A year on from when they first met, Dylan and Merry are madly in love.
Merry has moved to Starling Bay, and taken on a less pressured job that allows her more time with Chloe.
Dylan’s business is flourishing, and with Merry and Chloe, his life feels complete.
Life is wonderful.
But Merry has a yearning for more. She longs for a family, for a sibling for Chloe.
Dylan has similar plans, but is aware that the end of the year is full of bad memories for Merry.
Can these two lovers bide their time and wait for a more favorable month?
EBOOK:
PRINT:
Excerpt:
Lake Ivanhoe was cold in October. This morning the chill in the air near the lake was sharp enough to warrant a thick jacket, gloves and a scarf. Dylan wore his leather bomber jacket more these days because Merry loved him in it. She told him after they had started dating that it was one of the many things that had made her look at him in that way.
“Don’t let Spart get in the water, Chloe!” Merry shouted, as her daughter ran on ahead with the great big beast galloping in front of her.
“Spart, NO! Spart….NOOOOOOOOOO!” Chloe’s cries echoed across the woods. Dylan got worried. Not about Spart’s swimming ability, but because the lake at this time of the year would be so cold.
“Does he even listen to her?” he asked, as he and Merry walked hand in hand towards the lake.
“He listens.”
Dylan wasn’t so sure, sometimes it seemed to him that the great big mutt ran wild and did as he pleased. He craned his neck and peered in the distance, but, sure enough, Spartacus stood at the lake’s edge, not going in any further. “He’s listening.”
“I told you. He’ll never disobey her.”
“She loves him,” he observed. The way Chloe doted on Spartacus, and the way the huge beast followed her around all day, was endearing.
They strode towards Chloe and the dog. “She needs a playmate,” murmured Merry.
“A playmate?”
She winced. She always did that when it was something she wasn’t sure about saying. Only, she could say anything to him. Their relationship had developed within the year, and it wasn’t until Meredith Nicholls had crashed into his life that he had realized what had been missing from it all those years.
He waited for her to say something, but she was uncharacteristically quiet. It surprised him, that she was being hesitant now, because they never held anything back from one another.
“A playmate, Merry? She has lots of friends at school. I’d say she’s settled in really well, wouldn’t you?”
“If she had a sibling. I mean, I know the age gap would be too much.” She bit her lip.
They had talked about this before. About children, about extending their family. He considered Merry and Chloe as his family, even though he hadn’t yet done anything about making it official.
But he had been thinking about it for months. He’d even bought the ring back in the summer, when they had gone out of town. She’d seen it in a shop, when they’d been casually looking at various displays of jewelry. He’d had caught her looking at the selection of rings, and he’d bought it on his next visit, because he had a desire to make their relationship permanent. He wanted to marry her. Didn’t see what they were waiting for, except that he was hoping to get past the next few months.
Merry hated Christmas because her husband had died a few weeks before. Proposing now didn’t seem right. Maybe he should have done it back in the summer, but then he worried that it might have been too soon.
Not for him, but for Merry. Though she was strong and confident from the outside, he had come to know that she was soft and had her vulnerable moments. His role was to protect her, and he took it upon himself to always do the right thing by her.
It was better to bide his time, and maybe make a move in the new year. It had been difficult to keep his thoughts to himself because this wasn’t the first time Merry had hinted about wanting to have a child. She had mentioned it a couple of times in passing, had planted a seed in his head. He hadn’t really thought about these things much before. His love life before Merry had been up and down. He’d had his heart broken, and had concentrated on making his gift store into a success. His non-interest in romance had often annoyed his friends Reed and Rourke, but he hadn’t wanted to go down the route of dating, not until he was ready.
And then he’d met Merry; she wasn’t only his soulmate, but she had made him see what his life could be like—full, and happy, and joyous, with much more in it than just running his gift store. He hadn’t met her, as much as she had collided into him, and while it hadn’t been the most fortuitous of introductions, things had worked out wonderfully well.
They were meant to be together.
She was the one.
He saw himself growing old with her. Could see them having not just one child, but two, maybe three if that was what she wanted. Being with Merry, he found himself planning for the future in a way he had never done before.
“The age gap?” he asked, lost in his own thoughts, before catching her looking at him in an odd way.
“Thirteen years,” Merry commented. “Maybe more.”
He squeezed her hand, not understanding. “You’ve got plenty of time.”
“It’s not me I’m worried about. Chloe is thirteen. That’s a huge age gap.”
He had no siblings, but even he could see that that it would be a huge difference.
She was obviously worried, and it preyed on her mind. He could fix it easily, and he just had to set the wheels in motion. It was only a matter of finding the perfect time; sometime in the new year.
“All in good time, huh?” It was the only thing he could think to say, and he hoped it would be enough.