised moisture wasn’t running down my leg.

His fingers ran down my cleft and over my tightly puckered hole. I jerked forward.

“Shh,” he soothed. “It’s all good, Dana.” He continued his exploration and found the entrance to my pussy. I widened my stance. Wanting him to touch me was more than a longing, it was an absolute necessity. I would die if he didn’t. I needed him in me…now.

I whimpered as he slipped through my damp folds but didn’t push in. “Rick, please.”

His lips were on the top of my thigh, licking and kissing the crease to my butt. He was teasing me, the way I had him. Not pushing his fingers in and not touching my clit either.

A long, low moan of frustration rumbled from my chest, but turned to a cry of joy when his thick finger suddenly entered me high. I clenched around him, squeezing and clamping, grabbing the wonderful filling sensation.

“Ah, fuck, you feel so good every time,” he murmured. “Lord, give me strength.”

I hooked my foot around the pole, spreading myself wider, and he treated me to another finger. Greedily I clasped around it, pulling it inside me as I shoved my mound forward, searching for a connection with my clit. I found it, cool metal shoved up against the sensitive bundle of nerves and I ground harder.

Suddenly a sharp sting bloomed across my left buttock and a slap pealed through the air, overriding the music and ringing around the room.

“Ow, what the...?” Startled, I started to turn.

I couldn’t.

His mouth was at my temple, his chest against my shoulder blades keeping me tight up against the pole. “Shh,” he soothed, palming the burn in my butt. “It’s okay, it’s going to be amazing, stick with it.”

His body heat left me and another heated slap, my right buttock this time, hit down. As it seared across my skin, he curled his fingers inside me and stroked over my G-spot.

“Ow, ow, ow,” I panted, the sting making a beeline for my pussy, heating it and increasing the want.

“Oh baby, it’s so pretty, you’re going pink already.”

“But, Rick, I…” I was writhing my hips, claiming the wonderful pressure he was applying to my sweetest point. Oh, I didn’t need much more, it was so fantastic, his fingers were so damn clever. And the pole, the cool pole was right against my clit.

“I want to make you red,” he breathed into my ear.

His words washed over me, a blur amongst the cacophony of other sensations.

“I want to make your ass all pretty and red and then fuck you from behind,” he murmured. “So I can watch your glowing skin tremble for me. Tremble while I fuck you. Fuck you real hard.”

I heard those words loud and clear and Oh. My. God. I should have guessed a guy that overdosed on testosterone would have his fair share of kinks.

“I won’t slap you again until you ask, Dana.”

I pushed into the pole, squeezed shut my eyes and dragged in a breath. The pain had dulled, merely a memory now. But as it faded I realized I wanted it back. I wanted it back desperately. The sting was like a direct current of stimulation to my pussy. Another erotic stimulus that I had to have.

“Dana,” he breathed onto my temple. “Do you want more?”

“Yes,” I panted, hardly believing what I was agreeing to. “Yes, again. More.”

He nipped my shoulder with his teeth then kissed the sore spot. The next thing I knew the pain was back on my butt, scorching me, burning through my skin to my pelvis. It had barely dulled when another slap hit the opposite cheek. I cried out in pleasure and pain, the border between the two so hazed it barely existed.

“Ah, sweet baby, your pussy loves it,” he said, thrusting higher inside me, fucking me with his fingers. “It’s fluttering around me and weeping into the cup of my palm.”

The noise of my sex filled the room, wet squelching that drifted over the music. Any other time I would have been embarrassed but now all I could think of was the next slap, the next jolt of sensual pain and the next thrust of his fingers.

I didn’t have to wait long. He hit down again, each buttock, fucking me harder with his hand as he did so, his knuckles bashing into my pussy lips and his fingers surging at my G-spot. I clung to the pole, my spine was boneless, the pain driving me up to an almighty orgasm.

“You’re nearly ready,” he whispered by my ear. “So very nearly.”

More blows rained down, swift and the exact force I needed. Each one a hot torment I greedily fed off.

Suddenly he stopped and pulled his fingers out. Stepping in tight, he reached up and unfurled my hands, lowered my arms. The next thing I knew I was on the floor, elbows and knees. Resting my forehead on my arms, I opened my eyes long enough to see a condom wrapper land to my left.

The wide head of his cock brushed my pussy. I bucked backward, trying to get him to fill me. “Rick,” I gasped when he made no move to enter me.

