Authors: Keren Hughes
Thirty-Four
Drake
After receiving Anna’s text, I became worried. I’m sat here at work, wondering what she needs to say to me. She once told me that all women know the words
‘we need to talk’
actually mean
‘I’m finishing with you.’
So I’m sat with my work piling up while I can’t bring myself to do any of it. Is she having second thoughts about us? Are we moving too quickly? Am I going to lose her again?
So many thoughts run through my mind that it’s hard to hold on to one thought at a time.
“Drake, are you working today? I need those files on my desk by the end of the day,” my boss asked from the door to his office.
“Sorry, boss, I’m…umm…” I get up and make my way to Guy’s office. “Can we talk in private, boss?”
He steps aside and ushers me into his office, closing the door behind him. “What’s up, Drake?”
I scrub a hand over my face, feeling the day old stubble scratch my palm. “I might need to leave early, Guy. There’s…stuff going on. My mind isn’t on my work.”
Having taken a lot of time off for rehab, I don’t think Guy will like the idea of me taking a half day.
“Personal stuff?”
“Yeah, boss. I don’t know what exactly, but I know Anna needs me at home.”
“Then go. You can make up the time over the rest of the week.”
To say I’m shocked is an understatement. Guy must see that on my face because he smiles at me and repeats himself.
“Thanks, Guy. I will be sure to make it up. Can the files on my desk be sorted by someone else or do you need me to do something before I go?”
“Elliot can take them. Pass them to him on your way out. Really, Drake, I can see you’re distracted and you’re neither use nor ornament here. Go home to your wife.” He places a reassuring hand on my shoulder.
“Thanks. I just have a feeling something is wrong.”
“Then your wife needs you more than we do. Go. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
I get up and shake his hand in thanks before leaving the room.
Walking over to my desk, I grab the files Guy needs sorting and pass them to Elliot. “Sorry to land this on you, buddy, but I have to take an early dart and Guy said you could handle these files.”
I really am sorry too. I don’t ever leave before my work is done. But Elliot knows I’d do the same for him, and have done on a couple of occasions before now.
“That’s okay, Drake. I hate to point this out—but we’re friends so I can say it—you look distracted, and dare I say upset.”
“Yeah mate, I got a text that has me totally distracted and unable to focus on work. Guy has given me permission to leave early to sort whatever it is.”
“Go get it sorted, buddy. Work will still be here tomorrow.”
“More’s the pity,” I reply, attempting a laugh and failing.
I turn my computer off and take my key card out of the system. I’m getting more nervous by the minute. Is Anna really finishing with me? I know I hurt her and we’ve been through a lot, but I don’t know what I’ll do if she’s decided she can’t give us a second chance after all.
***
My head really isn’t in the game, so I get the taxi to pull up at the local park. I pay the driver and get out for a breath of fresh air. The back of the taxi felt stifling. It’s a good job I am still on a driving ban because my head wouldn’t have been straight enough to drive home.
Walking around the park, I see a familiar face. What could she be doing here? Well, it’s a park…you bring your kids to play…but what are the chances of her being here on the one day I am? I don’t know whether to go over and say hi or not. She still hasn’t sent me any more messages to get in contact and I’ve been trying to pluck up the courage. Maybe I should take this coincidence as a sign.
“Hello, Rachel,” I say as I walk over to her.
“Drake?”
The shock registers on her face, quickly followed by suspicion.
I hold my hands in the air.
“I’m not following you or anything. I just needed a breath of fresh air and when I got here, I saw you.”
She regards me closely before speaking.
“I reached out to you months ago. I never heard back, so I presumed you weren’t interested.”
“I…umm…” I’m tongue-tied and don’t know what to tell her.
“You what, Drake?”
“It’s a long story. One I don’t have time to tell right now. I have to get home, but I want to talk to you and explain everything.”
Suspicion is evident as she looks me right in the eyes.
“Really, Rachel, I want to talk.”
“It’s been months, Drake. No contact for nine months, to be precise. So what makes you think I’d want to talk to you now?”
