a table and two places laid and it was lit by a candle.
‘Valentine’s Day,’ Zack said.
Oh, so it was.
‘What did you get me?’ Zack asked.
‘You don’t do Valentine’s Day,’ Freya said. She had truly forgotten. ‘Actually, I’ve never done Valentine’s Day either.’
She sat at the table and as lovely as it all was it was dark.
‘I can’t see you,’ Freya said, and he laughed and put the lights on.
‘Better?’ Zack said, and now that she could see him it was. ‘I got you a present.’
‘Are you trying to make me feel extra-awkward for forgetting?’
‘I am.’ Zack nodded.
‘And then I’d have been accused of being over the top,’ Freya said.
‘You are over the top, Freya,’ Zack said, and he went behind his desk and very carefully carried over a very large box.
Oh, no, Freya thought as he gingerly put it down, and she watched for movement and saw all the little holes punched in the box so it could breathe.
He’d got her a puppy.
And she didn’t want one.
‘Zack...’
‘Just open it.’
‘I don’t want it.’
‘You might when you see it.’
Twins and a dog, Freya thought. Well, there goes any chance of freedom for the next two decades. And what about dog jealousy? And yet of course she was going to love her new puppy, it had come from Zack after all and it beat stealing a shirt from his wardrobe.
Freya pulled back the lid, waiting for a wet nose to peek out, but it didn’t.
The box was empty, except for one thing.
A ring.
‘Where’s my puppy?’ Freya croaked.
‘A puppy is a big commitment and you have to be very sure,’ Zack said. ‘Pretty much the same with this. Freya, marry me.’
‘Oh, Zack.’ Freya shook her head. ‘It’s way too soon...’
‘Not for me.’
‘You’re marrying me because I’m pregnant.’
‘Freya! One, we don’t even know if you’re pregnant. Two, I don’t marry women because they’re pregnant. In fact, usually I’d be running out of the door the same way you did the morning after we met.’
‘Really?’
‘I’d have had morning sickness just at the thought,’ Zack said, ‘but I don’t feel like that with you. I am in love with you. You’re the most difficult, grating person I have ever had the fortune to get to know, and I want to get to know more of you, every day.’
He gave her a smile, a self-satisfied one. ‘You’ll never be able to top that,’ Zack said. ‘Even with all your PR skills, you have to concede that I have organised the best Valentine’s Day and you, Freya, didn’t even get me a card.’
‘Of course I did,’ Freya said, and she went into her bag and handed him a card, well, a photo of her ultrasound.
‘Top that,’ Freya said, and she watched his mouth open as he realised that, yes, Freya was pregnant and, because he could read ultrasounds far more easily than Freya, he saw straight away that it was twins.
He laughed.
He had everything he’d dreaded having for so long, but everything had changed—he wanted it all now. With Her.
They had arms and legs and heads and they were so much more than hers or his, they were theirs.
Then Freya watched as his laughter died and tears pooled in his complex eyes.
He wanted his brother to have had this moment.
Zack wanted his brother to this day and for ever he would.
‘If we have a boy, can we call him Toby?’
‘Yes.’
‘He was so unhappy...’
‘Not all of him was unhappy and he had someone he could speak to,’ Freya said. ‘His last night was spent under the stars, drinking and being honest with you. That’s a very nice last night to have had on this earth. I know that I’d take it.’
She turned his world around.
The last night of his brother’s life had always been an agonising memory.
Not now.
Zack could now, without reservations, remember their laughter and two brothers talking and just a night where you put the world to rights.
Now they had put their worlds to rights.
‘I don’t want to tell people yet,’ Freya said. ‘I am the happiest ever but I want some time to get used to the idea and—’ she rolled her eyes ‘—don’t get me started on my parents.’
‘Okay, we shan’t tell anyone, though you’ll start to show fairly soon.’
‘No.’ Freya shook her head. ‘I meant all of it. I meant I need to get used to the idea of us.’
‘The idea?’ Zack checked.
‘That you love me.’
‘Get used to it,’ Zack said. ‘But I get it.’
It was like being handed a prized package and being told to sign for it, the start of a life he had never imagined.
‘I’m such a difficult person,’ Freya said. ‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you.’
‘Freya, I’m so glad I saw you raw the other night. I don’t care how much you try to change, or control me, or rush me with my thoughts. You can’t.’ He smiled. ‘You can keep on being you and I’m just going to keep on being me.’
‘You’re sure?’
‘Completely.’
Zack took on the hardest hearts. Ones that others shied away from. But the hardest hearts gave the sweetest rewards and ones that were just so unexpected, because, for all she wanted to keep them quiet for now, on a night that should be just about them, Freya offered to share the happiness around.
‘Tell your parents,’ Freya said, ‘when you video with them.’
‘I’m not speaking to them tonight.