“You look so beautiful like this,” he said, curling his hands over my hips. “So damn beautiful with my mark on your ass.”

I was feverish, shaking with the need to come. I went in search of my clit, slotted my first two fingers on either side of it and began to milk it just the way I liked.

“I’m going to fuck you now, Dana,” he said in a low voice. “Hard. You reckon you can take it hard?”

“Yes, yes, oh God, please.”

Suddenly he forged in, ramming to the hilt. If he hadn’t had hold of me I would have hit the other side of the room. As it was I momentarily lost contact with my clit. I gave a quick thanks for the fact I was so wet, otherwise his impatient entry would have hurt in a bad way.

Scrabbling for my clit again, I braced for his next thrust. This time he went even deeper. And as if he wasn’t satisfied that he’d penetrated me to maximum depth, when his balls slapped against my pussy lips he shunted in some more, pushing at my cervix. Air was forced from my lungs, the way he was filling me was so profound that I barely knew where he ended and I began.

“Fucking has never felt so fucking good,” he groaned.

I couldn’t answer, all my brain power was used up on sensation. Just when I thought I was on overload, another stinging whack rained down on each buttock. An electric current to my pelvis, it zinged through every overwrought nerve I possessed.

“I’m coming,” I cried into the floor. “Oh Rick, oh, I’m coming.”

His cock barged against my G-spot and my fingers flickered and tormented my clit, yet another resounding slap, each cheek, at the perfect moment. Bliss washed over me, a hot, needy, wild, glorious bliss that had my nub hiding from my own stimulation and my pussy dragging Rick’s cock even higher.

“Ah, fuck, how the hell do you do that squeezing with your…ah fuck, yeah!” He stilled and his cock pulsed inside me. His pleasure-saturated shout of ecstasy echoed around the room, rang through my ears and settled in my soul.

He collapsed on top of me, barely taking his weight. I could hardly breathe but still my pussy kept clamping around him, delighting in his moment of climax combining with mine. I twisted my head to the side. His lips were on my cheek, groans and moans grunting up from his throat.

“Jesus, that’s incredible,” he gasped, thankfully shifting the majority of his weight up onto his elbows. “It’s always so intense with you, so fucking awesome.”

“Yes.” I sucked in air and willed my heart to steady. “Tell me about it.”

 

 

When our breathing had regained some semblance of normality, Rick carried me upstairs and ran a deep bath in the en-suite. He climbed in and held out his hand. “Come on, babe, it will feel nice, I promise.”

I looked warily at the steaming water, not convinced of how it would feel on my burning butt.

“Trust me,” he said.

Taking his hand, I stepped in. The water was not quite as hot as I’d thought it was going to be. Back facing him, I sank down between his legs. When the water hit my buttocks I winced.

“It will only hurt for a few seconds,” he said, circling his hands around my waist. His thumbs and fingers practically met at my belly and spine.

I lowered some more and the sting intensified. I gasped.

“Shh,” he said. “Count to ten, then it will be soothing, I promise.”

He continued to urge me downward until my tender butt settled on the smooth base of the bath.

“There you go,” he said into my ear as my head rested back into the curve between his shoulder and his neck. “Is it feeling better now?”

“A bit.” I placed my hands over his knees and concentrated on the feel of his chest against my shoulder blades rather than the white-cold heat of the pain.

“Was it worth it?” he whispered, his breath tickling my ear.

“Yes, it was…wild.”

He huffed and my body jostled against his. “Well, you are a wild thing.” He scooped up a handful of water and dribbled it across my collarbones.

I watched it trickle to my breasts resting just above the water line. “I hadn’t planned on doing that today, though,” he said quietly. “The spanking.”

“So why did you?”

“I don’t know. I mean, it’s not like I haven’t enjoyed a little slapping fun before. But after what you said earlier, about it being a while since you’ve been with anyone, I’d told myself to take it easy, be gentle with you.” He tucked his thumb beneath my chin and twisted me to face him. “It didn’t hurt in the wrong way, did it?”

“No,” I said, thinking back to the intense orgasm he’d given me as we’d rutted like animals on the floor of his cinema. “You didn’t hurt me in the wrong way, after the initial shock it was…nice.” I giggled suddenly. “It was more than nice.”

He squeezed me a little tighter. “Good, ’cause that’s all I want to do, make you feel nice, and I pride myself in knowing my own strength.”