There’s venom in her voice, restrained for the sake of her daughter—our daughter—Morgana, who is playing on the swings a few feet from us.
“I’m sorry, Rachel, really I am. I don’t expect you to believe me, but it’s true. I don’t think we should talk here in front of Morgana, do you?”
“No. I don’t want her knowing who you are.”
That hurts like a knife to my gut. I know she didn’t want me in her life from the very start, but she reached out to me. What did she want if she didn’t want Morgana to know who I was?
“That’s fair enough,” I choke out, trying to get the words out around the lump in my throat.
Rachel doesn’t speak for a long moment and when she does, I can tell the shock registers on my face.
“Can we exchange numbers? We can arrange a time to talk, in private.”
“Sure, that would be good.”
I take my phone out and punch in the number she gives me. I one-ring it so she has my number too.
“I guess I’ll be heading home. Should I wait for you to contact me?”
“The ball is firmly in your court, Drake. Call me sometime.”
“I will.”
She’s back to regarding me with suspicion.
“I really will, Rachel. Like I said, it’s a long story and not one for when little ears are present to overhear.”
“Okay.”
She sighs and turns to look at Morgana.
“She’s beautiful,” I remark as I look at our daughter.
I stand still for a moment, drinking in the sight. Morgana has long brown hair that looks slightly curly. It blows in the breeze as she swings back and forth. She giggles as she goes higher.
“She is,” Rachel replies curtly.
I take that as my cue to leave. I walk away, only looking back over my shoulder once. Rachel is behind Morgana, pushing her so that she swings higher. My daughter is nearly eight years old and I’ve missed out on so much.
***
I get home to find Anna’s car is missing from the driveway. I decide to text her and let her know I’m home.
Drake: Hey Cariad, Guy let me leave early, so I’m home waiting for you. xx
I flick the coffee machine on as I await a reply. It’s not long before my phone chimes.
Anna: You’re home already? I’ve just popped to the shops. Be back soon. Xx
Drake: See you soon. Love you. xx
Anna: Love you too, baby. Xx
I look at the last text and re-read it a couple of times. She said she loves me too, just like she normally would. But if she’s planning on finishing things, would she say that? Or is she just unable to say anything via text because she wants to do it face to face? I’m overthinking things so I put down my mug and go upstairs to our room. I strip and head for our en-suite.
The shower didn’t really help clear my head. I’m still a mess as I walk back into the bedroom to dry off and get dressed.
“Drake, where are you? I’m home, baby.”
Anna’s voice sounds happy as she calls out. Her happiness confuses me even more. What’s going on here?
“I’m upstairs, be down in a sec.”
I hurry to finish getting dressed and practically run down the stairs to greet her.
“Hey, baby,” Anna says as she sees me enter the kitchen.
She walks up to me and puts her arms around my neck. I look down at her and place a soft kiss on her lips. Her mouth opens to me and her tongue dances with mine as she deepens the kiss. The taste of her is enough to get my cock twitching in my jeans, but I’m trying not to think along those lines right now. Not knowing what she needs to talk about is messing with everything. Here I was thinking I didn’t do emotions, but it turns out that perhaps I do after all. It’s all down to Anna. She taught me how to love.
Breaking the kiss, she pulls back to look at me. I look for a hint of what’s to come in the expression on her face, but all I see is a happy smile. Her eyes shine with love and adoration. Maybe I completely misread her message. Her body language and the look on her face aren’t telling me she wants to end things. That kiss certainly didn’t feel like a goodbye either.
Thirty-Five
Annalise
After doing the test, I felt a little bit better, well enough to drive to the shop and grab some things I was going to try to help ease my morning sickness. I’d been sick a lot when I was pregnant with Ayden and Lynne had made me drink a lot of peppermint tea. It helped quell the sickness somewhat and so did the multivitamins and a few other tips I’d seen on the internet.
I got a text from Drake to say he was home early, so I’d finished shopping and headed home.
