I know we'll make it anywhere – Snow Patrol, 'Run'

The hardest thing was telling Gigi.

Naive, romantic Gigi with her idealised view of the world, who still keeps her brother on his pedestal even after the spring of 2012.

'So when will you get married?' she'd asked, her eyes sparkling and her next question just desperate to roll out.

'Well,' Lizzie had said somewhat nervously. She'd scratched her upper arm. 'After the baby's born, I guess.'

Gigi had snorted and looked over at him, as though waiting patiently for him to propose.

'We've got more than enough on our plates, Gigi,' he'd said. 'Lizzie has to prepare her company for her extended leave, she's got to make sure everything will run smoothly without her, and in between all that, we have to arrange things at home. It just isn't feasible to organise a wedding in addition to all our other responsibilities.'

'Oh,' she'd said weakly before pasting a smile back on her face and hugging Lizzie.

Later, after they'd eaten and Lizzie had gone for a bath, he and Gigi had moved into the lounge to listen to an album he wanted to recommend to her. After about half an hour, Gigi had paused the song they'd been listening to and turned to him determinedly.

'You should get married, William. You know you should get married.'

'We will get married. When the baby's here and Lizzie's business has settled and she feels she can juggle motherhood and a career, we'll start thinking of a date.'

'Oh, come on, Will. Is this really what you want? What would dad make of this? You get married first. Everyone knows this.'

He had been quiet for a painful moment.

'I don't live for everyone,' he'd eventually said in a low voice. 'We're not going to pretend that we'd planned this, but now that it has, we're not getting married because 'everyone' wants us to. You're going to be an aunt, Gigi. Why can't you fixate on that?'

Gigi had left before Lizzie appeared, though their farewell had been more amicable than he'd expected. Still, he felt flat. Gigi was his only family left and he'd expected a much more demonstrative feeling of joy from her. She had been excited at first. But then she had realised that Lizzie's fourth finger on her left hand was bare and the questions had started.

Lizzie had watched quietly as he prepared for bed that evening. At last, he sat down on his side of the bed and ran his fingers through his hair. She had clambered over the bed cover to reach him. Her legs curled around his side, her chin rested on his shoulder and her lips kissed the side of his neck.

'I know,' she'd said. 'I heard.'

He had heaved a sigh before leaning back into her body and welcoming her arms around him.

And now here he was halfway through a typically chaotic and busy Sunday dinner at the Bennets, wondering why Gigi hadn't been more like them.

Certainly, they'd been shocked. Lizzie's father had mouthed the announcement several times before he seemed to process it, and it was as though her mother had never heard of a couple having a baby before. But then laughs and congratulations had echoed through the den and Lizzie was lost in a tangle of hugs and he was being teased by her father and conversation turned to the christening gown that five generations of Bennets had worn and how Jane was sure she'd seen it in the back of her parents' wardrobe and Lydia was asking for her favourite pair of Lizzie's pumps before her feet swelled up.

'Oh, no!' Mrs Bennet's voice brings him back to the moment. 'I understand honey. We want your wedding to be magnificent.'

Lizzie jabs his thigh with her finger and he smiles at her father. To say their daughters are stunned would be an understatement of gargantuan proportions.

'Besides,' she adds in a conspiratorial tone, 'you don't get much more committed than having a child together, do you?'

And here is the thought that had danced around in his head since Gigi's startling outburst, always just out of reach. He wasn't going anywhere. Lizzie wasn't going anywhere. People walked away from marriage every day. This connection they shared, his commitment to her, was tangible. They would always have this child. They would always care for, worry about, lose sleep over, argue about, fight for, love this child.

He catches Lizzie's poking finger, swallows her entire hand with his grasp and smiles at her in the most unguarded moment he thinks he's experienced in anyone else's company.

When he looks away from her, he knows that he would usually be flustered by the awkwardly obvious burst of conversation that implies the table had paused to watch the two of them, but Lizzie's mother has struck a chord with him. They know how much he loves Lizzie, and it isn't as embarrassing or as intrusive as he'd thought it would be.

Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear – Snow Patrol, 'Run'

I don't how big this song was in other countries, but here it was pretty big. And then Leona Lewis wailed all over it and ruined it for me for a while. This version (watch?v=fjew4xT1OKA) is stripped back and when I first heard it a few years ago, it really made me listen to the lyrcis. Anyway, I thought I'd share it because it's even better than the single released by Snow Patrol originally.

Cuckoo x