Chapter Seventeen #2
I shift a little onto my side so we’re wrapped around each other, and content myself with kissing her hair and stroking her back while we gradually descend into sleep.
*
The next morning, I wake up to the smell of frying bacon.
I groan and put out a hand, but the bed is empty, and I lever my eyes open. Wren’s gone, but the sheets are still warm; she hasn’t been up long.
Rolling over, I stretch and yawn, briefly debate doing something with my morning wood, then growl at myself and visit the bathroom.
I only woke up once in the night. Wren had turned over, and she was asleep, but when I cuddled up behind her, she nestled back into me without waking up, and we slept like that for the rest of the night.
After pulling on my track pants and tee, I go out.
I discover Wren in the kitchen, talking to Ruth. She’s laughing as I walk in, and I hear Ruth say, “Yes, both of them! In their suits! The chlorine ruined those, I tell you.”
Oh God, Ruth’s telling her stories about my childhood. Lips twisting, I say, “It was Caesar’s fault,” as I go over to the fridge and retrieve a bottle of water.
“Morning, petal,” Ruth says from where she’s turning bacon strips over at the hob. Other pans contain sizzling sausages, hash browns, mushrooms, eggs frying with gleaming yellow domes, and sliced tomatoes, and a saucepan bubbles with baked beans. “Breakfast won’t be long.”
“Morning.” I go over to where Wren’s sitting on a bar stool at the breakfast bar, wrap my arms around her, and kiss her neck. “Morning beautiful,” I murmur. “I missed you.”
“Sorry,” she says, “the smell of bacon lured me out.”
“That’s perfectly understandable. You want a coffee?”
“Oh, I was just about to make one.”
“I’ll do it. I like doing things for you.” I go into the kitchen, not missing Ruth’s smile.
“So,” Wren says, “explain why you fell in the pool at your cousin’s wedding.”
I start the coffee machine going and fetch some milk from the fridge.
“I was only ten. Caesar was fifteen. We’d caused a bit of havoc with some of my younger cousins in the house, and Mum sent us all out to the garden.
We were playing cricket, and the ball landed on the grass beside the pool and rolled through the bars.
Caesar and I raced to see who could get it first, and I got there, but he pushed me, and I fell in. ”
“So how did he fall in too?”
“I grabbed his jacket and pulled him after me.”
She giggles. “I bet your mum wasn’t happy.”
I smile at the memory. “When we squelched up to the house, we were soundly reprimanded, but we could see she was trying not to laugh.” I start the espresso pouring, filling the air with the rich smell of coffee.
“It’s a beautiful day,” Ruth says. “Perfect for…” She glances at Wren and laughs. “I nearly let it slip then.”
Wren’s eyebrows rise. I grin and say, “We’re going on an adventure.”
Her eyes light up. “Oh?”
“I can’t tell you yet. I promise you’ll enjoy it, though.”
“Plenty of time for breakfast first,” Ruth says, and I nod and start the milk steaming.
She serves everything up with slices of toast, and we eat it at the breakfast bar with hot coffee and cold orange juice, while Wren pushes Ruth for more stories about when we all lived here while she washes the pans.
“You must have missed them a lot when they moved to Auckland,” Wren says, composing a forkful of toast, sausage, and bacon, and dipping it in her egg.
Ruth slides the clean frying pan into the cupboard, then turns and leans against the counter.
“Yes, it was tough for a while,” she admits.
“The boys had already left for university, and Aurelia was preparing to go. They were all in Auckland, and Edward was flying up there several times a week, and in the end Cece said it would make sense for them to be based up there. She was right of course… but yes, it was hard, especially when she fell ill.”
“Oh, of course.” Wren’s brow furrows, and she looks at me and rests her hand on mine.
“Mum wanted to stay in Auckland for the treatment so she could be near us all,” I say. “But in between, she came and stayed down here.”
“Always best to come to the country when you need healing,” Ruth states. “It really did her good.”
“Mainly because you fussed over her like a mother hen,” I tease.
She chuckles. “She needed fussing over, having the three of you to worry about.” She turns and picks up another pan to wipe up. “So… do you really think your dad will retire?”
