Louisa had always handled the procurement of James' clothes so Martin was at a loss once they arrived in the city. She directed him to Boscawen Street. After a bit of maneuvering, he found parking and soon they were scouting the stores along the street. She found articles of clothing for James in three stores. The fourth store they stopped in was specifically for babies and mothers.

At each stop Martin watched Louisa as she perused the offerings. She was enjoying the experience and nearly hummed with her pleasure. He took it in, taking his own pleasure from her happiness. The baby store was a particular challenge. She wanted to look at everything, touching it all, lingering over the newborn things. He knew her pregnancy with James had been troublesome for her emotionally thanks to their awkward situation. There had been none of this exploring and dreaming, he was certain.

"Look at this Martin," she said as she showed him a gown for a newborn girl. "Isn't it lovely?"

He looked at the gown and thought it looked serviceable but he didn't see beauty in it. Looking at his wife's face however, convinced him of it. "Mmmmm, yes…. Lovely."

Her eyes changed from sparkling happiness to hopeful anticipation and Martin knew what his decision would be about more children. He took a step closer to her and spoke softly. "If we have a little girl, I hope she will be as lovely as her mother."

She looked up at him almost afraid to put too much into his words. "You…you'd like a little girl?" She asked tentatively.

His heart was hammering in his chest, his mind very aware of the importance of this one moment. Some rubbish comment from somewhere, a movie or perhaps a novel he'd read in school, flickered in his mind. Grasping at it in an effort not to muck this up, he touched his fingers to her face. "A little girl would be nice but I would be content with any gift of a child…from you."

Her answering smile and eyes that glistened with tears told him he'd succeeded. She was happy with hs answer…more than happy. "So… you'd decided that you'd be alright with another baby then?" she asked, still not quite trusting his response.

As he looked into her eyes, he knew he was. "Yes…more than alright. Happy even. I love James," he said as he glanced at his son. "Being a father frightens me, Louisa; but I am learning. You are teaching me. James won't be like me; he'll… he'll be fine."

She leaned up to kiss him on his cheek. "There is nothing wrong with you, Martin; not the real you, the one you keep locked away. The problem is the barriers you insist on keeping between you and the rest of the world."

"Mmmmm," he grunted. "You ummm… you seem to be breaking them down," he replied softly, relishing this moment of closeness.

She eased back and looked around. "Let's go home…get started on that gift you mentioned?"

Martin looked around as well, noticing all the people who were thankfully not watching them. "Ermmm. Why don't we pick one thing for the new baby first? Something we purchase together…"

Louisa looked at him approvingly. "You're full of surprises today," she purred.

Twenty minutes later they emerged from the shop, Martin carrying James as Louisa managed the bag. As they walked back to the car, he noticed a building near the corner. "Louisa, let's not go back to Portwenn just now."

She looked at him, frustration seeping into her features. "Why not?"

"Ermmm. I thought… perhaps we might stay here tonight…in Truro."

She stopped and looked at him confused. "What?"

He knew he had confused her and needed to xplain quickly. "If we go home there will be some emergency; someone will have a splinter or a stubbed toe or something and we'll be interrupted. And I don't want us to be interrupted; not….not now...tonight I mean."

"What about James?"

"We'll pick up a lunch and tonight find a place to eat. There's a druggist down the street and we can get what we need for him there. And there's a hotel. We'll feed him and spend some time with him and then he'll fall asleep and we… we can…"

Louisa almost giggled. His eyes were wide with excitement and anticipation. He was letting his barriers down for her, letting her in, trying to open up, be romantic, and well, be the husband she wanted him to be. She knew she couldn't say no. "That sounds…wonderful, Martin."

With all the excitement of a school boy let out on holiday he grabbed her hand, bag and all, and excitedly walked her toward the druggist. As she looked up at his almost smiling face, she wondered briefly who this man was. But then she relaxed. This was Martin Ellingham, the real Martin Ellingham, and she was going to enjoy him for however long he came out to play.

