Cheating Hearts

Chapter 73

Sam lay awake in the bed feeling the emptiness beside him. His hand pressed to the mattress that was still warm from where she had been sleeping next to him. The light was off in the bathroom and there was no sign that she was in there.

Turning back he saw her sitting beside the window looking out over the city. "Con?" She glanced back over her shoulder suddenly aware he was awake, a small smile on her lips. "Sorry I didn't want to wake you... I was just feeling sick." He nodded sitting up slightly as he beckoned her back over towards the bed.

Moving from where she sat she traipsed back running a hand through her hair. He looked to her with his shirt draped over her shoulders remaining unbuttoned, her bump becoming bigger by the day. He instantly held his arm out as she sat down onto the bed sliding over towards him.

Her head rested against his chest as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Leaning over he pressed a kiss to her head, pulling the covers over them both as they slid down in the bed. "I love you, you know that right?" "Of course I do..."

Connie turned gently to look up at him, a hand placed to his chest. "I don't think I ever really make the time to tell you what you mean to me. I know I've always walked away from this, tried pretending that none of this was happening..." Her focus moved from his face as she looked to where she traced the outlines of his chest. "I just want you to know that I'm sorry for all of that, I should never have let everything happen the way it did."

Sam moved a hand to cup her cheek before brushing her hair back behind her ear. "We shouldn't have let it happen, but you know I wouldn't take any of it back. Things happen for a reason and if we hadn't then maybe I'd have never got the chance to be here with you now." She let a small smile settle on her lips before dropping her head back to his chest again.

As they lay quietly, she focused on the gentle rise and fall of his chest. His hand continued to run up and down her spine, his fingers warm as they trailed over her skin beneath the shirt. "Do you ever wander what would have happened if you'd have gone to America with Greg?" Connie inhaled slowly as she felt his hold on her tighten a little. "All the time... I was so close to it, to just leaving this all behind. Would have been easier."

Sam nodded keeping his hand pressed against her skin, knowing that she was still in his grasp keeping him grounded. "But it would never have lasted, I would have come back. It would have just been a question of whether I was too late." "You could never be too late because there could never be another you."

Turning to face him, she felt the world around her become a little more secure with each second. For some reason she was still so sure that this would all be gone in an instant, that everything would be snatched away. "When you told me this baby was mine, I can't explain the feeling... I couldn't believe it when Emma told me she had lost the baby, and I won't ever deny the fear I had of finding out this wasn't going to go our way... But now, I wouldn't change it knowing that I'm going to be a father."

Running a hand across her cheek gently he smiled as she dipped her head slightly. "You and me, we're going to make this last... And we're going to raise the smartest, most beautiful child. They couldn't have a better start to life with having you as their mother." Pressing a kiss to her forehead, his hand slipped over her waist to rest against her stomach.

Laying on his back, she curled into his side feeling her eyes become heavy again. "I can't wait to meet them-" "Only six weeks and we can." She hummed happily as her eyes shut, her voice heavy with sleep. "You know that you're not being at the birth-" "Try stopping me." "Don't cry when I tell you how much I hate you." He smirked resting his head against hers as she took a deep breath relaxing into him. "It could be a long wait... For the baby to be born." "I know, but I can be patient." "Could have fooled me Strachan."

A few moments went by quietly as he spoke into the silence. "Boy or girl?" He wasn't sure if she were awake or not when he received no answer from her. Connie heard his words in her sleepy haze and took a moment to think. "A girl... I've always wanted a little girl." "I didn't have you down as the mothering type, although I can see how much you really care when children come through the doors at work."

"You?" "I think I'd like a little girl... Someone with your beautiful smile, a miniature you with smart remarks and sly looks. Someone to press your buttons and give as good as you get." Connie couldn't help the smile that came to her lips inadvertently as she thought about it. Everything seemed so much better when Sam said it, the way he made her picture everything they had to come.

"I think what I'll like the most is the way she'll say your name... The way it just sounds right to hear you called Mum. Then knowing that it's me who gets to share that with you. I think that's the best part of all of this." "You're going to be an incredible Father, you'd have been the best with Emma." His fingers ran through her curls lazily as they both felt themselves drifting more. Their words continuing slowly as they spoke about everything their subconscious had been wanting to speak for so long.

Eventually they slept, tightly wrapped with one another as the thoughts of the future lingered in both their minds. Soon their baby would be here and everything would be different, but it was a good kind of different that they were both welcoming. Sam only hoped that he would also have the luck of being able to call her his wife one day soon.