Page 87 of Love Thief

He nods at me. “I’m here, Kiddo. You’ve got lots of people in your corner, probably more than you think.”

“We will look after you,” Judes states with conviction, “more so now as you’re having twins. I can’t believe it. Talk about Kellen, go big or go home, that man is off the scale.” He smiles at me, his eyes lighting up as he contemplates the babies. “Are we telling the others, James and Bucky?”

“Not today, unless they’re at home, then yes. I don’t want to keep anything from them. I’ll tell James after I tell Kellen. Oh god, we had better have Xan there in case he has a meltdown. In fact, I know he will.” I fall silent, worrying over the reaction I know is coming.

“Shall we go to the lakes for a few days? So he doesn’t come for you? I do think if you’ve gone past the sixteen week marker, he may, after a while, feel a bit better.” Jude, ever the optimist.

“He won’t, but I suppose it won’t hurt. We could go look at those buildings that were coming up for auction up there. One of my clients wants one, so we could go look,” I say hopefully, trying to kid myself it just might be okay.

“Are you going to be alright to drive that far?” he muses. “I suppose we could go by train to Birmingham and then drive further north. Are they near Windermere? How many days do you want to try and get away with?” Jude enquires. He’s hatching a cunning plan.

“Well, he won’t come today or tomorrow, then he’s off to Scotland. I was supposed to be going.” I gulp.

“Let’s go up there as an urgent rush job and I’ll take the flack, plead uselessness. That will give us another week,” Jude offers.

I think about the schedule for the next few weeks. “They don’t have much after Scotland til the twentieth, but that is really next week, then it's Suffolk, Sheffield, Cornwall then Leeds,” I reel off the list.

“We’ll go tomorrow.” He’s decisive. “You’re more or less sixteen weeks then, and it’ll give you a bit of time to think about what you want to tell him,” Jude says.

“I feel so happy, so sad, so terrified all in one. A lot of things make sense now. I’ve been all over the place these past few weeks, but it was these two.” I rub my stomach.

Jude beams at me. “Twins. Jesus, you don’t do anything by halves. I can’t wait.”

I look at him incredulously. “Really?” My jaw is practically on the floor.

“Yes, really. It was too quiet at home. We need some young ‘uns again.”

“I think you have pregnancy brain. It makes you forget how hard it was and only remember the good bits. James at two times two. Jude, I’m thirty six, I’ll be thirty-seven by the time I have them. I’m classed as a geriatric pregnancy!” I really think he’s lost the plot. But he just keeps smiling.

“Yes, but you can afford help this time around. And you have all of us with our experience. Piece of cake.” He sits, grinning at me and Tommy.

“Yep, that’s the babies sorted, we just need to keep the dad on the straight and narrow. That is not going to be easy. In fact, I know it’s not going to happen.”

My stomach starts to churn again as the nerves take over and I remember the tormented look on Kell's face when he told me about his unborn children. Tears well again in my eyes.

“He’ll come around, eventually,” says Tommy.

“I hope it’s before they’re born, but I’m not holding my breath on that one. Do you want to be my partner again, Jude? Or shall I ask Jonno this time. If he does ditch me, it’s a lot, and you have, err, Is–.” I practically choke on her name. Jude looks at me sharply.

“We can do it together, jointly. Family above all, Evie.” He looks a bit insulted and a little hurt. “I think Jonno would like to. He still goes on about being your favourite. To be honest, I use being your pregnancy partner last time as a point of reference as to why he isn’t.”

We laugh and I start to feel mildly optimistic. I can’t stop touching my stomach now I know.

“Your stomach is so flat for more or less sixteen weeks, you can’t tell you’re pregnant at all.”

“My boobs are bigger, apparently. Kell commented the other day.”

“He would notice that.” Jude shakes his head at me. “Let’s go home. Are you coming to us? I’d prefer if you did, or I can come to yours. Either way, I’d rather someone as well as Tommy be with you.”

“I’d rather be at home. I need to do some work stuff if I’m jetting up to the lakes. Do you mind?”

“Nope let's go get my stuff.”

Kellen is not a happy camper. In fact, he’s furious that I’ve taken off to the lakes. He’d expected me in Devon to go to Dundee by plane. I was a no show.

I ring him from Windermere in the lake district, which is hard because the signal is awful. I hook in to the internet and facetime him.

“What the fuck are you playing at?” he shouts at me. “Why aren’t you here? Everyone else has someone. I’ve got a fucking wife and yet not here.”

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