Page 34 of The Scrum-Half (Lincoln Knights #3)

Harper

“I was thinking this afternoon about options for me, for us. For the whole nanny situation,” I said, waving my hand slowly in the air. Matty’s dick had totally scrambled my brain and I was struggling to remember how to do anything except exist.

Maybe I should have saved this conversation for the morning, when I wasn’t so orgasm-addled and could actually remember what I’d been thinking about.

“Yeah?” Matty asked. The pair of us were stretched out in his bed, the duvet around our waists and his arm around my shoulder. I was half sprawled out across him, my fingers drawing patterns in his chest hair.

“I’m struggling to remember what they were, though,” I said with a huffed laugh.

He snorted. “They’ll come back to you. Probably in the middle of the night.”

“Probably. If they do, I’ll come and wake you up.”

“Couldn’t they wait until after breakfast?”

“What if I forget again?” I asked, grinning at him. “We don’t want to keep going through this cycle.”

“Don’t be an arse,” Matty said.

“You like my arse, though.”

“I do.”

“Oh, I totally forgot to tell you what Jack said this afternoon,” I said as I looked up at him, reminding myself of the little details of his face.

“I asked him if he’d like new potatoes or couscous with his chicken for dinner, and he just looked me dead in the eyes and said, ‘Obviously couscous, Harper. I’m ’phisticated.

’ I had to go and hide in the utility room for ten minutes while I laughed. ”

“Fucking hell,” Matty said, closing his eyes and putting his hand on his forehead. “I’m so sorry. I did not realise I was raising a pretentious diva.”

“You’re fine,” I said. “Two minutes later he asked me if he could also have baked beans with it, so it balances out.”

“Baked beans and couscous? All right. Also, when the hell did he learn sophisticated?”

“No idea, but I suppose it’s a change from him walking naked along the landing and singing about having a bottom.”

“Keeps us on our toes, I guess,” Matty said with a wry chuckle. “I’m pretty sure he’s going to want to be a plague doctor for Halloween by the way.”

“Love that! I’m sure I can make him a mask with papier maché.”

“Why am I not surprised you know how to make papier maché?”

“I’m an early childhood nanny, honey. Of course I know how to make things with papier maché!

I can also make great salt dough ornaments, a pinata with pipe cleaners and tissue paper, and I’ve even managed the odd balloon animal.

As long as you only want a slightly misshapen dog or giraffe,” I said, loving the way that Matty snorted and smiled.

I was definitely going to get Jack to make a salt dough ornament for Christmas and raid my ideas supply for a host of other seasonal crafts between now and then.

It was always so cute seeing how proud children were of something they’d made, and I was definitely going to be the sort of boyfriend who kept everything Jack created.

“Impressive,” Matty said. “Hmm, I can’t do many crafts but I make a fucking good gingerbread house.”

“Seriously? I love gingerbread houses! Can we make one this year?”

“Of course. Maybe we’ll make a couple—one for you and me to decorate and one for Jack.

Fuck it, maybe I’ll make three and we’ll have one each.

” He tilted his head down and kissed me.

“By the way, I’m taking Jack to Cyprus in July.

You should come too. The villa’s already booked.

Hannah might come too, if I can persuade her to take an actual bloody holiday. ”

“I’d love that. Thank you.”

“Of course. You’re my boyfriend. I want you there.”

“I want to be there,” I said, my heart glowing as the word boyfriend settled into my chest. It sounded so right, and I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to be more. At least, not for now.

“Thanks for being fine with Hannah coming too,” Matty said, pulling his lip for a second.

“We’re only friends these days, and it’s all we’ll ever be, but she’s still Jack’s mum and we get on really well.

I know she finds parenting hard but I think she also wants to be a part of Jack’s life.

It’s just finding a way that works for all of us.

Jack, er, he was a complete surprise and she had severe perinatal depression, I think partly because she didn’t really get a choice since when we found out she was nearly six months gone.

We joked she had no symptoms. Then she found out and suddenly, bump.

Anyway, I want to help her and Jack connect as much as possible, but in a healthy way where neither of them struggle—which might be impossible.

I don’t know. But I’m telling you this because it’ll always be a part of our lives.

Yeah, I’m a single dad but that doesn’t mean Hannah isn’t part of the conversation. ”

I put my hand flat on his chest, right over his heart so I could feel it beating.

“I love that,” I said. “Hannah told me a bit herself the first time we were at the rugby, and the fact you’re always considering what’s best for her and Jack as well as yourself…

it… co-parenting can be really difficult and you two are doing a great job.

And if she wants to come to Cyprus, I’d love her to be there too. ”

“You’re amazing. And maybe one day we’ll be able to have a weekend away, just the two of us.”

“Maybe. But if it’s too much for Hannah, we could always ask one of my sisters.

If they’ve met Jack, obviously, and he trusts them.

But two of them already have kids and Marissa is the best aunty in the world.

” I wasn’t going to mention that Marissa had threatened to drive down here and rip Matty a new one on Sunday night, with Sophie and Leigh in the back of the car.

I’d have to call them tomorrow and tell them things had all worked out before the three of them took matters into their own hands, big sister style.

“I’d like to meet them,” Matty said. “You’ll have to invite them down for lunch one day.”

“I’ll warn you now, they’ll all come at once. You won’t get away with inviting them one at a time,” I said with a nervous chuckle. I wasn’t going to mention that if we tried one at a time, they’d all just turn up anyway and ask exactly why only one of them had been invited.

Matty nodded slowly as he processed the sudden realisation that he was being thrown into the deep end. “Sure, the more the merrier. Bring kids, partners, whoever. It’ll be fun.”

“It’ll be chaos.”

“That can be fun,” he said. “And you’ll be here, and that’s all that matters.”

