“She seems like a really nice girl,” Michael said. “And it was clear that there was something special between you two. When we saw you together that day we came by, there were definite sparks flying. You never looked at Stacy that way.”
“You should have seen how Laura was looking at you when you weren't looking at her,” Sam added. “You don't look that way at someone if you’re not interested.” “Do you think?” Daniel asked hopefully. “I mean, I know it's a weird situation, but I think in time I could have something real with this girl.”
“Give her a bit of space at first,” Sam advised. “You've been gone for a long time.”
“Yeah,” Michael agreed. “Don't rush in. Make it about the kid and see where it goes with the girl.”
*
Daniel took their advice and even though everything about Laura was incredible to him, he tried to keep his distance, because he hadn't earned her yet. Perhaps she wouldn't want him at all. Perhaps if he really got to know her, he'd find that she wasn't as perfect as she seemed to him when he only saw her occasionally.
After all, Laura had already shown him that there were two very different sides to her: the sexy, uninhibited and wild side he'd discovered on their first night together, and the tender, quiet side that he'd seen in her as a mother.
Over the weeks and months that followed, their time together gradually increased. It began with sharing in Annie's big moments: her first words, her first steps, her first professional photos. Then it crept into family barbeques with Daniel's parents and social drinks with Sophie, Sam and Michael. Soon play dates with the twins were creeping in and then the two needed to plan Annie's first birthday party together.
Annie's first birthday was a happy event. It marked the start of so many things and the end of so many others. When Laura looked around and saw everyone gathered together; Sophie, Sam and Michael, her parents and Daniel's, neighbors and friends, she felt like everything had come to together in the most unexpected and remarkable way.
She saw not just an unplanned child, but an unplanned family which had somehow sprung up from the chaos. It was the end, too, of the uncertain year. Laura wasn't afraid anymore that she was going to be on her own or ever struggle to take care of Annie. Daniel had been true to his word and looked after her and Annie in whatever way was needed.
Often it was the financial help that Laura needed and he would make sure that Annie was always clothed and fed and surrounded by toys, but it was also the emotional support that a new mother desperately requires. He would listen to her talk about her day with Annie and she would tell him all her concerns and frustrations. He would listen with quiet patience and reassure her that it was all going to be all right.
He loved his daughter. The first time that Laura had let him take Annie out on his own, she had been terrified to let her little girl out of her sight, but Annie had returned all smiles and tuckered out and when Daniel told Laura excitedly all about their day out at the fair, she felt all over again the fondness she had begun to feel for him. They tried to keep their distance at first, because this was new to them both. It was sudden, unexpected, and a little strange, but as life brought them closer together, they both stopped fighting the currents and fell into a routine more suited to a couple than two people who had been thrown together by a surprise baby.
Daniel kept waiting to see the side of Laura that he didn't like; her possessive side, or her sulky side, or her selfish side, but it never came. In fact, he only saw a hundred new sides to her that had been hidden in the haste of their union . Laura had the patience of a saint. He could only marvel when he arrived at the gift card shop to pick Annie up and saw Laura explain to a little old lady at least a dozen times that you couldn't buy a Christmas card in February.
She was fun. Laura made him laugh without even trying. It was the fact that she amused him without any effort that made him enjoy her company so much. She was a wonderful listener. When he came to pick up Annie with stories about a hard day at work or a difficult co-worker, she would listen with genuine interest and sound advice. And, of course, she was a wonderful mother. Watching how she raised his daughter with such honest love and affection made his feelings for her run deep.
His affections were not unreturned. Laura thought it was all a dream when Daniel returned and stepped into her life again, but the man just became more and more wonderful the more time she spent with him.
When she'd first met him, she had believed him to be a wonder to women everywhere; a confident, sexy man who was way out of her league. As time went by, she found him to actually be a little on the shy side and sensitive and incredibly funny. Far from being with any number of women, she came to learn that he had been with one woman on and off for years until he ended it all to be there for her and Annie.