Author's note

Thank you so much to everyone who has read/followed/reviewed/favourited this collection so far! I always love to hear from you.

I posted this drabble on Tumblr yesterday and people seemed to enjoy it, so I am finding a home for it here too.

Oh, my darling

"How are you feeling tonight, Sybil?"

"I'm exhausted - the baby just won't stop kicking."

Tom opened his arms to her - "Sweetheart, come here - let me see what I can do for you."

Sybil climbed into bed and rested her head on her husband's broad chest. He pulled her close and placed a kiss on top of her head as he gently rubbed her back. She sank into the welcoming warmth of his arms with a sigh of delight -

"Oh love, that does feel better."

Their eyes met and they shared a smile, born of a love so deep that it coloured the world around them with a rosy glow. She wondered sometimes what her life might have been like if she hadn't had the courage to follow her heart and admit she loved him - at moments like these, it seemed as if they were hardly two separate people any more, their hearts were so closely entwined.

As for Tom - his first thought every day was of his beloved wife, while his last was a soft prayer, thanking the God of his childhood for the gift of Sybil's love. He still couldn't believe his luck - she was his at last, after so many years of waiting, just as he was hers. He felt a tear behind his eyes as he looked down at her and kissed her forehead, remaking the promise he had first made to her in York and renewed a hundred times over since then - to devote every waking minute to her happiness.

She looked up at him, starry eyed, so beautiful with the glow of expectant motherhood on her face that it made him catch his breath. He could not resist leaning down to kiss her full, soft lips and she lifted herself up to meet him - "Mmmmmm…."

Their kiss broke after a few minutes, and she snuggled back down in his arms again, Tom's hand resting on Sybil's swollen belly where it cradled their child, now almost ready to come into the world. He felt a sense of awe and reverence as he held her - in a week or so, she would give birth to the fruit of their love, a tangible expression of the bond between them that could never be broken.

He half-heard her whisper something - "What was that?"

"I said, I sleep so much better in your arms than I ever did alone. I love you, Tom, so very much."

A tear escaped down his cheek as he pulled her even closer to him and they shared a moment of perfect, unsullied joy. "Oh, my darling," he murmured, his heart too full to speak….