CHAPTER TWELVE

Blake rests his arm on the back of the chair and grins. The warm sun glows against his tanned skin and the salt water is crisp in the morning air. He twirls a strand of my brown hair around his index finger whilst nodding his head.

"I have a full breakfast, avocado toast and the waffles," a young waitress says.

"Here, let me take these for you." Kyle takes the full breakfast and avocado toast and places them in front of Charlotte and himself.

"Waffles go right here." I point to the empty spot beside me.

"The other full breakfast and smoothie bowl will be out soon."

"Thank you so much!" I smile.

"You can start because Lo sure won't wait." Blake chuckles. "Where is our cheeky daughter anyways? She usually appears when the food arrives."

"You've spoken too soon." I laugh.

London passes the Barbie doll she was playing with to another little girl, then wanders away from the collection of toys. She dashes past a couple of people and climbs onto the chair beside me.

"Mm, yummy!" She grins.

"Do you want me to pour the syrup?"

Lo nods, so I pour it over the waffles. Her blue eyes widen with excitement and a smile spreads across my lips. London's happiness warms my heart.

"I have a full breakfast and green smoothie bowl," a young male waiter says.

"Smoothie bowl is here." I point to the space in front. "And the breakfast next to me."

"Okay." He nods.

He places the plates on the table and reaches for the table number.

"Please enjoy the meal. Reach out if there's anything you need."

"Cheers, man." Blake nods.

London quickly demolishes the waffles and banana smoothie, then returns to play with the toys. She's with a group of girls who are playing dress up with the Barbies. Even though Blake isn't her biological father, the way London interacts with people, I wouldn't bat an eyelid over genetics.

Blake places his hand on my knee and squeezes it. I place my hand on my stomach and smile at him. I shouldn't be nervous but my heart is racing like a jackhammer.

"We haven't told our parents or London but." I bite my lip. "I'm pregnant."

"What!" Charlotte almost chokes on her food. "Oh my goodness! Congratulations. Now I can finally pick a date for the wedding. I'll make it a couple of weeks before your due, that way you don't have to stress about popping it out on the dance floor."

"Charlotte!" Kyle bumps his shoulder into her and frowns.

"I promise we won't ruin your wedding day." I chuckle.

"It was just a joke," she grumbles.

Kyle shakes his head and sighs.

"Congratulations on the pregnancy." Kyle grins. "I hope it's a boy but then again, I'm more equipped to play with Barbies and sparkly unicorns."

"I don't think it matters what gender we have, Lo will have them playing Barbies and unicorns in no time." Blake laughs.

"So true." I giggle.

Blake kisses my cheek and grins.

"How come you haven't told your parents, scared they're going to go overboard?" Kyle chuckles.

"Our house will be packed with baby things within a day." Blake sighs. "We want to enjoy the news for a little while, then tell them."

"We could spring a surprise baby shower on them." I grin.

"I love that idea." Blake nods.

Charlotte places her knife and fork on the plate and slides it away.

"Now that we know Ava's pregnant, we have a tight deadline. I'll be a struggle but we can do this with some help!" Char nods, probably willing herself to believe she can pull it off.

"Can't we wait until after the birth?" Kyle suggests. "There's no rush and we can enjoy the night without worrying about rushing her to a hospital because babies have a mind of their own."

"If you just agreed to things, we could be married a lot sooner," she grumbles.

"Don't blame this on me! If you were reasonable with your requests, we wouldn't be running around in circles." He huffs.

"I'm so glad we weren't like this." I lean against Blake's shoulder and sigh.

"Thankfully, we would never be like that. I like how we go with the flow."

Blake tugs me closer and kisses my temple. I rest my hand on his chest and look between Kyle and Charlotte. The pair are looking away, pouting like toddlers.

London bounds towards the table and jumps onto the seat. Her blue eyes are wide with excitement.

"Can we go to the beach?"

"Of course." Blake nods.

"Do you guys want to come?"

Charlotte wrinkles her nose while Kyle nods.

"I need to return to planning this wedding otherwise it'll never get done. Enjoy the beach."

"You can take one day off," Kyle notes.

"Our mothers are always a phone call away." I chuckle. "I still think they should be professional party planners with how proficient they are with it."

Charlotte smiles while Kyle slumps into his chair.

"Can we go now?" Lo grins.

"Yeah." Kyle nods.

We grab our things and gather to the side of the table.

"Let me know when you're free and we'll catch up again!"

"Sure thing."

Charlotte gives us hugs, then races out of the cafe. Blake takes London's hand and leads her towards the beach. We follow the pathway until there's a clear spot on the beach.

We find a nice spot and dump our belongings on the warm sand. London tries to race to the waves, but Blake points to the spot in front of him and frowns.

"I hate sunscreen," she groans.

"You're going to end up crispy if you don't wear it."

She pouts as Blake smothers the sunscreen on. Lo's a little happier when she gets to wear her pink unicorn hat.

"Can we go swimming now?"