He wasn’t in the lounge or the kitchen, so I called out to him. He came downstairs moments later dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, his hair wet from the shower he must have taken. I pulled him in for a hug and smelled the shower gel on his skin. Thankfully it wasn’t a scent that had me rushing to be sick. I’d found the smallest things were setting me off. I kissed him and felt butterflies in my tummy as I prepared to tell him the news.
Drake put the coffee machine on and I grabbed myself a bottle of water from the fridge. I pulled a lemon out of my shopping bag and began to slice it up. I added some slices to my water, along with some ice cubes. Supposedly fresh lemons in a glass of water was another tip to help with the sickness. I was willing to try anything.
“So, you said we needed to talk.”
I was glad Drake was the first to bring it up. I’d been going over it in my head and didn’t know how to approach the subject.
“Yeah…” I trailed off.
I suddenly felt very nervous. Would he be happy with this news? If he wasn’t, was it enough to send him back to the bottle? I would hate myself if I drove him to drink again.
“What is it? Cariad, you can tell me anything.” Drake stood in front of me and took my hands in his.
“I think we ought to go and sit down.”
I was stalling for time. I had been excited to tell him this morning, but now the time was here, my palms felt clammy and my stomach felt uneasy. Drake let go of one of my hands, but held the other in his as he guided me into the lounge. I took my water with me, feeling I would need it.
We took a seat on the couch and I had to take a big gulp of my water, thanks to a dry throat.
“Drake, I’m…I mean we’re…umm…”
“Spit it out, baby. Whatever it is, I need to know. I’ve been worrying so much at work that you want to finish with me, that’s why Guy let me come home early.”
“Finish with you?” I asked, my voice sounding a little strangled. “What gave you that idea?”
“You said
‘we need to talk’
and you’ve told me in the past that means things are coming to an end, so to speak.”
“Oh goodness, no, that’s not what I meant at all. This time, all that meant was, we need to talk.”
“So you’re not second guessing giving me a second chance?” His eyes held my gaze and his face said he was relieved.
“Not at all. No, it’s…I’m…oh god, why is this so hard?”
My heart rate spiked and I had to wipe my palms on my jeans.
“I’m pregnant!” I blurted finally.
“
What
? Oh my goodness!”
Drake pulled me from my seat, picked me up, and twirled me around. It didn’t help settle the feeling in my stomach, but he was happy, that was what mattered. I could tell from the shit-eating grin on his face as he set me down on my feet.
“We’re having a baby?” he asked incredulously as he put his hand to my flat stomach.
“We are,” I agreed, fighting to keep my tears at bay.
The moment I saw tears in Drake’s eyes, I could no longer hold back my own and he pulled me in for a hug as we both cried tears of utter happiness.
***
I’d told Drake everything about Nicky bringing me the test, me not even thinking it could be symptoms of pregnancy that had been making me ill. He was so happy and we were excited for the first scan. But first we had to tell Ayden and the rest of the family. We picked Ayden up from school and took him to his favourite place to eat. We told him that he was going to be a big brother and he couldn’t have been happier.
We didn’t want to tell the family on the phone, so we’d arranged to have our tea at Lynne’s the following night and told her she had to make sure everyone was there.
***
The family couldn’t have been happier for us. Everyone was looking forward to the newest addition to the Anderson family.
Arriving home, Drake told me we needed to talk. It turned out he’d seen Rachel the day before at the park. I didn’t know what to make of it. She seemed like she still wanted to talk to him, so why hadn’t she reached out before now? She’d had nine months to contact him, albeit via social media, but all she had to do was ask for his phone number or arrange to meet up. But what was done, was done. We couldn’t alter the past. All we could do now was see what she wanted. I urged him to call her and arrange to meet.
Drake finally plucked up the courage to call her the following day. They arranged to meet at the weekend when Rachel’s mom could take care of Morgana. I was staying home with Ayden, but agreed to drop Drake off at the café where Rachel asked him to meet.
A few hours later, I still hadn’t heard from Drake, but I didn’t want to text or call and disturb him. I knew he’d be home when he was ready.