Page 52 of Bound By a Nine-Month Confession

All those strands that had seemed to float in disarray had been woven together.

‘Penny for them.’

Strands...accidental meetings and quirks of fate...Thosewere the things that had been occupying Celia’s mind as she’d gazed at her six-week-old daughter, who was fast asleep in her Moses basket, oblivious to her parents sitting on the sofa next to the basket, lazily watching telly and sporadically chatting.

What better way to spend an evening, one of their first, in the sweetest cottage they had found in a little village in Berkshire?

‘Do you ever think what might have happened...?’

‘If your brother hadn’t been in the right place at the right time delivering a book to you? If he had never crossed paths with Julie?’

Leandro pulled her to him and engulfed her in his arms before tilting her chin so that their eyes met, his openly loving and deadly serious.

‘I try not to think about that,’ he told her truthfully, ‘but yes. Who can ignore the coincidences that have led us to this place, right here and right now? I’m the happiest man on earth because of you but you’re right...if Dan hadn’t met Julie...if snow hadn’t stopped them from reaching my place in Scotland, hadn’t locked us into a bubble and made lovers out of us...if an accidental pregnancy hadn’t brought you back into my life.’ He paused then added, thoughtfully, ‘No... I would still have come back to you, my darling, whether you had returned to my life or not. It might have taken a bit longer because I was a stubborn fool too set in his ways for his own good, but I would have come right back to you becausenotcoming back to you would have been unthinkable.’

‘Right answer,’ Celia said with a sigh of pure contentment.

‘Now...while our precious Tomasina gives us a moment of free time, shall we...?’

Leandro stood, pulling Celia up with him and then holding her tight to kiss her long and slow on the lips.

‘I can’t think of anything better,’ Celia gurgled, smiling and hugging him as they headed for the bedroom.