The Family Trap (28 page)

‘You were magnificent,’ Paul tells me for the twentieth time, and I give a little self-deprecating smile.

‘I know,’ I say, laughing. ‘It was nothing, really.’

‘Nothing? I thought I was going to pass out at the end there. And you, you just kept on going, and going ... Wow, Stella. I don’t know how you did it.’

‘But you’re glad I did, right?’

The tears in his eyes tell me yes.

‘I thought I’d lost you, you know,’ he says, his voice breaking. ‘Not when you called off the wedding. Not then. I thought … I always thought we’d sort it out.’

‘I can’t believe you actually thought that I was–’

‘Yes, well. Jumping to conclusions is what I do best, right? But what I found really hard was how you seemed so accepting of everything. Like you could deal with it either way. With or without me.’

This is the time now. The time for truths. I’m not basing our relationship on anything else from now on. Because it’s not just us anymore. Now we’re a family.

No more misunderstandings. No more assumptions. And no more lies.

‘I could, Paul,’ I say softly, carefully. ‘I could deal with it either way.’

His face turns from happy to confused to downright worried. I press on quickly.

‘I guess I realised at some point along the line that I could live without you. That I wouldn’t fall apart without you, that I’d manage, somehow. Not that I wanted to, you have to understand that. If I could have turned back the clock, made it all right again, I would have.

‘But it was realising that I
could
live without you that made me realise I don’t want to. Do you understand? I wanted us to be together all along, but I wanted it to be for all the right reasons. I didn’t want to trap you into a life that wasn’t right for you. I wanted our future to be based on the truth, on wanting the same things out of life. Not out of duty or responsibility. Or fear.’

I can see in his eyes that he doesn’t quite get it, but that’s OK. He’s mollified by my words, and in time he’ll understand. We’ll be a normal couple, no dramas, no more grand sweeping gestures. Just the usual minor misunderstandings and silly rows. And then we’ll get on with our lives. Me. Paul. And baby.

‘I’d like you to name him,’ I say, as we gaze down at our son together.

‘Really? You would?’

‘As long as it’s not something crazy, yes.’

‘David,’ he says, so quickly I know he can’t have just this minute thought of it.

‘David?’

‘It means “beloved”.’ Paul looks into my eyes. And then he says it again, and kisses my swollen mouth.

‘Beloved,’ I repeat. ‘It’s perfect. But how on earth did you know that?’

Paul puts his hand inside his jacket pocket and pulls out a dog-eared book of baby names. He also pulls out a slim volume about the stages of pregnancy and a leaflet on positive parenting. He shrugs sheepishly. ‘I just kept hoping,’ he says.

‘David,’ I whisper, holding my baby up to my face and inhaling his little puffs of breath.

‘I’d like to give you this, too, if you’ll take it.’

I look round, but Paul has disappeared. Then I see he hasn’t disappeared but is kneeling on the floor on one knee. He holds out the ring I last saw swimming in a pool of amniotic fluid, and places it on the tip of my enormous finger.

‘I hope you wiped it,’ I tell him.

‘I hope your fingers go back to their normal size,’ he counters.

‘Well?’ he says. ‘Will you marry me? Properly, this time?’

I shrug, and snuggle David a little higher on my chest. ‘Oh, all right then. I suppose I might as well.’

THE END

Acknowledgements

As always, I’d like to say a great big thank you to my husband, Jez, for his support and encouragement. Thanks to Chris Howard for another excellent cover, and to ace proofreader Jude White. I’d also like to thank my wonderful Beta readers: Emma Harrison, Dawn Hamilton, Marina Sofia, Vikki Thompson, Debbie Young, Lynsey James, and Pauline Wiles – you guys are the best. Most of all, I’d like to thank the thousands of lovely readers who have read and enjoyed
Can’t Live Without
. Thanks for the great reviews and the messages of support on Facebook and Twitter – I hope you enjoyed
The Family Trap
just as much.

To find out more about my books, visit me at
www.joannephillips.co.uk
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Also by Joanne Phillips

Can’t Live Without

How does it feel to lose everything you own?

Stella Hill is proud of the home she's created for herself and her daughter. She's worked hard to buy the very best of everything ... But when she wakes one morning to find her kitchen on fire, Stella knows her life will never be the same again.

At least she has Paul to lean on: Paul Smart, owner of Smart Homes, confirmed bachelor and unknowing recipient of a schoolgirl crush Stella never quite got over ... When the charismatic John Dean turns up after sixteen years, Stella is determined not to fall for him again. Because now her heart belongs elsewhere. Or does it?

With a boss she's half in love with, a teenage daughter about to go seriously off the rails, a spendaholic mother, and a house to rebuild, Stella's problems are only just beginning.

Can Stella put her life - and her home - back together again? And will she ever realise just what it is she really can't live without?

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Can’t Live Without