"Soon, I need sunscreen too."

"Can I put it on you?"

"Sure." He nods.

Blake removes his shirt and stretches his arms above his head. He applies sunscreen over his torso and I have to stop myself from drooling. I love his body.

Once the sunscreen has been applied, he manages to interest London in building sand castles. Since the sand isn't wet, it's just a large mound of sand. To London, it's the kingdom for her unicorns.

I lay beside Kyle and rest my head on his shoulder.

Blake turns around and gasps.

"At least let me leave before you snuggle with another man."

"Don't pretend to be shocked! You knew Ava came as a package." Kyle laughs.

"So you're going to pay for half of her expenses?"

"Nah, you can have her back." Kyle pushes me off his shoulder.

"Well then!" I gasp.

"Daddy, can we please go swimming now?" Her bottom lip quivers.

"Yes, we can."

"Yay," she shouts.

London takes Blake's hand and he allows her to drag him to the ocean. I return to resting my head on Kyle's shoulder so that I have something comfortable to rest my head on.

"Are you okay? I know Charlotte is going over the top about the wedding."

"I'm beginning to regret asking her with the way she's acting."

"She'll settle down soon enough."

"Do you think?" He sighs.

"Once it's over, you'll be fine."

"If she keeps acting crazy, I might consider the single life."

"Getting married is a small portion of your life. Once it's over and done with, she'll return to the Charlotte you love and want to marry."

"I hope you're right."

"I'm always right."

"True."

"Let's go swimming and de-stress."

"I didn't bring my bathers, though."

"Eh, swim in your shorts then."

We jump up and discard our extra clothes on the beach. I race head of Kyle and manage to catch up with the other two. I swing London into the air and she squeals with excitement.

Blake hurries into the water and puts his arms out.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes!" she shouts.

I heave London into the air and toss her towards Blake. Lo crashes into the water and Blake tugs her out. She brightly grins as she brushes the wet strands of hair out of her face.

"Again, again!"

Screams whip the air as I'm hoisted into the air.

"What are you doing?" I scream.

"Throwing you into the water." Kyle laughs.

"You're mean!"

I struggle against his grip but that doesn't help. Kyle tosses me into the water and I sink into the rolling waves. I pop up and pout. He offers me his hand and I happily accept. As he tugs me up, I yank him forward. His body crashes into mine and we fall back into the water.

I float to the surface and brush the salty water off my face. Kyle's head pokes up from the water and he's glaring.

"That's the oldest trick in the book."

"Yeah, and you deserved it." I giggle.

Before Kyle can grab me, I bound over the waves and hide behind Blake.

"Protect me from him." I wrap my arms around his torso and cling tightly.

"You can't hide behind your husband!" Kyle glares.

"Hey Lo, go teach Kyle a lesson. He's trying to hurt your Mummy."

A smile spreads across Lo's face as she turns to charge at Kyle. She leaps onto his leg which makes Kyle pout.

"You can't send a small human to do your evil biding."

Lo splashes the water and glares. "I'm not small. I'm a big girl."

"Of course you're a big girl."

"Daddy, Uncle Kyle is being mean." She pouts.

Blake looks over his shoulder and grins.

"I think we should teach Uncle Kyle a lesson."

"Yes, I think we should." I nod.

"Hey! That's not fair. There's three to one."

"Start running," I shout.

Kyle spins around while the three of us chase him. Of course, Blake reaches him first. He tosses Kyle over his shoulder and walks deeper into the ocean. I pick London up and she grins.

When Kyle surfaces, he storms to the sand.

"Do you want to grab ice-cream?"

"You can't bribe me with ice-cream." Kyle stomps.

"Not even the chocolate waffle cone ones?"

"Um, okay, maybe one of those."

I place London in the shallow waves and point to Kyle.

"Can you take Uncle Kyle to the towels? I don't want him to get lost."

Lo nods her head and charges forward. She takes his hand and the two chat about ice-cream flavours as they wander to our things.

Blake wraps an arm around my waist and smiles at me.

"Is there something wrong?"

"No, I wanted to stand here with you for a little."

"Okay." He nods.

I lean against Blake's chest and close my eyes. I listen to the sound of crashing water, children screaming with delight, the odd person chatting as they pass and the sound of his heart beating.

"Do you feel better?" His arms tighten around me.

"Yes, thank you."

He laces his fingers through mine and we walk across the sand. Kyle hands us our towels and we wrap them around us. London leads us to the ice-cream stand which makes those two delightfully happy.

We sit on the bench and London manages to slop the ice-cream everywhere.

"Next time we get this first," Blake whispers.

"Thankfully, there's a shower on the way back to the car."

"What are you two giggling about?" Kyle frowns.

"Us? Nothing." I smile.

Once they've finished eating, we take London to the shower. Kyle leaves and Blake rinses the chocolate off London.

He places her on his shoulder and we walk along the pathway, hand in hand.

All the pain and suffering has been worth it, because we can enjoy more moments like this.