Page 115 of Outlier

I rubbed my hands down my face.

“Well, that sounds perfectly reasonable to me,” said Vicky.

“Vics, she ran away.”

“Whilst that’s not ideal, the disparity of the puppy cuddle situationdoessound unfair.”

Vicky moved over to the sofa and then sat down with Margot and Bilbo.

Legolas moved over to rest his head on her lap, and Bilbo lay across both Vicky and Margot’s laps with his paws in the air, accepting tummy scratches.

I sighed. “You’re not going anywhere, are you Margot?”

“No, Uncle Mike,” Margot said seriously. “I has to be with the puppy.”

“Fine,” I said in a resigned voice, pulling my phone out.

Within minutes of me posting my grumpy WhatApp message on the family group for someone to come and claim one pony and one small child, arrangements had apparently been made for a Sunday roast at my house, followed by croquet on Buckingham Manor’s lawn.

Then I heard a small cry from the monitor.

I looked over to Vicky, who still had the dog and little girl snuggled into her side on the sofa.

“I’ll get her,” I muttered, moving across the space to the ground-floor extension I’d built two years ago.

“Hey, gorgeous,” I said with a smile at my daughter.

She was standing in her cot, her blonde hair all over the place, her big blue eyes blinking at me, and a big gummy smile on her face. “Finished your nap?”

“Go-Go!” she shouted, and I rolled my eyes.

Of course that was what had woken her up.

HarrietlovedMargot.

“Come on then, you,” I said softly, picking her up and kissing her hair as she snuggled into my neck, just like her mother.

As I carried her out to the living area, I glanced at my phone—as predicted, the WhatsApp was going crazy.

“Ugh! What if I wanted a quiet Sunday with my family?” I grumbled, frowning over at Margot, who was in my rightful spot.

“Go-Go!” shouted Harriet, stretching out her arms for Vicky and Margot.

“You’d think that those buggers would take a hint seeing as we live in the middle of a bloody forest.” I stomped over to the sofa and raised my eyebrows. “Come on then, shift up, you lot.”

The three of them moved up the sofa, and I slipped in next to Vicky and pulled her into my side.

Harriet clambered over her mum, allowing a quick kiss and a cuddle before tucking herself between Vicky, Margot and Bilbo.

I kissed the top of Vicky’s head, and she let out a sigh.

The girls giggled together, alternating between playing with the squirming puppy and “listening to the baby” with their ears pressed against Vicky’s stomach.

“Your mum is just worried that I’m not eating enough.”

I grunted. “You’ve been much better for the last month. That’s just an excuse.”

The first trimester of Vicky’s pregnancy had been just horrendous, which was a shock, as she hadn’t had morning sickness with Harriet. It had been a struggle for her to keep anything down, and she nearly had to go into hospital.