A/N: Thank you all so much for coming back to read this chapter, the support means so much to me! I really hope that you enjoy and happy reading x
Biting the perfectly ripe strawberry just beneath the stalk when her husband offered it to her as she laid in his arms, a shiver of delight ran through Anna and she hummed to herself at its juiciness as she allowed herself to savour it. For quite some time now, they had been hidden away among the heather in a field not too far from the loch, simply feeding each other the fruit they had purchased from the market and making the most of the precious alone time that they had been blessed with. She had to admit that she had been rather anxious about leaving the girls with Blaire for the morning at first, what with her having never been separated from Evelyn before and knowing that Adelaide had a tendency to be quite shy around new people, but John had promised her that they would be fine and now that they were out she felt so much more at ease. Once she had swallowed the rest of the strawberry, she snuggled against her husband again and giggled as she watched him reach into the punnet beside him for another.
'You do realise I've eaten half of that punnet now, don't you?' She asked as he spun the strawberry around for a moment by the stalk that was caught between his fingers.
'Stop complaining, I'm trying to be romantic here and you're ruining it.' He almost whined which only caused her to giggle more.
'I'm sorry, I'm sorry,' She cleared her throat and began to twist the coarse dark hairs peeking out from the top of his undershirt around her fingers. 'Continue.'
She allowed him to bring the strawberry to her lips then and after brushing her hair out of her face she bit into it, chuckling as some of the juice started to trickle down her chin. She was just about to reach up and brush it away when John leaned down and kissed her there, her breath hitching in the back of her throat as he allowed himself to linger for a second before drawing back. The two of them looked at each other in silence for a time as she finished the strawberry and swallowed it, her heart beginning to race with anticipation when he brought his hand to her face and cupped her cheek beneath the curtain of her hair. He ran his thumb across her skin in a soothing fashion, causing her to release a contented sigh, and she was unable to prevent her eyes from drifting closed when he leaned down and pressed his lips delicately against her own. As the two of them sank into the kiss, she lifted a hand to the back of his head and fell all the more in love with him when he sighed as she curled her fingers into his hair.
On instinct, she rolled onto her side so that she was face-to-face with him and smiled against his lips when he moved his hands so that one came to settle on the small of her back through her skirt and the one on her cheek moved around to the back of her neck. Their kisses were soft and chaste for several long minutes, neither one of them seeing the need to rush themselves, but when John flicked his tongue against her bottom lip she gave into him without the slightest hesitation and allowed him to deepen the kiss. It sounded odd, especially since the two of them had been married for going on seven years almost, but they had never done anything like this before and it truly filled her with exhilaration. Their intimacy, back at home, always had its limits. She would only allow him to kiss her cheek or give her a peck on the lips if their girls were around and anything other than that was only permitted within their bedroom, so having him kiss her like this in such a public place was such a thrilling experience for her.
She allowed herself to relax in his arms as his lips moved slowly over hers, her free hand finding his arm so that she could draw it tighter around her as she responded to each of his kisses. He seemed to get the message because he pressed his hand firmer into the small of her back and pulled her closer to him, the two of them sharing the same breath as they parted for just a moment before he chuckled breathlessly and caught her lips with his again. Even though her eyes were closed, she could tell by the feel of his hair that it had that boyish look that she adored and it caused butterflies to flit around in her stomach. Unlike most men, he hated not having pomade in his hair because his hair was rather long and it always ended up in his eyes. He had asked her to cut it for him on several occasions, but she had come up with an excuse not to each time because she lived for it. Waking up beside him to find his hair had fallen onto his forehead always set her heart aflutter and she refused to let him take that away.
She could tell that he was becoming lightheaded when there was a change in his breathing sometime later and so it didn't come as too much of a surprise when he started to slow them down, his hand moving from the back of her neck down to her waist as he brushed three soft kisses against her lips before breaking the kiss. It was rather a struggle to breathe, but as she held him close to her as the two of them fought to get their breath back she realised that she genuinely couldn't have cared less. 'Blimey…' She laughed, her thumb stroking the back of his neck as she grazed her nose against his own. 'Who would have thought strawberries could have such an effect?'
'I don't think the strawberries had anything to do with it,' He teased. 'I think it has more to do with the fact that I'm as incapable of resisting you as you are me.'
'You are such an idiot, you know.' She shook her head at him, smirking as she sat herself up and started to pluck the heather and blades of grass from her hair.
She was aware of him sitting up behind her and she shivered when he put an arm around her waist and kissed the curve of her ear before whispering. 'I'm your idiot…'
'Mmm…' She hummed, reaching back and stroking his hair with her fingers, her eyes drifting closed as he pressed his lips to her neck. 'And that makes all the difference.'
Sighing and tilting her head to one side, she allowed him to lazily kiss his way down her neck before he pulled back and she turned her head in his direction which he took as his cue to kiss her passionately once again. Somehow succeeding in refraining from losing herself to him completely, she giggled into his mouth and turned in place to rest a hand on his chest so that she could push him back slightly. 'You need to behave yourself,' She told him as she could see the all-too-familiar mischievous glint in his eyes as he brushed his thumb against her stomach. 'You also need to put your shirt back on because it's time we were heading back to Blaire's, it's been three hours now.'