“Yes, you do.” I studied my painted toenails as I poked them out of the water. If he’d really hit me, put his muscle behind it, I’d be a bag of fractures right now. Heck, his opponents on the ice wore layers of padding to protect themselves from his brawn. “Even in the heat of the moment, I didn’t feel like you would lose it, Rick, and please don’t worry about being easy with me, I’m a big enough girl to tell you no if I don’t like something.”

He sighed in a contented way and cupped my breasts, his thumbs gliding over my nipples. “Why don’t we get some food organized? I’m starved after all that excitement.”

I laughed. “Yes, me too. Got to keep our strength up.”

After soaping each other down we stepped out of the bath and dried. Rick made a point of applying a cooling, creamy moisturizer to my butt before I slipped on sweats and a T-shirt. It was such a gentle and caring gesture that I almost forgot it was him that had delivered the sting to begin with.

I was admiring the way the muscles in his back rippled as he stooped to drag on his jeans when his cell trilled to life.

“Yep, speaking,” he said, stepping up to the window and fastening his button fly one-handed. “Great, okay, thanks for letting me know.”

He snapped it shut and turned to me. “They’ve picked up Laurie from her apartment. Apparently she confessed instantly to breaking and entering your place. Dale says they’re just waiting for her lawyer.”

I swiped a watermelon balm over my lips. “That’s great news. Does that mean we can go—?”

His cell ringing again interrupted me.

“Yeah, oh hi… Yeah, that’s cool… Good so far… Nope, not done much… Okay, thirty minutes.”

I raised my eyebrows questioningly as he shoved the cell into the front pocket of his jeans.

“That was Mom. She and Dad are on their way over with two of my sisters and their kids.” He shrugged and made a face. “They want to see me on my birthday.”

“Of course they do.” I tugged the knots from my hair and dropped my brush into my purse, zipped it up. “Perhaps you could give me a ride home, if there’s time, or should I call a cab? I’m guessing I can go now if Laurie is in custody?”

He tipped his head and narrowed his eyes. “Of course you can but why do you want to?”

“It’s your birthday and I’m sure you want some family time.”

“Dana.” He stepped up to me, encased me in his wide arms and hugged me tight. “I want you here. I don’t want you to go anywhere. I was about to suggest a romantic meal at a fabulous little Italian restaurant I know.” He dropped a kiss to my forehead. “I want to spend the rest of the day with you. The whole damn night, too.”

My heart swelled in my chest. The last thing I wanted was to go home. I knew I’d only sit counting the minutes until I could next spend time with Rick. “But are you sure?” I looked up at him.

“Of course I’m sure.” He appeared bemused. “I wouldn’t say it, would I?”

“But what will you tell your family about me?”

He brushed his lips over mine as he spread his hands on my back, squeezing me close. “Mmm, you taste fruity.”

I frowned.

He grinned. “I’ll introduce you as my girlfriend.”

My heart fluttered. “Girlfriend?” I whispered.

“That’s what you are, isn’t it? We’re spending time together, having great sex, sharing secrets. Doesn’t that classify us as boyfriend-girlfriend?”

A hot bubble of pleasure popped inside me. Girlfriend. Rick wanted me as his girlfriend. That meant he was my boyfriend. We were together. An item.

“And,” he added, “just so you know, I only do exclusive these days.”

Oh my God. It had gone so much further than a quickie in an office or a grope in the spa. Relationship. Exclusive. But instead of feeling scared or as though I was relinquishing some of my hard-earned independence, it felt right, it felt natural. Being with Rick was good for me.

“Girlfriend,” I said, trying the word out on my tongue.

“Is that okay?”

He looked so worried that I couldn’t help but kiss him. “It’s better than okay,” I said onto his lips. “It’s perfect, and just so we both know where we stand, I only do exclusive, too.”

 

 

Rick set about preparing wraps and setting out bowls of chips and plates of cookies. I made coffee but every time I tried to help with the food he urged me to relax, telling me I was helping just by being there and looking pretty.

Before long the intercom system buzzed and he went to let in his family.

I nibbled on my bottom lip. Sipped my coffee. Straightened my T-shirt. My heart was thudding. I’d never been formally introduced as anyone’s girlfriend before. “Piece of ass” once, and another time “current fuck” but never girlfriend.