I have a mouthful of sausage and bacon, and nod. “He’s talking about leaving at the end of the year, when he’s sixty. He wants to take Mum away on the boat, sail around the Pacific Islands.”
“Is he the sort of guy who’ll be able to do that?” Wren asks. “Or do you think he’ll still be running the company remotely?”
“No, I think once he’s made the jump, he’ll be happy to hand over the reins. He’s never been into the business side as much as the rest of us. He’s all about the technology. He wants as many people as he can to benefit from it.”
“Have you told her about your plans for saving the world?” Ruth says with a smile.
Wren looks at me expectantly. I shrug. “I’ve been in talks with a couple of big suppliers about rolling out a stripped-back version of the system for developing countries.
If small farmers can improve pasture growth even by ten percent, that’s more food, more income, and fewer families pushed off their land. ”
Her eyes widen. “That would be amazing.”
“If we can help farmers feed their families with tech we’ve already built, it feels wrong not to.”
“You’re not just a pretty face,” she says, and Ruth laughs.
“Cheeky,” I murmur, leaning close to Wren and nuzzling her ear.
She shivers. “Stop it,” she whispers, “she’ll see.”
“Don’t care.” I nibble her earlobe. “We’re married. It’s legal.”
She sighs and turns her head to face me, and we exchange a long, luscious kiss.
“What time are you two lovebirds off?” Ruth asks when we finally move apart.
“Around ten, I reckon.”
“Well, I hope you have a fantastic day.” She hangs the tea towel up. “You can leave your plates in the sink when you’re done and I’ll tidy up. You’ll be out for lunch, obviously. I thought I’d make a steak and ale pie for your dinner tonight.”
“Ooh,” Wren says, and I nod my approval.
“I’ll leave it in the oven, and you’ll just need to heat it up when you come in.”
“Perfect.”
“Any news on the pups?” Wren asks. “I haven’t seen the dogs this morning.”
“They’re out with Jacob. No, no sign of puppies yet.”
“I’d love to be there when they’re born,” Wren states.
Ruth smiles. “We’ll see if we can organize it. We live in a cottage at the edge of the south paddock—it’s only a five-minute drive. Okay, well, I’m off. Chickens and cows and sheep to feed.”
“Thanks, Ruth.” I stand to give her a hug.
“Have a great day.” She winks at me before making her way out.
Wren sips her coffee, her eyes dancing. “So, what’s this big adventure you’ve planned?”
“You’ll find out when we get there.” I finish the last mouthful of hash brown and sausage with a forkful of baked beans and sigh. “I might need a walk to help this go down.”
“I was thinking the same.” She studies me over the rim of her cup. Her eyes are warm. “It’s been lovely to learn a bit about your family and your upbringing. It sounds like you had a happy childhood.”
“It was, on the whole, yeah, made easier, of course, when the business took off, even though it meant Dad was away a lot. It’s not all about money, though, obviously.
I was lucky to have two parents who loved us all very much, and who were prepared to do anything for us.
I don’t want my child to want for anything, but most of all I’d like for them to feel loved and wanted, and safe and secure. ”
She nods slowly. “They’re not small things.
Clare and I spent a lot of our childhood having to do without the things a lot of our friends had—the latest fashions, the fanciest toys, the best phones…
and happy parents. We spent a lot of time in childcare while Mum worked.
She did her best, but it was hard for her. ”
“How old were you when she remarried?”
“Twelve, so just starting high school. Clare was ten. I liked Freddie, but he had two young kids by another woman, and naturally they were his priority. He eventually went back to them, you know.”
My eyebrows rise. “Really?”
“Yeah. That was hard for Mum. I suppose she must have always felt that he was pulled toward his first family. She said once she always felt second best.”
“You’ll never feel like that,” I tell her. “I promise you. You’ll be the first thing I think about in the morning, and the last thing I think about before I close my eyes.”
She smiles, but she looks a little bemused, as if she thinks I’m telling her what she wants to hear.
She doesn’t realize that for most days over the last ten years, that’s been the case.
For so long, she was the one who got away.
But now she’s mine, and I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure she remains that way.