Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 83343 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83343 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
John sidles up to her and rubs her back. “Hey. Our boys aren’t going anywhere, as much as I’d like them to.”
I stifle a laugh and shoot a glance at Sutton. John’s comment doesn’t even register with Vincent and Jacob.
“I have an idea,” Vincent says and I squeeze his hand, wanting him to know I agree with whatever he’s going to say. “Why don’t you add a new house at the front here? You have plenty of space. Then connect it to the old house and convert the old house into a bedroom block that can be used when we’re all here. The rest of the time, you can use the new house, which we can make sure has a huge dining room.”
“A bedroom block?” John asks. “We’re not turning the place into a youth hostel.”
“It’s a good idea,” Carole says. “Because the grandchildren have started arriving and they need space.”
“Good grief,” John says. “There’s never any peace.”
“Why don’t you go and look at your beans, John? Leave this to me and the boys,” Carole says.
John tuts. “Typical. Dismissed from discussing my own house.” He doesn’t argue and I imagine he’s secretly pleased he doesn’t have to be involved with whatever it is Carole wants to do with the house. John loves his sons just as much as Carole does. He just has a different way of showing it. “Dog,” he screams. “You better not have found any fox shit or I’ll skin you alive.”
“Don’t kill the dog, Dad,” Jacob says.
“I’ll do what I damn well please,” he replies. “This is my house—” Dog rounds the corner from the side of the house and shoots toward us. “Come on. Let’s check the beans.” John heads toward his vegetable patch, leaving the five of us staring at the house.
“We’re always going to come and visit, Mum,” Jacob says. “I don’t think Sutton would have married me if it hadn’t been for the family. You’re part of the package.”
“It’s true,” Sutton says. “There’s no way we’ll stop visiting.”
“But when you all have babies, we’ll need more space,” Carole says. “They’re small things, but they take up a lot of room. You’ll find out.”
“Yes we will,” Jacob says. “In about seven and a half months.”
I gasp, and Carole snaps her head to look at Jacob.
Vincent slaps Jacob on the back. “Congratulations.”
“We were going to do a big announcement at dinner,” he says.
“But my soon-to-be husband has the patience of a toddler,” Sutton adds.
I wrap Sutton up in a hug and Carole joins us. “I’m so happy for you,” I say.
I pull away from Sutton and Carole and glance at Vincent. He scoops up my hand, then presses his lips to my knuckles.
The pregnancy test I took this morning was positive, but we’re not going to spoil Sutton and Jacob’s announcement. We’ll be back in Norfolk in a few weeks and we can tell everyone then. I called Granny earlier and for at least five minutes, she couldn’t speak, then she half-sobbed for the rest of our conversation. She never thought she’d be a great-grandmother. I never thought I’d be a mother or a wife.
But the man by my side changed everything. And I couldn’t be happier.