Chatter filled the hallway—the chatter of children and people familiar enough with one another to all talk at once.

Rick loped back into the kitchen. He had a smiling boy with black tousled hair on his shoulders and another standing on his left foot. The child on his foot had his arms wrapped around Rick’s thigh and was clinging so that when Rick took a step he went with him. Each step produced a squeal and a giggle.

“Uncle Rick, Uncle Rick,” shouted another boy with russet hair, running into the kitchen. He held up a giant piece of paper painted with bright blobs of color. “I made you a card, look.”

Rick grinned and stooped, holding the child on his back secure. “That’s really good, Elliot. What is it?”

The child was unconcerned by the fact his scribbles were unrecognizable. “It’s you, playing hockey. Look these are all the people watching, this is the net and these are sticks.”

“It’s awesome, I love it. I’ll put it on the fridge in just a minute.” Rick scooped the child off his shoulders and set him on the tiled floor. “Just as soon as you all say hi to my girlfriend, Dana.”

The kids all suddenly stopped scampering and turned to study me. Eyes wide, mouths slack.

I smiled self-consciously and waved. “Hi,” I managed.

“Elliot, Teddy and Jack,” Rick said, placing a hand on each little head as he said their names.

“Hello, Dana,” said a deep voice from the doorway. “Apologies for my grandchildren, they’re not used to seeing a woman in this house.”

A tall, silver-haired man wearing jeans and a short-sleeved checked shirt strolled into the kitchen.

I slid from the stool I’d been perched on gingerly and took his offered hand. He bent and placed a light kiss on my knuckles.

“Charmed to meet you,” he said, smiling the same smile Rick gave when he was being his most beguiling.

“And you, too. Mr. Lewis, I presume.”

The older gentleman bobbed his head in confirmation.

“Rick, for goodness’ sake, what are you playing at?” A high-pitched female voice rang through the air.

“Yeah, Rick, for goodness’ sake. Trust you to be so secretive.”

Two tall brunettes tapped into the room on high heels, their attention glued on me.

“Typical, he didn’t think to mention he had female company,” the woman with a fluffy pink sweater said.

“Well, he wouldn’t, would he?” The other, wearing a flowery orange top, poked Rick in the ribs, causing him to feign injury. “I’m Nancy,” she said to me, leaning into the fridge and pulling out a bottle of white wine. “And this is my twin, Lucy. We’re two of this lumbering great brute’s older sisters.” She jabbed a thumb in Rick’s direction.

Lucy proceeded to reach four wineglasses from the cupboard and set them before Nancy who duly filled them all to the brim.

“So are you going to tell us her name?” Nancy directed at Rick.

He held out his palms and raised his eyebrows. “If I could get a word in edgewise.”

The twins tightened their mouths and frowned at him.

Rick smiled as though enjoying a small triumph. “Nancy, Lucy, this is Dana Wilcox. We’ve been seeing quite a bit of each other over the last few weeks.”

I raised my eyebrows at him.

He shrugged and grinned.

“It’s lovely to meet you, Dana,” Nancy said, reaching back into the fridge and handing her father a bottle of beer.

“Yes, we’re not usually considered worthy of meeting any of Rick’s girlfriends.” She put finger quotation marks around the word girlfriends.

“In fact I think you’re the first in a couple of years,” Lucy remarked, sipping wine and studying me with huge hazel eyes.

“First what in years?” An elderly lady, as tall as the rest of the family, walked into the kitchen holding patent black heels but wearing a pair of tartan slippers. “Oh,” she said, her gaze settling on me. “You have company, Rick.” Her face broke into a smile. “Very beautiful company.”

“This is Dana,” Nancy said, gesturing toward me with her wineglass then taking another slurp.

“Yeah, she’s Rick’s girlfriend,” the little boy who’d been standing on Rick’s foot piped up. Jack, if I remembered correctly.

“And she’s really pretty,” Elliott said, his finger worrying at a wobbling bottom tooth.

“Thank you,” I said, smiling down at him.

He grinned then darted toward Lucy. “Mom, Mom, can we go in the pool now, please, can we?”

“You’ll have to ask Uncle Rick.”

Rick shrugged. “Sure, go get changed. I’ll be there in a minute to throw the last one to get ready in.”

Shrieks of delight filled the kitchen, echoing off the high ceiling and the hard floor. Nancy handed me a glass of wine. I took it gratefully and glugged back a big mouthful.

