57. Jordan
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Jordan
Christmas this year was quiet.
Peaceful. A little strange, but it was ours.
Just me and Kate, tucked away in our London flat while the city outside fell still under the frost. Normally I’d have been back in Aus with Mum, Dad, my brothers and sister, the nieces and nephews running riot around the tree and out in the back yard.
But this year was different. This year, I was starting my own little family, and there was no one else I wanted to spend it with.
We had a slow morning, the kind where the duvet felt too warm to leave, and for the first and last time, it was just the two of us at Christmas before the baby came.
The flat smelled faintly of coffee and pine, needles scattered across the floor from the bloody tree I’d insisted on dragging up the stairwell.
I’d muttered every curse I knew, wedging the thing around corners, while she sat there laughing so hard her stomach ached.
I was seriously regretting my life choices at that moment.
“Jordan, I seriously think our son’s first word will be fucker if you keep this up.” She laughed.
We headed over to Gwen’s in the afternoon. No fuss, no pressure, just long walks in the cold, board games, too much chocolate, and Gwen grinning as she reminded us, “Can you believe there’ll be a baby here next year?”
Kate beamed through the whole thing. And I was lit up like a kid myself. For a moment I could see it—the Christmas mornings ahead. Chaos. Excitement. Little feet pounding down hallways, presents being torn open, love spilling out of every corner.
That morning, I’d surprised her with the tiniest pair of trainers I’d spotted in a shop window.
As if I was ever going to resist. “How could I not?” I’d said, grinning.
She’d cried—of course she had, everything was setting the poor girl off lately.
They were bloody small. Holding them in my hand made it real in a way nothing else had.
Later, I caught her watching me play a board game with Gwen’s daughter, Lola.
I pretended to cheat when she was winning, groaning dramatically when she beat me.
Kate looked at me like I’d just handed her the world, and I knew, this was the life I wanted.
Our son, laughing like that. Her smiling at me like I’d already nailed it.
It hit me how much we needed this. The exhale before everything changed.
Because from next year, it would be different. Christmas mornings with toys scattered everywhere, batteries missing, balls bouncing off walls. A full house.
But this one…this one was just ours. A quiet little miracle tucked in between the madness.
We flew out to Melbourne on the twenty-ninth. Just the two of us again. Mum had convinced us to spend New Year with the family ahead of the Open, and I couldn’t wait.
Twelve hours in the air, and I barely let Kate lift a finger. Every time she shifted or winced, I was there. She’d called me stupidly sweet and endlessly annoying. I’d take that.
The second we stepped off the plane, the heat hit like a brick wall.
Thick and heavy, wrapping around us in that familiar way I’d grown up with.
I could feel myself exhale. It was home, but the only thing I could focus on was Kate.
She looked amazing, hair half up, long, fitted dress skimming over every curve, one hand instinctively spread across her belly like it was muscle memory now.
She looked like she’d always belonged here, like this place had been waiting for her.
I was weakened. I’d pictured the moment a hundred times, but nothing had prepared me for this.
The last time I was home, I was a single man, career focused, ready to take on the world, but now I was bringing her home. My girl. Carrying our baby. Walking beside me, calm and radiant, and somehow even more beautiful under the Australian sun.
I’d thought about this moment too many times to count.
All those months away from home in hotel rooms, tournaments, training blocks.
I’d always pictured bringing someone back here.
And that someone was her. The woman who kept me grounded.
The one who’d flipped my whole life upside down and made me want to keep going.
We pushed through the doors at Arrivals, and then I saw them.
Mum was the first one through the crowd.
Teary-eyed already, arms wide like she couldn’t get to us fast enough.
Dad was right behind her, steady as a rock, his hand on her shoulder like he was holding them both together.
He didn’t say much, never did, but when his eyes landed on Kate, I saw it: the smallest smile, warm and certain.
That was Dad’s approval. Heavy as bricks, worth more than anything.
“Jordy!” Mum called, breathless, until her gaze caught on Kate and everything else disappeared. I watched her face cracked wide open with joy.
She barely looked at me when she finally reached us, just wrapped Kate up like she’d been hers all along.
“Oh, sweetheart,” she whispered, holding her tight, her hands already brushing gently over the bump.
My throat tightened. I’d brought home a lot of trophies over the years but this…
bringing her home was better than all of that.
“You’re even more beautiful in person, love. He told me you were stunning. Let me see the ring!”
Kate laughed, blinking quickly. “He says that about all the women he brings home, doesn’t he?”
Mum didn’t miss a beat. “Darlin’, this is the first one I’ve met.”
I bit my lip to keep from grinning. Kate blushed, and I fell in love with her all over again.
My little sister Izzy came next, glowing with her own bump, practically vibrating with excitement. She hugged Kate like they were already sisters, and launched straight into comparing symptoms before we’d even picked up our luggage.
When we got to the house, Brody and his two tornadoes came flying down the drive, barefoot with sticky stains still smeared across their shirts.
Within seconds, Kate was being dragged toward the swing set, my niece shouting, “Can your baby come out now? I wanna hold him!” Kate just laughed, crouched carefully, and promised, “Not yet, sweetheart, but soon.”
Then the whole Taylor circus spilled out. Hugs, noise, arms everywhere. And Kate radiated. Like she belonged here.
I hung back for a second, just…watching. Kate was in the middle of it all, the chaos, the hugs, the noise; just laughing like she’d always been a part of it.
I’d missed them so much I ached, but watching Kate, I realised I hadn’t just brought her home to meet my family.
I’d brought a family to her.
And I was never going to get over the look on Mum’s face. Not in a million years.
Like she already loved her. Like she knew. It was all the confirmation I ever needed.
I walked up behind Kate as she was standing on the porch, slipping an arm around her waist, and she leaned straight into me without missing a beat.
“You happy?” she murmured, tilting her face up.
“Perfect,” I said honestly. “Been waiting a long time for this.”
She smiled, then glanced down at her bump with a mock groan. “God, Jord, your family are all giants. I’ve just realised this baby’s going to be fucking massive, isn’t he?”
I laughed, pressing a kiss to her hair. “Reckon so. Good luck, sweetheart.”
She elbowed me in the ribs. “Not funny.”
“Not wrong, though,” I teased, and she shook her head, laughing anyway.