I kissed him and sighed happily, a picture of our future starting to form in my mind.

Maybe it was too early to think about what our lives could look like, but there was no harm in dreaming.

My feelings for Matty were deep and sure, and there was a certainty about them I’d never felt before.

My heart hadn’t led me wrong before and it wasn’t now.

One thing was clear: I loved him, perhaps in a way I’d never loved anyone before.

And from here, the future looked sweet and sunny.

“I’ve just put the kettle on. Do you want a cup of tea?” I asked, sticking my head around the living room door where Hannah was seating herself on the second sofa opposite Matty. Nausea bubbled in my stomach and I couldn’t remember when I’d last felt this nervous.

Technically Hannah didn’t really have a say in Jack’s care or in Matty’s and my relationship, but I wanted us to all get along well. Besides, this wasn’t just about her. It was also about my career and who was going to look after Jack.

Most of all, it was about Jack.

We still hadn’t told him and every night I’d gone to sleep upstairs in case he woke up in the middle of the night and crawled into Matty’s bed.

On one occasion last week he’d even climbed the stairs to my room to find me, which I’d thought was adorable until his tiny toddler feet had connected with my testicles while he snored.

“I’d love a cuppa,” Matty said with a smile. “Thanks, sunshine.”

“I don’t suppose you have any coffee?” Hannah asked, pulling a notebook out of her handbag. It was a soft teal and had a little rabbit on it, and I really wanted to ask where she’d gotten it because it was adorable.

“Not enough to satisfy your caffeine addiction,” Matty said teasingly.

“Then I’ll be fine, thank you,” Hannah said.

“Back in a second then,” I said, ducking out and walking back to the kitchen to quickly make two cups of tea. I grabbed a packet of chocolate biscuits too, if only because having tea without biscuits on this occasion felt like an actual crime!

When I returned, the two of them were chatting amicably about Jack and potentially enrolling him in something like baby gymnastics to help burn off some of his energy, and Hannah added something about maybe taking him to see a kids’ theatre production of The Very Hungry Caterpillar that was currently touring.

The pair of them looked up as I stepped through the door, Matty smiling warmly at me, his expression reassuring me it was all going to be okay.

“I brought biscuits too,” I said as I handed him his tea and sat down next to him.

“That’s because you’re the best,” Matty said, shooting me a little wink that made my stomach flip.

“I try.”

There was a moment of silence as Matty sipped his tea and hummed happily. Then he said, “Right, Jack. And other things.” He looked at Hannah as he reached over to interlace his fingers with mine, resting our hands on his thigh. “Harper and I are together. Properly now.”

She smiled and nodded, shooting us a look that said, Took you long enough . But all she actually said was, “Good. I’m happy for you both.”

“Thanks. We haven’t told Jack yet because we wanted to talk to you first, but Harper has plenty of resources and ways to explain it that’ll make it easier for him,” Matty said. “We want to make sure we can answer any of his questions and make sure he still feels loved.”

“That all makes sense. And I appreciate you waiting, even though you didn’t have to,” she said.

“I know, but we wanted to.” He squeezed my hand. “In terms of Harper being Jack’s nanny, we have a couple of options.”

“Either I can stay on and we talk about how payment would work, although I’m not sure how that would work with the agency.

Or I can find another job and either see if I can take Jack with me or find something with shorter hours so I can work while Jack’s at nursery, or you can hire another nanny for Jack,” I said, watching Hannah’s face carefully.

She was clearly listening, considering the options as if this were another corporate meeting.

I’d been thinking about the different ways this could work for a few days now, and I definitely had my preferences.

Even though it wasn’t Matty’s favourite, finding a day position with a family with children a similar age to Jack, who’d be happy for me to bring him along, was probably one of the better options.

Plus it would be great socialisation for Jack and would likely only be Monday to Friday, which would mean I’d still get to take Jack to the rugby at the weekend.

Marissa had floated it to me, but I hadn’t put much thought into it until the other night when I’d seen a post on Instagram from a nanny friend of hers and her son and remembered she was still working with the family she’d been with for at least four or five years.

I’d reached out to ask for some advice on how she made it work, and she’d walked me through everything.

My hope was, if it came down to that, we could find someone Matty knew who was looking for a nanny—someone on the team perhaps.

“Do you have a preferred option out of those?” Hannah asked.

“Because ideally, I’d love it if you’d stay on here with Jack.

At least until he starts school. Obviously, I know there’s a salary issue and potential conflict of interest, so what I’d propose is that the contract comes to me.

I’d be your employer, your salary would come out of my account, and technically you’d report to me, but apart from that nothing would change. ”

I stared at her, trying not to let my surprise show on my face. Matty had said she might suggest it but hadn’t thought it would be straight away. He’d assumed she might need more time to consider it. But clearly she’d been thinking about it as much as we had.

“If you’re happy to do that, then that sounds great,” I said with a glance at Matty, squeezing his hand. I couldn’t believe it was suddenly all so simple.

It didn’t feel like it should be, but I wasn’t going to argue and make it more complicated just for the sake of it.

I really was going to get everything I’d ever wanted. Maybe fairy-tale endings weren’t as rare as I’d believed.

“Of course. We can speak to the agency and I can talk to a lawyer to get a contract drawn up,” she said, making a quick note. “It might take a few weeks but hopefully not too long.”

“You’re a star,” Matty said, relief palpable on his face.

“Yes, well, considering how much bloody hassle you went through to find someone willing to put up with your nonsense, I really don’t think that’s going to happen again.”

“Was I really that bad?” Matty asked, glancing at me as he let go of my hand so he could fish out a chocolate biscuit.

“I’m not going to answer that,” I said, holding my hand out for a chocolate biscuit while Hannah laughed.