Waiting For You

Ronnie stifled a deep yawn, covering her mouth with a hand and trying to keep her eyes open as everyone sat around the dinner table in the bar of the Vic, talking and laughing and enjoying the merriment of the day. "You tired?" Jack asked, leaning over in his seat so he could take a closer look at her face.

"A little," she replied honestly, having learnt that there was no point in trying to lie to her husband about how she was feeling, he could see straight through her even as the words left her mouth.

"Maybe we should head home?" He suggested, taking Ronnie's hand and giving it a gentle tug.

But she shook her head. "In a bit, yeah? I want to stay for a little longer," Ronnie replied, giving Jack her best smile, knowing that there was no way he'd be able to turn her down when she used it on him.

Jack chuckled to himself, smiling broadly and shaking his head a little. "You know that's not fair."

"What's not?" Ronnie asked, acting as though she had no idea what Jack was talking about.

"Don't act the innocent, you know what," he responded, bringing her hand to his lips and pressing a tender kiss into her skin.

"Oi you two, none of that at the table – you're gonna put me off me turkey," Phil stated, his voice gruff but jovial.

Ronnie scoffed, pointedly looking at her cousin's expanding waistline. "Didn't think anything could put you off food," she quipped.

"First time for everything, ain't there?" Phil replied, spearing a roast potato on his fork before biting into it.

Ronnie rolled her eyes, but Jack didn't remove his hand from hers. "Oi, leave the newlyweds alone, Philip," Roxy shouted across the table, throwing a Christmas cracker toy at Phil.

Her sister laughed as Phil ducked, the pink plastic toy narrowly missing his bald head. Ronnie ran a hand over her swollen stomach, feeling her unborn child aim a kick at her kidney. Although it was uncomfortable, she didn't wince. There was nothing about this pregnancy that she wouldn't love, nothing that she would complain about – not the morning sickness, or the backache or the constant need for Jack's touch; not that that was something she would ever complain about.

"He kicking again?" Jack asked, leaning close and placing a hand on the top of Ronnie's stomach.

She nodded, before saying: "How do you know we're having a son?"

"Yes, you might be having another 'Mitchell' girl," Glenda added her two cents to the conversation, looking on as her eldest daughter glowed with happiness.

"'Branning' girl," Ronnie corrected without breaking eye contact with her husband. We took so long to get here, to share a surname, I'm not giving it up for anything.

"Of course, 'Branning'," Glenda conceded, picking up her wine glass and taking a long sip.

"Take it easy, yeah mum?" Roxy said out of the corner of her mouth, watching the way Glenda was downing her glass as though it was water.

"Oh relax, Roxanne – it's only a bitta wine. Anyway, it's Christmas, if now isn't the time to let loose, when is?" Glenda raised her shoulders in a shrug and took a pointed sip from her glass, whilst Roxy simple shook her head.

Anyone would think she was the child and me and Ron were the mum. Roxy felt a bubble of excitement forming in the pit of her stomach. Wow – Ronnie's going to have a baby soon. Only a few weeks left until her due date . . . she's going to be a mum. Ronnie's gonna be a mum.

"Mmm," Roxy said, no longer tuning into what her mother was saying, instead looking to Ronnie and Jack who seemed lost in a world of their own. She watched as Ronnie tilted her head slightly, listening intently to what her husband was saying, their fingers entwined and resting on her stomach, where their baby was growing.

Pushing her chair back from the table, Ronnie stood up. Jack frowned in concern, almost immediately following her movement and not releasing her hand. "Ron?" He asked, a look of terror flitting over his face.

"I'm fine," she reassured him, even as her stomach vigorously fluttered. "I just really need the toilet."

Jack let out a visible sigh of relief, nodding his head and returning to his seat. "Okay."

Phil and Shirley chuckled from the opposite end of the table, amused by how jumpy Jack was.

Running a hand across the bottom of her stomach, Ronnie cleared her throat, a strange feeling spreading through her lower body.

"Ronnie?" Roxy called out to her sister, glimpsing the unsure look on Ronnie's face.

"Jack?"

"Hmm?"

"My waters have broken."