“It’s a delight to meet you, Dana,” Rick’s mother said with a smile. “I’m Hilary and this is Bert.” She pointed to her husband, who was fiddling with the TV remote and flicking through the sports channels.

“Where did you two meet?” Nancy asked before I could respond to Hilary.

“I, er, we met at…”

“At a wedding,” Rick chipped in.

“Yes,” I said, “at a wedding, a few weeks ago.”

If you call getting naked and sweaty in a dark office “meeting”.

“Whose wedding?” Lucy asked.

“Wolf and Mae French’s.” Rick helped himself to a bottle of beer and clinked off the lid. It rattled across the granite surface.

“Oh, that crazy one.” Lucy looked at me. “It was splashed all over Here magazine.”

I nodded and carefully sat back down against the island. “Yes, that was the one.”

“It was whacko, wasn’t it?” Nancy added. “Unicorns and pumpkin carriages. Mae looked like Cinderella.”

I smiled. “Yes, the theme was fairytale.”

Rick came and stood next to me, brushed my hair over my shoulder and touched the back of his finger to the curve of my jawline. “Dana was the event organizer. She has her own company and Mae and Wolf booked her to do the wedding.”

I wanted to melt into him. Where he’d just touched me was the epicenter of rippling sensations that filtered to every nerve in my system. But I tried to look unaffected, as if his touch wasn’t a signal for my senses to go on high alert for hot, steamy action. “Yes,” I said, clearing my throat. “My company, Best Laid Plans, has done several celebrity weddings and parties over the last year with Here magazine.”

“Wow,” Nancy said. “That’s awesome, your own a company and you get to meet A-listers.”

I smiled. “Yeah, it’s great, I love it.”

“I’m going to check on the boys,” Rick said, dropping a quick kiss to the top of my head. He glanced across the room. “Dad, you coming?”

“Yep.” Bert flicked off the TV and rested the remote on the windowsill. He jogged out of the kitchen. “Grandfather duties call,” he shouted over his shoulder.

Rick followed and my eyes were drawn to his butt, the faded jeans he’d put on hugged it to perfection, showing off the ideal amount of roundness in his cheeks and his long, powerful legs. The label at the waistband had been ripped off, revealing a square dark denim patch. He wore no shoes, his feet were bare.

“He’s great with kids,” Lucy said.

I dragged my eyes from Rick and was met with her smiling, knowing face.

“Yeah, they all adore him,” Nancy added, giving me a similar look as her twin.

“I can tell,” I said, sipping my wine and praying a blush wouldn’t attack my cheeks. It was so not cool to be checking out my boyfriend’s ass in front of his mom and sisters.

“Do you have any children, Dana?” Hilary asked, twirling her fingers around the stem of her wineglass.

“No.” I quickly shook my head.

“Ever been married?” Lucy asked.

I raised my eyebrows.

“Er, no to that question as well.”

“Do you want to get married and have kids?” Nancy asked.

Glancing between the three women, I could see they genuinely wanted to know. Anyone else asking me such personal questions would have gotten my back up, but it was clear they were just checking me out, considering my suitability for Rick, a man they obviously all cared for deeply. I decided on an honest answer, it was the best approach. “Yes,” I said. “I would love to settle down with the right man and have a ton of kids, one day.”

Hilary smiled.

Nancy leaned in to me like a conspirator. “When I had Elliot, Jamie, that’s my husband, was away on business and Rick had to come with me to the hospital.”

“She went into labor three weeks early,” Lucy chipped in. “Rick was visiting.”

“Yeah, he was dropping off the tiniest hockey shirt you’ve ever seen. He’d even had Lewis embroidered on the back in dinky stitching.” She drained her wine. “And it all happened just as I was making him coffee. My water broke, flooded the kitchen floor and my stomach just…” She clenched her fists and grimaced. “Boy, did it hurt.”

“He took her to the hospital.” Lucy said, nodding vigorously, her eyes wide.

“It was good he was there.” I looked between the two of them, they were like a double act the way they shared a conversation.

“Yes,” Nancy agreed. “But the midwives fawned over him like a bunch of giggling schoolgirls and there was me, in agony, and he was being asked for autographs and to pose for pictures.” She tutted, as did Hilary and Lucy.

I frowned sympathetically.

“But eventually he held your hand, didn’t he?” Lucy said.

