CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Drake

I stared at Ainsley. I couldn't make sense of what she'd just said. Was it possible?

“Sorry?” I said. “I... Uh... Ainsley? Really? Are you sure?”

She nodded. The tears were pouring down her cheeks. I swallowed hard, feeling my heart expand with a feeling of absolute joy.

“Drake,” she said, sobbing. “I am sure. I... I'm sorry.”

I took her shoulders gently in my hands. “Ainsley. What? Why?”

She sniffed. “Why what?” Her big brown eyes were miserable.

“Why are you sorry? My love!” I shook my head. “I... You... I can't believe it!”

I was sobbing too, then. I couldn't make any sense of what she said. Ainsley Johnson, the girl I loved, was carrying my baby. I was going to have a child.

I felt as if the sun had come out inside me. This was worth everything. All the chaos and confusion of the past months, all the subterfuge and frustration of the past years. This was the best thing ever.

“I... I'm sorry, Drake,” she murmured in a small voice. “I... If you don't want this, we could...we can...” She shook her head, not able to get the words out.

“No,” I said, surprised by the growl of my own voice. “No, love. How can you think I'm angry? This is the best thing anyone's ever done!”

She grinned at me through her tears. “Truly?”

“Of course!” I said. I kissed the top of her head, very gently. “This is the most amazing...but I have so many questions!” I said with a laugh. Things were suddenly making sense to me. “How do you know?” I asked.

“Well, your aunt guessed,” Ainsley said with a thin-lipped smile.

“She did?” I shook my head, surprised. “Aunt Jay? How did she…?”

“The way I was feeling so sick in the mornings and evenings. I should have thought of it too, I guess. Only, with all the tension and those guys following us I... I never thought of it.” She chuckled and I took her hand in mine.

“My child,” I said in amazement. “I can't...I can't believe it.”

“That makes two of us.”

We sat in silence for a while. I stroked her hair.

“You're going to give birth in nine months from now,” I said with some wonder.

She chuckled. “How it usually happens, yes.”

I grinned at her. “I know. I'm dumb about these things.”

She shook her head. “No, you're not. I don't know much more than you do, really. I didn't even guess,” she said.

I laughed. I kissed her hair.

“It's early days yet,” she cautioned. “I don't know if I should even have told you...I mean...a lot can happen in the first months.”

“I know,” I said, feeling a sudden surge of protective care in my heart. “But I'm glad you did. Thank you for trusting me.”

She smiled up at me. “Of course I did,” she said.

“I'm glad.”

We both grinned. I sat there on the bed with her with my mind reeling. It didn't seem possible! But it was possible. We'd certainly spent enough nights making sure it was possible. I flushed scarlet.

“I'm so pleased,” I told her again. “This is the best news of my life.”

She smiled up at me and we sat on the bed together, me with my arm around her. We were still sitting like that when I heard my aunt yell from the kitchen.

“Drake?”

“Yes, aunt?” I called through the door.

“We forgot the cake! Oh, hell. I hope it's not burned...”

“I'll come down now, aunt,” I promised. I'd taught her my recipe for Red Velvet cake and I could already smell a thin thread of smoke from the kitchen.

“I think tea might be ready,” I said with a smile as I went back to the bed.

Ainsley gave me a small grin. “Sounds good.”

I chuckled. “Right now the whole world sounds good,” I said. I had this big solid gold ball of happiness filling me and spreading through my whole body. It was probably the best feeling ever. I wrapped my arms around her and held her close.

“Chaps,” Aunt yelled up from the kitchen. “I'm just icing this cake. It's a bit warm but I'm going to do it now so it's ready by tea-time... Come down in about ten minutes.”

“Thanks, aunt,” I yelled back. I looked at Ainsley and she looked at me. She grinned. “Shall we go down?” I asked.

“Sounds good,” she nodded. “I'm so hungry I could eat a whole English breakfast all over again.”

We both laughed and headed downstairs to the kitchen.

When we got there, Aunt looked at us with a funny smile. “Hello, lovelies,” she said. She was working on her own version of Red Velvet cake and she looked radiant.

“Aunt,” I said softly.

“Yes, dear?”

I looked at Ainsley and she looked at me.

“It's early yet,” I said, remembering what Ainsley had said to me. “But we have some news we'd like to share with you.”

“Yes?” she asked. I had this feeling that she knew what we were going to say, because she looked from Ainsley to me and back again slowly.

“We're going to have a baby.”

I saw her face light up.

“Oh! Drake! My dear...” She was ecstatic. Anyone would think that she had just won the lottery. She stood and embraced me and then Ainsley. “I... I don't know what to say! Oh, you dears. What a surprise. What a surprise...”

She sat back down again, seeming too dazed to know what to say next. I had not been expecting a reaction like that. To be honest, it was the last thing I expected. The best-case scenario, for me, was she wouldn’t condemn us for not being married. The absolute joy on her face was really a delight.

I looked at Ainsley. To my surprise, she was tearing up.

“Thank you,” she said to Aunt Jay. “In all this... confusion... It's so good to feel loved.”

I smiled at her and she smiled back.

“Well,” Aunt Jay said. “Whatever you need, you must just tell me. It's been too long since I had a baby to plan for...”

It was a pleasure to see how happy she was for us.

Later, when we'd finished the tea and the delicious cake – I told Aunt her London-style Red Velvet cake was even better than the one from the States – Ainsley and I talked.

“We have six months here,” I said to her softly. “We will need to make a plan after that.”

“I know,” she said. “I don't know what to say.”

“You know,” I said slowly. “Maybe you should go back to the States. I can't expect you to be on the run with me when you're carrying my child.”

In response she pushed me onto the bed and leaned over me, looking into my eyes. “Drake,” she said with a big smile, “your idea of me needs some revision. How can you possibly expect I wouldn't want to be right here with you? Especially when I'm pregnant with your baby.”

I felt my heart swell with tenderness. I reached up and we kissed. All the same, I was worried. I had an idea of what we might do, though. I would be on the phone tomorrow. In the meanwhile, I had some other plans as well. I would start looking into those at the same time.

“Ainsley,” I whispered now.

“Mm?”

“I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” she said. She put her head on my chest and we lay like that and I knew I was the happiest man alive.