Page 5 of The Un-Apparent Heir

“Lucy, I am his godmother and your best mate. It is the least I can do. Besides, I miss the dogs.”

“You could take or leave the baby?” Lucy giggled.

“Oh my God, no! Malcolm is darling. But I do love the furbabies.”

“Just admit that you prefer dogs to human children.”

“Never tell Ed, but yes. I am sure I will feel differently about ours.”

Lucy smiled. “You will. It will be the most intense, beautiful love you have ever felt.”

Natalie looked forward to it. She wondered if their child might look more like Ed or her. She contemplated if they would be good at sports or would want to be a pilot—maybe both? She thought about how beautiful it would feel to hold a baby—their baby—for the first time and bring it home. She pictured their parents over the moon and obsessed.

It was all so close. Natalie crossed her fingers and toes it didn’t take too long.

2

BIG NEWS

Lucy and Winston intended to fly to Switzerland for a winter getaway. After Winston admitted he was unsure about travelling, Lucy launched into a tangent. She felt unloved. Deep down, she knew her husband loved her. She wanted him to want her. She needed him too long to spend time with her—alone, in bed, naked.

Lucy’s mother blew up her phone when they reached the private terminal. She swore Lucy’s father was sick as a dog but provided no specifics. Lucy hadn’t spoken to her father in nearly two years and wasn’t keen to let another of her mother’s attempts to reunite them ruin the only weekend they’d been away since having the baby.

Winston was not the planner Lucy was. Her entire job revolved around organising chaos. Winston liked living in a slightly chaotic world. He thrived on it. Lucy could appreciate that. It kept things light. However, he knew that since Lucy organised chaos for a living, he should treat her taking it off her plate sometimes.

Lucy appreciated his planning but still felt her life was in flux.

“We’re going to be stuck here an eternity,” Winston sighed. “If we even get off the ground at all. Nat says it’s something called crosswinds.”

“You’re texting Natalie right now?”

“Well, first I was just checking on the baby, now I’m just wondering why we aren’t moving.”

Lucy let out a loud, frustrated groan.

“What?”

“Tony, the whole point of this trip is for us to spend time with one another not worrying about the baby. Do not spend the entire time on the phone with Natalie.”

“I am not trying?—”

The captain cut Winston off.

“Apologies, ladies and gentlemen, but we will not head out this evening as planned. Technical issues and wind sheer have us grounded. See the ground crew for rebooking.”

Lucy wanted to collapse in a puddle of tears. They were stuck only 15 minutes from their own house—stranded at bloody Heathrow—and nowhere near her goal of wild, childfree togetherness. She saw the wheels turning. Winston wanted to go home and wake Malcolm.

“No, no, no,” Lucy shook her head.

“We should go home and?—”

Lucy burst into tears. Winston stopped, looking at her with confusion.

“Lucy, what is going on?”

“You don’t want me. You don’t want me, Winston. You’d rather run home to the baby than spend an evening alone with me. I don’t exist. I don’t… matter. Like, as a person. Not as your wife. Not as the mother of your child, but just as Lucy. I want to be wanted.”

“Oh, Luce, that isn’t true,” Winston said.

---