“Yes, eventually he came into the delivery suite. I was really starting to panic, Jamie wasn’t even on a flight to come home and the last thing a girl wants is her brother seeing her…” She pointed downward and pulled a face. “Her…dooda.”

I nodded and then shook my head, wondering where the story was going.

“But let me tell you one thing about Rick,” Nancy said, reaching for the wine and topping up everyone’s glass. “He can handle all kinds of pain himself, we’ve seen him bust up so many different parts of his body on the ice, but if he sees a woman in pain, that’s it, he can’t cope. He’s like a wet rag. Goes all stupid and pale.”

I swallowed and looked down at my nails, unable to trust myself to catch anyone’s eye, let alone speak. Rick had enjoyed the whole woman in pain thing with me just a few hours ago. Okay, his sister having a baby was a completely different thing, but even so, Rick seriously got off seeing a woman writhing on the pleasure-pain border. A border he’d created, with clever, skillful hands, hands that struck and stung and hit the perfect spot with an expertise that had clearly been refined. I gulped. There were just some things a family, even a close family, should never know about one another.

“Luckily, before it got bloody and gruesome I arrived at the hospital,” Lucy said, oblivious to my discomfort and luckily none the wiser to the images and memories cavorting through my head.

“Thank goodness,” Nancy sighed.

I smiled, took a sip of wine and hoped that would be the end of pain talk.

“But I’m sure he’ll be fine when you have his babies, Dana,” Nancy said with a shrug.

Wine burned the back of my throat, fluid gurgled into my lungs. I coughed and spluttered. Jumped from the stool.

“Oh dear, are you all right?” Nancy asked, thumping my back.

I nodded and sucked in a trickle of air, tapped my sternum and reached for a glass of water at the sink.

“Girls, I think it’s a little premature to talk about Dana having Rick’s babies,” Hilary said sternly. “It’s early days, they’ve only just started dating, isn’t that right, dear?”

Glugging back water to ease the fire, I turned to Hilary. “Yes,” I said in a croaky voice. “Early days.”

 

 

By the time the boys had exhausted themselves in the pool, we’d finished another bottle of wine and Lucy and Nancy has spilled several juicy bits of gossip about Rick’s childhood.

The men and kids all tumbled into the kitchen, reaching for the wraps, chips and cookies that were waiting on the counter.

“Oh I nearly forgot. How silly of me,” Hilary said, jumping up and disappearing into the hallway.

“You surviving?” Rick whispered into my ear. He smelled of tangy lemon shower gel.

“Oh yes,” I said with a grin. “Had a great time hearing all about your habit of hiding your dad’s car keys when you didn’t want him to go to work.”

He rolled his eyes. “I was three, and it was a long day waiting for him to come home.”

“And I also learned how you used to like Nancy and Lucy tying your hair into braids so you could look like them.”

“When I was four,” he said, frowning at his sisters who giggled and nudged one another.

“Here we go, come on, kids.” Hilary walked into the kitchen holding a huge chocolate birthday cake covered in lit candles. Bert hovered behind her, his arms out as if ready to catch either her or the cake should there be any faltering.

“Time to sing happy birthday to Uncle Rick,” Hilary called.

 The kids whooped with delight then launched into a very noisy rendition of Happy Birthday. Hilary walked slowly across the kitchen, carefully balancing the cake, the lit candles sending flickers of light over her face.

I joined in the singing as Rick knotted his fingers with mine. When the cake was set before him and the song finished he leaned over it.

“Make a wish, make a wish first,” Elliot shouted, jumping up and down on the spot and clapping.

“Okay.” Rick screwed up his eyes for a second then opened them and blew out the candles in one sharp puff. He grinned at the three small boys.

“What did you wish for?” Ted asked.

“Yeah, what did you wish for, Uncle Rick?” Elliot demanded.

“I can’t tell you that, it will stop it coming true,” Rick said, feigning mock horror.

“Ah, he always wishes for the same thing,” Jack said, nodding confidently and crossing his arms over his skinny chest.

Rick looked at him, surprised. “I do?”

Jack shrugged. “Yeah, you always wish that you could score the winning shot for the Stanley Cup.”

Rick laughed, a real hearty, deep guffaw. “Ah, you got me there, kid, I usually do, but this year, no…” He lifted my hand to his mouth, turned it over and kissed my palm. “This year I wished for something entirely different.”