She looked stunning he thought as he looked across at her, faced bathed in the candlelight. Sam and Pippa had agreed to babysit Charlie, he was not impressed at the word and insisted Molly and Charles referred to the arrangement as "staying in" with him and had earned a punch in the arm from his big brother, when he suggested to their parents that it may be him that needed to keep an eye on Sam and Pippa that they didn't end up " K...I...S...S...I...N...G". Charles and Molly had rolled their eyes at the two brothers arguing both thinking that they were about to start the cycle all over again with a new baby James, Charles hoped for a girl to be introduced into the mix, Molly claimed not to care as long as the baby was healthy.
It was the end of the first week back for both of them so Charles had decided to take her out to dinner on the Saturday evening to one of their new found favourite restaurants, he hoped that it would be a nice treat to help her relax as she had seemed unsettled and tense since she returned to work. He was still mostly putting it down her adjusting to the loss of her Nan so suddenly but she had been waking up in the middle of the night with nightmares again and this hadn't happened so frequently for a long time and always happened when something was troubling her.
He held her hand across the table "you look so beautiful tonight Molls, I say thank you to karma every day for you coming back to me" she giggled a little bit, it still made her feel like a teenager on a first date when he was so romantic with her, she loved it, he still had that look that gave her butterflies and made her stomach do a little flip, his expression one of love with a healthy sprinkling of lust and longing thrown in, the look that made the rest of the room melt away. "I want tonight to be just about me and you, I want you to relax, I want us to celebrate that we are going to have another child together" he raised a glass "to our fantastic family and baby James" he lent across the table to kiss her, despite the last few weeks she felt happy right here, right now with him, she felt like nothing else mattered other than being with him in this moment.
They pulled into the drive as Pippa's dad was just collecting her, Charles stayed outside to have a quick chat with him as Molly went inside to see Sam and look in on Charlie. Sam was watching a film, Molly crept upstairs and looked into Charlie's room he was sound asleep and as usual the quilt was on the floor, he was such a rough sleeper he had always thrown the covers off during the night since he was a toddler. She moved over to the side of the bed and put the quilt back over him, she sat down for a minute and watched him sleeping, he had grown up so much and these last five years had been great for him, having an older brother in Sam to look up to. She stroked his forehead, soon she would begin the process all over again, she hoped both the boys would be pleased when she and Charles told them about the new baby, she supposed they would after they got over the initial grossed out thoughts of their parents having sex, both of them were at an age where this would be the first thing to cross their mind.
She left Charlie to sleep and took off her shoes, leaving them in their bedroom and then going back downstairs, she met Sam on the staircase "night Molls" she touched his arm "night Sam, you and Pippa have a nice night?" He looked a bit awkward "yeh fine we watched TV mostly" Molly laughed "mostly?" He gave her a disapproving look "yeh...Molls...dont you start too...Dad is bad enough" she put her hand on his shoulder "she's a cool girl...night mate"
Charles was back inside now and pouring them a nightcap, she went into the sitting room and plonked herself down on one of the huge sofas they had bought when they moved in, they were the kind that could seat four people and still have space and they almost cuddled you with the excess padding as you sat down. He put some music on the I pod and went and put the drinks on the side table. he held out his hand to her "care to dance Mrs James?" She smiled broadly and grabbed his hand "my pleasure Mr James" he held her tight as they swayed around the room, it had been the perfect evening, just what she needed, he always knew just what she needed she thought to herself as she could feel his hand running up and down her spine. "Thank you for giving me another child" he kissed her and as she came up for air she couldn't resist "well as a doctor, I think you played your part in that one too" he laughed same old cheeky Molly and kissed her again.
She sat up out of breath, adjusting her dress back down as he lay on the sofa gazing lustfully at her..."well that's my kind of nightcap" she laughed "very funny, we should be heading up, it's almost 2am and Sam has Rugby practice in the morning" he pulled her back down towards him "spoil sport, sure you don't want me to...ahem... pour you another?" She slapped his bare chest playfully "no I think I have had enough...to drink...for one night" she pulled his arm and motioned for him to get up she was met with his sulky teenager crossed with puppy dog look that he had perfected over the years, but she was having none of it..."come on...its late" reluctantly he followed her up the stairs.
It was 3am, Charles jumped out of bed, the dogs were going mad downstairs, Molly sat up " what's going on?" he was putting a t shirt on "no idea, something has disturbed them" he disappeared, after a few minutes Molly swung her legs out of bed and put her dressing gown on and went to stand at the top of the stairs, she could hear Charles moving around each room, checking doors and windows, the dogs following him around still growling with the occasional bark but they had calmed down a bit. He came to the bottom of the stairs "I think it must have been the wind rattling the back door that disturbed them, all looks fine down here, will do one last check and settle them and be back up in a minute" she turned to go back to bed as she climbed in her phone buzzed on the bedside table she picked it up and opened the message, she didn't recognise the number, she stared at the screen and then dropped the phone.
It was a picture of her and Charles...downstairs...earlier.