The gentle pressure probed again. There was no point in trying to wake Dan but now that Paula was wide awake, many thoughts whirled around in her head. She had an ultrasound coming up and they needed to make a decision about where she was going to have this baby. During her last visit to the doctor, he had reminded her she would need to book in soon. He had also suggested parenting classes but, once again, they were held at the regional hospital in Wallaston, over an hour’s drive away. She couldn’t imagine getting Dan there at the moment.

Two strong prods confirmed that it really was the baby she could feel. Paula tried to imagine herself holding it in her arms but she could only picture a tiny head peeping from an armful of blanket. Sometimes she imagined the blanket was pink and sometimes it was blue. She really had no preference either way but already people were asking what she was hoping for.

Carefully she rolled over and eased her tummy against Dan’s naked back. He stirred enough to tuck one arm back over her then Paula heard his deep, slow breathing begin again. She was content.

“Whatever you are little one, we love you,” she whispered.

Chapter 14

CHAPTER

14

“This is divine,” Alison mumbled through a mouthful of crumbs. “I had no idea what we’d find in the middle of nowhere but this is the nicest cup of tea, and to have homemade chocolate chip biscuits as well. Lucky we’re going home tomorrow or I’ll be the side of a house.”

Paula raised an eyebrow at her sister’s tall, trim frame. She, and their sister Susan, had inherited their father’s height and Paula had been left with her mother’s short genes. Already her stomach had nowhere to go but out and her breasts felt heavy. She gave a brief thought to her baby. Would it be tall like Dan or short like her?

Around her, the old hall was crowded with people checking out the stalls. Paula hadn’t known what to expect either, when Rowena had insisted they all attend the Strawberry Fete. It was a fundraiser for their local church and held in an old hall, which sat all alone on another set of crossroads some distance from the church.

“Evidently they hold it every year,” Paula said.

“I went to one of these as a girl,” her mother said. She was nursing Oscar on her lap and trying to help him get his now sloppy ice-cream and strawberries into his mouth rather than onto her skirt. “I haven’t heard of one for years. It’s such a lovely outing for the children.”

“And I’ve contributed ‘tight’ cakes.”

Alison gave Paula a suspicious look. “What are tight cakes?”