The Legacy of Eve by Natasha Boydell

Author:Natasha Boydell [Boydell, Natasha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloodhound Books

Chapter Thirteen

‘Happy birthday, beautiful.’

Gabe sat down on the side of the bed and handed Annie a mug of tea. She sat up, disorientated from being woken from a deep sleep that she’d only just slipped into, and took the mug from him.

‘Any exciting plans for the lady of leisure?’

Annie shook her head. Having a birthday in January had always been an anticlimax because everyone was partied out from the festive celebrations, but this year she didn’t mind. She was hardly in the mood, or condition, to go clubbing. Still, she was beginning to wish that she’d made some plans as the prospect of a whole day on her own loomed ahead of her.

Christmas had come and gone in the blink of an eye. At the last minute, Annie had suggested that they spend Christmas Eve at home and drive up to see Mike and Val on Christmas Day instead of staying over. She told Gabe it was because Caz could no longer make their dinner but the real reason was that things were still not right with her dad and she just wasn’t in the mood. Despite family issues playing on her mind, she had still been excited about waking up on Christmas Day in their new home, but Gabe had dampened her spirits.

‘Don’t spend too much money,’ he had warned her. ‘We can’t afford it.’

‘I know that, Gabe, I’m not off to Harrods with a platinum card, I just want to buy some decorations, a yummy Christmas Eve dinner from Asda and a present for the baby, okay?’

‘Just don’t go over the top.’

She had wanted to. She had googled beautiful babygros and eye-wateringly expensive artificial trees, but Gabe’s voice haunted her, like one of Scrooge’s ghosts. In the end they had dug out the tiny little fibre-optic tree that they had in the flat and put it in the bay window of their living room. She had stood there looking at it, thinking how sad and tiny it seemed, when Gabe came up behind her and put his arms around her.

‘It will be different next year, I promise,’ he said.

‘It doesn’t matter. It’s only a silly tree.’

‘I know you wanted something more, to mark the occasion.’

‘What matters is that we’re together in our very own home and that this little man in here,’ she said, pointing to her tummy, ‘is happy and healthy.’

Gabe had kissed the top of her head and drifted off to check his emails, but she had stood for a while longer, thinking of Christmases yet to come and hoping that they would be happy ones. She imagined their baby lying under the tree, kicking his legs. Their son, ripping open presents and looking up in delight while she and Gabe smiled down at him. Leaving a mince pie by the fireplace for Father Christmas and some carrots for his reindeers.

That night she had another nightmare. She gave birth but this time the baby was born safe and well and as she held him in her arms, she beamed with pride.

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