AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘He’s looking for your…’ Leo explains, trying to find the word.
‘Titty,’ Paige says. ‘Go on, get one out. I reckon yours are big enough that they might have a bit of milk in them.’
And Leo and I explode in giggles in the middle of that kitchen.
Gemma doesn’t get home until 1am that night, carrying Bella asleep on her shoulder. She comes into the living room to find all four of us sprawled across the sofa. Harry is lying across Leo’s chest, completely content and milk-drunk. Paige was reluctant to go to bed so we let her watchThe Muppet Christmas Carolwith us, her head on a pillow on my lap. As we were all sitting there, it made me think of a time I used tobabysit my neighbours’ kids when I was sixteen and let my boyfriend through the back door so we could snog on the sofa and eat all their biscuits. However, this felt like the mature version of that. It felt like I was watching Leo like some master at work who had all these hidden grown-up skills; it felt like a moment to fall a little more for a man who’d been in front of my eyes for the last four years.
‘All good?’ I ask Gemma as she stands by the door, watching us, smiling, the Christmas lights flickering in the background, and the Muppets having turned intoIt’s a Wonderful Life.
She smiles to see us all lying there. ‘Quite a bit of waiting, but she’s Lego-free and got quite a fair bit of Christmas sweets for her efforts. So much so I reckon she’d try it again,’ she laughs. ‘This is…cosy,’ she jests.
‘Sorry they’re both not in bed,’ I tell her, looking over at the kids.
She shakes her head. ‘They’re asleep, that’s all that matters. How’s Harry?’
‘All good. He poos a fair bit, eh?’
‘Like a mudslide most days.’
‘We gave him a wash but he’s all changed and fed and burped,’ I inform her.
‘I’ll take it that Leo mainly did that?’ she asks.
I look over at him, peaceful, different-coloured lights bouncing off his skin. I’ve been watching him for the last hour after the baby fell asleep there, mostly because I was worried about the baby falling off, but also because the baby had settled so perfectly, listening to Leo’s deep tones coaxing him to sleep.
Gemma notices me looking at him and grins. ‘I’m quite happy being single…I am a professional…Not Leo with the dimples and the good teeth…’ she says mimicking my voice.
I shake my head, laughing and put a middle finger up at her.
‘You staying the night?’ she asks me.
I nod.
TWENTY-TWO
Christmas Eve
‘Aunty Maggie? Aunty Maggie?’ a voice whispers next to me and I open my eyes to find I’m still on Gemma’s sofa, my body curled into Leo’s, his arm around me, children having been safely deposited into their own cribs and beds, and the scattering lights of the tree still dancing in the background. I open my eyes to see Bella looking at me, two mince pies in her hands.
‘Morning, Bella,’ I whisper. ‘How’s the nose?’
‘OK,’ she tells me, wriggling it as proof. I bop it and she laughs.
‘Are those for me?’ I ask her.
‘Yes, when it’s early I come down and eat them when no one is looking. Mummy always blames Daddy for eating them,’ she says, cheekily. ‘I have one for you and one for Leo.’ She looks over at him, still sound asleep. ‘He stayed over too?’
‘Yes, it was late when you came back so we thought we’d just sleep here.’
I can sense her looking at his face, checking out his clothes and hair. She pats him on the knee and his eyes spring open andshe crawls up to the sofa space next to him in her snowman pyjamas and puts the mince pie in his face. ‘Morning, Leo. I brought you a gift,’ she says, looking into his eyes.
Leo takes a moment to remember where he is. ‘Wow…Thank you…Hi…’ He looks over at me and smooths down his hair, sitting up and readjusting his eyes. ‘Did you make these?’
Bella giggles. ‘No, of course not. The supermarket did.’
I watch them as I curl my legs into my chest, putting a throw over my shoulders, strangely missing Leo’s arm around me.
‘Go on then, eat it,’ Bella says, watching Leo as he bites into the mince pie. She edges closer to him and I think about what Gemma said before about this one’s instincts when it comes to people.
