after my own heart.’
‘Oh yes,’ she said, smiling back at him. ‘I am after your heart.’
‘You already have it, my love.’
Her own heart turned over. ‘I’m still coming to terms with that.’
‘You’re not the only one. When I realised I loved you, I wasn’t sure what to do because I thought you would never love me back. I mean, how could you possibly love such a selfish, self-centred, screwed-up individual like me?’
Laura groaned. ‘I hated myself afterwards for saying that, because I don’t think that at all. I think you’re a fine man, decent and kind, with a warm, loving soul. Look at the way you talked about grandmothers at the service just now. It was beautiful, the words you said.’
Ryan’s heart squeezed tight at her sweet compliments. ‘Can I take it, then, that you will marry me?’
Her eyes shone as she looked over at him. ‘Whenever and wherever you would like.’
‘How about first thing in the New Year, up here in Jane’s favourite chapel?’
Laura smiled. ‘Sounds like a good idea to me.’
‘I CHRISTEN you Marisa Jane Alison Armstrong,’ the minister said, the same minister who’d pronounced Ryan and Laura man and wife eleven months earlier in the same church.
‘She was so good,’ Alison complimented Laura when she handed the baby back after the ceremony. ‘Not a peep out of her, not even when the holy water was poured over her forehead.’
‘She loves water,’ Ryan said proudly. ‘I’ve got her booked in for swimming lessons when she turns six months.’
Alison and Laura exchanged amused glances.
‘And when is she going to start playing soccer?’ Alison’s husband asked with a twinkle in his eye.
‘Never too soon, Pete,’ Ryan replied. ‘Four or five is a good age. That way she can be a striker and not a boring old goalkeeper.’
‘A striker,’ Laura murmured, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. She still found it hard to believe just what a besotted father Ryan had become. As soon as he had found out she was pregnant, he’d turned into a real mother hen. When she’d suffered from morning sickness during her early weeks, he’d insisted she stop applying for new jobs and take it easy at home, a move which hadn’t entirely displeased her; her own priorities had changed by then. But she’d insisted she at least remain his lawyer, to keep her hand in. She loved coming to his office every Friday afternoon at three p.m., though nowadays she was dressed a little more stylishly. Sometimes they didn’t get much work done.
‘Everyone back to the house for drinks,’ Cynthia chimed in.
‘Everyone’ was not a large group, the only guests at the christening being Alison and Peter, along with Lisa and Shane, Bill and Cynthia. Their wedding had been a much larger affair with lots of Ryan’s old friends and clients attending, followed by a slap-up reception at a local five-star resort.
But they’d decided to keep the christening much more private and personal. Alison’s two children were being minded by their grandparents for a couple of days, giving Alison and Peter the opportunity for that romantic getaway that they had been meaning to have all year and not got around to. Ryan had booked them into the same five-star resort they’d spent their wedding night in—his treat, he insisted. The four of them had become close friends during the last year, with Ryan liking Peter’s easy-going nature a great deal.
‘I suggest you follow me,’ Ryan told Peter as they made their way to where their cars were parked. ‘It can be a bit tricky finding Bill and Cynthia’s place. I’ll drive slowly so you won’t have any trouble keeping up.’
Ryan still took his time loading their precious cargo into the carry-cot in the back of his new family-friendly car, a four-door Lexus which he’d bought a few months back. His willingness to trade in his much-loved BMW had displayed to Laura more than anything he said just how much it meant to him to become a father. And how serious he was taking the role.
‘They’re a nice couple,’ Ryan said when they were finally on their way. ‘But their kids can be murder. I feel sorry for their grandparents.’
‘Sibling rivalry,’ Laura said, thinking of how she’d been with Shane, who’d been a kind of sibling to her.
‘Spoilt, more like it,’ Ryan said dryly. ‘Have you seen how many toys they’ve got?’
‘I don’t think you can talk,’ Laura pointed out. ‘I can see already that you’re going to give Marisa everything her little heart desires.’
‘Oh, no I won’t. She’s going to learn the value of money. And of hard work.’
Laura groaned. ‘You’re not going to be one of those fathers, are you?’
‘And what kind is that, madam?’
‘Pushy. And bossy. And controlling.’
‘Absolutely not! I hate controlling people.’
Laura laughed, then so did Ryan. ‘You’re right. I am a bit controlling. But I can change. I’ve changed a lot already.’
‘You have indeed,’ Laura said with warmth and love in her voice.
Ryan glanced over at his beautiful wife and smiled. ‘I have one suggestion to make which might eliminate my spoiling our little princess back there.’
‘Do tell.’
‘We could have another baby.’
‘So soon?’
‘Why wait? Life is short, Laura.’
For a split second, Laura thought of her gran. And then she nodded. ‘You’re right. Another baby would be a good idea.’
‘All my ideas are good.’
‘Oh Ryan,’ she said with a soft laugh. ‘You are incorrigibly arrogant. But that’s all right. I love you just the same.’
‘That is why I love you so much, my darling.’
‘Oh?’
‘Because you love me just the same.’
LINDSAY ARMSTRONG was born in South Africa, but now lives in Australia with her New Zealand-born
