There's No Accounting For Love

Chapter Eighty Six

It was 6 pm that same day. They lay naked beneath the bed covers, kissing and fondling. Alan was stroking Clare's stomach.

"Apart from you scaring me Clare, this news has made me so happy."

"And the house." Clare replied.

"Yes and the house. I can't wait for either of it to happen... do you want a girl or a boy?" Alan asked.

"A healthy baby is all I want." she replied.

"I'd love a boy first of all and a girl later on. If it's a boy can we call him Adam? I'd really like that."

"Yes, I'd like it too." said Clare.

"I am so angry with you Clare." he said, gently.

"I know." she replied. "But I'll never keep anything to myself again, I promise. I was just so terrified of having another miscarriage, I wasn't thinking straight."

Alan kissed her forehead, then her eyes and finally, her lips.

"Ummmm. I love you so...." but from this point, his words were not necessary as passion overcame them and took them on a long, exciting flight to Venus.

Arrangements were made for Alan and Clare to buy the house from Stephen Miller. At Clare's insistence, they paid half each for the house. They would be completely mortgage free, something they would never have thought possible. Both sets of parents having struggled to keep to a moderate standard of living when they were small.

Time marched on. Heavy rainfall in September held up work to the house and strong winds in October prevented much needed repairs to the roof. Stephen Miller was to finish all of the renovations as per the architect's plan, but they were able to choose the kitchen and bathroom fittings to their own specification and an en-suite bathroom was to be fitted in the large master bedroom. Plans had been made for them to move into the house just before Christmas, but because of the bad weather, the work was held up for seven weeks.

Two weeks before Christmas, Clare was sitting in Bob's office waiting for him to dictate a letter when a call came through. Bob had left the office to fetch a file from Alan. Clare was now almost six months pregnant and Bob was treating her like a fragile china ornament. She picked up the call.

"Hello, Bob Dixon's office." 

"Oh, hello Clare. It's Matthew here, Angie had the twins last night. They're both girls! We are so excited. Where's Bob? You will tell him won't you?"
"How wonderful!" said Clare. "What weights were they?"

"They were 5lb 12oz and 5lb 9 oz. They were born thirty minutes apart and Angie was magnificent! I'm so proud of her."

"Can we come to visit tonight?" asked Clare.

"Tomorrow would be better. All the family are coming tonight."

"Okay, that's fine. Give her our love, won't you. I can't wait to see her!"

Bob was over the moon when Clare told him the news and so was Alan.

The all went in together to see Angie the next evening, taking chocolates and flowers. Angie was in a room by herself with a little cot each side of her bed.

In each cot was the cutest black baby Clare had ever seen.

"You're so clever Ange." said Clare, going up to Angie and kissing her cheek.

"I know." said Angie, proudly. "I've got my family all over and done with in one go, just like Maggie Thatcher! And aren't they the most adorable babies you've ever seen! I told you black babies were lovely!"

Both of the babies were wide awake, their black eyes looking all around, taking everything in. They lay contentedly, moving their little hands. On each tiny head was a small pink cap.

"Are they identical?" asked Alan.

"Yes. They look very alike don't they?" Angie replied.

"Can I hold one?" asked Clare.

"Yes, of course you can, but you must cuddle them both. That's the rule. If you cuddle one, you must cuddle the other one afterwards so that one never feels left out."

"I'll hold one in each arm then!" said Clare.

Alan took a photograph of Clare holding the beautiful babies and Clare took a lovely photograph of Bob and Alan each holding a twin.

"What are you going to call them?" asked Bob.

"Daisy and Isabelle." said Angie. "I named one and Matthew named the other."

It was wonderful seeing Angie so happy with her two beautiful girls and Clare looked forward to the birth of their own child at the beginning of March.

On the 17th February, Clare and Alan moved into their new home. Stephen Miller had done wonders. The roof was now repaired, all the rubbish had been cleared from the garden, ready for the landscaper and each of the rooms was now renovated, decorated and new carpets fitted in every room. The ugly stair case had been replaced. At the front, small brick walls were now the boundaries on the left and right hand sides of the house with a small soil border into which flowers could be planted. The large unruly hedge had been neatly cut and new metal doors fitted to the double garage. The old rotting gate had been replaced with a new wooden gate. Inside, the kitchen was state of the art and the family bathroom and ensuite in the master bedroom, finished to a high standard.

At 3pm the removal company parked their lorry on the drive outside of the house and by 4pm they had offloaded the contents and left. As Clare was so heavily pregnant, Kathy and Sandra had insisted they help and were currently unpacking kitchen equipment and putting it away into cupboards as directed by Alan.

Clare was sitting on a chair in her own library room, surrounded by her boxes of books and feeling very contented. The room seemed much bigger than she had thought and was perfect as a library as it was so light. A set of brand new shelves had been fitted each side of the fireplace for her books.

"Here you are darling, a nice cup of tea." said Alan, as he walked into the room.

"I thought tea was for the workers?" said Clare, taking the mug from him. "I've done practically nothing. I'm so grateful for mum and Sandra coming to help. What would we have done without them?"

Alan collapsed into the chair by her side.

"If we just make up the bed, we can leave the rest until tomorrow. I'm going to pop out for some fish and chips in a moment, it's half past five already."

"I've just had a thought." said Clare. "'New house, new baby'. It really is something isn't it?"

"Yes and I think we are going to be very happy in this house." said Alan.

"I just know we are." Clare replied,smiling.