Page 8 of The Un-Apparent Heir

“But?”

“But—and don’t start shouting here—but I’m pregnant,” Sanne whispered.

Paul’s face broke from a look of expectation into sheer joy.

“We’re having a baby?”

He grew loud and bombastic.

“Paul, I said?—”

Paul didn’t listen. He spun Sanne before wrapping her up in a great big kiss.

“We’re having a baby,” he said, in a daze.

“Yes, Paul, we are having a baby. I hope,” Sanne giggled. “God, you’re like a child on Christmas morning.”

“I am elated! You couldn’t come up with a better present, honestly. And this one was even fun to assemble—not a chore!”

Sanne smiled and slowly kissed Paul.

“It will be a good year for us,” Sanne said.

“Hold this,” Natalie grunted, foisting a baby into Ed’s arms.

“I thought he was asleep?” Ed asked.

“He had a poo incident. I called and asked for help, but none came.”

“How? Was that when you shouted ‘Mayday. We’re coming in heavy?’ Because it wasn’t clear you needed help.”

“What is it you thought I needed?”

“Natalie, none of that stuff makes sense to me—or anyone, really.”

Natalie stared at her phone, typing. Ed looked at the baby, now wide awake and smiling. The baby’s big blue eyes and wild red hair just made him look more precious as he grew.

“He looks almost like a Disney cartoon,” Ed remarked. “In the best way. He’s bloody adorable.”

“Until he shits on you. Then not so much,” Natalie said. “It’s fine. If I can shit in a hole, I can clean it off a baby.”

Ed snickered. “Natalie, you are so strange.”

“You married me!”

“What does coming in heavy even mean, Nat?”

“Overweight. You might say it if you had to do a return after takeoff and there was no time to dump fuel or if you knew you were landing overweight. It lets the tower know to give you lots of length of runway. You take longer to stop.”

“Thanks. What are you doing?” Ed asked.

“Oh, well, I need both hands because Winston needs help. They’re grounded. I had to explain to him that if a seven-four can’t take off, a Leer won’t, either. Lucy is feeling the lowest right now and he’s neglected her. I’m trying to find him a good hotel in London she won’t hate.”

“Someday, I think you and Lucy will leave us for one another.”

“Given the George-Lucy subplot, that would be a startling and saucy turn of events. I like it,” Natalie said. “Sadly, I’m not into women like that and my libido is too high to put up with it. Ah, yes, the Shangri-La. That’s the new one at The Shard. She’ll be impressed.”

“If she is so desperate for alone time with Winston, does it even matter where the venue is?”

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