He unwrapped his arm from around her and fell back onto the grass, feigning exasperation as he groaned and looked up at the clouds that had started gathering overhead. Turning his head in the direction of the punnet of strawberries beside him, he smirked before pushing himself up on his hands and looking at his wife. 'How about you and I finish these strawberries and then we can start walking?' He suggested with a raise of his brow, chuckling when Anna scoffed at him with a good-natured roll of her eyes.
'John Bates…'
'Come on,' He reached for her hand and gave it a tug before she began to crawl towards him. 'You know you want to.'
'Fine, we can finish the strawberries, but then we're going to get the girls and I won't listen to any arguments on the matter, understood?' She poked his chest gently.
'Understood.' He reassured her.
Satisfied with his response, she allowed him to wrap an arm around her and laid down beside him again before snuggling into his side while he took the largest strawberry from the punnet. Once she had bitten it from the stalk and begun to eat it, her eyes fell closed and she draped an arm across his stomach as he brushed a kiss against her forehead. Even though she had missed having the girls with them and she was eager to get back to the two of them, she had to admit that it had been the perfect morning.
And she knew in her heart that there would be many more to come.
'Can mummy come and sit with you, darling? You've been sat on your own for quite a while now and I thought you might like some company.' Anna admitted after she had walked over to where Adelaide was sitting on the bank that led down to Loch Ness late that afternoon, a smile curling her lips as she sat down beside her on the grass and made herself comfortable when she nodded. She felt slightly ridiculous, sitting there and looking out across the water for Nessie when she knew full well that she was just another piece of folklore, but her little girl had been sitting there on her own for going on half an hour now and her heart had ached every time she had looked over at her. She was so determined to get a glimpse of Nessie, this beautiful creature that her father had been telling her about from the moment they had chosen to come to Scotland, and she was already dreading telling her that it was time to go home because she knew that she was going to be heartbroken because she had still been unable to see her.
Honestly, part of her wished that John had never said anything.
She turned her head in Adelaide's direction when she felt her press her cheek against the outside of her arm and it was then that she realised that she was shivering, a soft sigh escaping her as she wrapped an arm around her waist and pressed a kiss to her head. 'Addie, you should have come to me and asked for your coat if you were cold,' She sighed into her curls before covering one of her hands with her own and shaking her head when she looked up at her as she realised just how cold she had gotten. 'I think we had better head back over to the blanket so that you can put your coat and gloves on, sweetheart, because you're going to end up catching your death at this rate.'
'But…but what if Nessie comes?' Adelaide asked with tears in her eyes, her bottom lip starting to tremble.
'Your health is much more important to mummy than you seeing Nessie.' Anna argued, running her thumb back and forth across the back of her palm to warm it up a little.
'Please, please can we stay here? Just for a little while?' Adelaide practically begged.
When a single tear trickled down her little girl's cheek, Anna sighed to herself and reached up with her spare hand to brush it away before she had an idea and she smiled. 'Hang on a second,' She told her before taking her arm from around her waist and starting to unbutton the front of her coat, her attention returning to the loch for a second as she shrugged out of the garment and set it down beside her on the grass. She then patted her lap and allowed Adelaide to crawl into it with Pooh and Piglet clutched in her hands before covering her up with her coat, wrapping her arms tight around her and resting her chin atop her head when she felt her nuzzle her nose into her blouse. The contented hum that her daughter let out told her that she was warm and comfortable and the sound made her heart swell, her hand running tenderly up and down her back as she gave her a squeeze. 'Are Pooh and Piglet warm enough?' She asked before giggling when Adelaide tilted her head back against her chest and smiled up at her.
'Yes,' Adelaide reassured her. 'Piglet says thank you, mummy.'
'Well, he's very welcome.' Anna replied.
She watched her little girl kiss Piglet on the snout and Pooh on the head and it made her smile to see how much she genuinely loved the little toys she had knitted for her. Deep down, when she had been knitting them she had thought that she would soon lose interest as she had with previous toys and so it surprised her to see what good care she took of them and how she would never go anywhere without at least one of them. She was always trying to share them with Evelyn as well and she and John had lost count of the number of times they had had to remind her not to throw her teddies into the Moses basket. They were never in any doubt that her heart was in the right place though and they were so proud of what a kind, loving, mature little girl she was becoming. Hopefully, when she started to attend the village school in September, her schoolmates saw those qualities of hers for themselves and decided to make friends with her. The thought of any of them being cruel to her made her feel sick to her stomach.
She would struggle to mind her words if she came home from school one afternoon and told her that one of her pupils had been teasing her, she knew she would.
There was no point in getting herself worked up about it yet though, she realised that, because it hadn't happened yet and she still had months until she was to start school.
