‘They are very, very into the idea,’ she assured him. ‘Owen told me the other day that Roddy would have really liked you. Lana and I agree.’
There was a pause while Ed took this, their ultimate compliment, on board.
‘So you all want to live here with me?’ he asked and when Annie nodded at him, she saw that he was moved to tears.
‘And definitely you?’ he asked, just to make sure.
Annie nodded: ‘Definitely, babes.’
‘That’s great . . .’ he said, blinking hard. ‘I really love your children. I mean . . . Owen is great, I find him really easy to understand and get along with . . . I’ll need your help to get a much better handle on Lana.’
‘Good grief, Ed!’ Annie smiled at him. ‘We all need help to get a handle on Lana. She’s a fifteen-year-old, now. No-one understands her, not even Lana! And what about you?’ she asked him. ‘Is this what you want?’
Ed pulled her in close. Although he’d wanted to say something, he now found he was too choked to do anything other than nod.
‘Excellent! That’s all decided then,’ Annie said gently against his ear. ‘Now, apparently if I make you the children’s legal guardian, they get a fifty per cent discount at St Vincent’s.’
When he laughed at this, she told him, ‘Hey, babes, I never, ever joke about discounts, you should know that about me,’ in such a serious voice, he couldn’t tell if she was joking or not.
His grip on her grew very tight as he asked her: ‘So you’re going to stay with me then?’
She nodded slowly in response to this, then told him gently, ‘Babes, you are in need of serious modernization and upgrading, but I think you’re an excellent investment with long-term potential.’
‘I am so glad you spotted that,’ Ed said as he squeezed his arms tightly around her.
‘You’re the real thing, a unique, one-off and no-one else had spotted you, so I got you for a snip,’ she added.
‘I’m very, very glad you got me,’ he said.
‘Yes, well . . . I’ve always, always had an eye for a bargain, babes.’
THE END
Links… Another five Annie Valentine stories.
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www.carmenreid.com