Page 13 of Prognosis Do Over

‘Are you okay now?’ he asked. Will was starting to have less than pure thoughts now Lou’s tears had dried up, and the familiar scent of her perfume was taking him back to days when holding her had usually led to something else.

Time to get the hell out of her office.

Lou nodded, feeling similar temptations. ‘Do I look like I’ve been crying?’ she asked, as she reluctantly pulled out of his arms and patted around her eyes with her index finger.

‘Yep,’ he said, his hand on the doorknob.

She laughed through her tears. ‘Thank you, Will,’ she murmured.

‘Any time,’ he said, and stepped out of her office before he did something crazy — like turn back and kiss her.

––––––––

Lou braked outsideWill’s house Saturday morning and switched the engine off. She looked up at the old Queenslander, with its beautiful wrought-iron lacework and wide verandah, and recalled how many times she had whiled away a sunny afternoon there in the shade, sipping wine with Will.

She had missed that.

In fact, there were very few things she didn’t miss about her life with Will. She missed his devilish sense of humour and his smooth baritone when he sang in the shower, and having Sunday lunch at his mother’s. She missed waking before him and just staring into his face, coveting his incredibly long eyelashes and waiting for that slow, sexy smile to warm his face when he woke to discover her staring at him.

She missed how goofy he was with the kids at work, and how he would go to any lengths to get a smile from them. She missed his practical jokes. She even missed his knock-knock jokes. She missed the sound of his voice. And his whispers. And his silences. She missed his razor next to hers in the shower. The smell of his aftershave in the morning. She missed being wrapped up in his arms. And feeling him deep inside her.

She missed him. Period.

The baby moved, and for a moment she fantasised that it was hers and Will’s. But it kicked her again, as if to snap her out of it, and she realised that if she’d stayed with Will she would never have been pregnant.

She’d known all about Will’s history when they’d become involved. Working with him on and off through the years she’d been a witness to a lot of it. She’d known he’d been badly burned by Delvine. He’d been up-front about that, but when they’d moved in together she had begun to hope he would be able to get past it one day and fully commit to her.

Maybe have a baby of their own one day.

And they’d had a full year of uninterrupted bliss together, the three of them — Will, Candy and her.

She remembered that time with bittersweet fondness. The flowering of her and Will’s relationship, the bond she had formed with Candy, and the high of knowing that Will was the only man for her. Watching Will’s cautiousness slowly abating, starting to hope that the wounds his ex-wife had inflicted were healing under the influence of her love.

But the abrupt intrusion of Delvine’s return had thrown everything into chaos. She had decided, after deserting Candy for two and a half years, that she wanted to play mummy again and damn the consequences. And her demands that she be allowed a place in her daughter’s life, and hence in theirs, had slowly eroded their perfect time together.

And Lou had watched with dismay as Will had retreated, and with it her dreams of babies and happily-ever-afters. Oh, he had loved her, she had no doubt about that, but Delvine had made their situation untenable. The emotional trauma of being separated from his daughter on Delvine’s days, and the time and energy he’d had to devote to battling his bitter, litigious ex-wife on every little nit-picking aspect had put such a strain on them.

Whoever had said that sometimes love wasn’t enough, had been a wise person indeed.

A stray foot kicked her, protesting the squished confines. Her belly was jammed against the steering wheel and she wondered how much longer she’d be able to drive without impinging the baby’s circulation. If only she’d been taller, she wouldn’t have needed to sit so close to the wheel to reach the pedals, and the rapidly growing baby would have had more room.

She looked down at her tummy, a steak of anxiety putting a jitter in her pulse. How was this supposed to get out again? Logistically it just didn’t seem possible.

Well, that was what she got for agreeing to be a surrogate for two giants! Jan had been one inch off six foot, and Martin had been four inches over. At a petite five-two, Lou had often coveted her sister’s height. But then Jan had coveted Lou’s hair...so the grass was always greener.

Lou unbuckled the restrictive seat belt, and was climbing out of the car when Candice came running out of the house, screaming excitedly, her arms flung wide.

Candy! God, how she had missed her too.

She had known Will’s child since she’d been a charming two-year-old toddler with a gappy smile. Losing Candy had been as much of a wrench as losing Will.

Tears welled in Lou’s eyes as a miniature version of Will threw herself at her. She braced her body for the impact and caught Candy up in her arms before the little girl could permanently maim her or the baby. Lou expected the baby to protest the sudden weight of an eight-year-old pressing into it, as it had the steering wheel, but it was curiously silent.

‘Lou, Lou, Lou,’ said Candy into Lou’s neck. ‘I’ve missed you!’ She pulled back and looked earnestly at Lou. ‘Did you miss me? I loved your letters. Thank you, thank you for writing to me.’

Lou looked into Will’s daughter’s face. ‘Of course I missed you. It’s so good to see you!’ And she hugged the little girl into her neck again, squeezing her tight.

Lou’s back started to protest, so she put Candy down, taking her hand and walking towards the house. ‘What about Daddy?’ Candy asked, looking up at Lou and shading her eyes from the midday sun with her hand. ‘Did you miss him too?’

---