Happily Ever After_ - Benison Anne O'Reilly [123]
‘I’ve thought a lot about the fact that this baby may not be mine - actually I’ve thought about pretty much nothing else since I heard - and I keep coming back to the same conclusion. I don’t really care. In fact, I think you could have half a dozen babies by several different fathers and I would still feel the same. I want us to be together.
‘And even though you are a hopeless old unromantic I have a feeling that’s what you want too…Yes?…Are you nodding?…Yes…So why don’t you stop that crying and give me a kiss and I’ll go and get this unpleasantness over, then I’ll call you again later, okay?’
‘Okay.’
Then he kissed me. And it wasn’t a chaste peck on the cheek. It was a full on kiss on the mouth. And even though I had all these libido-sapping pregnancy hormones circulating around my body it produced the same familiar feeling his kisses had always provoked.
‘I really have to go now,’ he said eventually. ‘After my last night’s effort I think she knows what’s coming but it would still be bad form to keep her waiting.’
‘I’m sorry. I made the wrong choice in November,’ I said, blubbering anew like a complete snivelling idiot.
‘I know you did, but it doesn’t matter now.’
As I closed the car door I realised I’d forgotten to say something, so I tapped on the window and mouthed the words: ‘I love you.’ He smiled, as if to say, ‘I know’, and drove off.
Mum must have seen us kissing because as I walked - nay floated - to the front door she called out to me, ‘Eleanor, exactly who is that young man?’
‘Ahh Mum, I think I owe you an explanation.’
Epilogue
So she married her handsome prince and they lived happily
ever after.
Real epilogue
I hope you’ll forgive me that little joke. I think you’d prefer some more detail.
Anyway we’re not married, although we’re planning to. Personally I could take or leave this whole marriage caper, but Alex’s mum wants him to make an honest woman out of me and seeing she has been so nice about the whole thing I’m keen to stay on her good side. Besides, I’ve been thinking it would be a good idea to get a wedding ring on this man - it might keep a few of the marauding females away.
So what do I need to tell you?
After Mum caught me kissing Alex, I obviously had to come clean with my parents. To say they were surprised is an understatement.
The next day Alex came over for afternoon tea to meet them. It is probably one of the only times I’ve ever seen him ill at ease. In the end it all went harmoniously enough, although the conversation was a little stilted and not in the least helped by my younger sister, who sat on the leather lounge in full view of me (but not my parents or Alex, whose view of her was obscured) and performed a ridiculous charade along the lines of: Hubba hubba - I can’t believe you were shagging him all along and now you could be pregnant with his baby! (I’ll leave you to imagine her mime actions). Here was I trying to appear serious and contrite and having to stifle a giggle at the time was not a good look.
After Alex had left she pulled me aside and whispered in a superior air, ‘I knew you were trying to pull that night of the dinner dance.’
My mother humphed around the house for several days after that, pursing her lips and muttering, ‘In my day people took their vows of fidelity seriously,’ so I advised Alex it would be wise for us to keep a low profile for a while. Almost as soon as I said this Mum turned around to me and announced, ‘If you want to stay at Alex’s place on Saturday night, I’m sure Issy will be fine here with us.’
What? One moment she’s reprimanding me for my deplorable