‘With you? Everything.’
That was the way things were now. The new extension to the clinic, which was going to be a training centre for young athletes and house the charity that Sam and Laurie managed together, had been Laurie’s idea, but Ross had put his heart into it as well. He’d taken care of her dreams and adopted them as his own.
A sound came from the bedroom and Ross looked round. ‘Seems our favourite dream has woken up. I’ll go and get her.’
Laurie never tired of watching him with their daughter. When she followed him to the doorway, she saw Ross lifting Penelope out of her cot, still wrapped in the baby quilt her grandmother had made for her. This was the best dream of all, the one in a thousand chance that had happened when they’d least expected it.
‘Daddy...’ Penelope knew just how to twist her father around her little finger. All it took was that one word.
‘Hey, there, Penelope. You want to come and see what we’re doing?’
‘Daddy... Want play.’
Ross caught his breath. ‘You want to play? With your bear?’ He picked the stuffed bear up from beside the cot and Penelope pushed it away.
‘Want play...’
‘With me?’ Ross made a funny face and Penelope laughed, her small fingers reaching for him.
‘Did you hear that? Her first sentence. Almost...’ His voice was a little hoarse, as if he had a lump in his throat.
‘It sounded like a sentence to me.’ Laurie allowed herself a smile. She’d been repeating the words to Penelope for a couple of weeks now, and finally the little girl had decided to use them herself. Her timing was impeccable.
‘You haven’t been teaching her to say that, have you?’ Ross shot Laurie a suspicious look.
‘Me? Would I do such a thing?’
He chuckled, holding out his hand to pull her close. ‘You most definitely would. And I love you for it.’
‘I love you, too, Ross. I have all my dreams right here.’ She snuggled against him. The warm smell of his body, along with Penelope’s gorgeous baby scent, enveloped her in a cocoon of happiness.
He kissed her cheek, a warm reminder of what tonight would hold after Penelope was asleep again. A crazy, unlikely thought began to form...
‘Do you ever wonder? Whether a one in thousand chance might happen twice? We could try IVF this time...’
Ross chuckled ‘Turning my world upside down once wasn’t enough for you? You think I can survive a second time?’
‘It was the first time I’ve ever seen you stunned into silence.’ Those moments, when they’d stared at the pregnancy test together, and when she’d wiped tears from his eyes with shaking fingers, had been among the best of her life. They were enough, but Laurie had learned how to want more, in the face of knowing it might never happen.
‘IVF’s an option. Although I much prefer the traditional way.’ A wicked grin hovered on his lips. ‘Do you reckon that’s one thousand times? Or one thousand full nights...?’
‘I reckon nights. Statistically it could be a lot more.’ Laurie shivered with pleasure at the thought. ‘The journey’s well worth it, even if we never get there.’
‘My thoughts entirely.’ He kissed her again, and she felt Penelope’s small body wriggling between them
.
‘Daddy want... Want to play, Daddy.’
‘You want to play, Penelope?’ He chuckled. ‘That’s my girl. Unless I’m very much mistaken, she’s just used an infinitive...’
‘In that case, we’d better go and play with her immediately.’ Laurie went to move, but Ross held her tight against him.
‘I want to make another bargain with you. That we never stop dreaming.’
They’d always have more to do together, and Laurie couldn’t wait to find out what would come next for them.
‘It’s a deal, Ross. Always.’