all right, you silly. Come here and let’s start making it all right straight away.”
Roki put his hands over his eyes. But he couldn’t resist peeking.
Chapter 41
A month later
Lucy pulled open the curtains and looked out at their little garden, the early summer sun just creeping over one hedge to attack the dew on the grass under the other. There was nothing in the garden yet but grass, tussocky and full of clover. Maybe I’ll make a flowerbed at the far end, she thought, in the sun. Pity we couldn’t get a house on the other side of the road, where the sun would have come in the back windows, we could have built a little patio outside the kitchen.
“What are you looking at?” Martin had come back into the bedroom, wrapped in a towel and was now struggling to put socks onto feet still slightly damp from the shower.
“I was just musing about the garden. Maybe we could build a little sitting area down at the end, where it would be in the sun. But I don’t want to cover too much grass, we’ll need that if we have a baby, for kicking a ball on.”
“Grass is easier. And like you say, we’d need a rugby pitch. When are we having this baby?”
“I’d like to try soon. I thought, it’s June now, so if I stay on the pill another month? Then from July, I’d be due in…” she counted on her fingers, “April.” She turned to Martin, a broad smile on her face, watching for his reaction.
“April? Is it not a bit soon? I mean, we won’t have been married a year.”
“It’s more than nine months. Everyone will know it’s legal.” She sat down on the bed and watched as Martin buttoned his shirt. “I don’t know why, but I really want a baby soon. Lots of babies.”
“I’m quite happy to help you make lots of babies. But I’m quite happy to ‘make babies’ without the babies!” He pushed her backwards on the bed and, putting his knee beside her, looked down into her face.
“Now you see why I put on my socks and shirt first and leave pants till last. Just in case I get a good offer like this.” He bent over to kiss her and his other knee slid between her legs.
Six minutes later, Martin was lacing up his runners. Lucy lay back on the bed and watched. The dampness between her legs was the beginning of her interest and the end of his.
“Are you going somewhere?” She tried to keep the irritation out of her voice.
“Training, I told you,” Martin was rummaging in a drawer.
“Oh. I thought you said we were going into town. Window-shopping and a spot of lunch, you said.”
“Yea. Sometime. Maybe next week.”
“Why maybe? Can you not be sure?”
“No. Depends on the lads. When they’re free.”
“Well, you’re part of ‘the lads’. Tell them you’re not free next Saturday morning.”
“Can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“I am free. Nothing’s forcing me to go into town.” He stuffed his shorts into his sports bag and straightened up. “Well, I’m off. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. At least, not if I’m not here.” He bent over, kissed the tip of her nose and left the room. Lucy looked at the door and listened to his feet running down the stairs. She felt empty. The fortnight on Crete had been magical, they had spent every moment together and gone to see all the sights. The ruins at Knossos and Malia had been creepy but amazing. Her spine had prickled nearly all the time. Her Granny would have told her someone was walking over her grave. Martin had laughed at her, told her she was imagining things. He had loved the beach and wanted to spend all day there, but she had not liked it, preferring the pool at their apartment. They had gone out for dinner every night, the food was cheap and delicious and they had walked home tipsy under the stars. Lucy had felt at home, had known that marrying Martin was the right thing to do.
“No, my dear one, going to Crete was the right thing to do. Pity it wasn’t with David, he would have remembered Malia too. But it would have been an unpleasant few minutes, with both of you shuddering on the ‘Malatos’ beach. Martin never moved far from Tylissos when he was Niklon, so you never visited anywhere where he felt at home. He was just pleased to have got