She stopped looking out over the water and lowered her gaze to her daughter when she realised that she had been quiet and still for several minutes, a sigh of happiness escaping her when she realised that Adelaide had fallen asleep with her face turned into her chest and her hand curled into the front of her blouse. Honestly, now that she thought about it, it wasn't at all surprising that she was tired. She had been an absolute nightmare at bedtime last night because she had taken an exceptionally long nap in the afternoon and so she had been full of it. She had been bouncing on the bed, asking for story after story and she had continued to tiptoe downstairs even after she and John had put her back to bed three times and ordered her to stay there. In the end, they had given up with her and allowed her to fall asleep between them on the sofa but they hadn't been best pleased with her about it. It had seemed as though she had remembered all of it that morning though, because she had apologized sincerely to them.
They truly did have the sweetest little girl.
Deciding to get up and return to the picnic spot when the wind picked up and she began to feel rather chilly herself, she held Adelaide tight to her and somehow struggled to her feet before beginning to carry her back up the bank to where John was sitting with Evelyn nestled in his arms. She was out of breath when she finally reached them, but once she had sat down with Adelaide and laid her down on the blanket she was able to have a sip of lemonade and give herself a moment to get her breath back again. Once she had, she took her coat from over her daughter and put it back on before accepting Adelaide's coat from John and lying it over her so that she could keep warm, nothing but love for her in her eyes as she used her hand to brush her curls out of her face and watched her nuzzle her cheek against the blanket with the sleepiest whine. 'We might not have to worry about her getting upset about not seeing the Loch Ness Monster after all,' She laughed, looking at John. 'I think she may be out for the count.'
'It was only supposed to be a bit of fun, but I know that I ended up irritating you and I do apologize for that.' He sighed as he rocked Evelyn in his arms to keep her asleep.
'No,' She shook her head. 'I need to stop being so serious about things, I know that you were only doing it to try and make this trip a little more exciting for her.'
He nodded. 'Are you ready to head home in the morning?'
'Part of me is because I miss Bella and I want to sleep in my own bed again so much, but there's also a part of me that wants to stay longer because I just love it here and I love how happy being here makes you,' She admitted. 'Adelaide loved it just as much as I thought she would and it was so nice to see how fascinated she was when you were telling her things about the places we visited. I think we should make coming out here for a week a yearly thing because the girls would love it, especially when Evie's a little older, and it'll give us something to look forward to throughout the year as well. What do you say?' She asked him, leaning back on her hands with hope in her eyes.
'I think it's a fantastic idea.' He admitted.
'You do?' Her eyes sparkled with delight.
'I do,' He reassured her. 'I most definitely do…'
Brushing a trail of tender kisses across her shoulder and up the back of her neck while lying behind her sleeping form in silence as it neared midnight, John sighed deeply as he held Anna close with the hand that rested on her stomach beneath the quilt and listened to the sound of her breathing. She had fallen asleep relatively quickly in the aftermath of their lovemaking, the long day they had had followed by the palaver that she had been through while making dinner having well and truly worn her out, but he minded little about that. They had to be on the train station platform in less than eight hours and he already knew that she was going to have her work cut out for her in the morning, what with trying to get the girls dressed at the same time as helping him to pack the last of their things, and so he was pleased to see that she was sleeping well. In his opinion, she was more than deserving of a night of proper sleep and he was more than determined to see to it that she was able to have that on their last night away.
He had already told her that he would get up with Evelyn when she cried for a feed or a nappy change and if Adelaide woke up for any reason then he would go to her and all would be fine, but he knew that this was Anna he was talking about. He knew that she would try to stay in bed and sleep, but in the end her thoughts would win out and she would end up climbing out of bed anyway to come and see how things were going. That was just the way things had always been with her and he loved that about her.
The sound of her groaning gently as she stirred in his arms sometime later pulled him from his thoughts and he held his breath, stroking his thumb against her stomach in a comforting fashion until she relaxed again and covered his hand with hers while nuzzling her cheek against her pillow. When her fingers slipped through the gaps in his and she gave his hand a light squeeze before falling back to sleep, he realised that if he intended of being of the slightest bit of help to her in the morning then he needed to at least try to get some sleep of his own. There would be no point of him trying to assist her if he was half-asleep because he would no doubt end up getting in her way and then they would probably end up squabbling which he knew was definitely not what either one of them needed. No, he needed to settle down and try to sleep for a bit.
Tightening his hold of his wife, he snuggled further down beneath the quilt and rested his chin on her shoulder before turning his head and pressing the gentlest kiss into her neck. He then smoothed his thumb across the back of her palm, molded himself to her back and sighed to himself as he closed his eyes and allowed their closeness along with the sound of her steady breathing to send him off to sleep.
A/N: Thank you all so much for taking the time to read this chapter, it really does mean a lot to me that you're still enjoying this fic! There's definitely some drama coming your way, so be prepared, but I hope that it's a little exciting for you all at least! Please drop me a review if you have the time as I'd love to know what you thought of this chapter and I'll see you all soon x