I looked down at my stomach and realized that before I knew it; that would be me.
“I’m not gonna be able to do it.” My breathing became heavy, but Blake just laughed.
“God, I love you more and more every day,” he said, holding his hand out to me. I stood on shaky feet.
“What if I can’t do it? How will they get these babies out if I can’t do it?”
“Jo,” Blake said, holding my shoulders and meeting my eyes, “you are the strongest woman I have ever met. You may not think so, but I know so. You are going to be fine.”
Uncle Anthony and Aunt Elizabeth reappeared, looking nervous but elated.
“You will call me, right? As soon as you hear anything?”
“Of course we will,” Mum said. “Now go; the suspense is killing me.”
We were somewhere out in the countryside; this time Blake had programmed the satnav to tell us where to go, but he was still refusing to tell me anything until we got there.
I checked my phone over and over for news on Jemma, but there was nothing as yet.
“We’re here,” Blake said as we pulled into a narrow country lane. I looked around frantically but could see only trees ahead and around us. Until finally it came into sight. We were approaching the house that I had grown up in; Blake was taking me there for my final memory.
We got out of the car and stood before the home that I had loved so much as a child. The house that had given me the best memories that were so dear to me.
Noticing that the house looked empty, my eyes scanned to the “Sold” sign that was pinned to the side of the garage.
“I hope whoever has brought this house is as happy as we were here,” I said, not taking my eyes from it. “It looks exactly how I remember.” I smiled. “Thank you for showing it to me,” I said, turning to Blake. He placed his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him.
“I’m sure that the new family is going to have their happiest memories made right here in this house too. Just like you,” he said, kissing my temple. I hugged him briefly. “Do you want your present now?” Blake asked.
“Finally,” I said, releasing Blake and turning to head back to the car.
“Where are you going?” Blake asked.
“But I thought—”
“Just come here a moment.”
Feeling confused, I walked back to Blake and stood at his side, waiting. Blake moved behind me and put his hand into his pocket. “Close your eyes,” he whispered into my ear.
Even more confused, I closed my eyes.
“Hold out your hand.”
I lifted my hand and tried desperately not to peek as I felt the coolness of something metal touch my palm.
“Now open your eyes,” he said, placing his hands onto my shoulders.
When I opened my eyes, my attention was immediately drawn to the key that Blake had placed in my hand.
“This isn’t a car key,” I said quietly.
“No. No it isn’t,” Blake murmured into my ear.
“Blake?” I turned to face him, wanting desperately for my feeling about the key to be true.
“Happy birthday, Jo,” he said, nodding to the house.
My whole body filled instantly with the most mixed array of emotions that I have ever felt.
“You didn’t,” I said, shaking my head.
“Oh, I did,” he said happily.
“No,” I said, unable to believe what was happening.
“Yes,” he replied with a sparkle in his eye. “And if you look just over there,” he said, pointing just above the roof.
I tried to focus in on the area he was pointing to but was unable to make out anything other than the clouds that were forming.
“Can you see the bubble that I had built especially for you?”
“Our bubble.” I smiled. Blake took my hand and started leading me to the house.
“How? I mean … when? How did you?”
“When we found out you were pregnant.” He smiled as he took the key from me and opened the door before gesturing for me to go in.
“But how?” I asked again.
“I contacted your uncle and asked him to keep checking for houses in the area you grew up in.” He smiled as he closed the door behind us. Immediately I headed through to the huge kitchen and looked out to the back garden. “When he rang me and told me that this house had come up, it was like everything that was meant to be was being handed to me on a plate. I couldn’t believe it.”
“I don’t know what to say,” I said as happy tears started to fall. “It’s perfect. It’s the most perfect gift, the most perfect house, I just …” lost for words, I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. “I am the luckiest girl in the world, do you know that? What did I ever do to deserve you?” I asked.
“It’s me that’s the lucky one, Jo. My life before you was nothing, meaningless. I am the lucky one.”
I smiled. “We’re going to have to agree to disagree on that one.”
“Do you know what we are going to do in this house? We are going to bring our children up here, then our other children.” I laughed against Blake’s neck as happy tears rolled down my face. “Our grandchildren,” he continued. “Our great-grandchildren. And this is where we will grow old together.”
