Piece of Cake ✓

9 / digging deeper

Sunday was different. It always was, the one day a week that Gaia didn't have to rush off to work within thirty minutes of waking up, but this Sunday was especially different. The house was silent as Gaia sat in her own bed to breastfeed Clover for the first time that morning, the birds only just waking up outside. Beside her, Evan slept soundly flat on his back and with Zara and Stella still out at the party, and Alfie snoozing in his cot, the morning was utterly peaceful. Alfie had always been a good sleeper: once he had started sleeping through the night, he had never stopped and he could happily doze until nine if he was allowed to.

That was what Sundays were for. They were for sleeping in and sloping into the kitchen at midday for brunch, for wandering around town at their own leisurely pace or catching up on reading. Evan often used his Sundays to finish whatever book he had been stealing glances at all week, but since his accident he had already completed three novels and Gaia had a feeling he wouldn't be so inclined to bury his nose in a book today.

She didn't feel much like moving when Clover finished feeding. Holding the girl on her lap, she kissed her cheek and rubbed her back before she laid the baby down in the middle of the bed between her and her husband. Resting her hand on Clover's stomach, Gaia tucked her cheek against her pillow and closed her eyes, and she didn't have to wait long for sleep to overwhelm her once again. Her eyelids were heavy, her brain swimming with a fog of exhaustion, and she could let herself relax knowing that Clover wouldn't need feeding for another three hours.

Last night had taken it out of her, fulfilling a craving she'd had to suppress for too long anyway, and after an intense twenty minutes she had learnt that it would be a while before she and Evan could return to normal in the bedroom: everything had been going swimmingly until Evan had hit the point of no return, his muscles clenching and his back arching in an agonising orgasm. It was only then – too late – that it had become clear that it was too soon for sex. His yell of pain had woken up Clover, who had screamed bloody murder until Gaia had soothed her against her chest for twenty minutes, rocking her back to sleep while Evan dosed up on painkillers.

But he was sleeping now, and so was Clover, and Gaia felt a sense of immense peace wash over her as she drifted off for the second time.