It didn't take long to pick out the extra nappies and other things James would need for the overnight stay. They also picked up a few items they would need, toothbrushes and such. Within minutes they were walking down the street to the hotel. Martin asked for and procured a suite. They took their bags up to the room and freshened up a bit. Martin changed James' nappy while Louisa was in the lavatory. She played with James while Martin cleaned his teeth and took care of his own hygiene.

He stepped into the sitting room and almost smiled when he saw Louisa on the floor with their son, both giggling over some nonsense game. Martin didn't understand the nonsensical things Louisa insisted on teaching James, but he did understand that it made both of them happy. And Martin wanted his wife and his child to be happy, so generally he tolerated the claptrap between them. In moments like this he even enjoyed watching it.

James looked up from his mother and reached for him, swelling Martin's heart. His boy wanted him. Remembering how much he wanted his own father's attention and how disastrous it often ended, Martin strode to their space. Easing himself onto the floor, something he never would have imagined himself doing before James' birth, he took the boy in his lap. "What have you and your mother been up to, hmmm?" he asked softly. Martin could feel Louisa smiling at him and let his eyes roam from James to her.

If only he could have her smiling at him like that all the time, he thought. He'd do anything, was doing everything he could, to make that happen. The way she was looking at him, the admiration and the satisfaction that shown in her expression, took his breath away.

"He loves his Daddy," she said as she handed James a stuffed toy.

James took it and promptly threw it at her, eliciting more giggles from mother and son. Martin had to stop himself from admonishing the boy. Likely it was Louisa had instigated this game and the boy was too young to understand that it was inappropriate anyway. He did scowl though when Louisa tossed the creature back, hitting Martin on the side of the face. Before he could respond, James was giggling again, almost squealing with delight and Martin found it infectious. "Your Mum's being quite cheeky today isn't she James?" he said to the boy.

He wasn't prepared for Louisa's retort. "I'll show you just how cheeky I can be once James is asleep," she said in a low, throaty voice. Martin's head shot up as he looked at her, his eyes wide with surprise and then anticipation. Suddenly the room was a little too warm. "Perhaps…lunch?" He suggested.

"Yes, I think that would be best," she replied. "James is beginning to tire he'll need a nap soon. Where are we going to eat, anyway? The dining room downstairs didn't look child friendly."

"There is a place around the corner….family oriented… Hygiene is acceptable and the food is reasonably healthy. I um… I had lunch there with Chris Parsons a while back."

Louisa stood up. "Sounds perfect."

As they gather James and his bag, Louisa paused. "What about a picnic. There's a park nearby and…" she looked up to see Martin with a contemplative look on his face, as if he were trying to decipher a complex problem. "What, you've never been on a picnic?"

Martin blinked. "What? Yes, I have… Aunty Joan used to pack a basket…when I was a boy staying with her in the summers. We'd sit on the cliffs and watch the boats and have a picnic. I don't think I've had one since…" Martin didn't want to tell her Joan's real motivation for those lazy summer picnics, her desire to watch her…to watch John's boat sailing. They had been wonderful memories for him as a boy and he'd even looked back on them as an adult with some nostalgia. But once he learned Joan's real reason for taking him out to the cliffs, Martin had felt the memories tarnish. But none of that had anything to do with today, he decided. "Yes, a picnic would be fine. We could order a box for take away." Louisa smiled at him warmly and Martin thought perhaps he would have new happy memories of picnics to replace the tarnished ones.

They were at the restaurant, waiting for their box of food, when a high pitched and for Martin thoroughly unpleasant voice exclaimed, "Ellingham!"

I'll leave it there for you to guess who the voice belongs to ;-) I'm having difficulties getting things typed and posted because I'm spending my spare time reading all the wonderful stories being posted by everyone else! In fact, I'm off to see what's been put up since I was last able to spend some time in Martinland.