Shattered Hearts

Chapter 41

"Knock it off," John said his voice warning. "How about we all butt out of their business."

"Sure," Judy said pouring herself a generous glass of wine. "It's getting kinda boring now anyway." She left the kitchen, giving them a haughty look.

"Jeez," John said scowling after her. "Darlene's right, marriage has turned her into a monster."

"Or maybe we're seeing a side to her we've not seen before," Louis said failing to get worked up. "And she has a point, I've gotta sort things out with Lottie before much longer."

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"Hi, I didn't think you were gonna make it," Louis said lightly touching Charlotte's arm.

"I can't say I enjoy these sort of occasions nowadays," she admitted with a tight smile. "Too many people, too much drink, too much pressure to have a good time."

"So let's go out back."

She let him lead her away, knowing she couldn't put off a proper face to face conversation for much longer. "So how have you been?" she asked as he closed the kitchen door behind them. "Did you have a good Christmas?"

He let out a low groan. "I think you know I don't want to talk about Christmas. But yeah, it was good, I went to my parents' house."

"Me too, I mean I went to my mom's." But it had been amicable rather than good, her mom constantly pressing her about the baby.

"And how is your mom?" Louis asked, trying to be polite.

"Disappointed," she admitted. "She's trying to hide it but I can tell she's thinking, 'two kids by two different men, and you're married to neither of them.'"

"We can soon change that," he said, the corners of his mouth twitching. "If you want to."

She shot him a warning look. "Don't even joke about it, I don't want to get married cos I have to."

"Say I said I love you and I want to marry you anyway?"

She shook her head. "I'd say you didn't ask before, so you're asking now cos it's expected of you."

"I didn't ask before cos you'd have said no." He frowned slightly. "And I would have been jumping the gun if I'd asked when you were still married."

"But that's what I mean," she said looking away. "You didn't seriously think about it until all of this happened."

"I guess you're right," he admitted. "I'm probably getting ahead of myself when we're not even together."

"No, we're not..." She deliberately drifted off. "And I have so many other things to work out as well. Like how to prepare Jamie, and what I'm going to do about my job." 

"How is Jamie?" he asked clearing his throat. "Does he know?"

She laughed, "He just thinks I've put on weight." Or does he? "Or maybe he knows I'm pregnant but after what happened last time he doesn't want to acknowledge it until the baby is here." She wasn't entirely sure how much Jamie remembered about her last pregnancy.

"I can see this is complicated for you," Louis said his eyebrows furrowing. "But you're not alone, we're in this together."

"Well, yes," she said playing with her bracelet absentmindedly. "You can be involved with the baby as much as you want to be. I would never stop you from seeing it."

"That wasn't exactly what I meant." He took a deep breath. "Remember you said we couldn't be together cos you couldn't have kids? Well, that's not true. But regardless of the whole baby thing, I think we could have a good future together."

She chewed her bottom lip trying not to get her hopes up. "It's not that simple, and I don't want to end up with someone who is only with me out of a sense of obligation."

Louis sighed. "I understand but I wanted to be with you before all of this happened. What I'm saying is your reasons why we couldn't be together don't stand, if they ever did. I loved you before, I love you even more now."

She wanted to believe him but she almost couldn't let herself. "You're just trying to do the right thing..."

He took her hand. "No, I'm not," he insisted. "Yeah it's complicated but that doesn't mean we can't make it work."

Slowly she wrapped her fingers around his, a smile playing on her face. "I hope you know what you're getting into here."

"You've spent months pushing me away," he said smiling back. "I've had plenty of time to consider if I want to be with you."

"Ouch," she said with a laugh. "That's harsh."

"You're harsh." His mouth was inches from hers. "You've really made me work for this."

She smiled as his lips met hers and a loud cheer went up from the living room. She paused, her hand resting on Louis's neck. "Is it midnight?"

He looked at his watch. "Happy new year."

"Wow, it's nineteen sixty-nine," she said getting caught up in the excitement. "It's like a whole new beginning."

"It is a new beginning," Louis said leaning over to kiss her again. "It's gonna be our year."

She wrapped her arms around his neck. "This is the is the first time I've been happy in such a long time." She felt giddy, daring to let herself believe it would work out. "I love you, Louis."

He kissed her again, his lips lingering on hers. "And I love you." 

She leaned back to properly look at him. "You sound kinda serious?"

"I do?" He raised his eyebrows. "I guess there's something I should tell you."

"What's wrong," she asked, lowering her arms and stepping back.

He gave her a reassuring smile. "Nothing, but I might as well tell you now since you'll find out soon enough." He took a deep breath. "I told my mom you're pregnant."

"Oh, I'm surprised you've lived to tell the tale." She felt her mood begin to sink, and yet she couldn't blame him when his mom would find out eventually. "Did she give you a hard time?"

"Kinda but overall she was okay about it," he said pulling her back into his arms. "I suspect she might have known already, I mean look at you."

Self consciously she touched her stomach, which was now most definitely a baby bump. The chances were her daughter in law had heard at the school gates if she hadn't seen it for herself. "I guess it was only a matter of time before the news got out."

Louis nodded, his face relaxing. "Anyway, she wants you to come over for lunch, to clear the air."

She gulped. Happy new year Charlotte, it's certainly got off with a bang.

                                                   ~~~

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