“What about the penthouse?”
“We will keep the penthouse.” He shrugged as if it were the most normal thing in the world. “We will commute,” he laughed.
“Commute?” I shook my head in amusement.
“Sure,” he said, as if it were the simplest thing in the world. “But this will be our home. This is where our children will grow up,” he said.
“What about your parents?”
“We will still see them just as often. Probably more once the babies arrive.”
I rested my head down on his chest. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too, Jo. So much that it hurts. I want to make you happy every minute of every single day.”
“You do, Blake; you really do.” I lifted my head and kissed him again.
“The tree swing is still out there,” I said, looking over his shoulder.
“Do you want me to take it down?”
I thought for a second before answering. “No, just make sure it’s secure.”
“Sure.” He smiled knowingly. “Come with me,” he said, taking my hand. He walked us into the lounge, where an open fire was roaring. Placed in front were bags of marshmallows and two roasting sticks.
He shrugged. “I know we’re not snowed in.”
“But it’s perfect,” I whispered.
We sat in front of the fire and toasted marshmallows and talked about our new house. Blake and Uncle Anthony had modernized it immensely, but it was still the exact same house that I remember so well. It was perfection.
After stuffing myself with marshmallows, I lay on the rug with my head in Blake’s lap and watched the flames as they flickered happily against the wood. Blake’s fingers gently stroked my hair with the sound of just the crackling wood surrounding us.
I didn’t realize I had drifted off to sleep until my phone rang. Jemma had given birth to a healthy six-pound baby girl. The day continued to get even more perfect.
After I placed my phone back in my bag, Blake arrived carrying two steaming mugs of hot chocolate before sitting next to me as we lapped up the warmth of the fire.
“Uncle Anthony and Aunt Elizabeth are staying with Mum for a while longer; apparently it’s quite a clean-up job when your waters break all over an antique dining set.” We both laughed.
“It’s starting to snow out there,” Blake said, nodding to the large window that looked out on the garden. I pushed myself from the floor, walked over, and watched as the snow began to come down thick and fast. Huge snowflakes started sticking to every possible surface; it wouldn’t be long before I could get out there and make an honorary snowman for my dad.
“Do you want to go now before we end up getting stuck?” Blake said as he stood behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.
“Can we stay?” I asked.
“Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, Jo; what if we can’t get out?”
I turned in Blake’s arms and cupped his face in my hands.
“Then we spend our first Christmas here in our new house.”
“Are you happy?” Blake asked as he swept my hair from my face.
“I am the happiest that I have ever been. And do you know what makes it even better?”
“What’s that?”
“I no longer fear anything. The only fear I have now is getting these two monkeys out of my body,” I laughed. “Other than that”—I shrugged—“I no longer believe that there is ever a price to pay for being happy, and I know now that happiness isn’t always followed by pain. You did what you always promised me that you would do Blake; you fixed me, thank you.”
D. M. Brittle had been interested in writing a novel for a few years but had never managed to put pen to paper until just over twelve months ago. She loves romance novels and is in love with the idea of love, which made writing Jo and Blake’s story her passion. Her writing stalled last summer when her dad became ill. Unfortunately her dad passed away just before Christmas. Starting the New Year, she decided to get back into writing the story, knowing that her dad would be more than proud of her for achieving something that she had dreamed about for so long.
D M Brittle currently lives in the West Midlands, England, with her husband of fourteen years and her two girls, who are nine and five.
There are so many people that I would like to thank individually but there simply isn’t enough paper!
First and foremost, thank you to each and every single one of my readers who took a chance on a brand new author and read Beautifully Unbroken, I never expected the response that I have received so thank you, each and every one of you. Thank you for the amazing reviews and for persuading me that we haven’t had enough of Blake and Jo yet; their story will continue soon in Beautiful Perfection.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart to the only 2 people that I allowed to read Beautifully Unbroken before it was published. Samantha Gough and Jemma Ross, thank you for telling me what you liked and what you wanted to see more of in the book, I love how much you loved the story and how involved you both got when getting the book out there, I look forward to doing it all again with you for book 2!
And finally and most importantly, to my family and friends, especially my husband and children who put up with me and my mood swings while I tried and tried to get the book perfect, thank you for loving me and supporting me, I love you all so much.