Chapter 83

Nic walked out of the store with her head dazed.
It was the same one where she and Ella had purchased that ridiculously expensive wedding dress and she had on a whim taken her wedding and bridesmaids dresses to them to take a look at and they wanted to buy the designs from her. She was grinning all the way back to the workshop.
"Well?" Helen her supervisor asked, the company she worked for did not do bridal wear so Helen had suggested that she try to market the designs elsewhere.
"They said they want them. They are going to pay a lot of money for the rights to manufacture them and it's going to be called the Nicole range." She said still in shock.
"Well done you." She told her. "I think we need to go to lunch to celebrate."
"But I just had my lunch hour." Nic said quickly.
Helen grinned.
"Bosses prerogative." She told her and put her arm through Nic's and led her to the staff canteen. "Now this isn't a fancy restaurant but I'm addicted to their cheesy garlic bread at the moment."
Nic laughed.
"I love it too. I've started bringing in my toothbrush and toothpaste so that I can eat it!"
"Really?" Helen asked.
"Yeah, I have it everyday." Nic grinned.
"So did I when I was first pregnant." Helen told her and watched her face carefully.
Nic grinned and looked at Helen's rotund belly.
"Not long to go now." Nic said softly, avoiding the issue that was ticking away in her head like a time bomb.
"Nope." she agreed and led Nic through the queue to collect their lunch.
Nic sat at the table and they spoke for a time about work before she finally reached into her handbag pulling out her diary. She counted the days and looked at Helen.
"It was the garlic bread wasn't it?" she asked her.
"Are you?" Helen asked with a grin.
"I'm late." She confirmed. "Oh crap." She murmured.
"I thought you wanted children.
"It's not that Helen, my stepmother had a miscarriage four months ago. We were planning on waiting for a while."
"Maybe you aren't."
Nic looked over at her boss, seeing the glow that she had acquired with her pregnancy.
"I'm never late." She confessed with a worried look.
"I presume you want children? I mean that is why they brought your apprenticeship forward isn't it."
Nic nodded.
"Yeah and I am so grateful." She said to her.
"No need to tow the party line Nic, we need designer's like you to keep our range fresh." Helen grinned at her.
Nic smiled back slowly.
"How about we take the afternoon off and go get a test?" She suggested to Nic.
Nic shook her head.
"Thank you for the offer, Helen but I would feel guilty if I lose anymore time and I have those samples to finish before tonight. I'm working in the shop tomorrow remember?"
Helen grinned at her.
"Ok then. " she agreed. "I'll be a horrible boss and make you get back to work."
Nic laughed.
"Ouh goody." She said and Helen laughed at her.

Nic walked through the door and looked at Geoff who was standing in the doorway to the kitchen.
"I thought I would cook tonight." He said to her.
She grinned and dropped her handbag to the floor.
"I need a very big hug." She told him stepping forward.
He smiled slowly and dropped the unused pan he was holding on to the table to take a step towards her.
"Ok." he said softly.
"I sold the designs." She told him.
"That should be a good thing shouldn't it?" He asked her.
"Yes it is." She told him with a sigh. "We need to re do our figures." She added.
He pulled back and looked at her.
"Why?" He asked her.
She smiled for the first time since having lunch with Helen.
"Because if we are going to do this we need to factor in something else."
He looked at her for a long moment.
"No?" he asked softly.
"Maybe." She replied. "I've bought a test but I'm too scared to use it." she confessed to him.
He bent his head and kissed her.
"Nic." He said softly unable to stop the grin on his face.
"Don't look at me like that." She told him. "I don't want to upset Ella." She muttered with another sigh.
"I can't help it I'm going to be a dad."
"Maybe. Possibly." She cautioned, trying to control the growing excitement in herself.
"We should take the test and find out." He murmured.
"We?" she questioned. "I think it only works if I pee on the stick."
He grinned at her.
"No." she told him.
He pulled her back into his arms and kissed her. She lost herself in his embrace kissing him back, her hands rubbing him all over. Feeling him caress her in turn.
"Ok." she said after a time. "I'll take the test."
He chuckled.
She turned and picked up her bag and walked up the stairs. He turned and walked back into the kitchen turning off the cooker before going up the stairs after her. He waited outside the bathroom door.
Nic came out a few minutes later and sat next to him she lent her head on his shoulder.
"Its ok." he said to her thinking she needed comfort.
She looked at him.
"I can't look at the result." She confessed softly.
"Why is that?" he asked her pressing a soft kiss to her lips.
She looked at him.
"Well the last time we did this it was negative and I was relieved but I don't think I will have the same reaction this time." She murmured.
He grinned.
"I have to confess to you that I was relieved that it was negative but later that night a little part of me was upset that you weren't pregnant."
"Oh Geoff." She said and kissed him. "You never told me." She looked into his eye. "I was too." She said pressing another kiss to his lips. "I know it would have been crazy but just for a few minutes I…" she stopped wondering if she were brave enough to confess the rest and took a deep breath. "That night I put a cushion up my top and looked in the mirror to see how I would look with your baby."
He chuckled.
"And I bet you looked beautiful" he whispered to her.
She smiled.
They looked down at the little white test strip and she gasped.
"Wow." She said.
"Two pink lines." He said. "I take it that is positive?"
She nodded.
"We're having a baby." She told him and burst into tears throwing her arms around his neck.
"I hope these are happy tears." He said and felt her nod.
"They are wonderful tears." She said and looked at the test strip again. "I want our babies." She confessed.
He grinned.
"I want to give you lots of babies." He admitted with a grin.
She looked at him.
"Uh huh." She said. "I think we need to see how we get on with this one first." She told him.
He smiled before he lent forward and kissed her.