His heart-rate finally returned to normal to see her in one piece. She saw him and her smile got even wider. She jumped off the horse gracefully and handed it to a groom before coming over to where he was standing with their two-year-old son, Cal, in his arms.
Flashes of light went berserk around them—the press still couldn’t get enough of Luc and Nessa ever since their fairy-tale romance had become news. They’d been married almost two years ago in a modest ceremony in an old chapel on Luc’s stud farm grounds in Kildare, and then they’d celebrated with a more lavish reception in Merkazad.
‘You do know that every time I watch you race it takes about a year off my life?’ Luc grumbled good-naturedly as he handed over his son, who was reaching for his mother with chubby arms.
Nessa cuddled him close and looked up at Luc. She had an enigmatic glint in her eye and then said sotto voce, ‘Well, if it’s any consolation it looks like this will be my last race for about a year, if not longer.’
Luc looked at her. The only other time she’d stopped racing was when they’d fallen pregnant with Cal, and even though the doctor had assured them that Nessa should be fine to race early in her pregnancy they’d both agreed that she wouldn’t, in deference to what had happened when she’d first been pregnant.
A surge of emotion rushed through Luc as he reached for her. ‘You’re...?’ He stopped, mindful of waggling ears.
She nodded, eyes shimmering with emotion. ‘I’m late, so I don’t know for sure yet, but I’m pretty certain.’
Luc pulled her and Cal into him, her free arm wrapped around his waist and his son snuggled up between them. His heart was so full he was afraid it might explode. He finally knew the true meaning of wealth and success and it had nothing to do with professional respect or money. It was this.
And then over Nessa’s head he saw Nadim and Iseult with their two children walking towards them. Iseult was pregnant
again with baby number three. His family. Luc finally felt like he belonged to something he’d never had the courage to hope for, and it still felled him sometimes. How lucky he was. How blessed he was. And now this, the seed of a new life in Nessa’s belly.
Nessa looked up at him and for a brief moment before they were enveloped in their family, and congratulations, they shared a look of pure love and understanding. ‘I love you,’ he said, not caring about hiding his emotion.
‘I love you too...’
The kiss they shared at that moment with their son between them was the picture used on the front pages of the newspapers the next day under the headline: Love at the races...a true family affair.
* * * * *