Page 48 of The Baby Behind Their Marriage Merger

Lex told them that if they didn’t stop shouting immediately they wouldn’t be allowed to be her flower girls, and silence descended.

Addi couldn’t help but notice Jude didn’t take his eyes off her face.

‘Hey,’ he said, sitting down beside her.

She cocked her head and folded her arms across her chest. ‘I don’t remember making my way home.’

‘You came to quite quickly after fainting, but as soon as I picked you up to carry you to my car you fell asleep. You’ve been sleeping for the past five hours.’

Wow.‘That long?’

‘I called your gynaecologist and she said that it’s probably a stress reaction. The body has a way of shutting down eventually.’

‘I guess it knew I could stop fighting and let go,’ Addi agreed.

She folded the material of the duvet between her fingers and tried to work out how to ask him why he’d announced to the courthouse, and her family, that they were married. All it would do was reignite the press’s curiosity. ‘Why did you come to the courthouse and why did you...?’

‘Tell everyone we were married?’ He lifted her hand and placed his mouth on her knuckles, his eyes on hers. ‘Because wherever you are is where I should be. And because I want the world to know how lucky I am to call you my wife.’

‘I don’t understand, Jude.’

He dropped her hand, placed it on his thigh and held down her hand. ‘I’ve made a couple of mistakes when it comes to trusting women, Ads, trusting people, but the mistakes weren’t half as bad as I thought they were. Yes, I was conned by Marina, but I was a kid. I trusted Jane, I thought she had more integrity than she did. Yes, I failed, but we are allowed to fail, that’s how we learn. But my stupidest, most thoughtless, asinine and dumb-ass decision was to lose you.’

He closed his eyes and gripped the bridge of his nose, looking as if he was in physical pain. ‘These past ten days have been awful without you. I have missed you in every conceivable way. My comment in the airport was the biggest error I have ever made and one I’ve regretted every day, in every way, since. My only excuse is that I was scared.’

‘Of?’

His eyes traced her face and, within them, she saw love, fear and, maybe, a little hope. ‘Loving you, losing you, messing this up, taking a chance. From the moment I saw you at the Vane, you scrambled my brains. I’m still trying to work out which way is up.’

Jude leaned forward and placed his forehead against hers. ‘I love you so much, Ads. I love the baby growing inside you but you,you,are my compass point. Nothing,nothing, is more important than you.’

Addi felt a fresh batch of tears roll down her face, but she felt lighter and brighter, as if her body was expelling the last of its angst and letting sunlight in. She lifted her arms to drape them around his neck. ‘I love you too, Jude.’ Her mouth drifted across his and, when their kiss deepened, she stepped into a band of pure, bright light, both calm and wonderfully exciting.

She was about to climb into his lap to get closer when Jude pulled back and the sound of childish giggles drifted over to her. Without missing a beat, she picked up a pillow and hurled it at the door with pinpoint accuracy. The door slammed shut again and they heard the sound of small feet scampering away.

‘Sorry,’ she whispered. ‘They can be rather full-on.’

He grinned. ‘I’ll get used to it,’ he told her. ‘But we’ll need to start locking the door.’

Jude moved to sit beside her on the bed and slung his arm around her, pulling her to his side. This was where she belonged, she thought. Right here. Wherever he was.

‘What now?’ she asked, resting her hand on his flat stomach.

He placed a kiss on her head. ‘Well, you have a few options. After talking to Cole, it looks like Storm is going to use the apartment above the garage on his mini-estate and he’s employing an au pair for the girls so Lex can finish her degree. You can move into his cottage, stay here or...’

None of those options appealed. ‘Or...?’

‘Or we live together here, or at my flat, and spend the weekends with or without the girls at my place in Franschhoek. Or we can go house-shopping and try and find something new, close to Cole and Lex’s house, a place big enough for the girls to stay over when Lex and Cole need a break.’

She was about to tell him that she was keen on that option when he held up his hand. ‘I need to say something else...’

She pulled back, a little concerned, and waited anxiously while he found his words. ‘I know how independent you are, and I know I promised you a job at Fisher—and it’s there, any time you want it.’

‘But?’

‘But I’d like you to take a break. I’d like you to let me take care of you. You’ve had the incredible responsibility of making all the decisions all the time, the stress of making money stretch and keeping this family together, and I would like you to take a few months off. I can’t see you not working—you need the stimulation. I’m thinking that maybe, when you are ready to jump back in, you could act as a trouble-shooter for Fisher, or maybe manage your own group of hotels.’

Huh.‘I don’t have a group of hotels, Jude.’

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