The CEO(55)

‘Is that what I think it is?’ she murmured, still sleepy, still drunk with happiness at the life she and Callum were making together. She stretched her arms out above her head and yawned.

‘Fresh from the oven,’ Callum announced with pride as he set the plate down on the rug Ava had spread out on the grass.

‘Ah, now I remember why I married you. For the cake.’ Ava propped herself up and reached for a piece, relishing its aroma as she took a bite.

‘Just for the cake, huh?’ Callum leaned over and kissed her, laughing at the taste of cinnamon and sugar on her mouth.

‘Maybe for a few other things.’ She smiled and took another bite. ‘What’s the time?’

‘Who cares? It’s Saturday. You’re not working and neither am I. And you, my darling wife, need all the sleep you can get in your present condition.’ Callum slipped a hand under Ava’s T-shirt and smoothed her bulging and taut belly. His touch was warm and gentle and the new life inside her kicked, as if the baby knew how much love there was waiting for it when it was born.

‘I have done this before, you know. Rather recently, in fact. Is she awake?’ Ava glanced around the lawn.

‘She carried the plate and now she’s hiding in the cubby house,’ Callum whispered as he cocked his head in the direction of the shelter Callum and Chris had built six months before, nestled in a hedge at one end of the rolling lawn. ‘She’s waiting for you to find her.’

‘Oh, is she,’ Ava winked. Callum helped her stand and she moved in bare feet across the lawn, stealthy as a ninja.

‘Daddy,’ she called out. ‘Do you know where Lily is?’

They both heard the giggle.

‘Is she in the house?’ Callum called out. He was right behind Ava, a protective hand on the small of her back.

‘I don’t think so,’ Ava called out in a sing-song voice.

‘Did she climb into that big old tree with the koalas?’

A louder giggle this time, and Ava slipped her hand in Callum’s.

When they reached the cubby house, Ava pushed opened the door and their daughter, barefoot, a smudge of dirt across her face, her pink shorts and T-shirt covered in grass stains, squealed in delight and clapped her hands together in a joyous celebration.

‘Here I am, Daddy!’ she announced and launched herself at Callum’s legs. He bent to pick her up and cuddled her in his arms.

Ava watched as the man she loved with all her heart enveloped their daughter in an embrace full of love and hope and warmth. Her father had once accused her of being a sooky la la, prone to crying at the drop of a hat. There were no words for what she was now. Since Lily had been born, she cried at everything their daughter did. A smile. A hug. Every time Lily called her ‘Mummy’. Her first word. Her first step. The way she loved her daddy. Everything about Ava’s new and fulfilled life brought her to tears. Her heart had been so full the past three years that each and every day she thought it might burst.

When Callum had proposed to her, three years before, he’d promised her that they would put family and love back in The Meadows.

He’d more than kept his word.

‘What’s the matter?’ Callum had seen her tears and rested a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Ava sobbed, laughter and tears together, and managed a smile as she held her arms wide and gathered her family close to her heart.

‘Nothing, Cal. Absolutely nothing.’

The End